Instructions for Assembling and Painting the Plantation Shanty

Instructions for Assembling and Painting the “Plantation Shanty”

About the Plantation Shanty…The Plantation Shanty is typical of structures built, primarily to house slaves and unskilled

workers, throughout the North and the South of America during the 1700’s up to the end of the 19th Century. We have made the
siding to represent rough sawn timber. Naturally this shack can be used for lots of things. We have added porches to some and
changed the detail around so that we have a whole row of them to go with our Plantation House. The same methods could be used
to build a Shanty town or a mining/lumber camp. It’s also typical of “industrial” company houses of large iron works, cotton gins,
etc. throughout the 19th century.

Gaming Ideas… It’s a house! It’s suitable for lots of periods from the ACW, French and Indian War, AWI, and Old West. When

used with another kit or our Jebodiah’s Shack kit, you have the start of a small town.

Materials/Tools Needed to Finish Kit…Assorted Paint Brushes, Assorted

Vallejo Paints, Thick Super Glue, India Ink, Rubbing Alcohol, Scenic Cement,
Assorted files, Toothpicks, Clippers, Hobby Knife

Contents of box for Plantation House …1 resin house casting, 1 resin roof casting, 1

metal door, 1 metal door frame, and 1 small metal window.

The Bubble Wars…We do everything we can to keep bubbles out of our resin castings. They are all poured and filled under

pressure. We then inspect them before packaging and pull out any inferior products. However, despite our best efforts, a few
bubbles can sometimes be found in our castings. We hate bubbles. Here is a way to wage war on them: Poke around on the
bubble (a round void in the casting) with a pin or toothpick to make sure you find its bottom and remove any thin film around it.
Next, gather a small drop of super glue (the thicker kind) on the end of your toothpick and let it fill the void. Use just enough to
level the surface. Spray gently with accelerator or allow it to dry for 30 minutes or so. If you find this tedious, imagine that
when you are poking the bubble with a sharp stick that you are actually poking us in the eye for letting it get into the casting in
the first place. As always, if we have really screwed up and you aren’t happy with the casting, return it to us for a new one or a
full refund.

Prepping and Assembling the Plantation Shanty- Start by washing the resin pieces with soapy water and let dry before

proceeding to remove any residues from manufacturing. After the parts are dry, carefully inspect all the metal and resin
castings for flash and clean it off with knives and files. To assemble the door to the frame, you need to trap the door between
the frame and the door jam. The door frame is made to be a press fit into the jam. Fit the door to the frame and then with it in
the open position, press the frame into the opening on the shack. Test it to make sure it is working and then carefully glue it in
place with super glue. The pins on the door line up with the slots on the frame. For the window, you have to make sure it seats
properly against the inner frame on the house casting. Make sure your roof fits properly before painting the model.

Priming Your Model…After cleanup and assembly, paint all of your casting with Spray Primer and set them aside to dry

thoroughly. Refer to the instructions on your chosen primer for how long this should take. Our preference is to use solvent
based automotive primer. These types of primers are readily available and provide a toothier surface that is much tougher than
most primers sold for figure painting. This type of tougher finish from these primers will make your finished terrain pieces far
more scratch resistant and work better on urethane castings. Make sure the primer gets into all the little nooks and crannies.
Acrylic modeling paint will not stick well to unfinished polyurethane castings. Always use spray paints in a well ventilated area.
We primered our Plantation Shanty black.
.

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Instructions for Assembling and Painting the “Plantation Shanty”

Painting Guide… This is meant to be a basic painting guide for your model. You should get some nice results with these

methods. If you are an experienced hobbyist, paint it your way and send us some pictures! We love having great painted
products in our web gallery. We have chosen Vallejo Paints because of their quality and almost universal availability.
Complete the steps in each STAGE before moving on to the next.

