Saxon Church - WIP 1

Last Saturday on the way home from Conquest, I purchased this Church model by CnC Workshop.  Reasonably priced at $20 and a well made laser cut mdf kit, this was a good option for the price rather than build from scratch.  Rather appropriately, I put it together on Easter Sunday, as well as the large wooden cross (aka Holy Relic), also by CnC Workshop.

Church - as is made from the kit

As I put it together though, I knew that simply painting it as is just wasn't going to cut it as far as I was concerned.  Nothing wrong with it, but I wanted it to suit the rest of my Dark Age village.  And having the basic shell pre-done in mdf meant I could invest some time detailing it instead.  Over the last week that's what I've done, the pertinent works being:

Church on large mdf base

• Adding wood paneling to the bell tower front and sides.
• Adding a floor to the tower so its usable for gaming.
• Modifying the main and bell tower roofs to make them detachable and sturdy (so we can use the interior for gaming).
• Adding wood framing around the main walls to have a wattle and daub effect.  Obviously many Churches of this era were stone, but this was hasn't been upgraded yet.
• Addition of a side door.
• Adding wood panel effects to the front door and main entrance.
• "Thatching" the roofs (using my usual teddy bear fur method).
• Gluing, filling and sanding the whole thing together.

Church post modification - with roof removed

The original Church - from the CnC Workshop website

Overall this has taken a lot longer than I had initially thought, but PVA takes some time to dry, I only have a single pair of modelling clamps and the many changes have required frequent refitting and modification work.  Overall though, I think my modest additions will make a nice difference to the final version, which will also have interior detailing. I'm basing the whole thing on a large piece of mdf (a DIY placemat from Bunnings actually) so I can add some pathways and a few graves.

Holy Relic of heroic proportions!