"28mm Western Buildings" Topic

I am new at this, so what do players do for buildings? If you please, just some direction, web sites, general info., would be much appreciated by a friend of mine I am introducing to miniatures. What is the most common form of building model that one is likely to encounter in one of these wild west type 28mm miniatures games?

Hand built card stock?

Hand built w/ nice materials?

Commercial card stock?

Commercial plastic or resin?

How about removable roofs and interiors?

A lot of folks use card models. Hotz has an extensive selection in his Whitewash City line, and Fat Dragon has just come out with some very nice old western buildings.

Both are provided as pdf downloads.

Sorry, but the Hotz buildings just look too small when compared to current figures on bases. YMMV.

I went with Old Glory resin buildings, taking advantage of a massive sale last year. I also use West Wind figures from same sale. OG is a great value with the normal OG Army club. You can see my adventures in Western gaming at my blog, plus my method of painting one of the buildings. I haven't done much this year but hope to change that.

ordinarygaming.blogspot.com

I used the downloadable building templates from Foundry's Rules with No name. I built them out of cork. They are nice.

Thanks,

John

If you are looking for resin style buildings, please check out Hawgleg, (www.hawgleg.com). The Arnica Montana range is being set to be released first part of next year.

Cork and resin are nice but I must disagree with the statement that Hotz's Whitewash City buildings are too small. My entire town is constructed almost entirely from WWC models. For the price and the ease of assembly they can't be beat. They can easily be scaled up if you feel they are too small of course. I have never bought Fat Dragon's models so I can't vouch for them but they do look good. Still if you prefer something more "solid" or are more picky about scale then resin models or custom built are good ways to go too. Depends on what you are looking for. If you want a town that will sit permanently on display then you may want to invest in resin but if you want a more mobile town cardstock is the way to go. All depends on the kind of gaming you like to do.

ALV

If you are looking to do a lot of buildings, Whitewash City is the way to go.

They can be scaled up or down as per your desires. Plus they are as light weight as they get. When you are talking about 20-30 buildings this is not inconsiderable.

mjc

Given the tiny investment that the Whitewash City buildings require I would say to start with them and if you want to upgrade later to resin or scratch-built buildings you can always do that.

If you keep an eye on ebay, from time to time "cowtown" buildings pop up. This auction shows some of the buildings although this auction is a bit steep:

auction

I made my own for the most part but if I were to start over I would go with the Old Glory line, they are really nice buildings at a good price. Make sure you get the army card first and then buy a bunch at once, if you can afford it.

If you're curious about the possibilities of interiors take a look at my site. It hasn't been up dated in a while because my camera got keel-hauled on my last Kayaking trip.
beaverlick.blogspot.com

Wingnut
First Citizen of Beaverlick, WY.

Over the years, I've seen a lot of gaming tables (including my own), and have seen a lot of different buildings being used. To directly answer your question, "the most common" buildings in use seem to be, in order:

- Cardstock
- Commercial Resin
- Scratchbuilt
- Commercial O-Scale Model Train Buildings

Regardless of the building type, most people seem to prefer removable roofs.

If you're just getting started with Wild West gaming, I would suggest you get the Whitewash City Cardstock buildings. They have a nice variety, and at 30mm, they look great with modern "heroic" scale figures. Plus, as noted above, they are easy to scale up (print 'em at 105% if you think they look a little small for your taste -- I like 'em as they are, but to each their own).

You can buy 'em here: erichotz.com/whitewash.html
And there's a free model here: erichotz.com/white_free.html

After that, if you're interested, you can upgrade to resin buildings, the type we make at Arnica Real Estate. Check us out on the Web at: ArnicaRealEstate.com As Murphy noted, they'll be back on sale in the New Year.

Mike Mitchell
Hawgleg/Arnica

I made all my own. Took about two weeks in the evenings on and off and I made about twenty buildings. I used card, balsa, basewood and foam core board.

Hints – get your thing balsa that you will use for cladding, and score it with 4-5mm planking and stain/weather it BEFORE you cut it up and glue to the foam core. Makes life a lot easier.

I started with Whitewash City.

I have just about everything they ever released. Made some (enough to game with). Added to them on occasion. Lightweight, easy to store, can be replaced cheaply if you crush one, or your cat sits on one, etc.

However, two things. #1 – they will, over time, start to warp a little. If you live anywhere with high humidity, you will find warpage. Nothing too serious. But if you were hoping for ramrod straight walls, then you will need to mount your cardstock onto foamcore (or some other material) that won't warp.

#2 – if you live someplae where it gets hot, and you plan to game during the summer with a fan blowing on you, or the windows open to get a nice breeze … think again. They are lightweight. A breeze will destroy your town, and your scenario will become "The Great Twister of '79". Again, mounting to foamcore will help.

I eventually upgraded to Arnica. I liked the look and feel. I like how they assemble. I like the lift-off roofs. Arnica was a top outfit to do business with back when "Mike" ran the show. Then he sold out to "Mike & Mike" of Hawgleg and they have it now. I highly recommend this product line.

I don't have any Old Glory buildings so I can't compare. But I like the looks of the Arnica buildings more. YMMV.

Steve

Speaking for the Old Glory line of Western buildings, you will find them to be a good price, especially if you are using the army card. They come with lift off roofs and very little assembly. The windows glue on and most buildings the doors can either be glued open or closed, and some have even pin hinged them to swing open and closed.

The Old Glory Western buildings is a large line that is a mix of generic western buildings, historic western buildings such as the Condon bank, Northfield, MN. buildings, and Tombstone Ok Corral buildings, and few based on popular western films – the sheriff's office and the saloon.

We also offer the 300 line series of western buildings that have a variety of store fronts, foundations and roof styles which will allow the opportunity to create nearly 100 different buildings.

Miniatureships
oldglory25s.com

I use the Whitewash City buildings and have recently started replacing them with new ones with stiffening materials (cardboard from the back of pads of paper works well for walls, for example, and popsicle sticks cut to size glued at the corners) applied. I am also replacing the cardstock hitching rails and post work with hitching rails made with bamboo skewers and craft-stick posts, &c. The resulting buildings are more robust without being a lot heavier.

Whitewash City buildings come with printable interior layouts (2-D), which I put under each model as I set up. They can also be used as the basis for contructing the interiors in 3-D, if you're a mind to.

I have also found that printing the models off in greyscale makes for a whole other set of very nice buildings (especially useful for older buildings and towns on their way to being ghost towns), especially if you create new signs for them.

Some easy "extras" for the town are large wooden beads (ones for macrame work well) filled with putty and painted as rain barrels, sets of twigs cut to length and glued together to make piles of firewood, water troughs made from popsicle sticks, and fences made from craft sticks. All of these serve to hinder movement and line of sight as well as providing cover in gunfights. You can also add "boxes" (painted wood craft blocks) in sets and smalled bead barrels stacked around to add to the fun. Remember, out back of the buildings was usually full of discarded barrels
and boxes as well as scrap lumber, outhouses, woodpiles, and trash in general. A little brush wouldn't be out of place in a lot of towns in the same areas.

Bob Bailey