We’re always pleased to hear of other modellers projects, this post comes from modeller Pete Harris…
If like me, you are interested in the Napoleonic period, and specifically Waterloo, you will know the significance of La Haye Sainte and Hugomont. These buildings were pivotal during the battle and I was keen to have something similar for my war gaming table. Obviously, it’s possible to buy the exact replicas, but there are two drawbacks :
- They are relatively expensive.
- They take up a lot of space.
So I decided to produce something that had a similar look to La Haye Sainte, but with a smaller footprint. I started with the main farmhouse building and for this I purchased the Hugomont Farmhouse from Hovels, together with their 20mm wall sections and pillars. I chose 20mm sections instead of 25/28mm because the height is just right for a firing line to stand behind without a need for a firing step.
The rest of the farmstead is scratch built using an old Hornby station building, plasticard, Wills tiled roof sheets and Milliput. The base is two pieces of thin hardboard, laminated together and then covered with PVA and sprinkled with sand. All the structures were base coated in coffee coloured acrylic paint and then dry brushed in various shades to achieve the finished effect.
During construction I noticed the Hovel’s building, although stated as 25/28mm scale, had small doorways. So I cut out the stone framework to enlarge them and then used Milliput around the new openings to replace the stonework. The doors and gateway were made from strips of balsa, and green scatter was added around the base of the walls and buildings. Finally, I added some Renedra barrels and sacks made from Milliput under the lean to shed.
If you’d like to share your work with us, then leave us a comment or drop an email to arcanescenery@gmail.com.