Mortars and Wagons

I've slowly been working my way through the goodies I bought from Reiver Castings. I've got the pontoon bridge, pontoon wagon and a copule of guns to paint yet; but have finished the mortars and baggage wagons. I made removable loads for the wagons, so they can be used for raid scenarios where you start with empty wagons.

Two Reiver AP4 10 inch siege mortars

I modified the front of the wagon to provide a seat for the driver,

Driver Front Rank; Reiver AP16 Tumbrel wagon with four horses

Driver Front Rank; Reiver AP17 Baggage wagon with four horses

Grand Designs (7) - Palace Diorama

Its late in the afternoon and the King and Queen are returning to the Palace after the building works have been completed. The King can see his foot guards on parade as the coach approaches the palace.

The sentries from the Garde Suisse stand to attention as the coach approaches ...

The coach draws up in front of the palace; the King and Queen stand back to admire the new portico ..

Count Hermann Munster (who had been supervising the building works), welcomes the king back ..

Some of the court are having a late afternoon walk in the gardens ...

A closeup of the golden cherub fountain (I wonder where the water comes out from when it is operational ?) ..

---oXo---

Materials used:

1. 6ft by 9 inch board, with backscene board using 3mm MDF.

2. Backscene sky - model railroad sky backscene paper sheets.

3. Backscene garden - adapted from photos of Stourhead gardens and printed on 120g paper.

4. Grass - grass sheet from Dolls House hobby supplier.

5. Paths and Gravel areas - medium grade sand paper.

6. Low relief buildings - constructed from foam board and cardboard.

7. Columns for portico - 5" greek column cake stands

8. 'Roof scape' - adapted from photos of Stourhead house and printed on 120g paper.

9. Garden urns and fountain - smaller Dolls House garden accessories.

Grand Designs (6) - The Palace Door

I've finished off the central section of the palace for my diorama; the palace door will be partly obscured by the columns of the portico so here is a picture of the door (the moulding above the door was sourced from a local dolls house shop).

The door is painted onto the low relief building section made of foam board. I have to finish the portico and assemble the rest of the palace on the diorama shelf.

The rest of the palace diorama is coming along nicely, the original building with viewing baclony now looks out over a larger 'parade' ground area; and the palace garden section is completed altough will probably need some additions.

All wiil be revealed when the complete diorama is finished.

Pontoon Wagon

I've felt a little better the last couple of days and managed to do a couple of things. I've also been fiddling with my palace diorama. Also I've assembled by Reiver castings goodies. I really like the pontoon wagon, shown below with some spare front rank artillery crew.

Grand Designs (5) - Palace Exterior

The King has just approved the architects drawings for the improvement of the main entrance of the palace,
I've kept my viewing 'balcony' model as part of the new palace diorama, adding a formal garden. Plenty of space for the King and his court to be posed outside. Below is a trial arrangement for the main entrance portico, using 5" plastic cake stands

I'll be constructing the diorama on a 6 foot by 9" shelf (recovered from an old model railroad shelf layout).

The internal rooms will be be built later, so far I have a short list:

- main entrance hall

- ballroom

- library

- gallery

- day room

and more as needed when the mood takes me.