¹⁄72

Coming in out of the Cold

Part Two: The Barn

With the construction out of the way, my attention has moved onto the Dutch Farm Stable from Reality In Scale. This is a 1/72 one piece resin cast kit. It is a solid cast piece so there is some good weight to it. These pre-cast models can be good fun and are real time savers if the model builder is not into assembling or scratch building small diorama parts. From time to time I just want to build a tank or other vehicle… even a figure or two, and do not want to be bogged down with a lengthy diorama or vignette build. Reality In Scale fits the bill perfectly.

The Dutch Stable comes with a nicely rendered façade of brick, a single window and a period two-in-one barn door. The roof is molded to give the appearance of a clay tile clad roof. This piece is simple in design and works perfectly for what I need to fill a void in the scene I have conjured up.

The house is real easy to paint. After a good soapy wash, a good coat of primer was laid down and allowed to dry completely. I then moved right on to the next layers. I chose to use some Vallejo paints for this task. The first coats of paint were a little pre-shading to give some depth. Then using a combination of Black Red and Saddle Brown I worked the brick somewhat in a random shading fashion.

Again, I needed a little drying time between the first coat and the next step as they are both acrylic based and I wanted not to lift the first layers off. I then chose to apply one of Vallejo’s Rust washes with the airbrush. This worked more as a filter than a wash and brought out some of the different tones. Not wasting any time, I went right into a thin layering of a Grey wash, again with the airbrush for the application. Allowing the wash layers to dry for an hour or so, I wanted to lighten some areas up a bit. I chose to use some Stone Grey on the wide open areas as well as accenting some areas where water would have run off like under the window.

Sometimes I like to apply layer after layer while working on some projects…here is a perfect example. I grabbed three more washes and with the airbrush again, applied some greenish tones to the lower section of the walls and door, where rain would have run off and along the roof line.

The bottom granite section was painted with a combination of black green shading and a nice coat of Stone Grey atop. After allowing drying for a day and then a quick Satin Clear Coat, I used a combination of Black Red, Saddle Brown, Stone Grey and black to work individual bricks. These were applied in more of a wash than straight from the bottle. I mixed a few drops of water and then randomly picked out bricks switching colors back and forth until I was happy with the result. The barn door wash shaded with black first, followed by Tamiya Brown and finished off with washes.

I can honestly recommend this little barn. The Reality In Scale Dutch Stable has some great details to it and makes a great addition to any small vignette. I realize that a small stable could be built with little trouble and, in this scale, with not too much material, but with this piece I was able to have a little fun and move the scene forward to completion much quicker than if scratch building my own.