Painting Guide (for the Plantation Shanty)

Stage Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6

A Dry brush the Dry Brush Add some Double the Now just dry When you
outer walls with the outer neutral gray amount of brush, very are happy
Base Coating Flat brown. Make walls again to the Beige gray in the lightly, the that the
sure you don’t fill with the Brown (about mix and dry edges of the siding
With this first step, we the nail holes and Beige 1 into 4 ratio) brush the siding by looks right,
want to try and get the siding gaps with Brown, and lightly dry siding again going side to move on
model to look like the brown paint and going brush the with even side against to step B
siding is old weathered allow the black to lightly and outer siding lighter the model
wood. Do the inside the show through. side to side again. strokes. with pure
same way. The interior walls rather than neutral gray.
and floor should up and What we are
be done the same down. after here is
way. the look of
old wood (it
B Dry brush the Add some You can Don’t forget normally
stone foundation white to “stain” to paint the goes gray).
Foundation and gray. your base individual fireplace Move on to
Chimney color and stones at inside the Stage C – The
Roof
The foundation is meant to

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Instructions for Assembling and Painting the “Plantation Shanty”

be made of local stone. For Dry brush, now dry random with house. If you like, On to the
best effect, paint it to heavily, the entire brush each any ink or thin after all the Wash
match any other stone roof with Dark “stone” to wash of your Add a little dry brushing step!!!
features you may have in Grey highlight it. choice to white to the is done, you
your terrain collection. We emphasize the US tan (1 to can go back Paint the
chose gray limestone. Let this dry very, Dry brush individual 3) and and use pot by the
Paint the chimney the very well. the shingles stones in the carefully various dark fireplace
same way and at the same again with foundation. highlight the brown and black & a
time. Paint the stones on Logs and Wood the same lower edges black stains bit of clear
the base at the same time. Pile- gray mixed Dry brush the of the or inks to call nail polish
Paint the log used 3 to 1 with shingles again, shingles by out a few for
C as a step under white. lightly this dry brushing random “water”.
the door Dark time, with 874 just the edge. shingles.
Roof Grey. Then paint Oh- don’t US Tan. Pay
the exposed forget to special Paint the Paint the bed
The roof is meant to “Wood” bits with paint the attention to Fireplace to to suit. We
represent wood shake Beige Brown. Add Bird’s nest the bottom match the used an ivory
shingles. The trim on the little highlights on the roof. edges. stone work for the pillow
roof and its underside are with US Tan We painted on the and mattress
painted first and done to mixed with a the eggs We flocked chimney. and red for
match step A touch of white. white and our base this the blanket.
Paint the floor. rendered stage with
D We used Flat the nest a various
Wash Step – See “How to brown. Paint it straw color. Woodland
Make Your Own Wash” evenly. Scenic’s flocks
below then coat your Use a and weeds.
ENTIRE model and let lighter
thoroughly dry. brown to You can
This step will help meld dry brush highlight
things together and the floor. individual
deepen the shading. We used boards and
Beige floor board
E brown. edges with US
Tan.
Finishing the base

We dry brushed the entire
base with Flat Brown

before painting any of the
details. If you choose not

to flock the base, dry
brush some grass and such
as you see as appropriate
before painting the details

on the base.

F
The Interior

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Instructions for Assembling and Painting the “Plantation Shanty”

Making your own “Washes”…We are confident that in time we will be producing our own brand of hobby paints, inks,

and washes especially made for terrain modeling. When that time comes we will want you to purchase our “expensive”
premade washes because they will be better than anything else. Well, that is what we think. In the meantime, you can buy
washes and inks from hobby suppliers, or try this method. It is older than miniature gaming but seems to have served the
model making community well for a very long time. It is especially useful when you need large quantities of washes or stains
when making big terrain pieces…
Purchase a bottle of genuine India Ink (black) from an art supply store. Some stores also sell other colors. If they do, pick up
some brown as well. On your way home, stop buy the local drugstore or chemist and buy a big bottle of Isopropyl alcohol. This
is the stinky stuff the nurse uses to clean your skin when giving you an injection. These materials should be really cheap.
In an old paint pot or other sealable container, add alcohol until it is three quarters full. Figure out how much alcohol is in there
by pouring it back out into a measuring cup. Now put it back into the container. For every ounce ( 30ml) of alcohol, add 25
drops of India Ink. Stir this mixture well. You now have a very useful basic wash you can put on nearly everything. The alcohol
will flood into all the cracks and crevices leaving behind the ink when it evaporates and “staining” the model. Don’t be afraid to
flood the model. This method is pretty forgiving. If it looks REALLY dark and you are scared, flood the model immediately with
clear alcohol and set it aside to dry. DON’T use this method on anything that is already flocked. The alcohol evaporates more
quickly than water, so it shouldn’t take too long to dry thoroughly. There are two down sides to this method- it can be a bit
messy and it smells bad. Make sure your modeling area is well ventilated (as it should be anyway!) Isopropyl Alcohol is
flammable so do this away from open flames or high heat sources. Note that the ink will stain many things it comes in contact
with so, treat it as if it were paint. The upside is that you can generate a useful “wash” in big quantities and by playing with the
mix and adding in other colors (some Vallejo paint seems to dissolve in alcohol too for example) you can get lots of different
effects and colors. Experiment away on some old models and enjoy yourself. Just write down your recipe or formula so you can
repeat it later. If you find one you think is really, really good, email it to us so we can post it on our web site.

