So, it;s been quite awhile since I have posted anything here, but as I am adjusting to being in the corn, and with monthly gaming sessions on the horizon, I have started to 'find the mood'. ('Moods: a thing for love play and cattle'.)(Extra points if you tell me where that reference is from.)
I bought these log cabin kits from Hobby Lobby months ago for about $4 each and they have been sitting around since the day I got them. Yesterday I had the urge to get them out and take a look at them. I bought them for M&T originally but it seemed I may never play the game again. Even if I don't I decided I wanted a go at these things. I had three 'houses' and put one together straight away. All they are, is Lincoln Logs we used to get as kids. A spot of white glue on each join and it was together; took about 15 minutes. (The roof was a bit of a beeyatch,) But I also wanted to combine two of them to make a bigger house. I was unsure how to do that but I was determined to make it happen.
Here's the two buildings assembled and the one is partly completed.
Spoiler alert! I figured out how to make one building out of two kits! (I wish I would have straightened the chimley for this picture.) I had to use my tiny saw to properly size some of the pieces but it all came together.
So, you can see how the two separate buildings fit together but there was the gap of about three inches I needed to fix somehow.
So I decided to make a fireplace wall using simple cardboard. I took two triangular corners from a box of clementines and glued them together to make a square chimney. Then I was left with the daunting task of making the roof fit.
Here you can see the last wall and how it slides into place to complete the building. Also note the roofing. I took the easy way out (Surprise, surprise!) and used and old Cinnamon Toast Crunch box (BTW, the best cereal in the history of man), to create plank roofing as I have seen in some F&IW reconstructions when I lived back in civilization. Shake shingles are probably more appropriate but they are also an appropriately bigger pain in the ass, so... Enjoy plank roofing.
This is the chimney and the two halves of the roof that interlock around it to complete the house. This took the longest times and absolutely the most curse words. I am no engineer. My brain does not work that way. But, after an hour (or two), and with lots of tape holding things together, I finally managed to make it work. (Don't look too closely if you ever see these in person.)
I used a dremel tool from my pal Paul to beat up the logs a bit before using brown ink to color it. Then I again used the dremel to sand away parts and give it a less uniform look. Plus the sanding really helped look like the logs were hewn. I mean, you know, don't look real close. They'll be fine on the gaming table surrounded by other terrain.
So, I got all this done yesterday and thought I might do another post when I complete both buildings. I need to batter and ink and sand the big one, plus give the chimley the same treatment as the fireplace wall to make it look like stone, and then paint them both. And I need to figure out a treatment for the roofs, but it will more than likely just be painted.
