About Me

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London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
A mythical beast - a female wargamer! I got back into wargaming in the summer of 2011 after a very, very long break and haven't looked back since. I must admit that I seem to be more of a painter/collector than a gamer, but do hope to correct that at some point in the near future. My gaming interests span the ages, from the "Biblical" era all the way through to the far future. I enjoy games of all sizes, from a handful of figures up to major battles (see my megalomaniacally sized Choson Korean and Russian Seven Years War armies).

Tuesday 6 November 2012

4Ground Dark Ages Buildings

As you may recall, I bought a pair of 4Ground buildings from their 28mm Dark Ages range while I was at SELWG a few weeks ago. I've finished assembling them now, so here are my pics and thoughts.

Anglo-Dane Dwelling (28S-DAR-103)









Late Saxon/High Medieval Hovel (28S-DAR-102)








These buildings were easy to assemble and for the most part needed no reference to the instructions. The only fiddly bit was assembling the "fire box" for each building (the raised area of the floor) and the most awkward bit was attaching the smoke hood on the Anglo-Danish building.

Being made of MDF, assembly only needed PVA glue, with the exception of the smoke hood - I used superglue gel to attach that.

These were "pre-painted" models. The paint job is fairly basic, but looks fine for gaming.

If I was to buy more of these, I would probably:
1) Give the walls and any exposed woodwork on the roofs a brown ink wash to dirty them up a bit. I might also wash the teddy-bear fur thatch to give it a bit of depth.
2) Before adding the walls, I would probably do some work on the floor - add the fire box; coat the floor with basing texture; paint and wash the texture; coat the floor with dilute PVA and sprinkle chopped-up sisal string fibres over it.
3) Paint up the top of the fire box
4) Add "curtains" swept to the side of the windows.

Would I recommend 4Ground's buildings based on my experience with these? Definitely. They are pretty cheap, easy to assemble and look good enough for gaming without any further work.

22 comments:

  1. That looks great. The 'thatch' roof is great, what is the material?

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    1. Skinned teddy bears!!! Muhaha!!

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    2. "For today's the day the teddy bears have their fur skinned!"

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  2. Nice work on the buildings ...the roof came out excellent

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  3. Great work there Tamsin and I think your assessment of these building by 4Ground is spot on but adding curtains? Really, lol

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  4. I've been looking into these in my local hobby shop. Your review adds more positive points. Likely to buy some around Christmas. Thaks

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  5. Beautiful!!!

    I've tried the wall sections lately and am absolutely satisfied.

    4Ground really knows how to make Scenery.

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  6. I agree completely. I have the smaller Saxon house on my work bench right now, and used the mid-size version ina game for the first time last week. There will be more.

    James, the thatch is teddy-bear fur and comes with the house. Simply glue it on and then wash it with diluted white glue and comb it down.

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  7. I'd love to have these. Nice terrain pieces and would look great in a large dio as well. Hope your cold has cleared away!

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  8. WoW - they are very cool. great job on the thatching too

    I am just about to post a review of the 4Ground Barn, which I got as a taster to see if I would get these exact models for my Dark Age village.

    So thanks Tamsin, very useful!

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  9. Nice One Tamsin. They look good and I think your points on how you would alter the process on future buildings is spot on. All the Best Clint

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  10. Very nice looking buidings, you did a good job with the thatch.

    Ian

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  11. I've been considering picking some of these up, they do look nice. thanks for the detailed look at them!

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  12. Not bad at all...if they bring em out in 1/72nd and I´d get me some.
    Thought for the day (sounds a bit R4LW) odd that firms don´t do that, the plans are there on the PC, just resize for 15, 20, 28mm etc alter the price to fit..print to order--logical or?
    Cheers
    paul

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  13. Great looking buildings!
    Phil.

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  14. They look nice and effective and simple to build to.

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  15. Thanks guys.

    @ PK - well more of a scrap of hide or whatever than chintz, probably rolled up out of the way. Gotta keep that wind and rain out after all.

    @ Paul of the Bods - from what I've heard/read about 4Ground they are quire amenable to re-scaling their products, so it's worth asking them.

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  16. I'm tempted to get some of their 15m stuff

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  17. Difficult to fault these, great looking results Tamsin.

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  18. This post compels me to get my 4ground buldings completed. A great product.
    cheers

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  19. They are very nice buildings. Great looking roof.

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  20. Wuao lovely house


    genial, I love it.

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