iFelix Blog

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Steam Tank

I am also painting an Ironclad Miniatures Steam Tank.

Gaslamp Alley VSF Terrace House

One of recent purchases was a couple of Sarissa Precision buildings, Victorian brick buildings, part of their Gaslamp Alley range. I had bought the terrace house and the terrace shop. Here is the model from the Sarissa website.

Gaslamp Alley VSF Terrace House

The Sarissa Precision models are laser cut MDF and come plain. I do quite like how the 4Ground models come pre-coloured and though I have few Sarissa Old West buildings, as these are made from wood, the plain MDF look works okay.

The Gaslamp Alley models are brick, so I originally decided when I was going to put mine together, I would paint them later. So when I read the instructions that it was suggested to paint the window frames and doors (which were etched onto card) and the walls before gluing them together, it meant I had to think quickly about how to paint the walls. The instructions did advise about doing it sparingly, my concern was that would the paint cover the eteching.

I took some I took some Vallejo (FoW) paint red brick colour (982 Cavalry Brown) and watered it down. I was quite apprehensive about the initial result, so had started with the chimney. However after it dried I was quite pleased with the final result.

Gaslamp Alley VSF Terrace House

After the walls were dry I picked out some individual bricks with the unwatered down 872 Chocolate Brown paint, and some varied brown paints, these included 983 Flat Earth and 872 Chocolate Brown.

Gaslamp Alley VSF Terrace House

After this I painted all the walls. I wasn’t sure about the window frames, decided a wood effect would be okay, so I used a watered down brown paint and almost drybrushed it.

For the roof and pavement I used 995 German Grey.

Gaslamp Alley VSF Terrace House

The model went together really easily, though with the way the walls fit to the floor, I wasn’t sure if I should fix the walls first and then put them in the floor. In the end I went with taking it one wall at a time, gluing it into the floor, and doing all four walls in one sitting, so that there was some movement flexibility whilst the glue was still wet.

Gaslamp Alley VSF Terrace House

I was quite pleased with the end result. The building was much deeper than I thought it would be and also much bigger.