Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part six

I have used a couple of techniques to paint the brickwork, first I 'sponged on' a pale orange to the whole surface, then drybrushed certain areas with a deeper orange/brown colour and then picked out individual bricks in a wide range of brick coloured acrylic paints. I have used orange, yellow, brown, black and white acrylic colours to add variety to the brickwork.

I have used  a number of different brushes to achieve this effect and a mucky grey wash (dirty water) helped to bring everything together.

The brickwork took most of the day to complete but far from being boring I found it therapeutic.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part five

The building was basecoated with a dark grey acrylic paint to which I have added some ModPodge matt medium.

 

I find that this helps with both sealing the foam and bringing all the various material together ready for painting.

The first real colour was a dull putty colour or dirty cream which will be the basis of the mortar, the gaps between the bricks as well as acting as a base for the orange/red brick colours.

The next step will be the painting the bricks. Please check back for further updates very soon.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part four

With the construction of the walls finished it was on to the roof. I had some railway wagon siding or contoured plastic card profiles in my collection and cut this to length before gluing the panels in place with superglue. Once in place I trimmed the panels to size and later added more 3mm thick plastic card to the apex. The large sign was also constructed from plastic card.

Any gaps or missing detail on the roof/sign joins were either filled with DAS modelling clay or the joins were trimmed with lengths of tape which was sealed with superglue. I cut small squares of plastic card to act as fasteners for the roof panels and these were glued in place with liquid cement.

The final image for this post shows the low relief warehouse in place on the layout (Note - not glued in place). My next posts will give details of how I painted the building, but for now you can start to see how the building will fit in or on to the layout.

Tony

Grand Manner Iberian Windmill - Miniature Wargames issue 520

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames (520 - August 2026) includes this article written by me showing how I painted a resin windmill for a friend. The model was available from Grand Manner (but is no longer in production).

The four part resin model was purchased on ebay and was very well cast in a putty coloured resin.

I re-based the windmill on to a piece of 3mm thick plastic card and built up the groundwork with ready mixed filler and DAS modelling clay which was then decorated with sieved stones and sand applied over PVA glue.

Painted followed my usual techniques but was a little more subdued than normal using washes and acrylic tints to produce the sun drenched effect.

The sails were painted in a Linen coloured acrylic paint and highlighted with white. When finished the whole model was varnished with a Galleria matt varnish and ModPodge mix then presented to my friend earlier this year.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part three

With the brickwork done (see earlier post) it was on to adding detail. I have used a number of different materials to decorate the warehouse such as plastic card and balsawood then watered-down ready mixed filler and acrylic paste to add additional texture and cover up any gaps particularly to the left where the insulation foam on the side meets the front.

Ideally I would have liked to have set the doors back a bit more but as this is a low relief building I can live with it.

As you can see I have tried to copy the design seen in earlier posts as closely as possible.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building part two

The cardboard 'core' has been clad with insulating foam, the sort used as underlay for laminate flooring. The foam has been glued in place with a mix of PVA and superglue. Once fully set, I have trimmed the foam to fit the core and then lightly sanded the edges to make them flush.

The next job was to cut out the windows and door (see previous post) and then start the laborious task of adding the brick texture.

Each scale brick was 8mm x 2,5mm and first had the horizontal cuts made with a scalpel guided with a steel ruler the individual bricks were cut with a scalpel and then later opened up with a sharp pencil. This process took most of the day, but as I was watching/listening to the tennis the time went quickly.

The roof was clad with thinner card and glued in place with the PVA and superglue mix.

The next post will show how I have started to add detail to this low profile building.

Tony

Cold Comfort Lane - Low Relief Building

It's been a while since I have posted any progress on this layout. In truth 'other projects' have taken priority but all that changed this week.

If you check back on earlier Blog posts you will see that the area to the rear, right has not been detailed. This is because my plan from the start was to include a low relief building, a factory or workshop. The image above was inspired by a derelict building seen in Kidderminster. The drawing is my scale plan and the cardboard 'core' below is the start of this series of Blog posts..

I have used materials that I had on-hand - a real mismatch of scraps I had in my shed, corrugated cardboard, foamboard with 4mm and 6mm thick plastic card (ex- advertising signs picked up for free). I have used both superglue and my hot glue gun to hold everything together.

The core is 290mm long x 70mm deep x 215mm tall.

The final image shows the building 'core' with one of the scratch built wagons (that have featured in earlier posts) shown for scale.

Expect updated soon.

Tony