Inspiration can appear from anywhere. In my case, I found it when I first saw a new model kit of a old tower gate, made by Faller in HO scale.
I was drawn towards the great texture of the stone faces and the odd side wall next to the tower, suggesting that a perpendicular wall has once been present. The set, #130400 from Faller, is a model of of the Klingenturm, the Sword Tower, in the Bavarian town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
The town of Rothenburg was founded in the Middle Ages and from the 13th century, it became a Free Imperial City, prospering in the centuries to come. During this time, the city wall was expanded with numerous towers. But the town suffered in the Thirty Years War, followed by an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
Due to the hardships, the town stopped growing and was preserved to modern times. The well-preserved and beutiful town has since inspired many kinds of people, from poets to nazis, who during their regime claimed the town was the ideal German Town, and finally to model railroad companies, who in the 20th century have produced numerous kits of structures in the town.
This well preserved Medieval town along with other inspired me to build a version for myself. Not a replica of Rothenburg as such, but a model containing a old, picturesque core, fortifications and a more more modern city around it with industry and railroad.
I decided on setting the time and place at the 1920’s Weimar Republic – modern and old at the same time.
With this dream in mind, I began to build my version of the Klingentor. The original, above shown in a photo from the late 19th century, was built around 1400. The kit from Faller seems to be a rather faithful representation of the old gatetower.
Even though the kit is quite new and the parts seem to fit well, I still decided to assemble the stone walls first before painting them. To make sure no unsightly gaps were left between the walls, I added some plaster to some of the joints.
I also built and weathered another Faller set, #130404, of a town wall to add to the gate tower. Again the stone texture lend itself very well for painting and weathering.
It was a pleasure assembling the gate tower, and I really like how the top part, just below the lone window, is removable. I am still not sure whether to keep the ornate top of the tower or to replace it with an overgrown ruined top instead. What do you think?
The lower part of the gate tower has many wonderful details and odd angles. I decided to paint the wooden parts dark green to give the building a bit more color.
The copper spires were a metal color in the kit, but I decided to paint them a more weathered green. I also cut down the top spire with about a third – it seemed too high for my taste and the two halves did not fit very well anyways.
Once the gate tower was complete, I began working on a corner tower, this time turning to a Kibri kit, #38915. Compared to the Faller kit, the stone texture on the Kibri walls is quite shallow and undetailed. In some places you can even see the wall being made up of several pieces of the same smaller casting, but I hoped to make it match the gate with some nice painting.
I like the tall, spire-like roof, but the tower itself felt a bit small, so I added another level using the half-frame timber from Kibri set #38914.
The angles did not quite fit, so I had to add some balsa strips in between, but seen from a distance it does not look too bad.
I added another wall set in order to fill the corner of the coming diorama.
The wall were later painted in the same way as the Faller kit – a base of tan, then a wash of Agrax Earthshade and finally an off-white drybrush to highlight the details.
In order to distinguish my model a bit from the countless thousands of other models from the same kit, I cut some of the side wall away with my Dremel – quite satisfying! 🙂
Once the two wall pieces were nearing completion, I build a base for the first diorama of the town, which I decided to name St. Anton. As a base I used a piece of 9 mm MDF with some pine boards underneath in an H-shape for support. A layer of expanded polystyrene glued to the MDF provided additional stiffness and a good foundation for the construction of the town.
After contemplating for a looong time where the wall should be, test-fitting, measuring and cutting, I finally began to build a slope for the town walls to give them some additional height. I added a number of rock castings for variation.
After painting the rocks and giving everything else a base coat of brown, I glued the fortifications in place, not without some trepidation!
I painted the rocks in similar colors as the stones in the wall, as I imagine the fortifications were built from the same type of stone from a nearby quarry originally.
After the buildings were in place, I added a layer of sifted dirt to smooth the contours of the landscape and provide a foundation for the vegetation. I use the fine dirt that construction workers use for stability beneath pavement etc, alsoknown as the base course. Piles of it can be seen everywhere in my city, so I sometimes pick up a bit for my models.
To sterilise it and dry it, I bake it in the oven for half an hour at 250 degrees Celcius. Finely sifted, it works great for unpaved roads while the rest is great for landscaping
The dirt provides the landscape with a peculiar, almost Martian, quality – no wonder the lone traveller ponders at what kind of place he is visiting!
With some grass added, everything suddenly looks much more earthly!
I used an electrostatic grass tool to plant the grass, and used four different shades of static grass, ranging from a dark yellow over light green to dark green. I kept mixing the colors in the tool, but tried to used mostly dark green in areas in the shade, while open areas exposed to the sun would get more yellow grass.
The effect can just about be seen above – near the bush the grass is a darker green. It is easier to see in real life.
Overall, I am quite happy about how the first part of the diorama of the town of St. Anton turned out. The fortifications and outer landscape is pretty much done, although lots of more vegetation – trees, flowers, lichens and weeds have to be planted.
But now I will turn my attention to the insside of the town, and have already spend alot of time juggling baseplates of various buildings around to create a dense townscape containing buildings from several centuries.
When the first diorama of St. Anton is done, another one behind it will add more townscape, while a diorama in front of the fortifications will show a 19th century train station. As I mentioned above, the diorama is set in the 1920’s Weimar Republic.
But now it is time to build some more and turn this deserted place into a bustling old town! Thanks for reading this far 🙂
Epoch 