Stoumont Sanitarium - 9

All right! Moving right along. So I was trying to figure out how i was going to texturize the wall to make it look like brick, because even if I *had* put up a sheet of styrene which had been embossed to look like brick, it would be a pain in the arse to get it to fit into the nooks and crannies of the stone around the edges of the walls and windows. Plus, I'm trying to get back to my cheap skate roots and the sheets of styrene can add up. Then someone mentioned using textured paper. Hopefull, I popped over to the locate craft store and managed to score the corregated sheets of paper on the right which I will use for the roof. I then popped over to another craft store chain and found the stuff on the left - score! Both are made by the Paper Company and I got the first for 25 cents a sheet, and the second for 79 cents a sheet USD - not bad! Now - I freely admit that I'm deviating from the Stoumont Sanitarium as it was in terms of textures, but keep in mind that I want to be able to use this building for other projects so all that little detail is not so important, and for the Big Game USA 08 just having this structure there will be sufficient for our two days of play. And yes, I admit that reproducing the building just as it was is not nearly as much fun as i thought it would be. By taking my own liberties here and there I've re-energized myself to complete this thing because a lot has to be done in less than two weeks! Figure is 1/72 and the half-track is 1/76.

So I flip the building over to the opposite side I had been working on and place the paper and trim out the perimeter and the window slots. Not neat nor perfect, but it'll do and it goes on without too much of a hitch!

Then I place the walls for the first and second levels - not I cut the two layers out as one piece first, then I simply split the piece in half. This was so the stone details would line up much better. I'm using just enough Twice As Tacky Glue (white) to wet the back of the paper, and then allowing that run drip onto the foam core. The spaces where I will be sticking the windows do not have glue on them.

I trace out the windows first with each piece since my casting method makes each one have a unique 'foot print'. I then use my sharp exacto blade to cut out the outline of the window, and I simply use a pair of small needle nose to tear out chunks of the foam core. These chunks are great for debris, so save them for later when we'll need debris piles! I then fit each window in and level accordingly by removing more foam as needed. Don't take too much at one pass or else you'll be sorry! Next came the stone edging. Time consuming but not horendous. Steady pace wins!

After I'm sure the main facing border stone won't glue to the second level, I start outlining the windows piece by piece. Goes fast actually. Notice I haven't done the wall border stone on the sides yet as I have to place the pebble paper on the sides of the building first before I can corner stone it. I really, really, really like it - and no paint yet!

Here you can see I'm starting to texture the side faces. To help with the cutting I've already cut out the window slots for this wall and notice the far wall is also covered at the same time as this is just one piece. So far I've used only 1 of my eight sheets of pebble paper - not bad for 79 cents USD! Okay, I'm slacking - back to work!

Cheers & More To Come