Japanese Torii

Torii with miniature for scale.

 
Recently I discovered the solo miniatures game Five Parsecs From Home from Modiphius Entertainment.  The game, which has a sort of Firefly meets Cyberpunk feel to it, is sort of a story generator that uses randomized prompts to create characters and narratives, with battles played out on a small board with terrain and miniatures.  Like many people my age, my first introduction to the Cyberpunk genre was William Gibson's Neuromancer complete with its urban Japanese high-tech future setting.  So, while thinking about possible terrain for Five Parsecs, my mind automatically went to Japan, and one of the most iconic Japanese symbols, the torii gate.

I started by quickly looking up images online, finding a nice image of a torii with dimensions.  I printed this out for reference, then found that the printed size was already perfect for 32mm miniatures.  This happy coincidence let me use the printed image to measure off all the bits I would need.

The perfect size.

The first step was to cut two Hashira, or uprights.  Fortunately I had a 1/2" dowel that was the perfect diameter.  Next was the addition of the Nuki, the section spanning between the Hashira.  I notched each dowel, then laminated three 1/4" square pieces together for the nuki.  I used the same process for the Gakuuka (center) and the Shimaki (lower span).  The shimaki was sanded a bit to introduce the decorative angles.

 Next was the Kasagi, or upper part of the span.  To simulate the upward sweep of the ends, I glued small bits of popsicle stick to the ends, then sanded them to shape.

 

Kasagi Ends

 

 

With the kasagi finished, the woodwork was done.

Finished woodwork.

Base details were added by wrapping the uprights with card stock, and glue 28mm bases to the bottoms.

It stands!

Then, on to the wood pile.  Er, paint shop.  I hit the entire thing with a rattle can of "Colonial Red," then used craft paint to color the bases and kasagi black, as seen in the opening photo, giving it a traditional color scheme.

Traditional color would be vermilion, but I substituted Colonial Red

Finally, a shot of my workspace.  Yes, I have two desks in the room.  Yes, both are filled with partially done projects.  Yes, I tend to work cross-legged on the floor anyway.

My build area. Comfy if your knees can take it.

Colonial Blockhouse

Stillwater Blockhouse Plan

 Last October, I decided to take part in the Little Wars TV Discord "Secret Soldier."  Basically, this was the group's version of a traditional Secret Santa swap, where wargamers picked names and traded gifts with each other.  I don't remember the exact parameters, but the idea was to keep the cost low, and buy/build something that your recipient would like.

28mm Colonial Blockhouse

For my gift, I decided to build a colonial blockhouse, such that may be found in New England during the French & Indian War or American Revolution.  I'd been wanting to build one anyway, being fascinated with the Battle of Shelburne Blockhouse, so I had much of the material on hand.

Early in November, I had a day to myself, so I traveled over to the Saratoga, NY area to visit the Stillwater Blockhouse, a replica that resembles what I've always pictured the Shelburne building to look like.

Stillwater Blockhouse on the Hudson River

Based on photos I took there, I started building, tier by tier, with 1/4" dowels, cut to length as I went, to give a log construction look.  I was on a time crunch, so I didn't square off the dowels to get a perfect fit, but I still achieved the look I was going for.  I used a 28mm figure from Perry Miniatures Civilians pack to size the doors, windows, and ceiling heights.

First floor before stain and paint.

With the first floor finished, I stained the wood with a dark brown, then drybrushed with grey, trying to recreate the color of the Stillwater blockhouse.  I then moved onto the second floor.  Somewhere along the line I also decided to add a fireplace, made from card stock and stone patterned styrene.

First floor fireplace.

Patterned styrene was also used to represent the shingled roof.  With my deadline looming, this was the portion of the project that I rushed the most.  When all else fails, add more glue.

Second floor in progress.

Unfortunately, I missed the Christmas deadline for my recipient.  I did, however, finish the project in January and send it out to him.  Though the build was a bit tedious, adding courses one by one, I really like the look, and may build a second one for myself at some point.

Second floor complete.

Desiging A Model Kit

 

Ethan Allen House Model

Roughly ten years ago, long before I became a reenactor, I visited the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in Burlington, Vermont. My goal was to tour the house and take some reference photos so that I could build a model of the building.

The Homestead was the last home of the American Revolutionary war hero (depending on who you talk to) and leader of the pre-war Green Mountain Boys who fought the rule of New York over what was then known as the New Hampshire Grants.

