The World Of Twilight

Well, having got one of Brandlins towers and finally finished building it tonight I thought I'd stick a couple of photos up and give you my thoughts. [Pics to follow, my host seems to be down]

Firstly I've done a quick and dirty assembly of the tower, not much in the way of trimming etc. and I have to say I'm still happy with the results. There are some gaps and crooked bits, but that is my assembly not the kit and I made a few mistakes/misreading of instructions before getting the hang of it (always wanting to build not read instructions)

Best bits for me are:
The balcony, which went together really well, is very solid and looks great
The roof tiles, which took minutes to do and look fantastic!
All the details, like the windows and the etching on the doors for adding something extra which would take ages from scratch

Things I'd change:
The top of the roof structre (the cone the tiles are stuck to). I would follow advice I was given and make my own in card as it is more flexible and the plastic one supplied takes ages to glue and both of mine were a bit skew (not nessesarily a bad thing on a ramshakle roof)
I'd follow the instructions and build the leanto and boxout correctly
I'd glue the doorway arches at the same time as the pillars to avoid any gaps.

Overall, things like having all the beams cut to length is really just convenient, and would save a bit of time from doing it yourself, but things like the roof and all the details are massive timesavers and add something special to a typical building I'd do at home without a kit. I've got the stables on order and looking forward to the staircase which again is something which would take hours (days even) from scratch and not the minutes I'm expecting from the kit, and would almost certainly not look as good either.

If like me your terrible at finishing projects then this is for you, I've got a detailed tower (which still needs some paint) in less than 4 hours (within my attention span!) and for not very much money.  :)

(http://bengalmin.smugmug.com/photos/906052851_5cntM-M.jpg)(http://bengalmin.smugmug.com/photos/906053614_sgL6C-M.jpg)(http://bengalmin.smugmug.com/photos/906052851_5cntM-M.jpg)
(http://bengalmin.smugmug.com/photos/906054343_8GHUp-M.jpg)(http://bengalmin.smugmug.com/photos/906053970_HY9Sb-M.jpg)(http://bengalmin.smugmug.com/photos/906054729_TwEX9-M.jpg)

Good to see somebody else putting one of these together! I got as far as adding the roof (basically everything except the little sticking out room bit) before Salute timescales kicked in and I had to shorten it for the display.


Now all you need to do is finish it before you get distracted!  :)

ooooh loookie at that!

This is the first of my kits i've seen made other than the one mike (half) did at Salute.

Thanks Ben,

I understand your comments about the good and bad bits - pleased the balcony worked so well, it is one of the bits that took manydesign changes to get right. I KNEW the shingles would be a hit... so much faster to get a great result.

I'll keep looking at options for the roof cone. I dont really want to just provide a cardboard template as I think you're buying a plastic kit, and the roof is soooo much more robust with the plastic cone. But i do take the point that it can be a pain to get accurate. The good bit is that the shingles will take up a fair amount of inaccuracy in the underlying cone.

I'm also really chuffed that the turret looks so good. Having to specify a bit of plumbing pipe felt a little awkward in the kit, but it looks as though it fits great!

Thanks for putting up these comments and pictures!! :)

Ben - can i use your pictures and comments on my blog - properly attributed of course!

Very inspiring. I really should make a start on mine after seeing the one you've built!

Nick

No problem using my pics, if you want higher resolution PM me (just a case of sending you a link)

The tower was a bit of a pain, mainly using a hobby saw to cut the pipe, which is quite thick. The gaps between the tubes are nicely disguised using the vertical timber sections and the roof. I have a couple of gaps on the roof, but that is from me not looking what I was gluing :)

Happy with the results though, and I think my next kit (Stables, ETA?) will go together even better. Once I have these I'm hoping the 3 buildings will come out and I can kit bash them with another stables/tower to make a small town!

I'm looking forward to using the kits to assemble a few smaller buildings - a cluster of those would be look good on the table and would be good for games!

On that note, I would like a short, flat roofed pringles sized building with railings around it... Maybe that would be a possible addition for your short buildings set?

I agree it is now as solid as a rock! But is was oh so fiddly to curve the plastic that much and not end up with a kink at the join. Could you extend the roof a bit and have an overlap for gluing? A small step up wouldn't affect the shape of things once the tiles were glued on top and an overlap might be stronger? Just a suggestion for future kits, wont stop me buying more :)

thanks for the review ben - have used it lock stock and barrel on my blog ...cheers.

ETA on Stables. I should get the styrene back this week which means i may be shipping by the weekend.

have a look at the wip assembly instructions for the stables here... should tell you whether the stairs are as easy as you hope..

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B06t3PB5k709ZTA1MGJmYzUtNjUyNC00MzA2LTg2Y2YtY2NmYjY5ZGYzMGJk&hl=en_GB

flat roof will be in the Homestead pack - possibly 2.

The stair instructions are very clear to me, and look like they will fly together. The rest of the instructions look very good also.

Looking forward to seeing what you have in mind for the homestead and planning those kit bashes.

"fly" might be a bit strong... you have to let the glue dry after all... there are 59 pieces in the staircase!

watchtower walls and gate before the homestead though guys.

I textured my building last night and undercoated it.

I continued my quick and dirty approach and slapped some watered down pollyfilla on the panels. Tried to clean up the mess on the rest of the beams, doors and windows and then once dry undercoated it. I used the army painter sand undercoat, partly because I have some and partly because it will form a good based for highlighting up the panels to white/cream.

The pollyfilla looks good, but the spiral (how they form the tube from a flat bit of card) in the pringles tube is very difficult to hide. In future builds I might position items to help break it up and cover most of it with diagonal beams etc.

Will post a pic later!

sounds like you are making good progress ben.

i know the probelm you mention about te spiral join in the card... in my experience its more pronounced on some tubes than others.  My wife now gets embarassed when i start sorting through the tubes in the supermarket... last time an assistant came and asked what i was doing - i said "looking for a smooth tube" ... I didn't get an answer.

Glad the polyfilla works for you - i had a bit of trouble getting it to stick to the card - might have been the wrong mix or variety though.

I am very grateful for all the updates and pictures will continue to put them on my blog!

Try filling in the spiral on the tube before you put anything on it. Always a pain hiding those joins but if you get an initial thin smear of filler along the spiral "groove" then by the time you add the full spackle it should be well hidden.

It is more of a ridge than a gap, which is why the filler didn't hide it. It will be clear in the pics which I'll post when I get home. It doesn't really distract from the building anyway :)

yeah on somehting like a toilet roll there is a gap between the two edges of the paper spiral as they wind up the tube. on the pringles tube those edges overlap leaving a thicker ridge as ben says.

The gel medium i used covers it well especially if you put it on thick like i have for a very rustic look. However i didn't plan it too well as i have a seem running right across the door which is only painted. I know its there and can see it, but i bet ya can't see it in the pictures http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RRKBhA-2I4w/S_0KbO1QnHI/AAAAAAAACi8/dvx2j59dNzg/tower%20ebay.jpg

This is the project that got me interest in Twilight back in the day.

Marvelous. Beautiful. I will rebuild it.