Pages

Pages

Tuesday, 25 November 2025

Completing a half-finished building

Some time ago, I built a model border fortress based on a kit I bought from an English Heritage shop. When I finished it, it looked like this:

Initially, I painted it medium grey ...

... but I felt that the walls needed some sort of texture. I therefore put it to one side until I could think of a way to achieve that end result.

After my recent splurge of painting and basing model buildings, I decided to apply the techniques I have been using to this model border fortress. To give the walls some texture, I applied a coat of PVA glue to the walls and dipped them in fine cork granules. Once that had dried, I painted the walls with Tank Grey (Humbrol No.67).

I then dry brushed the walls with White (Revell No.05) and the planks with Earth Brown (Humbrol No.29). I then flocked the base with fine cork granules.

The end result looked like this:

I am rather pleased with the way this border fortress now looks, and it doesn't look out of place with the other buildings I have painted recently.


During a search of my box of spare bits and pieces, I found the unused components of the wooden castle model I used to build this border fortress … and there looks as if there enough left to build a small castle/fortress!

7 comments:

  1. Very effectfull!!
    This war a clever yet easy way to add 'life' to your castle walls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roger,

      Cheers! I had thought of using plaster or modelling clay but decided that PVA and fine cork granules would be a faster and simpler method to use.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Looks good Bob - I've done similar by mixing coarse sand into emulsion paint with a bit of white glue; not sure if the last ingredient was really necessary but it felt right!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maudlin Jack Tar,

      Cheers! I’ve also used the sand, paint, and PVA method but sometimes found that it could take days to dry.

      I think that the PVA is essential as it seems to hold the sand particles together better than paint on its own.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Geordie an Exiled FoG,

      Cheers! I have some more buildings to construct and paint … and hope to get them done by Christmas.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

Thank you for leaving a comment. Please note that any comments that are spam or contain phishing messages or that come from Google Accounts that are 'Unknown' will be deleted.