"Best Way To Make Canvas Or Blankets On 15mm Shanties?" Topic

Something like these Post Apocalyptic and Modern:

picture
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Suggestions? I'm sure that doing so in 15mm has to be quite a bit harder than with 28mm.

Thanks,

Dan

for the actual material maybe foil, paper mache or actual pieces of cloth could work – then painted.

if you want the windows like in the second photo, thin card cut in the shapes then glued onto the walls.

I've always liked the various "special" papers that you can find. Some of them have an actual weave/texture to them. PVA/Acrylic medium to reinforce it and help shape it.

If you want something that is more coarse than that…head to a fabric store. Lots of them have a fine enough weave to work as canvas in 15 mm.

linen or muslin might have the right texture

soak in glue/water mix, drape and let dry. I'd do a bamboo skewer structure underneath, hot glued together. Maybe a brick wall or something too, for variety

shouldn;t be any harder in 15mm than 28mm

Paper towel dipped in watered own PVA glue.

Thin metal foil with metal, plastic or wood for a supporting framework. The texture will hardly be noticeable in 15mm.

Yep, painted paper towels should work.

Green stuff? I have seen some great drapery done with it. Roll it out flat then apply it.

I have been slowly collecting some of Baueda's tents for a Post Apocalyptic project.

IJ:"I have been slowly collecting some of Baueda's tents for a Post Apocalyptic project."

You have got to show us the results!

Dan

Go to a Victoria's Secret store, and explain that you want some very sheer silk material that is not "shiney", and in a certain color. Then explain why. Be sure to wear horn rimmed glasses, a dress shirt with a pocket holder full of pens, and pencils, pant's that don't quite reach the ankles, and white socks with old style white tennis shoes.
Then clear your calender for the next 3 days.

LOL!!!

I may do that. :)

Dan

I built some Vietnam buildings for our Low Level hell game more than a decade ago in 20mm or so (that frankly I've used in larger scales but that's another story).

I used the metal foil that seals the plastic tubs of 'Gold' Margerine as it had a woven texture to it for the fabric squares. link for the site and link for the scenery and picture for a close up example from the 'building' it page. It worked really well and the scenery has seen multiple use over the years being very robust (f'rinstance 28mm slammers games picture )

Hope this helps.

John T

I use ordinary tissue paper and straight PVA glue. I've been working on a 15mm shanty town and I'll post some examples this weekend.

Those pictures probably display 30mm equivalent or bigger on my monitor, and in only one of the draped pieces of cloth can I (barely) see a visible weave, and anything that small would be impossible to detail correctly in sculpture. So for modeling purposes, any weave or texture big enough to be visible will look cartoony and out of scale, even at 28mm, and especially 15mm. So any cloth is out, except possibly silk.

The traditional material for modeling tarps, wraps, blankets, etc., is tissue wrapping paper soaked in thinned PVA glue. At 15mm you may not get it to show folds convincingly though at that small a scale you may be willing to forego that detail. Paper towel soaked in glue, I would think, is likely more fragile to work with than tissue wrapping paper, and would tend to show a texture that is too course (varies with brand probably). Certainly metal foil would let you sculpt in folds to a certain extent. Epoxy putty such as Kneadatite / green stuff would let you sculpt it however you want, though it's probably more work en masse than draping small rectangles of wet tissue paper.

The best thing I have used for tarpaulins and canvas lorry covers was the foil in cigarette packets. I no longer smoke so sadly don't have a ready supply any more. It must be used as packaging for other stuff, though I can't think what.

Having worked with large expanses of glue-soaked tissue paper in my previous job with the local lantern festival, one thing about paper is that it will shrink and pull taught after it dries. Depending on the number of layers, it can also be quite brittle, which isn't a great thing for wargaming scenery. However, it is fairly cheap and quite easy to fix.

One option you might try (I haven't done it) would be to use tin foil for shape and glue-soaked tissue paper for colour and texture, possibly winning you the best of both worlds.

Agent Brown did an awesome job here:

link

Dan

I imagine that tarps will still be needed in the future, no matter how bleak the outlook:

picture

Dan