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Instructions for Assembling and Painting the “Plantation Shanty”

Flocking Your Model

To Flock or Not to Flock…That’s not that much of a question, but here is our view. ‘Flocking” a model is a word some use to

describe adding model ground cover to represent grass, dirt, snow, etc to a models base. Some gamers like to flock their terrain
to match the playing surface. Others think it just wears off and it’s a big waste of time. We disagree and DO add flock, or ground
cover, to the bases of our scenery items just like we do with our figure bases. The trick to keeping it from wearing off is to do it
properly. Also, effective ground cover is about layered texture. Look outside. Ground with vegetation or even just dirt consists of
a variety of textures. The more textures we add to a model the more convincing the outcome. We use a method to add ground
cover to our models first popularized long ago in the model railroad hobby. If you don’t want to add any ground cover to your
model, we make them with sufficient texture cast in that you should be able to just dry brush your model and go play. If you want
to add ground cover, try the following tips.

All About Scenic Cement…Matte Medium is available in art supply stores or you can buy Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement

which comes premixed and specially formulated for scenery making. It is a heavy creamy white liquid used to thin paint and cover
painted surfaces. It makes an ideal adhesive for ground covers because unlike regular white glue (PVC glue) it dries flat and is not
water soluble after it dries. After purchasing your Matte Medium, add some to an empty container and then add water. You want
about one part Matte Medium to 5 parts water. I like to mix it all up at once and store it. Just remember to stir well before using
it. Commercially, you can buy Matte Medium premixed as Woodland Scenic’s Scenic Cement or from SenicsExpress.com.

Once all of your paint is dry, you are ready to flock. Using a paintbrush, “paint” your
mixture of Matte Medium on the area you would like to flock. Be generous with the matte
medium but not to the point where it is running in areas you don’t wish to flock.

Sprinkle your chosen flock over the areas painted with Matte Medium. Leave the flock in
place for a bit, even the loose stuff. Flock the whole piece as quickly as possible so you
don’t get any lines caused by drying between each area.

After the Matte Medium has thoroughly dried, shake the excess flock off and add it back to
the container it came from. Here is where using Matte Medium really shines. If you would
like, you can now add more flock of different colors and textures to other areas of the
model or on top of the flock you have already put on to get layers of texture. Sprinkle stuff
on to your heart’s content and use a soft brush to push flock around to wear you want it or
off of areas you don’t.

Once you are satisfied with where the flock on your model has been placed, gently spray all
the flocked areas with a fine mist of water. Any old atomizer bottle will do the trick. Here I
am using an old accelerator bottle. You just want to get the flock you have applied already
wet, not soaking. Once this is done, the water will hold any loose flock in place.

Now take a pipette (included in your kit) or eye dropper and gently dribble you Matte
Medium mix all over your newly flocked areas. This will glue down any loose flock you have
applied but also seal all the flock together making it tough and resilient for gaming use.
Don’t freak about it all turning white. As soon as the Matte Medium is completely dry, it
will turn invisible again. On occasion, I have had the finished piece pick up a slight sheen.
This is relatively rare and can be corrected by giving the entire model a light coat of spray
matte varnish when everything has thoroughly dried.

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