Unpainted Napoleonic Village Defense (1 Viewer)

[Colebraden2011]

Well, I was rummaging around and found two more albums of battles from a couple years ago! This was back when I worked at 5am and finished work around 1. Most of my friends worked a normal schedule so I had very little to do the rest of the day. So, I made buildings, fences, trees, graves and more buildings. This represents a somewhat fortified village being defended against by the French against incursions by the Prussians, Austrians and Russians. Enjoy!

 

[Colebraden2011]

 

[Oldallamerican]

Takes me back to my childhood - one of the dreams of my childhood to have a Napoleonic battle on that scale.

 

[Larry Allen]

Now that looks like a lot of fun ....

Very impressive with the volume for figures, building and "stuff" as well as the layout of your sets.
I sure hope it wasn't the bedroom that you cleaned out????? {sm2}

Thanks,
--- Larry

 

[Denver]

Your Church is good looking.
That would be a best seller.
A smaller version would ship less expensively.
Thank for showing them.

 

[Middleguard]

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout! Finally got outside today and was doing some recon for a space to lay something on that scale out on. Mind bendingly outstanding. What's the figure count on Blackcat Russians alone?
Do the buildings come apart for storage? I assume that is foamboard and very light weight. But they would take up monster size room if not collapsible.

 

[Colebraden2011]

Yea I practically have to do yoga just to move the figures, they are so crammed in there. haha

Buildings are Foamboard and balsa wood. Unfortunately, after my Mom sold the house I grew up in, I had no space to keep them so I begrudgingly allowed her to sell them at a yardsale. Now, I just have the little white farmhouse and barn, a stable and a little blacksmith shack.

I just cleared out my sister's old room whenever I went back to visit so I still had a place to sleep

I think I have around 360 ish blackcat Russians---only about 15 or so painted, with 15 more on the table. plus 80 AIP and the Hat Command set.

I hope to do a church with a removable roof out of high-resin foam but I'll have to learn how to cast such a complicated piece. Not something as big as Conte's but that would still serve as a centerpiece for a village or something.

Middleguard, I'll be looking out for your battle because I want to see that!

 

[Middleguard]

OK it's been awhile since I read this thread. The buildings is this setup are impressive. Reading that you had to sell or otherwise unload most of them due to storage space got me to thinking. Since I want to be able to do something similar on this scale and I did not want to end up having to pitch an entire village, I came up with some ideas on buildings that were collapsible and modular. I started with the basic shape and figured out the dimensions then set about finding a way to make them look passable, hold together, be open to placing figures inside, and make them storable when not in use.
These are a set of 12 that are set up to be my version of the CTS Waterloo farmhouse. Each piece is 5 1/2 inches square. The entire farmhouse is 44 inches long by 22 inches wide by 10 inches high.

They can be as many stories high as you wish to make them.

I painted this one in a generic style.
Each floor is accessible for placing troops.

 

[Middleguard]

This is a breakdown of how they are made. I use foamboard hotglue and magnetic stripping.

A thin magnetic strip is hotglued to the overlapping contacting edges which is just strong enough to hold the model together but lightweight enough to not collapse the building.

All like pieces are stackable. Room bases, completing walls, attic floor with roof and second roof piece.
The whole thing breaks down to a very small pile and supports and keeps pieces from crushing each other.

 

[Colebraden2011]

Very cool Middleguard! Where do you get the magnetic strips? I may have to try this out. Also, I want to see that Hougomont when youre done or if you get another village scene set up.
Also, I like that you can put guys in each floor of the buildings, really opens up what you can do in a battle. Impressive ingenuity!
I've been working on another (much smaller than my previous buildings) one with pink insulation foam. Not collapsible but I carved bricks across the whole thing so too far in to start over. I'll post when its done.

 

[Colebraden2011]

Also, just noticed, cool conversions with the Timpo Grenadiers! I have a horrendous amount of grenade throwers and officers but am determined to do something with them. I had some extra Victrix arms laying around and the scale surprisingly matches up. Just painted up a bunch but have to base the last couple and haven't gotten around to taking any pictures

 

[Middleguard]

I got the magnetic strip at the local craft store. It comes in a roll 1 foot by 2 feet. It cuts very easily and is very flexible. It has a weak magnetic pull but just enough so I can lift a single story and it will not fall apart. You just have to take into account the extra space needed for the strip to fit in.

As far as the Timpo guys go, what you see is a grenade thrower holding a ram rod helping to push back the gun. The next is a grenade thrower as a matchstick guy and then an officer guy carrying the barrel. Timpo is my favorite for cutting up and converting. This weekend I'll take some pics of the Prussians I've carved up and show what I made of what.

I've got a couple of weeks of work to get this first group of buildings done and then I want to do a version with 2 of these side by side with 1 roof to cover them both with some of those windows sticking out of the slanted roof part. Then lastly to make one giant peaked roof that covers 8 of these buildings to be used as a church or gov't building depending on the details.

 

[Colebraden2011]

thanks for the tip!
Yea most of my Timpo grenade throwers will end up being marching poses and the officers as sergeants.
I did make two of them into Eagle or fannion guards though. and one hitting with a rifle. Dang, I really need to post those. They don't look spectacular by any means but I am enormously proud
I am very excited to see the result of your buildings. I'm sure they will look splendid!

 

[BHogan]

Impressive display! Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Brendan

 

[Middleguard]

Timpo Prussians are my favorite to convert. The recast in dark blue plastic cut easily and the many of the poses have their arms sculpted away from the body.
Third from left was a clubber and is now a loader. Fifth and sixth are clubbers with musket inverted or I added a bayonet to the musket.

Second from left was the Brit shot and I just changed the musket placement.

The arms for the stabbing guy came from the BMC Rev war set.
You can really come up with a diverse set of running guy from this group. It makes a charging unit seem not so uniform.

 

[Middleguard]

I forgot these two guys
.


The shooting one is my favorite. I think that makes twenty new poses in addition to the 8 originals.

 

[Colebraden2011]

dang middleguard! Those are awesome! I particularly like the loader, the guy stabbing up in the last picture and the running fellow in the first picture! Good job! I am very impressed.
Are those painted up as Danish?

 

[Middleguard]

Colebraden, Actually these are supposed to be 1812 Swiss for the Russian campaign. I did these back when I had not much resource material and no internet access so I didn't know what a Swiss flag of the time period was supposed to look like so I just winged it and haven't gone back to fixing it yet.

 

[Middleguard]

Hey, Colebraden, I found some time and moved my project along. I have 13 two story buildings and 1 church that is 22" by 16.5" by 24". I have to finish painting them and finish the bell tower but this is shaping up to make a good sized town. I have a friend that owns the local business center with quite a bit of empty space. I will see if I can rent some space for a week when I am ready to take some pictures.

 

[Colebraden2011]

Dang can I come and play?! Those look great, and there are so many! Quick to make but still look really good! I look forward to seeing the set up when you are done.
I've been working pretty tirelessly on some Victrix, AIP and Hat greatcoat elites as Chasseurs so I may try to post a battle with my small number of painted guys soon. And after I finish the building i've been working on.
Keep up the good work