Allen had the house built after the War. Though he only lived there a few years, the house was passed on to his widow, and her new husband, after his death. Over the decades, the property was sold, changed, and somewhat lost to history. When the location of Allen's house was found again in modern times, it was restored to how it may have looked in its original condition. Today, the museum not only presents Allen's life on the Homestead, but also the history and culture of the Abenaki Indians who originally lived on the land.

My model project was an on again, off again affair. Mostly off. 10 years after my initial visit, I buckled down and set to work creating a model of the building. My final goal is to create a 28mm scale building that can be used for wargaming. Ideally, I'd like to create a kit that other gamers and modelers can build.

 

Carboard Test Parts

Assembling the First Floor

First Floor with Figures for Scale

When I had originally visited the building, a set of faded floorplans had been displayed on one of the walls of the Visitor's Center. I took photos of these plans, and used them, along with my reference photos, to create a rough model out of corrugated cardboard.

The cardboard model became a test of not only the size and shape of the building, but also how the various pieces of the model could be made to create a laser-cut wood kit for others.

 

Gable Ends and Roofs

Walls and Floors

Using my cardboard model, my photo references, and Inkscape, I created a layout plan of the various pieces and parts of the building. I decided to create the model using two pieces of thin stock for each wall. This allowed me to add laser-engraved detail to both the interior and exterior of the walls, and to create nice looking double-hung windows, as in the prototype building.

With the Inkscape drawings done, I sent the plan off to an online laser-cutting company. Then I waited.

Laser Cut Sheet

Several weeks later, a box finally appeared in my driveway. On opening it, I found my 10-year dream realized. I had a laser-cut kit of Ethan Allen's last home, designed by myself, and ready for assembly.

 

Second Floor Assembled

Interior and Exterior Walls

Kitchen Fireplace

Gable End

First Floor Assembled

Second Floor Assembled

Final Assembly Before Painting

While building the model, I found several areas that need improvement, mostly mistakes that I made in my Inkscape drawing. Whenever I encountered one of these issues, I'd make a note, correct the physical model, then move on. After a few days, I had a fully assembled and painted model.

Col. Allen Moves in Next to Capt. Smith

 The size matches the scale of the William Smith house that I built earlier. While the frames were a bit fiddly, the windows turned out just as I had hoped, adding a nice detail to a rather plain looking building. As reenctors, my daughter and I have since visited the Homestead several times over the years, and become friends with the folks who run the museum. My daughter was very happy to see that the layout matches the real house, including the upper floor, which we don't often see.

Kitchen Detail

First Floor Painted

Finished Model

 Overall, I think the project was a great success.  Having now done several reenacting events at the Homestead, it's neat to have a model of a house that we've "lived" in. While I need to make a lot of improvements if I ever want to put this into kit form for sale, I'm happy with my own personal model, and I look forward to designing more building kits.

Captain William Smith House

Neighbors visiting the Smith House.

When Stay-At-Home orders were issued back in March, I figured I'd use the time to work on a project.  I've been impressed with the offerings from Things From The Basement for some time, so I decided to order something for my AWI collection.  Their Captain William Smith House kit was perfect.

Kit parts.

The kit arrived quickly, and in great condition.  It was sent by Priority Mail by default.  While this did help with the shipping time, I would have been okay if there had been an option for slower shipping at a lower cost, but that option was not available from the website.  The only other minor issue is that instructions were not included in the kit.  They need to be downloaded from the website in PDF form.  I would have preferred a printed copy included with the kit itself, but this is a minor complaint.

First floor interior complete.

I found the instructions to be super clear and easy to follow.  I had the first floor assembled and painted on the first day.  Using photos of the inside of the actual house, I used wood stain on the floor, a flat white for the walls, and a colonial red for the doors and trim.

Assembling the windows.

The exterior walls go up.

The exterior woodwork and trim received the same treatment.  Stain for the exterior, white for the interior, and red for the windows.  Assembly was quick, and all of the parts were accurately cut and fit well.

Mrs. Smith checks out her new kitchen.

While I was building, the kitchen area seemed a bit bare, so I added a scratch-built fireplace and shelf.  While researching the actual house a while later, I found that I actually wasn't too far off on the fireplace placement.  The second floor and roof went together just as easily as the first floor and the walls.  I experimented a bit with painting the brick on the chimney, and was pleased with the result.  I wasn't sure about the weird white plaster bit on the front, as I thought it'd look, well, weird, but in the end I like how it came out, and it matches the original building.

