Sunday 27 October 2019

Schloss Itter's Gatehouse

I have been looking forward to publishing this post for a while now, and must apologise to James for taking so long to realise it, but I am now delighted to reveal the Gatehouse to Schloss Itter!  I would usually show some work in progress shots for a build like this, but have decided not to on this occasion.  The reason being, I feel it only right and proper that James shows you how he went about designing and constructing what, to my mind anyway, is his best design yet. (A link to James' post is at the bottom of this page.)
Castle Itter's Gatehouse is a little architectural gem in its own right, a piece of Gothic whimsey with fairytale turrets and an arched central entryway.  Besotten Jenny, the Sherman M4A3E8, would guard this entrance point having reversed in to position.  Its main turret and .50-Cal. machine gun trained on the narrow access road that led to the town.  Meanwhile one of Jenny's .30-Cal. machine guns was redeployed in the cramped loft room of the Gatehouse, ably manned by Worsham and McHaley.
Working again from only photographs James drew out the design on the computer and so started the now customary process of adaptation as the design went through a number of revisions, each one addressing a different problem or creating a facet in a more appealing way.  It became apparent, quite early on, that this particular piece had really caught James' imagination.  His attention to detail now operating at such a level that saw the intricate tower woodwork realised along with two different types of tiles, a detail clearly visible in the original source material.
As we broke for the half term, James had already built, tiled and applied paint to his model before very kindly starting the assembly of a second.  If truth be told we don't need two, but I just could not pass up the opportunity to work on this delightful kit and have finally got mine to a place where I am happy to share my efforts.
As with the previous hall piece the texture was achieved by using play sand, this time sprinkled on to a PVA base to give a slightly lighter texture.  Very little was needed in the way of construction, just some card stock and lashings of PVA glue to stick down the laser cut tile strips, such was the quality of James' design.  Once undercoated colour was applied with successive layers of dry brushing, before picking out the details with a brush.
We had found some rather good photographs of the original building showing climbing plants festooning the sides of the towers and I was keen to give this a go.  I had found an example on the always helpful 'Terragenesis' website that had used something called eyelash yarn.  Not having heard of this myself, I popped into Sunshine Coast's mighty metropolis and spent a few minutes perusing the aisles of C & H fabrics.  Sure enough I found a couple of likely candidates, although I notice that in Blighty we refer to the yarn as Fur Wool.
I was delighted with the result, which helped to convey that feeling of nature starting to take hold of a once celebrated structure.  
With James having gone to the trouble of designing the loft behind a removable roof panel it seemed a shame not to populate it with a suitable representation of Worsham and McHaley, ordered up from 'Artizan Designs'.
Another wonderful addition to our ongoing project, which continues to move on apace.  James continues to delight with his designing skills and I am very much looking forward to working on the terrain boards on our return to school, but in the interim more miniatures need to be painted!

Please visit James' Blog to see how the Gatehouse was created:

73 comments:

  1. Just stunning!!! Your attention to detail Michael is next to NONE. This is going to be some game.
    Frank

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    1. Thank you do much Frank, we are both really enjoying this and determined to do the best job we can.

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  2. Breathtaking stuff, Michael. Simply breathtaking...

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    1. Thank you so much Simon, definitely one of James' best designs yet.

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  3. Wonderful work Michael, the attention to detail from both you and James is breathtaking !

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    1. Thank you so much Dave, we were both really excited about this one.

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  4. Absolutely amazing stuff Michael! Hats off to James, incredible design and execution 😃

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    1. Thank you Ivor, the man is definitely firing on all cylinders at the moment.

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  5. A very nice terrain piece for the castle. But won't Worsham and McHaley need a hole in the roof to fire the MG through? :)

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    1. Thank you Tamsin and don't you about Worsham and McHaley, by the time they stop firing there will be plenty of holes!

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  6. Wow, thank looks awesome! Love the eyelash yarn vines.

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    1. Thank you Peter, the eye lash yarn was a bit of a revelation and worked so well. I am sure that it will be put to good use in other areas of the build before too long.

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  7. Beautiful terrain piece, Michael! A work of art - and truly impressive when compared to the photo of the actual gatehouse.

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    1. Thank you Dean, James worked so hard to match up the build to the photographs we had.

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  8. Bravo! What a fantastic piece & definately an appetizer of what's to come. Congrats to both of you & just seeing this should endeavor to push you on to the next stage of the project!

