Hi Nik

Yep,the plan is to wait until the whole structure is finished and then i will weather it and dirty it up in one go so i get a consistent look to the grime :-)

Cheers

Craig

Shaping up nicely. The modular approach works well, and the use of anaglypta is inspired. 

I spent soemtime this evening measuring and drawing out the plans for the 10mm town/city I am making. Key to the design will be a 200mm square of ply which will hold the central cobbled market place and covered walkways (couverts), which were common to many of the 700 Bastides of Southern France. I am using Mirepoix as my inspiration for the central square, as I have visited the town and as a result have a fair grasp of the feel of the place, how close the buildings are too each other, access points Etc.



Whilst Mirepoix is one source of inspiration, my plans for my Bastide are very different to reality as it is impossible to detail every building, alley and street of a town the size of Mirepoix.  As a result my model will be a bastardised version, enjoying tall city walls, the market place, a cobbled street from the main city gate to the square and a number of shops, smithies and houses. Unlike Mirepoix (where access to the market square is at its corners), my model will have an archway into its central square. My mock up plans (at present) look like, the pic below:



Modelling work continues, adding buildings to the inside of the city walls, which will be finished before I start on the buildings and covered walkways of the square.

This has the potential to be one of those projects we all remember and refer to once we begin our own.
Whatever you do Craig, don't rush it, it's got me seriously tempted to do my own and your patience has paid dividends.
If you devote as much effort to the 'finishing' as you have to the design, this could be one to emulate and potentially make it into one of 'the mags'.

Good work chap.

Ry

Market Square skribbles



Archway is a bit long and thin, will be more squat.

Cheers,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

This is going to look SO good......Keep it going Craig !
Cheers - Phil

MASSIVE UPDATE>>>>>>>>PICTURE HEAVY

Another busy week/weekend, with lots of progress on the Bastide.  The city walls and outer building structures are largely complete, which means next I will turn my attention to building the central square, but firstly, some eye candy of progress to date:

In "closed city" form (ie all sides joined to make a square):









In "open city" form (ie adjoining table edge):



In long wall form:



Biggest revelation this week is using Vallejo's plastic putty applied with a paintbrush and smoothed with water to give an instant render to foamcore buildings......quick, and very easy to  do.

As I mentioned in my previous post my plan is to make a number of different centre pieces, all of which will fit the same square template, which is a piece of ply that is about 180mm square with a built in road that leads to the main gates. The first square I will make is a typical bastide market square with covered walkways, but the plan is to also make a monastery or cathedral, and a castle keep at some point in the future. However, for now the template is marked out for a market square, with buildings on all 4 sides and on the approach road. 

In additon I have made some extra cobbled streets from more anaglypta (this time stuck to sticky backed foam as its easy to cut to shape) that will run off the market square, this will allow for greater flexibility when beiing used in open and long wall forms:





So still lots and lots more work to do, but so far it is going to plan. More pics and progress reports on my blog later tonight/tomorrow.

Best regards,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models
http://www.wargames.blog.co.uk

Looking really good Craig 

Excellent work Craig .

Stroll on !!
Cheers - Phil.

Coming together nicely, Craig. Looking forward to seeing the finished article. 

Thanks for all the comments so far.....

Cardboard mock-up of the market square arcades



Having completed the bulk of the city walls structure I have turned my attention to the city market square and its covered arcades or "couverts" (to give them their proper name). Stictly speaking a bastide is arranged on a grid, or certainly to a regimented pattern,with a central market square which was used for commercial and political/social gathering.However in order to make a useable modular city that can be used in closed form (all 4 walls together to form a square) or in open format (walls adjoining a table edge) it has been neccesary to create a simpler layout. However I did not want to lose what was the focal point of the bastide, the square.

As it will be quite a tight fit, with couverts on three of the four sides of the square (with an archway on the fourth), I decided to make a mock up from cardboard to check dimensions, and ensure what I had in mind would both fit, and look good. As you can see from the pic below, its difficult to get a true idea of how it will look until all 4 sides are built, but it certainly will have the enclosed, medieval feel I was hoping for.



I have a few technical challenges to overcome in making the wooden support struts, as they are very fine, but need to be cut quite precisely, however the build of the foamcore buildings should be relatively easy as I will use the cardboard mock up to make a template. Once completed, the bottom half of each building will be covered in anaglypta to create stone bases and the top halves will be "rendered" with Vallejo Plastic Putty and will have timbers, shutters and other detailing added made from balsa wood.



All the best,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

Looks good and very inspiring, Craig.
Will the pillars be set back a bit to give the upperstory overhang as in the photo?
Cheers, Colin

Yes Albie, if things go to plan 

I had a quiet hour before work this morning, made a dozen struts for the markets couverts............here's how:



Regards,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

They work well and easy to glue plus nice and strong .

What type of foam did you use for the walls?

Looking really good Craig.

But you're forgetting to use the old Blue Peter standby of "Here's one I made earlier."
Cheers - Phil.

I bet you all thought I had given up on this mad project of mine? No way, just been busy painting minis for a few weeks!

In readiness for finishing the Bastide I thought I would knock up a little bit if scenery that would give me the opportunity to try out the half timbered finish I am planning for most of my buildings, as well as practicing painting 3d shutters on flat bits of card and mock wooden planks for the stables.

Here's what I got....(apologies crap camera on phone!)



Relatively happy with the look so hoping yo crack on with the Bastide during my upcoming time off work. More pics to follow soon.

Cheers

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

Like!