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Hi Guys,

My Grandad built me a wooden castle about a decade ago as a christmas present, it's taken a few beatings over the years and needs a bit of TLC so was hoping to do it up 40k style.I was thinking maybe modelling it along the lines of an abandoned Imperial outpost but I'll be collecting Farsight Tau so maybe having a few removable tau pieces would be cool. The whole things probably around 45inches squared and I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow.

What I'm asking for you guys is suggestions to add to it that would give it some character, a new lick of paint is great but I'm thinking smashed statue, landing pad, craters, tau comm beacons. Anything you can think of would be great (and if they come with appropriate tutorial links even better )

Cheers,

I think some pictures of the castle would be appropriate, It would be easier to give suggestions if we can see it and get a sense of its state of disrepair and condition.

When it comes to toy conversions, I have found that very often the difference between toy and wargame material is simply the paint job. Start there, and see how it works for you.

The other thing is that unless you have the luxury of near unlimited storage - less is quite often more when it comes to built in details. That twice life sized of an Ultra Smurf sitting on his toilet looks great when you are playing other 40K armies...but it becomes a distraction when you decide to take up a game like Infinity or Warmachine.

Instead, provide solid bones that are versatile enough to get plenty of mileage and then create smaller scatter accent pieces that tie in a specific army or game system.

As already stated though - knowing what we have to work with is a big help. Although most things can be freshened up to work with wargaming in one way or another - something's will be hard to shoe horn into a specific system.

This is what I'm working on

With that design, I'd either add some vertical and diagonal girders on the surfaces for an Imperial style, grungy it up with random toothy plates for an Ork style, or attach a lot of chains and heads on spikes for a Chaos style. With the Imperial style, if you made the girders instead buttresses, it could double as fantasy terrain.

One thing that stands out for me is how thin the walls look. Maybe add a layer or two of foam-core to the outside to create a feeling of strength when looking at it. And give it a bit of a 'stone-work' paint-job on the walls. Or you could combine the 'thickening and stone working' into one step using some Hirst Arts molds - bit pricey shipping outside the US, though.

'Course, all that said, it's a nice piece. Looks like it'll make a good foundation for conversion/modification.

(Hmm...Wonder if my parents still have my old Globe Theatre model from high school. I'm feeling inspired to do some conversion work now...)

gingertramp wrote:
This is what I'm working on

Imageis broken

Great model to start on, I think the key is in the paint job you give it, look up some stone effects and such, and it'll be looking tabletop ready in no time!

I'd suggest the following:

- Add something to the walls, inside and out. This could be some buttresses and girders, some vines and growths hanging down or even some hasty-looking plates to cover holes blasted in it. Maybe some barbed wire or spikes along the top.

- Add some texture to the floor. Craters, rubble piled in corners, a mud road running through the middle ect. If you have any spare, some smashed up tanks and equipment could look good here.

- Try and give each part a purpose. The high, non climbable walls make me think it's as much to keep people in as well as out, so it could be a penal legion fortification/yard, with the Custodians based in the higher buildings. If you can build in a workshop, maybe a canteen, a firing range ect, that will help bring it to life.