635 - More Scenery: Sarissa Box Girder Bridge and Blacksmithy

Hullo All,

I've made some more flatpack scenery for a friend. In this case, two 28mm kits from Sarissa Precision: their 20th Century 'Box Girder Bridge' and the 'Blacksmith's Forge' from their 'Old West' range.

Both are supplied unpainted, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to (a) tart them up a bit, and (b) try out some techniques for painting Sarissa buildings, as I'm going to be putting together a bunch of them soon...

Here they are, then. I've deliberately over-exposed most of the pics in order to show the details in the crummy March light..:

I textured the road with fine sand, then painted it, the general superstructure and the concrete walkway. Then I just went round most of the bolts and joins with some dots and streaks of rust.

The ramps at either end detach, and are spaced (and braced, I suppose) by a thin strip of board running along at tabletop level. It's not very robust, to be honest.

Honestly, I was surprised and pleased with how this paint job turned out. Like I say, it was a chance to try out some new ideas...

Onto the forge, then:

Again, the floor is textured with sand : it seemed appropriate, I guess.

Unlike the gorgeous pre-painted '4-Ground' buildings from a few posts ago, these look very different all the same colour: the rafters in the shot below are the basic wood colour, and I just couldn't leave the brickwork unpainted. Having done that, I couldn't then leave the rest of it ALL blank. Still, I only used 5-ish colours. Next time, I'll do all the colouring on the sprues. Y'see?  - I'm learning stuff!

With more time, I would've taken more care over the name board (named here for a great man) but it's really just a placeholder for a better, less anachronistic one.

My last words here have to be in terms of a brief review of the kit. Sarissa kits are a LOT cheaper than the 4-Ground ones, and you can see why: the instructions are more basic, the materials themselves are more flimsy and there is far less internal detail...but they are fantastic value for gaming purposes, and now I've had a play with them I'm looking forward to experimenting more!

Cheers,

- D.

PS: these pics pretty much sum up my last two weeks here in the village: