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Post by bellealliance on Nov 27, 2017 16:51:28 GMT
Once upon a time I had the Airfix model of La Haye Sainte. It rarely saw service as a complete model, usually being broken up into several smaller components. Our rules used a groundscale of 25 yards to 1 inch, so each structure could represent a village that didn't dominate the whole battlefield. The prototype La Haye Sainte is huge, something like 60 yd east-west by 75 yd north-south - plus extra for the orchard to the south, but at 1/72 it would be 30 in by 37-1/2 in. At my chosen groundscale, still 20-25 yards to 1 inch, this is only 2-1/4 in by 3 in on the tabletop. Clearly some compromise is necessary. One possibility is to use a single small building to represent the farm complex. I have a sample building that is just that size. If the battlefield were less well known, as a wargamer I'd probably go that way. But LHS is so iconic that some kind of artistic representation calls to me, at least. So here are my attempts at creating such a representation from cardboard and PVA. First a drawing on the back of a proverbial envelope. This is still about 6 in by 9 in.  Transposed onto the piece of letter-sized cardboard that will become its base. The drawing was north to the top, the card is north to the left. Note that the card plan isn't identical to the paper plan, but the project evolves as I go, and even this will get moved around a little...  Add some defenders from a KGL Light Battalion for flavor...  To be continued, Kay |
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Post by bellealliance on Nov 27, 2017 17:20:23 GMT
Another pic of the KGL lights on the cardboard floor plan. In the back row, third from the left, you might notice a HaT officer from the British Light Infantry (8036). The remain figures are rifle-armed from the Revell British Riflemen, or musket-armed from the Revell British Infantry with stovepipe shakos from the riflemen. Some of the "Belgic" shakos thus obtained were transplanted onto the now headless riflemen to provide rifle-armed skirmishers for the KGL line battalions.  The aforementioned structure (prior post in thread) that would suffice as the whole complex on a tabletop standing in for the farmhouse at the north end of La Haye Sainte's farmyard. Nearest the camera you can see where the barn will go. The model's projected width is now 5-1/2 in (EW) and 8-1/2 in (NS), the linear dimensions are still some 2-1/2 times larger than groundscale would warrant. The OCD-me is just going to have to live with it! At least on the NS axis, I can make up for this by reducing the size of the orchard.  The first structure goes in. Measure twice; cut once!  Before gluing the walls together, I cut out doors and windows which I then backed with cardboard. I don't know that it creates much depth, other then to make painting the windows and doors easier and thus more crisply. The windows doors and heights are more like 15mm scale (1/120), the linear dimensions even more compressed but with fewer windows and doors etc. I plan on a chimney at each end and three dormer windows on the roof. To be continued, Kay |
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Post by bellealliance on Nov 27, 2017 17:37:49 GMT
Up to date pics of my representation of La Haye Sainte. The stable addition goes up. The archway leads to the west gate. You can also see the west wall of the barn, with its west doorway. This was the door in the barn, apparently, that the soldiers quartered here burnt for firewood, and much regretted by the defenders the next day!  The same from overhead. Before adding the roof I painted the passageway floor in earth color, the inner walls of the passage to simulate limewash, and the inside of the door green.  The remainder of the barn addition is completed. Some of the openings have been painted black. The front gate is well on its way to completion, looking noext for the roof of the dovecote. The gate is not yet glued in place. This is probably going to be its location, but I have enough extra wall on each side of the gate to play around until I'm happy. The wall itself will be three layers of cardboard when finished to give it some strength and suggest the sturdiness of its prototype.  This was my project for the weekend. More posts to come as I put some finishing touches on my representation of La Haye Sainte. Happy modelling, Kay |
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Post by Edwardian on Nov 27, 2017 18:18:12 GMT
A very clever compromise that really captures the essence of the original. Look forward to its progress.