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    1. Thank you so much Terry, I think was a breakthrough piece, it certainly helped to lift the spirits.

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  9. Stunning, indeed! This project goes from strength to strength.

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  10. So nice to see what you've done with the place!! ;)

    Really stunning, especially the painted details on the doors. I had a go at doing those and gave up for want of a microscope! Just brilliant!

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    1. Thank you, it really was a joy to work on and was determined to do the best that I could for you.

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  11. Wonderful work by both of you nutters! That‘ll make for an awesome center piece.

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    1. Thank you so much Nick, just imagine how cool a certain car, wrapped in a tarpaulin will look parked inside. ;)

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  12. Superb, Michael. Schloss Itter is going to be magnificent!

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  13. Looking really nice, the greenery has come out a treat. Tamsin is right, you are going to have to put a hole in your beautiful roof :(

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    1. Thank you so much! I am tempted to give them a loophole at some point, but we will wait until we are back at school before I go punching holes in it.

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  14. Great entry leven piece . Sorry couldn't resist

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  15. Wow an amazing bit of work, well done to all involved.

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    1. Thank you so much Frank, we are both thrilled with how it came out.

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  16. Oh dear you are going to make everybody else’s terrain look very rustic! A splendid building project 😀

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    1. Not sure about that Matt, but thank you so much, greatly appreciated.

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  17. That's rather nicely done if you don't mind me saying so.

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    1. Not at all, just pleased you like it. Thank you Phil.

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  18. This looks like a promising start on rest of the castle.Very nice work Michael :)

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    1. Thank you so much, really pleased with the direction that it is going in.

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  19. another sterling effort. You two are really going hammer and tongs with this!!

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    1. Thank you, we are determined to push on, because the next stage will take us longer than we think.

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  20. Sweet as a nut. I´m not too sure wether using a .30 cal to redecorate the loft is a good idea :-)
    PS..have you a link to the article About the White stars thingy? I can´t find anything About them being added to the Kübelwagen.

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    1. Thank you Paul and I think I have got to the bottom of the white stars incident. The actual wording in the book goes, "Gangl in his Kübelwagen, the white flag on its radio antenna now supplemented by large white stars crudely painted on either side." The word supplemented led me to think that it was the flag that was 'supplemented' by the stars, but reading it again and thinking it through logically it must be the Kübelwagen itself that was 'supplemented' by crudely painted stars. Now reaching for the white paint!

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    2. yes if you put a comma after the word "antenna" that seems to be right!

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    3. That's certainly what I am starting to think.

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  21. A stunning piece - and there are two !
    The colourscheme alone makes it so very Germanic and the small architectural details are superb eye-candy.
    Topclass all around from bothe you and James - but did I really read that he'd found another door for the gateway to be yet again re-envisaged ?

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    1. Thank you so much Joe, this really was a joy to work on and yes James has found another door! There might be three by Christmas!

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  22. Goodness! If that's just the gatehouse.... the rest of this castle is going to be jawdropping!

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    1. Thank you Dai, that's certainly the plan, we both wanted to produce something that was completely out of our comfort zone and the best that we could make it.

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  23. Wow! That is a very beautiful piece. Can wait to see the rest :)

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  24. Super work, great painting and really excellent roof tiles!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain, the roof tiles were particularly successful, again cut on the laser cutter, they are essentially on paper.

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  25. Another awesome addition to the build Gentlemen! However Michael, perhaps some more weathering is in order? The colours of the woodwork particularly look freshly painted. If I may be so bold as to mention this...

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    1. Thank you Sander and you are probably correct about the weathering. I am inclined to wait until all the structures are complete so that we can apply a more consistent effect.

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  26. Fabulous! I love the vines (wisteria?) on the tower sections.

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    1. Thank you, let's say Wisteria, not the greatest horticulturist though. :)

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  27. The gatehouse looks even more impressive with miniature figurines next to it for scale.

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    1. Thank you so much. We offered it up on the game boards yesterday and were shocked with how small it looked!

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  28. Almost like a fairy tale castle ;D.
    I really like the vines, marvelous model

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    1. Thank you Wouter, this is definitely one of James' best designs and was a joy to work on.

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  29. It's impeccably Teutonic and Teutonically impeccable. A work of art.

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  30. Wonderful, what an exciting project

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    1. Thank you Phil, it has become all consuming, I have found myself dreaming about it now.

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