Perhaps the fastest growing area of interest in our hobby is that of building and terrain for the wargaming table. Unquestionably the selection and quality of the products available to the historical gamer is impressive and continues to grow at a quick rate. But if you are like me you have a significant collection of unpainted buildings, bridges, and hedges waiting for the brush. The purpose of this article is to explore a few simple techniques for painting buildings and scenery. First, let's take a look at buildings. There are three common materials used to make buildings: paper, plastic and plaster. Paper or cardboard buildings are the least expensive to purchase and are available in either pre-colored or black and white format. The black and white variety can be colored easily by using water based paints or colored pencils. The effect, however, may be less than satisfactory unless you have a great deal of talent. Most paper or light cardboard buildings do come pre-colored and are more desirable than the black and white variety. Assembling paper buildings can be tricky because of their obvious frailty. This problem can be handled in one of two ways. First, assemble the buildings by using standard folds and then supporting them with additional cardboard. The other method is to carefully cut the buildings at the appropriate spots where two sides come together and glue thm onto a piece of hard foam or heavy cardboard. Plastic or resin cast houses are much easier to work with and need little assembly work. To clean them up for painting usually only takes a file and a craft knife. Since the material used to case the buildings is very durable a heavy hand when cleaning in the various pieces will not hurt them. Pay particular attention to window areas, doorways, or any surface that forms a pronounced angle. Much of the "flash" on a plastic building will take the form of casting bubbles which can be easily removed with a craft knife. The one exception to the above rules are the plastic buildings manufactured by a number of German based companies and directed toward the railroad market. These buildings come in kits and include a multitude of pieces that have to be assembled. They are basically "flash" free but take hours to assemble and are, by industry standards, very expensive. Plaster buildings present a different challenge than do the resin buildings. You clean them with sandpaper and files and should be very careful about the amount of pressure you apply. With some special attention they look just fine when clean. Painting buildings is very much like painting any other miniature. There are two basic techniques available to the painter - washing and dry brushing. As a basic rule dry brushing works well with stone houses, and most roofing. Washes work best with plaster walls. After some experimentation, however, you may find one or the other technique works best for you. one of the advantages the painter has when starting to paint buildings is that he has examples all around him. These examples can be used as a starting point for the finished product. Before I begin the step-by-step explanation I would suggest that you consider over-painting buildings. The colors should be brighter than their real-life counterparts. This should be done because of the size of the buildings and the usual lack of lighting near most gaming tables. Through the Paces With that in mind let's go through the paces. First, all buildings should be undercoated black. This gives you the basicstart for dry brushing and also will help to hide mistakes. Plaster walls are then painted either a white or off white then after the paint dries a black wash is applied. The wash will emphasize any cracks in the wall and also produce a weathered look. Stone walls present another challenge. The stones can be grey, brown or reddish brown with an almost endless variety of lighter or darker tones in between. I would suggest some consistancy with either the grey or the brown, but again experiment to individual taste. Whatever you choose to do start with a dark shade and continue to dry brush lighter shades until you are barely highlighting the piece with a very light grey or brown. To get a light brown mix it with yellow instead of white for a warmer effect. Brick walls need a different approach. Most of the bricks will be dark red ending with a color that is nearly pink. For variety a few off-color bricks can be added using the same technique. If you desire white mortar between your bricks, undercoat in white, dry brush in red and then wash the wall with black. Any excess black that gathers in the cracks can be removed with a completely dry brush. Roofs come in three basic forms - thatch, slate, and wood. Thatched roofs start with a dark brown then a medium brown, light brown and final highlights of yellow. Wooden roofs are the same as wooden walls. Start with a black undercoat then apply a dark brown and finally medium brown. To get a weathered look a black wash would be helpful. Slate roofs are probably the most fun because over a period of years slate would be replaced with little concern for color consistancy. The outcome would mean that a slate roof may have a majority of red tiles with an occasional piece in greyor black.The paintingstyle is the same as already mentioned with black being used for the undercoat and then a number of dry brushing efforts ranging from dark red to pink or dark grey to white. The off-colored tiles are then added at the desire or whim of the painter. After the building is done it can be made to look more attractive by adding grassand ivy. The grassshould befairly lightweight -flocking is the best material. if you want to put ivy on the walls of your buildings try a coarser material. There is a line of products again for railroad buffs that is made of a coarse sponge-like material which can be applied with white glue. Hedges, stone walls, bridges and other scenery items should all be approached using the dry brushing technique mentioned above. Again, study the examples available to you in real life to get a feel for coloring and contrasts. Entrenchments depend on the simulated location of your games. The drier the climate the lighter the earth tones. Light brown to buff works fine for desert actions; dark brown, almost black works well for marsh or swamp areas. Water The final area I would like to touch on in this article is water. The standard method for creating a stream, pond or lake effect is to use casting epoxy, but this is tricky stuff and caution is urged. First, when you use this material do it outside because it has a terrible odor. Second, take some time and experiment with it before you apply it to your prize piece of scenery. Third, talk to a knowledgeable hobby shop staff person who can explain the application process. Before you apply the epoxy you have to paint the under surface. Again study the streams and ponds in your area. The first thing to notice is that blue is not the predominant color. Most stream beds and ponds have a brown and green mixture in tone and color. Again dry brushing will do a lot to enhance your effort, but remember to use muted colors since sunlight does not penetrate water well. Before applying the epoxy make sure that the paint on the piece is completely dry. To be on the safe side, use water based paints; casting epoxy reacts chemically with paint and if your drying time is too short for the paint you could experience some unwanted color changes. While there are a number of problems with casting epoxy a skilled modeler can do some amazing things with it including waterfalls and ocean breakers. You can literally stop time for an instant and capture it. We have not covered every conceivable scenery accessory because of time and space. If you have some additional ideas please forward them to THE COURIER. I would be most interested in your ideas. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VII #2 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1986 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com