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The Mill Is Almost Finished. . .

 It won't win any modelling awards, but my model of the mill at Plessa is a nice, cheery little structure that fits well with the rest of my buildings.  Quite a few of them now looking down from the shelves where I display and keep them over the painting table.


Almost finished now with the saw-/grist mill.  It looked pretty good without the timbering, and I worried about making a mistake in the application of, which would have required time consuming backtracking (That's a mouthful!) to fix.  In the end, I jumped in up to my hips and took half an hour or so to approximate some timbering just across the front end of the mill, which you'll observe above.  

Just a few small touch-ups with the paintbrush now.  After all, a reasonable paint job can hide a multitude of other sins in the construction as we observed a few evenings ago in the final episode of Endeavor, which, if such a thing were possible, is even better (and darker) than the original Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis/Hathaway series.  Morse, Inspector Thursday, Sergeant Strange, and Mr. Bright.  What an investigative team!


Here is a photograph of the actual mill in Brandenburg on which my model above is based.  You can see the timbering design on the front of the building that I approximated using my usual mix of magic marker, dark brown children's crayon, and dark brown colored pencil.  Tedious and repetitive, but it gives a decent effect.


But back to the mill.  If you look closely, you'll see that I've glossed the mill wheel and the millstream, or "leat" (Thank you, Allan!) below it to approximate moisture.  It made sense at the time, and The Young Master, who was on hand for that particular painting stage, concurred.  So, three coats of gloss it was.  

The pleasing dark blue-green-brown color of the water channel was achieved by the seat of my pants by randomly mixing and applying wet -- Wait for it! -- blue, green, and brown craft colors.  Not realistic, but a not unpleasant end result I think.  Perfect for my particular style of toy soldiers and related tabletop battles.

That's about it then.  The next time our mill will appear will be all finished and on the table for Sawmill Village during the long Labor Day weekend at the start of September.  In the meantime, I'll start on another figure painting project of some kind although I haven't decided what quite yet.  

I'd like to have a go at a squadron or two of some kind of cavalry.  In all honesty, there is so much unpainted lead residing in the large bottom drawer to my left that anything would be a step in the right direction.  We'll see who, or what speaks loudest to me.

-- Stokes


P.S.
Apropos of nothing, here is a weblink to the accommodations available in this wonderful old mill.  The next time we make it to Berlin, I think I'll insist that we spend a weekend here and explore the surrounding countryside on bikes.  Sonja and I have long talked about something like that, and The Young Master is an accomplished cyclist now, so. . .  



And an earlier, high angle shot of the almost finished, pre-timbering mill for good measure.

Comments

tidders said…
looking good

water channel to the mill - millstream or leat
Der Alte Fritz said…
I think that the mill looks good without the the timbering on the front.

You could try stuccoing the walls with a light spread of wallboard past (Red Devil Premixed Spackel Compound) mixed with the yellow cream paint mixed in with the spackel. Then a thin wash of light brown to bring out the texture of the stucco, then a final dry brush of a lighter color.

This would require framing out the windows with balsa or bass wood somthatbthe stucco doesn't cover over the windows. Then paint the window frames to the required color.

I think that The Grand Duke will be enamored with the idea of forming a ceremonial bodyguard of Bosniaken Lancers ( which are arriving at the uniform depot today) 😎
tradgardmastare said…
Most effective water mill Stokes, l look forward to seeing it in the midst of a battle.
My Dear Heinz-Ulrich, Greetings,

Your architectural talents continue to impress even we who are more than casual observers. You really do not have to draw in the timbers since the building works without them.

You might look to assemble some light cavalry formed up in several squadrons. This would give you a little more latitude when addressing the possibility of doing smaller actions such as a raid on a local mill to seize supplies of flour that have just been milled. Smaller regimental guns might be useful as well.

In any case, your work is highly commendable and praiseworthy. Well done!

Sincerely,

Gerardus Magnus
Archbishop Emeritus

Thank you, Tidders! "Leat." I like that. An excellent crossword or Scrabble word.

Best Regards,

Stokes
Jim, it's awfully tempting! A large squadron of 18 or 20. A very dangerous thought indeed.

Best Regards,

Stokes
Thank you everyone for your kind words and suggestions. This was a fun model to build. A little different from the usual townhouse, barn, or other outbuilding.

Best Regards,

Stokes
Matt said…
This piece works very well indeed in my opinion.

Accurate, functional with the touch of "Old School class" that I admire so much in your work.
Fitz-Badger said…
Brilliant! Turned out very well, and should make a good centerpiece on the tabletop battlefield.

I think another term for the channel is mill run or millrace.
Wellington Man said…
Not run of the mill at all. As Matt says - your buildings are very classy.

All the best
WM
Bill P. said…
Stokes,
It is a lovely and striking model. As you believe, it fits perfectly with your ensemble of other buildings and miniatures. Congratulations.
Respectfully,
Bill P.
Chronicler for The Adventures of General Pettygree

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