First off, as with all artistic things there is not the one right way to do things. Stones come in endless variations of colour and shape and there are many ways to paint them. Over the years I have developed (or let's say, I got used to) a certain technique that creates results which I am quite happy with (even though "technique" makes it sound more complicated and elaborate than it actually is, as you will shortly see). Since questions about how I paint stones come up frequently, I decided to write this detailed tutorial for reference. I hope it can serve as a little inspiration or helper when painting your own stonework models. Let's start!"Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it."
Salvador Dali
"If you hear a voice within you say, 'You cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."
Vincent Van Gogh
Showing posts with label Cobblestone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cobblestone. Show all posts
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Tutorial: Painting Stonework
In this article I describe the way I paint stonework on my models. From cobblestone streets to the walls of medieval houses - they all are painted following this recipe.
First off, as with all artistic things there is not the one right way to do things. Stones come in endless variations of colour and shape and there are many ways to paint them. Over the years I have developed (or let's say, I got used to) a certain technique that creates results which I am quite happy with (even though "technique" makes it sound more complicated and elaborate than it actually is, as you will shortly see). Since questions about how I paint stones come up frequently, I decided to write this detailed tutorial for reference. I hope it can serve as a little inspiration or helper when painting your own stonework models. Let's start!
First off, as with all artistic things there is not the one right way to do things. Stones come in endless variations of colour and shape and there are many ways to paint them. Over the years I have developed (or let's say, I got used to) a certain technique that creates results which I am quite happy with (even though "technique" makes it sound more complicated and elaborate than it actually is, as you will shortly see). Since questions about how I paint stones come up frequently, I decided to write this detailed tutorial for reference. I hope it can serve as a little inspiration or helper when painting your own stonework models. Let's start!
Sunday, July 23, 2017
The Port of Gierburg - Part 5: Dock Section II Ground Level Painted
In the previous installment of my Port of Gierburg project I described how I built the base board for my dock section. Now that part is finally finished.
Wow, time sure flies. And, wow, am I good at procrastinating. I posted part 4 of my Port of Gierburg project log in September 2014! I really had a tough time deciding how to continue with this part of my board. I have made some progress since then and decided that the other buildings and raised level section will be a single removable piece. This meant that I could move on and just paint the board section as it was.
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| Section I, the Water board and Section II set up together |
Wow, time sure flies. And, wow, am I good at procrastinating. I posted part 4 of my Port of Gierburg project log in September 2014! I really had a tough time deciding how to continue with this part of my board. I have made some progress since then and decided that the other buildings and raised level section will be a single removable piece. This meant that I could move on and just paint the board section as it was.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Cobblestone Streets & Stonework by Vampisol
Recently, while browsing a railway modeling forum I discovered a German terrain supplies manufacturer: Vampisol. The site is in German only so I'll try my best to provide translations in the following to help any interested non-German to find their way around there.
In the "Spur 0" range (see: O Scale) there are two sections with great products for 28mm wargamers: "Kopfsteinpflaster" (cobblestones) and "Mauerplatten" (stonework). Let's look at the cobblestones first:
There are two types of cobblestone patterns available:
The segmental arch cobbles pieces measure 124mm x 131mm and cost €4,50.
The stretcher bond pieces measure 124mm x 70mm and cost €3,00 a piece.
There is a super useful street planner PDF file available that allows you to get a proper impression of the cobblestone pieces' sizes. This was very helpful and I wish every terrain manufacturer would offer similar guides for their products. Very good service indeed!
The three available designs are: Ashlar, flagstone and the already mentioned quarrystone.
All mentioned Vampisol products are made from dental plaster. The stonework boards are available in either white or grey colour. A little word of caution: The cobblestone and stonework pieces are 2mm thin and some of them arrived broken from shipping. This is no big deal though because the breaking edges of the plaster are "clean" and are not visible when putting the pieces together. Also, there's always a small bag of plaster included to fill gaps with when assembling and "building" the final layout.
Verdict: Highly recommended! I have been looking for nice cobblestone and/or flagstone boards to pave my city with for quite a long time. So far I have only found Stronghold Terrain's cobblestone streets and Tabletop World's Town Square to be of acceptable quality. While the Stronghold streets are very nice in detail they are somewhat narrow. The Vampisol street tiles are designed to be extended in both length and width, so they are perfectly suited to build larger places such as market squares. In fact, I'm looking forward to using all three manufacturers' products for my board.
Update (July 17th): The new Vampisol website is up so the links are now fixed. Also, to see the finished cobblestones, check out Part 3 of the Gierburg dock section.
In the "Spur 0" range (see: O Scale) there are two sections with great products for 28mm wargamers: "Kopfsteinpflaster" (cobblestones) and "Mauerplatten" (stonework). Let's look at the cobblestones first:
Cobblestone Streets
 |
| "Segmentbogenpflasterplatte" (V3050), cobblestone street with segmental arch pattern |
 |
| "Anschlußstück, Kreuzungsbauteil Segmentbogenpflaster" (V3054), connection/crossing piece for the segmental arch streets |
There are two types of cobblestone patterns available:
- Segmental arch pattern (depicted above)
- Stretcher bond pattern (see below) [Wikipedia]
 |
| "Pflasterplatte Großformat Reihenverband" (V3056), stretcher bond cobblestone street (two pieces shown) |
The segmental arch cobbles pieces measure 124mm x 131mm and cost €4,50.
The stretcher bond pieces measure 124mm x 70mm and cost €3,00 a piece.
There is a super useful street planner PDF file available that allows you to get a proper impression of the cobblestone pieces' sizes. This was very helpful and I wish every terrain manufacturer would offer similar guides for their products. Very good service indeed!
Stonework
The other cool section - "Mauerplatten" - consists of three types of stonework, each 118mm x 158mm board is €4,00. I ordered the "Bruchstein" (quarrystone, V3001): |
| "Bruchstein" (V3001), quarrystone wall |
 |
| Comparison shot with a Black Scorpion pirate and a fishwife by Warlord Games |
The three available designs are: Ashlar, flagstone and the already mentioned quarrystone.
From left to right: "Bruchstein" (quarrystone), "Werkstein" (ashlar), "Haustein" (flagstone)
All mentioned Vampisol products are made from dental plaster. The stonework boards are available in either white or grey colour. A little word of caution: The cobblestone and stonework pieces are 2mm thin and some of them arrived broken from shipping. This is no big deal though because the breaking edges of the plaster are "clean" and are not visible when putting the pieces together. Also, there's always a small bag of plaster included to fill gaps with when assembling and "building" the final layout.
Verdict: Highly recommended! I have been looking for nice cobblestone and/or flagstone boards to pave my city with for quite a long time. So far I have only found Stronghold Terrain's cobblestone streets and Tabletop World's Town Square to be of acceptable quality. While the Stronghold streets are very nice in detail they are somewhat narrow. The Vampisol street tiles are designed to be extended in both length and width, so they are perfectly suited to build larger places such as market squares. In fact, I'm looking forward to using all three manufacturers' products for my board.
Update (July 17th): The new Vampisol website is up so the links are now fixed. Also, to see the finished cobblestones, check out Part 3 of the Gierburg dock section.
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