The actual Smith House, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Overall, this was a great build, and I'm happy to have added it to my collection.  After building this, I'd highly recommend Things From The Basement products for anyone looking for buildings for their game table.

  

Survey Crew

18th Century Surveying Crew

For the past several months, I've had a minor fascination with surveying in the 18th century.  I've been reading a few books from the time period, teaching myself the techniques, and I made a short research trip to see some original survey documents.

A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing miniatures online, and realized that some of the artillery crews looked a bit like surveyors.  Remembering that I had an unpainted artillery unit, I dug out the figures and looked them over.  Sure enough, they fit the bill.  I decided to put together a vignette.

Before I get into the process, I'll walk through the final result.

Continental Surveyors.

Continental Surveyors.

First up, we have a couple of surveyors.  I painted these to be in the uniform of the Continental Department of the Geographer, based on images of the reenactment group that portrays those soldiers.  One is taking a sighting through his theodolite, while the other looks on, taking field notes.

Civilian Chainmen.

Civilian Chainmen.

Next are the chainmen.  I've portrayed them in civilian clothes, as if they had been hired from the local population.  The job of the chainmen was to measure distances using a Gunter's Chain.  In scale, a full chain would have been over a foot long, so I've severely compressed the length, but it still gives the impression.

Civilian Flagman.

Finally, there's the flagman.  His job was to mark locations that the surveyors could site to, and that the chainmen would measure to.

Perry Miniatures Artillery Men

I started off with a couple of figures from Perry Miniature's Continental Artillery aiming 6 pounder (AW102).  These had the poses that I was looking for for the main surveyors, but could use some small detail changes.  Namely, after stripping off their old paint, I sculped a small bit of paper into the standing figure's right hand, and I cut away the cannon adjustment lever thingy from the crouching figure (Artillery friends, does that tool have an actual name?).

Perry Miniatures British Infantry

Perry Miniatures Command Standard Bearer

For the chain and flag men, I had a couple of sprues of figures left from a box of Perry's American War of Independence British Infantry 1775-1783 (AW200), that I thought that I could customize.

Scraping Off the Cartridge Box.

Adding Hats and Changing Coats.

The civilians took a bit more work than the surveyors.  Since I was using uniformed miniatures for my base, the first thing I had to do was to scrape off the regimental lace from the lapels and cuffs of their coats.  Both figures featured bayonet scabbards, which I cut down to make into chaining arrow quivers, which would hold the markers used by the chainmen to mark out distances longer than their chain.  Since these men are civilians, and not soldiers, I next carved off their cartridge boxes and straps, then resculpted the backs of their coats to add in some folds.  I opted to leave their canteens.  They likely wouldn't have carried military canteens, but I wanted the workers to stay well hydrated.  The final step was to add their caps.  The Perry sprues come with riflemen's caps that are cocked up on the side.  For one figure, I turned the cocked flap to the rear, carving the interior a bit to fit the head.  I also scraped off the bit of decor that was attached to the flap.  For the second figure, I cut two of the riflemen's hats in half, then glued them together and resculpted a bit to make a single round cap.  The arms of both figures were originally carrying muskets, which had to be cut away and the hands reshaped a tiny bit.

The flagman received a similar treatment.  His lace was removed, and a civilian hat was added.  Since he had started out as a standard bearer, his arm position was perfect.  I cut away the top of the flag pole, adding it to the bottom of the figure's hands to create the staff.  A small target orb was added to the top.

The theodolite was scratch built from bits of sprue and toothpicks.  Being more than a bit fiddly, this went through a few iterations before the final version.

Here's the final modified crew before painting:

Raw Survey Crew.

After priming and painting the miniatures, the final step was to build a base.  Originally I laid out a flat base with the intention of adding some scatter terrain to fill in the empty spaces.  After priming the ground, I had the after-thought of adding a couple of small hilly mounds.  In retrospect, I'm glad that I went with this direction, as I think it makes the scene look more nature.

Crew Primed and Ready for Painting.

Initial Base Layout.

Let's Add Some Hills!

For comparison of the figures, here are some up close (occasionally fuzzy) images of each miniature

 

 

Crouching Surveyor - As Found, Before Priming, Finished.

Standing Surveyor - As Found, Before Priming, Finished.

Trailing Chainman - Before Priming, Finished.

Leading Chainman - Before Priming, Finished.

Flagman - Before Priming, Finished.

Scratch-Built Theodolite.

And here's the finished result, sitting proudly above my desk.

Nice Decor for My Desk.