As regular blog readers will know, I've always hankered after having some sort of indoor equivalent of John Ruddle's garden wargames setup.
John's setup included a garden railway, and it was looking at several of the photographs that included railway track that inspired me to think about modelling a border fortress that is served by a spur from a major railway line.
The only problem was that I didn't have a model fortress to use on my layout ... and then I remembered that back in 2023 I bought a plywood model castle from the English heritage shop at Deal Castle. Luckily, I had not put it into storage and after a quick search of my toy/wargame room, I found it.
The pieces just push together, and when fully assembled, it looks like this:
I assembled mine ... and realised that it was far too large for the layout BUT that its parts could be adapted so that I could build a small fortress and have plenty of parts over that I could use to build other buildings. For example, the two towers could be used as the basis of a church or cathedral.
My next task is to build my small border fortress ... and I hope to do that over the next week.
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Bob -
ReplyDelete... or a Peel Tower, maybe? I was wondering about the poor castle garrison, discovering that shields are as permeable as air to cannon balls...
As always, lost in admiration for John Ruddle's world.
Cheers,
Ion
Rather than a Peel tower, what about a Martello? Many remained standing into the railway age.
Delete'During the Second World War, some Martello towers returned to military service as observation platforms and firing platforms for anti-aircraft artillery.' (wikipedia)
So you could put a WWII AA gun on top and the spur line is used to deliver ammunition and remove empty shell cases.
Best wishes, Arthur
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI envisage the border fortress being an old castle that has been rebuilt so that it can fulfil its new purpose as an artillery fort. Lots of old coastal forts underwent this sort of conversion during the period from 1800 to 1940, and it was no unusual to see medieval castles with concrete artillery positions and machine gun bunkers added to them.
I had not thought about building a Peel tower. It might have been easier to convert the toy castle’s keep into one if I had!
All the best,
Bob
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteThe problem with a Martello tower is that it is round … and I don’t have anything suitable to hand to use as a basis for one.
Sue and I almost bought a Martello tower many years ago. It was on sale at a very reasonable price and had already been converted into a home. Its living room was the old gun platform, which had been glazed to give a 360-degree outlook. Unfortunately, we missed buying it by a whisker as it was the age of gazumping … and we were gazumped!
All the best,
Bob
Bob, you could make an acceptable Martello by gluing some think paper around the larger size of yoghurt pot and then adding some texture with a coat of paint. I did that years ago to make a Peel tower with William for a school history project. That should be no problem for an experienced modeller like yourself!
DeleteI expect you've already got a suitable AA gun in your collection.
Good luck, whatever you do. Arthur
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteThanks for the suggested Martello tower construction method. I’ve made quite a lot of progress converting my toy castle into an artillery fort but will look at building a Martello tower next.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteSplendid idea to include a Castle for your model railway. If a Castle is to big you could produce a Fortified Manor House. Cheers. KEV.
Kev,
DeleteThat’s a great idea! The only problem is that the toy castle is far too big for the floating shelf! I’d be able to just about get it on to the shelf, but then there would be no room for the track!
All the best,
Bob
Brilliant idea Bob, makes me think you could base it on the classic Kenneth More film Nortwest Frontier. Regards Paul.
ReplyDeletePDL (Paul),
DeleteCheers! I’d forgotten that film … and it’s very interesting locomotive and rolling stock.
All the best,
Bob