Jazzing up a MDF house

I’ll start of by pointing out I’m no modeler, give me something already built any day over something I need to build. Having said that, creating little vignettes for your forces is a lot of fun and Terrain can be as well.

Below is how I jazzed up an excellent 28mm building from Battlefield Accessories: https://www.battlefieldaccessories.com.au/

There is no reason why you couldn’t just paint this building and plonk it on your gaming table, it would look great, but I like to play around with them.

Steps:

·         Jump on your device of choice and Google images of the region you're after. For this project I’m thinking 1940’s village house in rural France for WW2 gaming.

·         Roof Tiles – cut up a thin box (e.g. cereal box) into a large amount of tile shapes and glue them on (I used PVA (white woodwork glue). This is the longest and tidiest step, I generally do it while watching cricket or footy on the TV. Note tiles on older houses aren’t all the same shape so don’t be too fussed about how big or small your cutting is they will work.

 
         Render the Building - Paint Texture Paste (in Australia you can get it from Bunnings and Art stores) on all the outside walls this is to create the render look of the building. I put it on with a Icy pole stick and smudge it around for the look I’m after.

         Paint the walls - Use cheap spray paints or sample pots from Bunnings (hardware store) keep an eye out for the sale table they often have mistints available perfect for 1930s-40s French villages, Renaissance farms or even your fantasy world of choice.

         Paint the Roof Tiles - Grey in this instance, though in the past I have also used a Terracotta coloured spray and they look excellent, however I don’t want the village to look all the same.

·         Paint the Window Frames – In this case I just used bright blue as a contrast to the rest of the building it’s also a colour you see in many pictures of European villages from France to Russia. But use whatever colour you wish, one that breaks up the look of the building is best.

After these steps the rest depends on what you want to do; I do a lot of dry brushing of lighter colours to create the effect I’m after.

·         Wear and Tear - I use a Citadel Shade called Athonian Camoshade for the roof and the walls.  Painting it in between the tiles and smudging it as much as I can to make it look less painted and more natural.  Same for the walls just here and there to make it look like the house wasn’t built yesterday.

·         Dry bush a light colour of dust or dirt or even mud depending on what look you looking for. Remember the bottom ½ of the house walls will tend to be the dirtiest.

·         Lastly you can put creepers and vines on your house, if you want to spruce the place up you can even put some flowers on the window ledges. You may even want some vegetation growing out of a broken tile or two on the roof.  If you like to base your houses you can do flowerpots outside perhaps paths or a garden. Next house I might have a go at making shutters out of cardboard as a nice touch and to break up the look.