"Long shot; ca. 1979 article on making a building?" Topic

As the topic sentence states, I recognize this is a "long shot." Back ca. 1979 (might have been '78, might have been '80 or '81) I read an article on making a building for the period before the 19th Cent. The best I can recall, this structure would have been designed to fit in anywhere between the Renaissance and the late 18th Century. I have this vague recollection that it'd be cool to scratch build a copy -- if I could. But, I'd prefer something better than a vague recollection to proceed from… So, I'm hoping somebody with a better memory than I have, and maybe an extensive enough archive of 1970s and 1980s war games magazines, can help?

Okay, as best I recall, the structure I am aiming for was set in a diorama, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be built to stand-alone today. It was as I recall a relatively long and narrow two-story structure, similar to a Bastle House on the Anglo-Scots border. However, "I" recall it being from Central Europe (or at least, from east of the Rhine anyway). It had a red colored outer surface. I'm thinking red sandstone, and yes, my recollection was that it was a stone-built structure. It had an outer staircase to reach the second story living quarters. After 30-odd years I don't recall if the roof and inner floor were removable, though I assume it would/should have had an inner staircase too. As I recall, the first or ground story was a barn for livestock.

I have NO recollection of the scale of the model. I doubt it was 15mm; perhaps it was 25mm? Or possibly even 54mm? As I say, it was as I recall a diorama, so I doubt scale was necessarily an issue for the builder/author…

So, anyone have any recollection of the article I am discussing? Have any scans of the photos? Or at least know the article title and the magazine issue (and page #s) I am talking about? Any help here GREATLY appreciated!!!

It rings a vague bell for Ian Weekley in Military Modelling perhaps?

I'm aware that I do not answer your question, but there have been some noteworthy articles written on the subject in more recent years….

…but there have been some noteworthy articles written on the subject in more recent years…

Clearly, as should be plain, if this article I am searching for has stuck in my fast-fading "memory banks," it was a note-worthy one -- if only to me!! Still, I would not want to stifle discussion, if anyone wished to point those other articles out as part of this thread --- as long as they stuck to the main theme/idea of a west-central or central European 16th-18th Cent. farmstead (I'm not really interested in hearing about the umpteenth article about scratch-building Le Haye Sainte, for e.g.).

I'll add here that the mention of a possibility noted above has tweaked a synapse. I have a twinge of a memory that, just possibly, the article was written about and diorama built to illustrate a farm or farmstead in the Thirty Years War. That said, I would NOT discourage anyone who found something germane before or after 1618–1648.

Ditto to what Rapier Miniatures says: sounds like an Ian Weekley article.

Maybe you could post the query on the Vintage Wargaming blog? That gentlemen specializes in finding and posting old out of print articles on his blog.

White Dwarf occasionaly had articles on buildings, often with full size templates. I've often wished they would do a book of the collection. I believe (rumour has it) that the magazine is going to have a website archive soon?

White Dwarf occasionally had articles on buildings…

Yes, my son gets WD, but generally they seem to talk only of making changes to their own basic line of plastic buildings. In any case, I am absolutely certain the structure I'm looking for, the article about it, was NOT in White Dwarf!

I as thinking g either Ian Weekly or possibly even Otto Schmitt in the Courier

I am 95% certain the article was printed on glossy paper, and I am 100% certain the photos (and they were photos) were in colour, so that would rule out magazines like The Courier. Would it not? Thanks for the suggestion though. Hopefully someone here will see this "message in a bottle" and send help!

I just went through my copy of Ian Weekley's book "Buildings For The Military Modeller" and didn't see anything that resembles your description in it.
The book is nothing more than a collection of his articles for various magazines and was published in 1989.

Sure sounds like one of his though. Just not in his book.

If the time period really was the late 70's early 80's then I would not rule out White Dwarf although it would certainly been more role-playing oriented at that point.

What about the articles written by Charles Whitehouse in the old Courier? Didn't he also do building tips? Apologies if I got the name wrong.

A bit outside your date range but there is this from December 1984 Military Modelling – 'A Fortified Manor House' by Ian Weekley and James Main aimed at the ECW period.
link

If this is it you can contact me for more on gfarrishatmsndotcom

guy
PS on the colour pages it is indeed a red brick colour

@Gwydion Thanks for that. It is not the article (not the building), although I'd be interested in the scan of the article just the same, if that were possible. PM coming @ you. ;-)

Sorry 'bout that. PM sent, hope it helps anyway :^)

PM got… "Got," English, what a language!

Thanks for it! In my Sealed Knot days, the regiment to which I belonged assembled once a year at Basing House. I'll have to think about putting something like that manor on my "to do" list -- and maybe even get around to it some day!!

Ex-Rawdens custard coloured horde?

Yes… we're Ex-Rawdon's… The Frau was a "poseman." We were in the musket bloc. Ahh, those were the days…