The Narrow House

Next up was the Narrow House. Again, I was shooting for something that would be quick to customize and build.

At least, I'm pretty sure this is the Narrow House. :) At only two pages, it cranks out quickly. Again, getting roofs lined up is the worst part for me. I didn't double-up the walls and roofs, and I kind of wish I did, but it'll survive without.

So, what next?

The Hermit's Hutch

So yeah, the Hermit's Hutch came next. It was a quick build, and it looks great. I can really see the difference the matte photo paper makes. Against the buildings I did on cheapo cardstock, these prints are so much more vibrant.

I'm really not a fan of some of the ways these buildings get assembled. For example, getting the roofs on is unnecessarily fiddly - lining up the edges and knowing that they're going on straight would benefit from some guides on the roof texture, or else some rigid internal supports would keep things lined up. In any case, I seem to be able to get it put together without, so maybe I'm just a whiner.

Building my collection of buildings by building more buildings!

I let my kids pick you which buildings to work on next. One was The Storehouse:

It's another super-quick build - four walls and a roof! Oh, and a ladder. :) My kids seem to prefer the wooden shingled roofs over the thatched style. I've been adding an extra layer of cardstock on all of the walls and roof pieces to make them feel a little more solid. They're fine without it, but they just feel more substantial with the extra weight. I'm not using the bases that come with the sets - I plan on making some custom Terrainlinx tiles to accommodate the buildings in different settings.

After this, my younger son picked The Watchtower:

This is still a work-in-progress. I let my son choose which layers to apply, and he decided he wanted four balconies and the stairs. I've only done one small and one large balcony, so two more to go before I can move on.

I think after this one, I'm going to rip through a couple more simple buildings, like The Hermit's Hutch, a Stone Tower, and maybe a Quaint House before I try another complicated house.

Actualy *building* something - Dave Graffam houses

I haven't built anything in a long time now. I've been pushing pixels and testing prints, but I haven't really built any models in forever. So, last night, I was sifting through my harddrive and remembered that I had purchased a huge bundle of Dave Graffam models. It was on sale, and rather than stress over what buildings to buy, I figured I'd collect em all (at least, whichever ones were available at the time!)

Well, I've built a couple, but there are a couple things I found out about the buildings. (1) I really like having an interior, and most of these (almost all) have no interior. (2) I really don't have space for hundreds of buildings. These are all static builds. (3) The textures are good. Certainly good enough to play with. But they're not exceptional. They typically make use of layers to add/remove features like windows and doors. The result can often look cut-and-paste, so it's best not to stare too hard at the details... I'm so used kitbashing, it's hard NOT to stare too closely at the pixels.

In any case, here are some pics of some Rustic Cabins:

I picked something small to get back into things. They go together VERY quickly, and though they're really similar in shape, they are totally different textures. There are so many buildings to choose from. I think the next thing I build might be... oh, I don't know. It'll be a surprise.

First batch of half-height walls submitted

That's one of the promo pics (I'm *terrible* at promo pics!) for the first set of half-height walls. Thoumont's Stone Half-Height Walls.

I sure hope people like them. I really think the size is perfect for minis.

I'm waiting to get feedback on this set before I clean up and submit others.

Cathedrae TLX

I realized I hadn't even cracked open the PDFs of the Cathedrae Noctis, so I decided to dip my toe in and see how bad it would be to get it down to TLX format.

With other conversion-type kitbashes I've done, one big question is whether the walls and posts will look good together. I'm not pursuing this as a conversion right now - just playing around with the textures slowly, seeing what kind of effects will come from it.

Picture of the fountain

Well, that's it! It's pretty close to what I was hoping for, but it's WAY to fiddly to be totally happy with. I think the fountain part in the middle should be a teeny bit smaller, and the lion head should be smaller by quite a bit. I also have to imagine that making the fountain base in two parts - one being a hollow hex, and then a solid hex for the water inserted in the middle - would be easier than assembling the little pieces. The tabs will be much bigger, and the assembly is more straight-forward.

But, I made it! I'll try a version 2 and see how much easier I can make it. Time to buy a full version of PePaKuRa Designer!