Hudson and Allen Highland Crofts Step by Step

Further to my 1745 Rising project I have decided to expand my buildings and pick up some of the lovely Hudson and Allen Highland Crofts to compliment the buildings I already have.

 Less than two weeks for the parcel to arrive and great communication from the US supplier Vatican Enterprises http://www.wargamescenics.com/products.html

The resin is a nice Amber, light and durable. Little frustrated by the 20% customs duty and £8 fee but even so these are still good value I feel, including all the taxes and postage less than £100 for the lot.

I usally prime black but being low on black spray I have cheated with white mostly, lets see how that works out.

First I tried blacking out the door and windows, then slopping some watered down dark brown to get a base coat, doesnt need to be too thick but does need to be dark in all the cracks, I didnt bother doing the black first after the first one as I ended up slopping brown all over it anyway, the black can wait till later in the process for the rest.

I am starting with brown as I dont want my crofts to have all grey stonework like most I have seen but want a more sandstone look to them. This will match the buildings I already have.

I mainly use Colour Party Paints. Apart from supporting a local small business they are also my favourite paints, great coverage, nice texture and some lovely colours. Them being a 10 minute drive for me is just a really nice bonus. The brown I use is MA10 Negro flesh but any chocolate brown colour would work.

The branches, twigs, rushes etc that made the original base of the rooves poke through the models in various places adding some nice character, I want to highlight these so again a slap of brown to kick those areas off.

The turf areas are going to be mainly shades of green, that might seem obvious but initially I though it would mainly be dead grass, so brown or buff. All the images I have googled though give relatively lush green grass so thats good enough for me. Again a slap of dark green base coat, slightly watered down  in-consistantly, this has ended up giving me different shades of green as it floods the white primer, I actually quite like how that has ended up and this first one is starting to show what the end result might give us.

The green I am using is MA4 Rifle Green, a nice dark base coat. Where it runs over into the brown it makes a darker colour so again creating a really uneven look which I like. 

From now on most of the painting is dry or wet brushing. So first layer to bring out the stone work is going to be MA41 staffwood , this has a hint of khaki/mustard to it which I quite like. I am wet brushing this, exactly same technique as dry brushing just a bit more paint on the brush to get a lot of coverage but leave all those cracks in the stone work the original very dark brown. I have then blacked out the doors and windows on the second model.

The woodwork on the roof has also recived a strong dry brush with MA36 Eurasian flesh bizarely , this is my prefered colour for any wood, whether thats thatch or spear shafts.

Whenever I am painting something I usually get a moment where I think "This is rubbish its not working" this was my moment, at this stage it really doesn't look very good and its becoming hard to see what the end result will yield. Stick with it.

Next I wet brush the doors and windows with a mid grey, I used MA30 battleship grey, just leaving traces of black here and there for the deeper cracks. 

Then its my first proper dry brush onto the stone work with a buff colour. MA58 tanned flesh I think, it is however an old bottle with faded writing so hard to read and I could be wrong.

Now I want to dry brush the grass, for this I use a yellow colour, in this instance I use Lemon yellow from Miniature paints, just because thats what I have to hand and it works well. However as it is bright you have to be careful not to brush it too heavily or it looks a bit odd.

The grass over the rocks on the right is a bit heavy in places so I will stick a wash of rifle green over it to tone it down a bit.

Lastly the whole lot with the exception of the grass gets a good dry brush using MA33 bleached linen, a really nice pale ivory colour. This brings all the detail in the models out and brightens the whole piece. Amazing what a difference this last step makes.

All that remains is to add a few tufts for colour and texture, I have used some purple flowers as heather and also dropped a couple of tufts on the rooves as I like how scruffy it makes them look. You might also add some details like door knobs etc, you can just see one in the rear building and it makes a difference.

So to finish some nice shots of the two crofts with some miniatures for comparison, really pleased with these, onto the next two.

I am sure this is not to everyones taste, the daker grey granite type stone work adds a dour look which may be in keeping with many peoples perception of the rainy highlands but I prefer this brighter look. I make no preffession that this is how to do it, just my take on it and I am happy with the end result. Hope you like, starting the next two soon and who knows one day I may even get to play with them. Stay safe.