Ye Olde Inn

by **DC1346** » July 7th, 2018, 1:19 pm

I recently bought a new printer. It arrived in a heavy cardboard box but instead of using packing styrofoam, the manufacturer used some L-shaped heavy duty pieces of cardboard. The cardboard was thick and had these interesting corrugated sides. Instead of dumping the cardboard in my recycling bin, I sawed one into six pieces to use for the construction of a couple of towers.

Here is a picture of my first tower.

I built this on a piece of plywood using cork tiles. Since I had a small margin on the far right, I filled the gap with a styrofoam wall. The wall initially ran from the corner of the dungeon tile to the side of the tower but after applying a light spray coat of gray primer, a chemical reaction caused the wall to shrivel and I lost the far corner. The rest of the wall was nicely pitted. After painting it up, the wall looked worn and aged.

Using a piece of leftover sprue from a collection of Warhammer Chaos Knights, I painted it rust colored and glued it as a pipe to the side of the cardboard. After painting the cardboard, I added water effects by creating a waterfall and a gutter.

I then cut apart some soft plastic fantasy figures to put a body in the gutter. I included the leg section and skull of a skeleton. I cut into a Greek shield. I also took a leftover gloved hand holding a sword from the Chaos Knights unit. A hint of a torso was made using a piece of paper napkin. After assembling the body in the gutter, I partially submerged it under some Woodland Scenics "water".

Here is a picture of my 2nd tower.

Since I wanted this one to be different, I added a tree and another soft plastic figure which I painted up as a statue.

To create more of a ruined effect, after constructing the tower, I cut into the top and used pieces of styrofoam to simulate piled rubble at the base.

As an added whimsical touch, I added some pink flowers to the middle section of the tower. The pink really stands out against the gray of the ruined platform as does the green of the tree.

As to what I plan to do with the two towers, I want to craft a rope bridge. I purchased a couple of cheap chain bracelets through eBay. The bracelets are about 7-8 inches long. Assuming this project works, I plan to run them through PVC signage sections and to hang either end from nails.

Since these pieces will need to be stored, I'm building the rope bridge so that the chains may be removed and bagged prior to storage. I may build a "rope" side using string but am waiting to see how the bridge comes out first. Assuming this project works out, I will post additional pictures at a later date.