Death Castle (Part 4)

This post continues the re-presentation of the  Death Castle thread I originally posted on http://warhammer-empire.com way back in 2008. See Part 1 for why I am reposting it here.

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PART 4

The base is mostly complete. 

I have reached a point in the painting where I’m satisfied that I can move on to attaching the castle to it. The base is not totally done; that’ll be the last step of the whole project when I apply the grass. 

I’ve also begun work on the tower. 

I’ve started by evening out the frame and then applying the stone strips that I have left to it. This is proving to be time consuming for a number of factors, mostly being the slow drying time of the glue. Trevor built this castle originally using Elmer’s Wood glue (or Carpenter’s Glue), which I thought was over kill compared to the regular Elmer’s glue. However when it comes to rejoining the two wall sections, attaching it to the base, expanding the ramparts and attaching the tower, I will most likely use that wood glue. I considered using a hot glue gun, but the super quick drying time unfortunately doesn’t allow for mistakes or alternations. If Trevor had not used the Wood glue originally, this castle might not exist anymore at all! So as I piece the tower together, I’m reaching into the inside and putting strips of tape on backside of the cracks. I have some modeling paste stuff that I’ll use to fill in the gaps. The way that I have to join these pieces to the tower frame will help give the illusion that this was always apart of the castle. Since the amount of stone work embossed pieces that I have is preciously limited, I had to take into consideration the extension of the ramparts during this step of construction. I did this by measuring sectioning of the parts that will remain hidden with a sharpie.

I’m also looking at the years of battle damage this castle has suffered and trying to determine how much Styrofoam stone stripping I’ll have left over to be able to repair the walls. As I look at the front of the castle and it’s becoming clear that I may have to replace 80% of it. The section nearest the gate received the worst of the original dose of spray paint in ’89 and the result is that a lot the cobble stone detail is just gone (blame it on the lascannons). The entry way is very badly damaged and I’d like to hide the toilet tissue tube, I mean support column, a lot better.  

I was asked by Duce, one of WH:E's users: How's the ramp work though, is it as steep as the pictures show or is it misleading?

I responded with: 

The ramp is definitely steep! 

Definitely steep!

However there is enough grit on it to hold most models just fine although some of the larger more top heavy ones could have problems with it. 

"Charge!"

Loaded movement trays tend to slid off of it as they are usually quite smooth on the bottom. That's a shame because I made the ramp wide enough for a standard 5X4 mansized unit.