Building the medieval city

[Tabletop World]

Hello friends,
we are couple of enthusiasts who, back in 1997, started to create scenic pieces for our own gaming table. As time passed, our skills evolved and the projects became more and more complex and challenging. We decided to undertake a big project of building entire city.
When constructing buildings, we always want them to look as close to a real life as possible. We are actually building our stone walls, stone by stone, as in real life. It's very time consuming, but worth the effort. It's the only way to achieve the natural look of a stone wall!

For starters, here is our first model: Guard Tower (height: 38cm; width: 12cm)



It's made of stone, wood and GS, then molded in silicone rubber and cast in resin.

Here are some WIP pictures:



We are working on some other projects like Medieval Inn, Blacksmith, BellTower...

Coments and sugestions are very welcome to keep us going

Tabletop World

[malika]

Wow, that's really cool! An entire city huh? For some reason I don't know that project would ever be completed since...well a city is huge! It would mean hundreds of buildings and streets. Can't wait to see more of this though...very inspiring stuff!

[Braad]

Interesting... And pretty!

How do you make the stones?

[75hastings69]

Absolutely beautiful!!!!

How did you manage to get hold of those stones? did you have to shape them all yourselves? What adhesive do you use to place them? ...... so many questions!!!

I'd love to see more pics, even just different angles.

Good luck with the rest of the city, if the other buildings are half as good as this it will be fantastic!!!!

[N810]

Woah I really like that you have used real stone blocks,
your quality materials really pays off.
it looks very architecturally and historically correct, something
I often see lacking in gaming terrain.
the wooden battlements and roof look great.

PS you got to tell me there you got those stone blocks.

[Tabletop World]

Thank you all for great comment

Originally Posted by malika

I don't know that project would ever be completed since...well a city is huge! It would mean hundreds of buildings and streets.

Yes, that's true but, since this may become more than a hobby I hope it will be done

Originally Posted by Braad

How do you make the stones?

Originally Posted by 75hastings69

How did you manage to get hold of those stones? did you have to shape them all yourselves? What adhesive do you use to place them?

Originally Posted by N810

it looks very architecturally and historically correct...
...PS you got to tell me there you got those stone blocks.

The stones......well, you take a stone tile, a pair of pliers and make every single little stone to fit your needs Very, and I mean VERY time consuming. But as N810 said, we put much effort in realism and there's no way one could carve such realistic stone out of clay or some other material.

We glue the stones togeather with hot glue gun (silicone sticks)

Thanx again for great comment

Tabletop World

P.S. Update soon: Medieval Inn

[75hastings69]

Originally Posted by Tabletop World

The stones......well, you take a stone tile, a pair of pliers and make every single little stone to fit your needs Very, and I mean VERY time consuming.

NO WAY!!!!!! My hat is off to you sir for your dedication and your skills. Where do you get the stone tiles?

The finished effect is simply stunning and rightly so after all the effort you've put in!

Originally Posted by Tabletop World

P.S. Update soon: Medieval Inn

I can't wait!!!

[malika]

Here's an idea. Couldn't you try to cast some of those stones? Now you're making one stone at a time which will take you forever when building a house. What about making a few stones and then cast them? This way you could produce stones at a faster rate!

[Tommygun]

Cast stone will not look as real though.
The final model looks like you painted the stone gray?
It may the lighting in the picture.
Unpainted stone would look much more real.

[malika]

Yes, but this would mean that building a city would take centuries, unless they find a way to make stones a bit faster. Maybe find some kids in the neighbourhood who cut the stones while you put them together.

[Tabletop World]

Originally Posted by malika

Here's an idea. Couldn't you try to cast some of those stones?

Yes we could, but there's a problem. When I need a stone that is different than the ones casted, I cannot brake one in half cause than you can see it's made of plastic. I would need tousends of different casted stones so I can find one for every spot.
Trust me I put much effort in trying to find easier solution, but all I think of is just a compromise, and isn't as good.

Originally Posted by Tommygun

The final model looks like you painted the stone gray? Unpainted stone would look much more real.

Yes, but the painted model is made of resin, not the real stone. Only the prototype is made of real stone.

[malika]

Hmm, then I think you need to find people to help you out cut the stones. I assume you use a single size as a basis and break bits of yourself when constructing right? So what about having a bunch of people break the stones for you in the workable sizes and all you need to do then is take small bits of when needed to. I think that could save you a lot of working time.

But yeah...first you would have to find people who would want to be cutting little bricks for days end! :P

What about casting parts of buildings? Or using some buildings over and over? I mean you would for example have a tower shaped building, but add small different bits to it to make it a completely different building, kind of like what you did with your tower.

[Tabletop World]

There are two of us, so one breaks the stone in small blocks and other builds.

Here is our Town Square:



Of course, the original model was made of real stones.

Thanks to the modular system, you can build Town Square as large as you want.
You can also build straight roads.



Comments & critics are always welcome.

[N810]

Nicely done I realy like how you did the town square.
It looks as good as the origional when painted.

[Ghod]

Man thats some damn fine stonework you've got going there

Really really good

Like better than Ghandi good...

[static grass]

holy smoke! When you say "you" do you mean "we"? So are you taking commissions?

[Tabletop World]

Thank you for your nice words N810 & Ghod!

Originally Posted by static grass

holy smoke! When you say "you" do you mean "we"? So are you taking commissions?

Yes, we do.
If interested, contact us via e-mail.

[bugbait_nz]

Very realistic, I guess thats what you get when you use real building materials, very nice.

Bugbait out

[Wolf Scout Ewan]

Oooh what kind of clippers do you use to cut up the tile? What thickness of tile?

[mattjgilbert]

Amazing stuff, I can't wait to see more of this. It's inspirational.