The Red Lion

About 25 years ago Liz and I went to a model railway show where my brother was exhibiting one of his wonderful layouts with his model railway club friends. Liz liked some of the buildings he'd made, especially brick building made using thin card "bricks" from punched computer cards, and half timbered walls mad by gluing the "timber" over a card wall and then infilling with plaster to get an authentic plastered wall effect. She liked them so much that she decided we would have a go at making something like that ourselves, and so she set about building a model of an old English country pub, half timbered, half brick (obviously extended sometime in the 1700s). We'd work in 15mm so that I could use it for wargaming when it was finished. We used clear plastic from easter egg packaging and coarse brass mesh to give the windows a leaded window look. 

After a cracking start the project languished once we'd finished and assembled the walls. It sat like a half finished Greek house for ages, and successive house moves saw it put away in a box and then forgotten about. Occasionally it would be found again, I'd thin about finishing it, and then it would be back in its box as other "priority" jobs came a long. 

As 2016 ended I found it again, and this time decided that 2017 would be the year that I would finally complete the project. A liberal application of Das modelling clay over a card roof saw the structure completed, and a new base was made from mounting board, painted, sanded and flocked, and hen a low fence and pub sign post made from cut down match sticks. The pub was christened "The Red Lion" with a sign made from a scaled down photograph. After 25 years the project was complete! I may do some more work on the base sometime, but for now the pub is ready to form the centrepiece of my 15mm ECW terrain collection. 

I think it was worth the wait.