Wind Pumping: My Take on the Busaco Wind ... Mills? (PART 2)

 

Well alright, I have a bit to talk through on this shot. I skipped a few steps as, when it comes down to it, the build is over and it's really all about the painting. I've never fancied myself as a top echelon painter - I leave that to others. Nevertheless, I tried a few more techniques and I think they worked so will share.

Firstly, a long while after the black inked Mod Podge set hard I bought myself some flat brushes and got into the stone work. I painted the whole of both models with a pallet of yellow, raw sienna, black and white - mixing as I went. I used fairly inexpensive acrylic craft paints - I imagine any brand would do.

I hit the stonework with a blackened brown, then picked out a few stones with pale yellow/browns and then dry brushed it with a cream/grey. I hit a few areas with black wash to cover some mortar gaps and then took to stippling the surface with white and then black. I used a cheap and coarse pigs hair (I'm guessing) bristle brush which I squared off (the tip) with some scissors. I then ever so lightly dry brushed over again with a white. I have no idea what stones they are supposed to be but it's close to the photos I was working with.

I pin-washed the roof slates after the initial coat of dark grey. I then built up layers of lighter greys (only slightly) being sure to streak downwards in my applications from the crown to the edges. The macro photography shows all the imperfections including the texture on the card stock I used but trust me, it's all lost under the naked eye - well, my eyes anyway. I then finished it off with some white stippling in those places I imagine birds would loiter ... no respect.

I had to be a bit careful when painting the sails which I built up from an orange tan to faded whitish sail cloth.

Any obvious imperfections I'm putting down to the rustic make-do result of rural building and repair. I have to admit, I'm very pleased with how everything just kept working. After all, I was largely making this up as I went.

The steering poles (or rudders perhaps) likely should end closer to the ground but what the hell.

If you were wondering, no rigging was broken in the painting of these models. I'm really hoping these two pieces of scatter terrain help toward making the table-top feel a bit more period  Spanish.

And another shot just for scale. Well, I've already started some cereal crops with an idea I've been toying with for removable centre sections. I also want to make a vineyard on a rise, some Spanish pine groves and some black olive and orange orchards to kick the battle-fields into touch.
 

This has been a really worthwhile break from figure painting - not to mention the relative tedium of re-basing an army but my expansion into the Spanish Peninsular for 1810 won't paint itself.