Why Cardstock?
Over the years I've tried all sorts of building methods. The one thing I've very rarely done is bought buildings. Being hard up,I'd far rather spend my hard won cash on figures rather than scenery items and so I've built them.
My preferred method used to be making a simple framework of mounting board or sometimes just cereal packets, covering it with a mixture of plaster and PVA and inscribing the detail into it before painting whilst still slightly damp. The results were quite good, though my artistic skills were lacking -either that or I was just in too much of a hurry-and the models were certainly durable. These ones were made over 30 years ago now for a huge inter club "Waterloo" game between mixed teams from the Lincoln and Scunthorpe clubs at the "Black Eagle" in Lincoln (Ah! happy days!!) Aside from re-painting, the models are still fine despite being in a damp shed for a few years.
These are of course built for 15-18mm figures. The only trouble is they are quite heavy and don't respond well to being dropped!
At the Gainsborough club, we built a huge 8x18 foot table. It was supposed to be done with moveable terrain, but one of the lads "Capability Ken" went in and did it himself. It wasn't moveable but looked pretty good and he populated it with whole communities of "Fiddler's Green" postcard houses.
A little later, my friend Mike Garrett from Lincoln asked me if we could put on some games for a show "Small World" he was organising at Lincoln Castle, in the rooms above where the Magna Carta is displayed. It was an interesting idea -not just wargames, but model railway clubs, dolls' house collectors and toy collectors were also represented -anything to do with the world in miniature.
We committed to two games, a 20mm ww2 game and a fantasy game of my own devising set in Vietgnome, or simply "The Gnome". As we needed a lot of buildings for a small French town, I decided to use cardstock models intended for model railways and fell in love with the 3D look it was possible to get from such a simple material, so I added to the bought ones -the only ones I've ever bought. I forgot about these!!- with my own hand crafted versions.
Of course, what really allowed me to start using cardstock buildings was the advent of the PC, drawing programmes and the internet. It suddenly became possible to plan a building, colour it using textures from CGI sites or even just photos, and to layer them up, print them off and build. You don't even need to make your own -you can find some lovely buildings online and all you have to do is print them onto card and put them together. I've built a few of these though with a lot of them I've "re-skinned" them using CGI textures rather than the finishes they are made with.
The thing is, cardstock is cheap, versatile, surprisingly durable and can look very realistic -take a look at any good model railway layout. Even a navy is possible using card!
A simple village forge, printed on one sheet of card
These are a German farm from Bastelbogen Monsdorfer. I've started to re-skin parts of this so it can be built on the flat and with coloured eaves etc. This was my first attempt and it's a pig to build. Next time, I'll know what I'm about with it!
These are of a first fit model of a generic farm in 15mm. the roofs need extending, eaves colouring etc, but the inset doors and windows are working well. It would help if my mathematics skills were better so I could work out the size of roofs needed instead of using trial and error!
La Belle Alliance
Finally, these are the nets for La Belle Alliance and a couple of illustrations I took it from. Print out on A4 card or paper and glue to card. Use a fixative spray or matt varnish and colour cut edges. Again, this is for 15-18mm figures.The extra doors etc can be cut out in blocks and stuck to the back of spacers to give depth. Don't forget to add tabs! It's best to use a separate strip of card for these as it doesn't distort the shape.
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