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Post by bellealliance on Nov 30, 2017 14:06:26 GMT
To date, I've gotten my representation of La Haye Sainte to the wargames table phase. Now a couple of posts in illustration... The loft conversion goes ahead. Two chimneys and three dormer windows are added to the roof. This was incredibly fiddly, requiring some fine jewellers forceps, and some very unladylike words. But they ended up in place. Once the PVA had dried, they can only be removed by cutting them off. The prototype appears to have had a more complicated arrangement of dormer windows and three chimneys, but was of course significantly larger in scale terms. Today, there are dormer windows on the north side of the farmhouse, but period prints show only south-facing windows overlooking the farmyard. I do have windows north and south on the ground floor of the farmhouse, but few other egresses on the outward facing walls. Brabant has been the scene of war for centuries, and I presume these farmhouses were built to be defensible, at least from foraging parties.  A battalion of 13me Infanterie Legere attack in column against the east wall under cover of fire given by a battalion of Infanterie de Ligne. I didn't mention it in the previous post, but the barn ended up shorter. Originally I had thought it could extend - as its prototype does today - to the outer stable wall. From what I could gather, in 1815 the barn's west wall met the inner wall of the stables.   The barn was also higher than the other buildings, but didn't look right to me, possibly a result of its shortened EW dimension. Should I remove it or not? After due consideration, I decided yes. After all, I would be looking at this on the wargames table, potentially for years, and it would always bug me. So, I ever so carefully removed the roof by cutting the seams with a craft knife. Then I could cut down the gables and side walls, and replace the roof. These pics show the barn before this modification. In the next post, you will see the barn in its final size. Happy modelling, Kay |
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Post by bellealliance on Nov 30, 2017 14:25:39 GMT
This is the last set of images for now of my representation of La Haye Sainte, although the model will probably feature in future posts. After a first round of painting, the model is acceptable on my wargames table. The color scheme is gray roof (slate), white walls (limewashed brick), and green doors. Period prints show that the limewash had mostly fallen off, so probably brick red for most of the structure would be better, but I haven't had a chance to experiment with painting a brick pattern yet. If I come up with a technique, then maybe I can do this later. Also I have in mind that there will be several more structures to represent including the Chateau Hougoumont, and the village of Smohain with its surrounding farms, La Haye, F(r)ishermont and Papelotte. Aerial view - the final structure has a footprint of about 6 by 9 inches, exclusive of the orchard.  View from the west. You see the west gateway at the end of the stables, and gaping hole of the missing barn door.  View from the south - what the Marshall Ney player will see from their end of the table.  So there it is, La Haye Sainte represented in 6 days - about 20 hours of work, excluding the time spent looking for pictures of the prototype. Back to painting 3/14th Foot and the other buff-faced Brits. My next craft project, I think, will be to model a baseboard representing the crossroads behind LHS, the junction between Alten's 3rd Division and Picton's 5th. Happy modelling, Kay |
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Post by Edwardian on Nov 30, 2017 17:56:21 GMT
Bravo!
Excellent build, very well designed.
It looks great as it is, but for bricks and tiles, consider also Scalescenes
OO = 1/76 scale, so practically 1/72. If you want smaller bricks Eighteenth Century bricks, or want a smaller size to reflect the compromise, print the sheets at a smaller size. Suggest Artist's spray fixative to protect.
These were built to 90% nominal scale as an aid to perspective: 
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Post by bellealliance on Nov 30, 2017 19:34:15 GMT
Hi James, I must say, those Scalescenes downloads look like great value. Bricks for the walls, slate for roofs and maybe even a cobbled Chaussee a Bruxelles. Just sketched this plan scaled from Siborne's map, the black ink here. Shows the crossroads with the northern edge of LHS about 200 yds to the south (8 inches on my tabletop at 1 inch to 25 yards), and then the outline of LHS including its orchard nearly 400 yds southwards. The sandpit is to the east of the chaussee. The green ink represents placement of my LHS on the tabletop. I think I can live with that.  Kay |
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