Medieval Gates 6 - Roofs and Pigments

Painting of the roofs has been covered in a previous article. Below a quick photo progression.

Paints :
Raw Unmber  (Dark Brown)
Earth Brown (kind of a mud brown)
Pumpkin (kind of Orange)
Tan  (creamy color)

Black Primer on new roofs with finished example to work towards.

Black Primer over all surfaces

Dark Brown - Drybrushed from top to bottom

Muddy Brown applied by drybrush from top to bottom (right) and pumpkin applied (left)

Very light drybrush with Tan in every direction to catch the edges.

Although the dry-brushing has resulted in a good colour, the finish is too uniform. We need to apply some washes to the roof to give more tones. Finish in a light dry-brush to catch all the edges.

Multiple dabs of diluted wash applied at random over whole roof.

The wood parts of the roof can be done at the same time using the same progression of colour, or some other colour scheme as required. I chose to keep the wood a bit darker so skipped the mud brown and pumpkin steps, instead going for dark brown and directly over that with tan to bring out the grain detail. Washes applied to taste to vary the wood colour.


In order to give the roof some additional character, some lichen spots are added. This is done with pigment sticks. These can be bought from any art supplier and are cheap. 

A box of pigments will last almost forever and is a great investment

Plenty of colours to choose from to get the desired effect.

I used greens, reds, yellows.

Natural colours for lichens and moss.

To adhere the pigment to the roof it needs to be sprinkled into alcohol or Matt varnish.
Dab some alcohol or matt varnish into spots on the roof. I find matt varnish works best as it is sticky and does not dry too fast.

Using the back side of a scalpel blade or other sharp strong edge, scrape the pigment off the stick at a corner so it falls in a shower of pigment dust onto the wet spots.
Add a few more wet spots and repeat with a different colour pigment.
Mix and match the pigments over the roof to get the desired effect. Random variations work best.

Matt Varnish dabbed on and pigment dusted on top.

Allow everything to dry, then spray with a matt varnish to hold everything in place. An airbrush is ideal for this.

Here are the finished roofs. 

End woodwork pushed towards red colour with pigment.

Medieval Gates 5 - Realistic Roofs

Following some positive comments on my tower roofs, here are some more details on making them. This time I have written down the dimensions so I remember them in the future.

Written dimensions enable multiple copies of the same part.

The dimensions are taken from the card tower. Roof support works made from balsa wood. 

Balsa wood is cut to outline size ensuring grain direction is correct.

The balsa wood is cut so the grain runs in the right direction....i.e up and down. Then the wood is cut to final size. Two end eave pieces , two sides. 

Final sizes are cut using a scalpel

The eave pieces are scored to represent wooden strips. 

End pieces are scored to represent individual boards

This was done using the sharp end of an awl. 

An awl with point is a great tool for scoring.

The wood surfaces were scored to represent wood grain.

Run a wire brush in the grain direction to get fine grooves in the balsa wood.

The fine grain was done with an old wire brush, brushing in the grain direction. The grain is very fine and may not be immediately visible but it will take stain well and darken in all the grooves. The side pieces are glued to the eave pieces. Make sure to glue the sides outside the eaves and not the other way round. 

A wire brush with fine wires is best...get one at a modelling shop.

The roof is made from 1 mm card cut to size. 

Simple sketches are easy to follow.

The card roof is scored partially so it can be bent.

A shallow score allows the roof to be bent to follow the required slope.

Glue thin strips of 1mm card to the edges of the roof. Strips are about 1mm wide. They act as a support for the first row of shingles so the angle matches all the other rows and ensures the shingles sit flat. The card roof is glued to the balsa wood support centering it as best as possible by eye.

Adding card strips ensures the shingles will go on easily with correct slope.

The tiles (shingles) are also made from 1mm card. The main tiles are 10mm wide. The top row is smaller, 8mm wide strips.

Tile (single ) sizes are a matter of taste....try until happy.

Cut plenty of strips of each.  You will need about 6 times the bigger shingles than smaller shingles. 

Cut each strip using a scissors getting random sizes .

Cut plenty of strips and create a stock of card shingles.

Put the stock shingles into separate bags and label for future use.

Assembly of the shingles onto the roof support is covered in another earlier blog entry. 

Glued on shingles really add to the realism of a roof.

The ridge tiles are approx 10mm x 10mm. Before gluing to the apex of the roof, form the tiles around a small radius. I use the barrel of the awl.

Ridge tiles can be added overlapped or butted to one another.

Painting of the roof was covered in an earlier blog but I might repeat it in more detail later.

Till next time.