The building is made by Dead Man’s Hand from their great new range of plastic models in 28mm scale for wargaming.
The image above is from their website, showing the unpainted model.
The inspiration for the name and details of my models comes from this building, located in Miles City in Montana in 1880.
I decided to cut the false front down for a more realistic look, and added a wooden base to raise the whole building a bit. I also added some cornices and a simple interior on the upper floor.
Facades are always important, but perhaps even more so in the boomtownd of the old American west, so I decided to paint it off-whihte with a dark green trim. The hotel owner probably wanted to attract attention to his new hotel!
A couple of plants would add even more class on the balcony!
Here glued in place…
In order to make the hotel appear a bit different from the other Dead Man’s Hand models, I had raised the ground floor level a bit. This meant that the staircase did not fit anymore, so I raised it as well with some wood.
Now it goes all the way! Perhaps a railing would be nice one day?
Here the hotel is next to the hardware store – the first building in Armilia Junction. I like the height difference across the top of the doors and windows.
The final step was to create a sign close to the real thing in the historical photo above. Here is the result, please feel free to use it in your own western boomtown:
A final look at the two models finished models together. I really like the new kits from Dead Man’s Hand. They are large, the roofs and floors are removable, and although they are relatively simple to be used for wargaming, they provide an excellent base for further detailing.
Now I just need some inspiration for the next building in my fictional, but realistic boomtown of Armilia Junction. Ideas are more than welcome! 🙂
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