Border Guard House

Border Guardhouse Thumbnail
Description

The Border Guard House is a fortified structure used as a safe place to rest and re-stock supplies for border guard patrols. It also serves as a fair defensive structure for the patrols in the event of a small skirmish.

Credits

Thanks to W. Ambrose Coddington for his tutorial on how to do the wire-brush stonework.
Although I did not use exactly the same techniques or paint scheme as anyone in particular, thanks to several people on the HirstArts message board gave some great ideas on painting the fieldstone. In particular, I learned a lot from the following two links: HirstArts forum page by DwarvenRanger and Abaroth's site

Finished Images

Construction Steps
  1. Cast the blocks from the molds listed below from Die-Keen Ivory Dental Plaster
  2. Cut the base from 1/8" hardboard using a jigsaw. The base is 9"x6.5".
  3. Build the hill from 1" blue foam.
  4. Glue the first layer of blocks down - including the floor pieces
  5. Let first layer dry and then build up the rest of the layers.
  6. Fill cracks and 'merge' rocks with Sculptamold.
  7. Apply about 1/4" of spackle to the foam.
  8. After spackle is dry, scrape it with a wire brush to make 'layers' of stone.
  9. Paint the rock base with Burnt Umber base coat and then continue with washes and drybrushing.
  10. Paint the fieldstone in a base coat of Mudstone.
  11. Paint random rocks using glazes (Delta paints + Liquitex Glazing Medium) of Black, Trail Tan + White, Golden Brown, Dark Brown.
  12. Drybrush the fieldstone in Sandstone.
  13. Wash the entire structure in Walnut Wash (Delta Ceramcoat Walnut, Future Floor Finish, Liquitex Matte Medium).
  14. Cut and prepare half-timber 2nd floor using steps in this tutorial: Half Timber Tutorial
  15. Prepare and stain woodwork (floors, beams, doors, etc) using this tutorial: Timber Treatment Tutorial
  16. Build roof & cut casted pieces to size using a coping saw.
  17. Stain roof with walnut wood stain.
  18. Flock the base and do some touch-ups.

Molds used

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Resources Questions? Comments? Email me at: ryan@skow.org