Slowly bringing in the New Year...

Bit of a slow start for me this year. Not work wise, as that's been very busy (along with commission work) but just getting used to there being a New Year. Didn't seem to sink in that much.

Any way, for the first post of the year I've got a little diorama/terrain piece and some more for the SALUTE table.

This piece was for a very nice chap called Brian who is great to work for as he has an idea and then lets me get on with it using my expertise in the subject.

It was for a smallish addition to some of the other terrain I've done for him (see photos below) and is a yadoya, or inn, on a small separate base with an attached garden.

Most houses etc in small towns and villages (right up to the largest ones) would have a small garden or enclosure out the back. This would be used for perhaps a small garden, storage area (the unpainted building in the photo is a small kura or storehouse) or sometimes just a semi private place away from the bustle of the main street.

Construction was quite simple, a yadoya was taken from my stock and put in place at the front of the base, a fence was first sketched in place and then later permanently attached. it needed to be worked out first for the even placement of the uprights.

A small storehouse (or kura) was made next based on the same sort of design as the one in the catalogue but smaller and this was placed at the rear.A small well was built also and put towards the rear as this sees to have been the case more often than not. An outside toilet was also added to the side of the inn.

Once all the parts were in place the base was sanded as normal and then painted in the same way that all the Japanese terrain is done.

You can see the layout of the piece in the photo. The bases measures approximately 150mm x 250mm.

A couple of trees were added to give a bit more character and the well had a small rope with a weight attached. a few growies were added around the base to break up the ground colour.

Doing this piece has added to an idea for my SALUTE board by utilizing the same idea for smaller, individual 'boards' that have one or two buildings on and can lead to greater variety in the future.

As you can see it is a very versatile set up with plenty of options, especially with more building bases. The one on the right is for Wayland Games as I am making their Bushido board for SALUTE (more posts on that soon). The one to the rear is Brians and the one at the front is mine for my SALUTE table.

For now I'll leave you with a few different shots of the original building base.

ttfn