Part Three: Medieval Castle, Bathing Women

30Mar
by patmcf

Well here we are, the add-on I was talking about on my last blog. I had some of the Valdemar bath figures left after only using a few on the retreat from Corunna diorama and it came to me that what could I do with them when I read somewhere that contrary to belief, the early medieval folk were pretty clean. So there was my answer, I could put the ladies on a separate board having a good time bathing in the river away from prying eyes.  That meant water effects again, but I’m getting used to it’s funny little habits and there was no way around it, so I thought I could match it up alongside the castle but it could also stand on its own.  With a bit of trial and error I managed to achieve what I wanted.  The only bugbear was the use of ply wood which buckled and made lining the two up side by side difficult.  Well I won’t be using that again!.

The river turned out ok but it was hard to match up, but with the degree of difficulty I was facing, it turned out alright. As for the trees I’m getting better at them now (thanks again Dave).  I have found 1mm static grass is really good for puffing onto the foliage as it is so fine and doesn’t look so much like pine needles.

Lastly to the figures, they are so well done I really wanted to do justice to them as the sculptor has put so much work into them to get them to this fine standard. And why are they on a separate board you may wonder.  Firstly, I only thought about it after nearing the completion of the castle, and secondly, some people may be offended by nudity, so if word got to me that someone wishing to view it would be upset, I could always slip the offending piece away and they would be none the wiser as they are designed to be able to stand alone!

Apology. In my last post I criticised the Greenline rushes.  I now retract that criticism as I realised that the instructions I’d read were for the wrong plants!  They had provided two sets of instructions and I’d read the wrong ones. Strangely enough if I’d read the right ones, there would have turned out very well.  Lesson learnt!

210×600   1.250 kg

25 thoughts on “Part Three: Medieval Castle, Bathing Women”

  1. Pingback: Part Two: Medieval Castle – Pat's 1:72 Military Diorama's

  2. theimperfectmodeller

    Fantastic work Pat. Love the scene and your eye for detail. Looks great on its own but even better when lined up with castle. The river and vegitation are extremely well done and life like. I am sure you are proud of it and so you should be. What do you have planned next?

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks Dave it did take awhile but what with getting the river right ,once that was ok it was easy as there aren’t many figures to position .I’m finding doing the vegetation a lot of fun now and am learning all the time. As you say the figures are brilliant and were a pleasure to paint . Next step mate is a big step down in size and a more modern subject a bit of WWII stuff but from the other side of the world from the one you did .

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks mate ,I’m going to have a go at putting one on the other side of the castle but that will be sometime of as I feel I need a break from castles and have a few small jobs on the horizon and I’m running out of space ! .

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks John, I’m ok with towels and rugs but the dresses ,well they received an ok from the girls but next time I should enlist Roger’s help if he chooses to move in the new direction he is thinking of !. I’m trying out that paint method today on the tank and have painted up the guys so things are underway on that front .

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    1. patmcf

      Sorry for the slow response mate ,been busy as a bloody bee in spring! .Thanks mate it is always a pleasure to work with great figures and these Valdemar ones are so good and special so I now request them for my Xmas and birthday gifts ,so with the birthday coming up in a few weeks ,fingers crossed for a few more to complete the left hand side add on ! .

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks Mark ,as I said to TIM I’m really getting to like doing vegetation on these dio’s and I’m looking forward to doing some from the opposite side of the world ,the tropics .I have been sourcing various trees and shrubbery over the last couple of weeks so it will be interesting if I can pull it off on this one .

      Liked by 1 person

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  8. Marvin

    Excellent work! Once again I am in awe of your diorama making skills. There are so many things that seem so natural thanks to the thought that’s gone into it. The discarded clothes on the rock, the small pebbles near the water edge, the meandering water and thick vegetation, etc, etc.

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    1. patmcf

      Thankyou Marvin ,I really like it when you guys spot the little things ,I always say it’s the attention to the small details that makes a diorama that little bit more interesting .

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    1. patmcf

      Ha Ha ! thanks mate you are on the money there ,It was in the original plan but it slipped my mind and I used the figures I intended to use on the main castle so forgot about it until you mentioned it ! I might add this if I find a suitable figure in the future so cheers mate ,and I’ll let you know if and when it happens .

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  11. Paul H

    Excellent ! It fits perfectly to the Castle. All Castles had some sort of small Settlement near to them so now you only Need to add one and possibly a small Wood with a hunting Scene and then….;-)

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    1. patmcf

      Sorry Paul still trying to master that little thing called a smart phone ! As I was saying I originally wanted to sit it beside the Medieval village but as it got neglected things changed .Funny you mentioned a hunting scene because I had that in mind using the Strelets Norman camp guys but in the end there wasn’t enough room ! .There is going to be another scene to the left of the castle the same size as the bathers in the future . the other plan is a renovation of the village so it will match up to the new one ,fingers crossed and maybe after that your little hunting scene as I like your I dear of it being in a small wood ,so thanks for the idea mate .Cheers Pat .

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