Well maybe not a Hacienda, but the adobe structures common to the Southwestern USA and North Africa. These are the flat roofed, poles sticking thru the walls structures we all know from the movies. And they are still around, and still being built. If you game in 15-25 mm they can be easily modeled. The materials you will need are a length of square plastic/ vinyl roof down spout, and a can of wall board paste (mud) or plastic wood. These are available at most home repair supply stores. Some bamboo skewers, either the six or nine inch variety from your super market, and some cardboard for the roof. The tools needed are a saw, a drill, a 3/32 bit, some sandpaper, a craft or box knife, and white glue. For doors and windows I use photocopied items that were published in The Zouave magazine. Alternately you can draw some windows and doors on bond paper or card stock. The plastic down spout is cut into 1 3/4 inch or 45mm lengths. I have found a band saw does the bestjob, but coping saws, or hack saws will work. Clean the cut edges with a craft knife. This size will work well for 20-25 mm, and while a little large, is OK for l5mm as well. Cut off a extra piece 20mm long. This will be used to make a jig. Take the 20mm piece and cut thru two comers so that you have two "V" shaped pieces. On one draw a line 10mm from an edge. Mark the line 15mm, from the one comer of the plastic, and then every 12 nim. You should have 5 cross marks. Drill these with a 3/32" drill. A 1/8" can be used but is a little large. This 's your Jig to drill the holes in the buildings for the roof poles. Using the Jig drill all your buildings for the roof poles on the front and rear face. You should end up with five holes I Ormn from the top of the building. Sand the wall surfaces lightly. Glue the windows and doors onto the walls and let dry. Color the doors and windows. I use marker pens for this. For 15mm the doors would be about 20mm tall. For 20mm use 25mm, and for 25/28mm figures use 30mm doors. For a general purpose building that works with all three scales, a 20-22mm door will do. I use a scaling photocopier to make various sizes of doors and windows. My general purpose windows are 8mm, for small windows and 14mm. for large. Cover the walls with wallboard mud. This dries to a stucco/ adobe color, but you can add some brown or gray acrylic paint to it if you like. Mix this in well before spreading on the walls. While the mud is still damp, clear the holes for your poles with a tooth pick or skewer. Let dry for at least a day. I do two walls at a time so there are dry parts to handle. Press the roof poles thru the holes. If you want to be able to reach into the building, use stumps rather than all the way across poles. The poles should stick out about 5-8mm. Cut a roof to fit from the cardboard, and paint it a dark earth color. If you have any gaps where you did not cover the outer walls, paint brick red or dark gray. Paint the inside top a flat color to match the outer walls, and install your roof The building can be washed with a brown or dark gray ink or paint to simulate dirt and age. With a half dozen or dozen of these you are ready to set up a good sized western town or north African city. Some lengths of 1/4" x I" wood molding coated with mud will give you walls to go with the buildings. Back to MWAN #98 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum 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