Gypsy Caravans from Sarissa Precision

In this post I present my versions of the two Gypsy Caravan models from Sarissa Precision.

I first saw the two gypsy wagons by Sarissa Precision on the Lead Adventure Forum and I was instantly sold: the designs of the models looked great.

Gypsy Caravans (source: LAF)

Now before looking any deeper into the caravans I have to say that I am usually very sceptical of laser cut models. They seem to be very popular for all kinds of terrain these days - especially Wild West buildings. Often these models appear somewhat "flat" to me, lacking the details of resin models. However, there are certain structures that lend themselves to laser cut building very well. The dockside crane I assembled recently wouldn't look any better (or probably even as good) had it been scratch-built. The gypsy wagons by Sarissa immediately looked like further examples of laser cut technology done right. In fact, these models look much more interesting than the gypsy wagons I know from West Wind Productions or Old Glory. Actually, judging from the Sarissa website pretty much all of their buildings look damn good to me. Anyway, let's look at the wagons!

Building a little Lantern

In this short tutorial I describe an easy way of making a lantern using remains from the bits box.

Lamps and lanterns add a lot to the atmosphere of the gaming table. Unfortunately though, while lamp posts are available from a number of producers (e.g. Yeoman Models, Grand Manner, Thomarillion, GeBoom) I could not find a supplier for humble lanterns. So I decided to build one...

Gierburg Gypsies

The travelling people arrive in the City of Gierburg!

Another batch of beautiful paint jobs by Simon Bradley: Gypsies from West Wind Productions' Vampire Wars range roam the dirty streets of Gierburg.

But where are their iconic moving houses...?

Update: Gypsy Caravans

Liebster award

This little blog of mine recently received a Liebster award nomination from Simon Bradley of Stone Cold Lead so here it goes.

The idea of this award is to promote other blogs and get to know the people behind them. The exact rules seem to be changing constantly so this is the rules set I got from Simon's post.

Painting the Coaching Inn

Following up on my review of the Coaching Inn from Tabletop World I now present the finished piece.

As I mentioned in my review the Coaching Inn does not require assembling: other than cleaning up the piece all you need to do is glue the two chimneys to the roof and glue the fence/balustrade on the balcony.

The Scratch-built Balustrade

Speaking of the balustrade: I am not too keen on the fence that comes with the building. It looks too gothic/fantasy for my taste - I prefer a slightly more conservative/low-key style. Because of that I chose to build a new balustrade from wooden sticks.

Comparison of the original balustrade and my scratch-built one

Painting the Inn

The painting process was pretty much the same as with my previous Gierburg buildings. And it was a long one! With all the details the building has, tending to each shingle of the roof and each stone of the walls and - the most tedious work of all - painting all the windows with their grating, I can't count the many hours that went into this building. But it makes it only all the more satisfying once you are finished with the piece, lean back and look at it...

The finished Coaching Inn

Finally, this is what the completed Coaching Inn looks like:

Gangs fighting it out in the streets of Gierburg

A firebrand speaking to a mob of Gierburg peasants
from the balcony of the coaching inn

Elsewhere on the Web...

...you can find these amazing medieval timber frame buildings by Miniature Warfare.

Miniature Warfare is an Italian blog full of inspirational terrain building. The current project is this stunning scratch-built medieval town.

Scratch-built town by Miniature Warfare

Below I have list some links to various blog posts from the work in progress stage to the finished pieces. So waste no time and head over to the blog and enjoy this exceptional terrain!

Work in progress

http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2013/10/2-tdmc-medieval-contrada-update.html
http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2013/11/2-tdmc-medieval-contrada-so-far.html
http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2013/12/2-tdmc-medieval-contrada-another-update.html
http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2013/12/2-tdmc-medieval-contrada-final-rush.html

Painted

http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2014/01/medieval-town-bit-of-colors.html
http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2014/02/medieval-town-little-progress.html
http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2014/03/medieval-town-2-final-shots.html
http://miniaturewarfare.blogspot.com/2014/03/medieval-town-end.html

A Dockside Crane for Gierburg

The 1:72 scale medieval crane from Green Line is the latest addition to the docks of my Gierbug gaming board.


I bought the kit at this year's Tactica show, where I saw the assembled model in the flesh and was immediately convinced. It is available from Fredericus Rex.

The kit comprises mainly of various sheets of laser cut balsa wood. There are also two paper sheets for the "metal" parts, rivets and the hook. Thread is included to represent rope.

Usually I mainly work with resin buildings and I am totally spoiled by Tabletop World and Grand Manner models which come pretty much fully assembled out of the box. Because of this, I found the kit somewhat challenging - lots of pieces that need to be prepared and glued together. However, it was challenging in a very positive way: The pieces fit together perfectly and balsa is always easy to work with. It actually felt like I was assembling my own scratch-built model, with the exception that the various pieces were already provided. The model does not have any of the design flaws I usually dislike about laser cut terrain, where you can clearly tell from the finished model that it was built from simple precut kits.

The crane assembled but yet unpainted

After assembling the crane I removed the wheel again for undercoating and painting. I always enjoy painting wood structures: A bunch of drybrushing with browns and whites, finished off with a bit of weathering with green wash, and you're done - a very relaxed and rewarding task.

The finished crane

 

Since I was "transferring" the crane from 1:72 to 28mm scale I found it appropriate to use a thicker type of thread than the one that came with the model. So I went with the same that I currently use for rigging on my ships.

Finally, this is how the finished model looks as a dockside crane at the Port of Gierburg:

In conclusion, I am very happy with this model. It was refreshingly challenging to assemble without ever being too difficult. It looks like a cool scratch-built piece rather than one of those boring unrealistic laser cut buildings you see so often. I do not find the 1:72 scale to be a problem, either - it gives the impression of a nice small crane to me and works perfectly well with 28mm figures. In short: an excellent addition to the Port of Gierburg.