Wednesday 25 September 2019

The Commandant's Office

As we continue with the build, James and I had considered the idea of detailing some of the interiors and rooms as part of the lecture for the pupils.  At the moment the game play is limited to the exterior of the castle, the rooves, towers, walkways and gatehouses, but the interior presented too many opportunities not to explore in some detail.
We are fortunate in that there are a couple of good, first hand, reports of Castle Itter’s transformation from picturesque schloss-hotel into formidable prison.  Of the existing nine rooms on the first floor, two were given over as offices for the Commander of the SS-TV detachment that formed the permanent guard and his Executive Officer. There was an additional private lounge for the Officers and a latrine and we decide that this suite of rooms might be a good place to start our refurbishment.  
Painting an interior is all well and good, but it suddenly dawned on us that we needed were some items to put in the rooms to make them feel, well, lived in.  “We’ll just make some, what do you need?"  Now there's an offer you can't refuse and before I could say, “flat, pack, furniture”, James had designed and cut a series of sprues to furnish the office of the high command.  We had a set of shelves, a cupboard or wardrobe, a set of chairs and a rather splendid office desk.
The chair sprue gives you a couple of options in that you can press out a couple of shapes and then cut some card for the back and seat or perhaps stick four together for a much more sturdy piece.  Ingenious!  I couldn't resit adding a rail to the inside of my wardrobe, by using some plastic rod, but all of this is optional.  
Painting saw much of the pieces covered in brown, a less than original choice in hind's sight, but it got the job done.  I had a little fun with the office desk by adding some coffee cup rings to the surface and some scratches to the worn leather writing panel. One rather lovely surprise was just how useful the Imperial Eagle was.  This was just a little fun to fill up the sprue, but I rather like it hanging above the door. 
The wall panels in the pictures are prototypes for the castle interiors, although the windows will eventually be a different shape and will have frames in them before too long. I used a couple to establish the furniture, painting them in much the same way. The addition of some Vallejo Red Oxide hinted at a crumbling wall surface above the wood panelling and what with the addition of some paintings and trophies the illusion was complete.
With the offices underway, James turned his attention to a couple of items that might be useful for the barrack room, namely some bunk beds and individual lockers.  These haven’t been painted yet, but the rawness of the scorched MDF rather suites the utilitarianism of the furniture.  That said, I might spring* for a mattress or two before the end.
*No pun intended. 

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75 comments:

  1. Wow you really are going all out with this!!

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    1. Thank you, that was exactly the response we wanted - just need to keep the enthusiasm up now.

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  2. Fantastic work by both of you Michael, really bringing the interior to life. Send me a message about the mattresses mate I should be able to help on that

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    1. Thank you Dave and will do, that sounds brilliant!

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  3. Wow! That does look awesome Micheal!

    Christopher

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  4. I'm very impressed with the seed of progress you're making on this project and your abilty to seemingly rpoduce anything needed on demand.
    These additions look great !

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    1. Thank you so much Joe, James is just amazing to work with, often coming up with the most amazing ideas and solutions to problems I haven't even thought of yet.

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  5. Seems to me there is ample wall space left in the commondant's office for a Fallen Madonna with the Bog B00bies....

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    1. That Sir is inspired and rest assured she will be there on the day!

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  6. Gorgeous...and very atmospheric!

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  7. That is all kinds of brilliant! Just amazing stuff Michael 😃

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  8. Great details for the castle's interior :)

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    1. Thank you Tamsin, we are starting to make genuine progress.

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  9. Holy smokes...amazing work Michael.

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    1. Thank you so much Greg, both of us are really enjoying the process.

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  10. Wow! Very cool, Michael. Love all the little details in that room - particularly the skull mounted on the wall!

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    1. Thank you Dean, the trophy skull took longer to paint than the walls. :D

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  11. Wow! A very exciting project! Look forward to seeing more. Well Done!

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    1. Thank you so much Mr. Mouse, hopefully more updates soon.

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  12. Brilliant...but why the Picture of Charlie Chaplin on the Office wall?

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    1. Nice 'graphic' pun, Mr. Pun Meister.

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    2. I did wonder about putting some graffiti on the portrait, but I quite like the idea of putting Chaplin up instead, perhaps a pin up calendar as well?

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  13. Very well done! Truly a work of art!

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  14. Looking absolutely superb Michael! Really am looking forward to the final product. Also as it happens I do have one of those 3D printed cars with a minor flaw knocking about. If you want to I can add a dust cover and send the whole thing on to you. I‘m sure you could find a place for it on Schloss Itter. You‘ve only to paint it yourself. If interested get in contact under moiterei[at]web[dot]de

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    1. Thank you Nick and I have just sent you a cheeky email. ;)

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  15. The more you post about this magnifique project the more I'm liking it!
    Grand work Sir M.

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    1. Thank you so much Ray, really enjoying ourselves at the moment.

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  16. Loving everything here. Very cool and damned inspiring at that. I got a lot of doll's house furnishings in 1/50 (I believe) for when I get started on (yet) another project, but I am liking these mdf examples very much.

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    1. Thank you Dai, looked at a few dolls house pieces ourselves, the gramophone being one of them. They often come up a tad large, but easier to see. :D

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  17. Good grief! You're going above and beyond with this. Excellent work.

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    1. Thank you so much A.J. just need to remain focussed.

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  18. I say, this is looking fantastic. +1 for the Fallen Madonna.

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    1. Thank you Barks. The +1 is noted, will need to sort that out. :D

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  19. Absolutely fabulous! I thought it was a photo when I first saw the top picture :-0

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    1. Thank you, that's the best compliment you could give.

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  20. Wow Michael. The end results look amazing.

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  21. Terribly impressed, Michael, by both yours and James' hard work. However...

    It occurred to.me last night that the addition of a 'Cow Disguise' card and suitable figure (wearing wellingtons, naturally) is something that needs to be done. I think Warlord do a sprue of farmyard animals in a suitable scale so get to work, my good man.

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    1. Jez, thank you so much! We are clearly have a lot of fun, but there is always time for a bit more frivolity and the pantomime cow idea is just hilarious and inspired!

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    2. Can't claim originality on this one, as I stole the idea from the Val Kilmer-staring movie 'Top Secret'.

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    3. I can'tclaim originality on this one, as I dtole the idea from the movie 'Top Secret'. The cow disguise was used to get into the castle to turn off the electric fence.

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    4. Now I thought you were referencing the cow disguise used by the Airmen in Allo Allo? Off to google Top Secret!

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    5. Just found this:
      https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/christmas/products/christmas-panto

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    6. What a useful pack. The female Robin Hood would go well with your Grail Knights along with Little John. And that pantomime horse is perfect.

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  22. Fantastic progress and stunning finish already!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain, we are slowing starting to tick off some of the problems that we were faced with.

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  23. I doubt I can say anything thats not been said but this is awesome, look foward to seeing more.

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  24. Brilliant work Michael, I think we knew this project would allow you to show your considerable skills to the full. Looking forward to the next instalment 🙂

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    1. That is incredibly kind Matt, we are thrilled with the recent progress, but conscious that we need to keep the momentum going.

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  25. These turned out really good. I am impressed with how good they look and bring the interiors to life.

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    1. Thank you Simon, we knew we wanted a few interiors for the lecture, but this might inspire us to do some more.

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  26. Stunning work! Incredibly detailed :-o

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  27. Wow, that is some impressive dedication.
    All these details makes it look almost authentic, like props for a movie.

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