Cheap and Easy Pantile Roof Tutorial

I have had a few requests for details on how I did the roof of the Spanish warehouse. What follows is a short tutorial on the materials and method used. If you have any further questions please leave a comment below.

NOTE: Having been asked about the availability of the Non-slip Plastic Liner I used, I can tell you locally in Australia, I have found it in both Dollar stores and Bunnings Warehouse. I did find it internationally available from AliExpress here. Hope that helps.

This is the finished piece.

Cut out an appropriate section of strong card, large enough to cover the roof.

Try to utilise a "natural" bend in your card to act as the roof's peak

A close up of the "Non-slip Plastic Liner" which should be available in any home depot/department or hardware store for a very reasonable price.

With the aid of a cutting mat, ruler and sharp blade, cut the liner into 1cm strips...

...until you have enough to potentially cover the roof.

Line up one of the strips with the bottom of the card...

...and glue it down.

Put some glue beyond the first strip of tiles...

...and place the next strip, so that it sits partially on the first strip of tiles.

Rinse and repeat, periodically checking down the edge to ensure the strips of tiles are straight and even.

Eventually you end up with something like this.

Stop your strips of tiles before you reach the "natural" bend.

When both sides are done it should look like this. Let the glue dry properly...

...and then trim with scissors.

Undercoat the tiles with black...

...and do a heavy drybrush in the terracotta color of your choice.

I use earbud tubes for the ridge cap, which sounds a lot more gross than it is.

Cut them to size and lie them in the gutter between the two roofs. Try to keep the roofs at the angle they are required for, because the capping may restrict them from bending more later.

Weather the roof by painting individual tiles in natural colors that compliment your base colors.

Viola! A cheap and easily method for pantile roofing.

Blood & Plunder: Spanish Warehouse

I have finished my first purpose built structure for Blood & Plunder, a Spanish style warehouse. The building features a removable roof and doors. The pan tile roof is made from a non-slip mat, which I will do a tutorial on shortly.

EDIT: Someone suggested I put shutters on the warehouse, which I had always intended to do, but actually forgot and got carried away painting. I have now added some shutters from Warbases. which I think improves the aesthetics a lot.

Blood & Plunder: Port Wall Continued

Continuing with the terrain for Blood & Plunder, I have completed another long section of port wall with a set of stairs. More of the same techniques used here and here, but I thought I'd show how simple the stairs were to make.

The port wall and stairs

Scribe the blue foam as described under the gun battery tutorial

Use the bricks as a guide and cut out the steps

You should end up with something like this

I created a small landing by inscribing a block of blue foam and also completed a length of wall

I fixed the stairs and block of foam together with PVA and the aid of some toothpicks

The three parts all glued together

The length of wall has some wooden pylons dispersed along it

I also made some "iron" rings to set into the wall, which were made by bending some small gauge wire

Painted, along with a waterline stain...

...and the "iron" ring set in place

The finished length of wall and stairs

The new section in position

 

Blood & Plunder: Sloop

This is the first Blood & Plunder ship I have completed, the Sloop. All in all I am very happy with the quality of this piece and equally pleased with the finish I've managed to achieve. Everything pictured here comes as part of the kit, except the sails, which are made from calico. The rigging was a bit fiddly, but not overly hard and in my opinion adds a lot to the finished model.

You can buy a sloop of your own from Firelock Games.

Blood & Plunder: Port Wall & Gibbet

For my Blood & Plunder table I plan to utilise an existing pair of 2" high terrain boards that will sit on top of a "water" cloth. The problem is of course the 2" high difference between the land and the sea. So I require a harbor or port wall to separate the two and to integrate with the gun battery.
The wall is constructed using exactly the same techniques used in making the gun battery, albeit much simpler as there is next to no cutting and NO angles. To break up the monotony of a plain wall I decided to insert a wooden pylon mid way. This led to the idea of hanging a gibbet from the pylon, as a "welcoming" to any newcomers to the port. A short tutorial follows of how I made the gibbet and it's post.

Port wall & gibbet

Cut out a section of "Granny Grating" (if you can wrestle it from your Nan)

Find an appropriately sized cylinder and bind the grating with strands of copper wire. Carefully fix with super glue.

When dry remove it from the cylinder and cut out some of the sections of grating to make larger openings

Cut out two round sections of grating to fit in each end. Carefully fix with super glue

Make a loop of wire to hang the gibbet and fix with super glue

Spray the gibbet by holding onto the copper wire strands, then clip them off.

The post is made from different sized craft sticks, some toothpicks and wire. Drilling small holes to accommodate the different sized sticks is recommended

Painted and put in place, with some crochet thread as rope attached

Without the hanging gibbet the post could be a hoist or other port-side thingy

The completed piece, with a rusty gibbet

The two existing pieces married together

A picture of the battery and wall in place - some more port walls to go

If you have any questions don't hesitate to comment below.