Medieval Fortified Village by Ekis - 1/87 scratch base kit Aedes Ars

[Ekis]

In fact, the French love all cooking, and BBQs are one of the things we all do in the garden (if we live in a house) in the spring! 😁

[Kurt Johnson]

My stepbrother lives way upstate New York near the Canadian border. He does pig roasts in a pit, roasts it about 10 hours. Fantastic,

 

[Canute]

Do the French do BBQ trailers? here's a commercial one:

https://sleequipment.com/st2400.html?fee=34&fep=198518&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Pull Behind Smokers&utm_term=1101202421458&utm_content=Pull behind bbq grills

 

Down in the Southern US, it's done year round.

[Kurt Johnson]

We can keep up the gastronomic discussion in this forum if we talk in code or French or something.

[Canute]

Best take it to a PM, gentlemen.

[Kurt Johnson]

It always amazes me how some things take off and others die immediately in any forum. I would never bet on which do or don’t. I would like to thank Ekis for patience with us. We do have to fill in the time before his next update though. I kinda hope he goes a little around the bend with this project and just keeps going and going. I’m sure he does not feel that way, though. Maybe we  can start a new forum, MMVW (Model Medieval Village World).

 

Kurt

[Ekis]

Thank you Kurt,
I don't have any problem with this discussion which goes a little bit off the basic topic.

After all, it seems that watching this village grow up brings a desire for good living, especially around a good table.
By extension, this is what this village is made for: it's at peace, it shows life in the distant past.

That doesn't prevent me from continuing quietly to show you the rest, indeed, as you say!
So eat, drink, discuss here like a pause between two series of images...
In short, let's discuss: it's the very concept of a forum! 😉

 

[Old Collingwood]

18 minutes ago, Ekis said:

Thank you Kurt,
I don't have any problem with this discussion which goes a little bit off the basic topic.

After all, it seems that watching this village grow up brings a desire for good living, especially around a good table.
By extension, this is what this village is made for: it's at peace, it shows life in the distant past.

That doesn't prevent me from continuing quietly to show you the rest, indeed, as you say!
So eat, drink, discuss here like a pause between two series of images...
In short, let's discuss: it's the very concept of a forum! 😉

 

Well said  - its a true testament (I know I havn't spelt that right)    to our fine forum  we are a family  and we stray when food is on the table or mentioned  - some of us can smell it even when offline or on another  site,  lets say its fuel for the brain to keep our build - building  - keep building  (bet that doesn't make much sense)☺️

 

OC.

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

lets say its fuel for the brain to keep our build - building  - keep building  (bet that doesn't make much sense)

NAY!! I say, makes perfect sense, and is logical as well...

[Old Collingwood]

2 minutes ago, Egilman said:

NAY!! I say, makes perfect sense, and is logical as well...

Thank you brother.🤛

 

OC.

[Kurt Johnson]

 

It”s interesting OC mentions smell. Yesterday I was listening to the BBC program on public radio. There was an interview with a British scientist who is trying to recreate odors that existed in prior times. This would add to the visual and sound experiences for a fuller   

understanding of history. He didn’t explain the recreation process though.

 

Kurt

[Edwardkenway]

I think having authentic odours and aromas drifting out from various parts of the village would be fantastic. I recall a visit to Jorvik Viking Centre with the Admiral and my Daughters too many years ago, they used smells in the recreation of a viking town, bread baking and sawdust amongst  the better ones and others I try to forget 🤭

Edited November 18, 2020 by Edwardkenway

[Canute]

There used to be a model railroad company selling systems that generated smells of coal smoke and other industrial odors.Don't know if they still produce any of this.

[WalrusGuy]

Very interesting build (or builds I should say 😁)!!! I'm very late to the party but I am very much looking forward to next bits of progress!

[mtaylor]

23 hours ago, Kurt Johnson said:

My stepbrother lives way upstate New York near the Canadian border. He does pig roasts in a pit, roasts it about 10 hours. Fantastic,

 

They used to be very common towards the south.  I don't know if they still are though.  Some of the best I ever had was done in a pit.

[Kurt Johnson]

Ekis,

 

Are you building one structure at a time and see where that leads to next.? Or is there a more formalized plan? Or I’m guessing a mixture of both. Have you had any surprises at the direction things have proceeded that you had never envisioned? Too many questions, I’m sure a historical village was haphazard to a point.

One final question (at the moment) does the lord have to approve building ALL of the structures in the village or just the more substantial ones. Again I’m guessing it depended upon the opportunity of financial gain.

 

Kurt

[lmagna]

14 hours ago, Edwardkenway said:

and others I try to forget 🤭

 

I was going to say that one of the possible odors of the time would be open sewers.😝

Edited November 19, 2020 by lmagna

[mtaylor]

5 hours ago, lmagna said:

 

I was going to say that one of the possible odors of the time would be open sewers.😝

And next to no baths, etc.

[Ekis]

@Kurt Johnson :
 

The village plan at the beginning was determined by the famous kit from 20 years ago...
Then I started to want to customize it, so I started to find out about existing fortified villages.

And there, I had to choose between 2 possibilities coming from the reality of the time :
- a village that was built in a somewhat anarchic way, without a plan, but just with the arrival of new inhabitants,
- the real fortified bastides which were totally planned, with perfectly straight streets at right angles (which is for example the origin of the plan of Nouvelle Angoulême: today New York!), which are also the origin of the subdivisions of individual houses.
 

I made a mix of the two by imagining a chronology of the buildings.
First the church and the cloister, then a farm, some defenses of towers and walls, then a seigneurial dwelling, the complete fortifications and the rest of the houses.

Quote

Have you had any surprises about the direction things have taken that you never imagined?

So far, I've had only good surprises! 😊
I realized as the construction progressed that I could reproduce quite faithfully real buildings, without having to follow the inconsistencies and absurd simplifications in the kit.
From then on, I chose the stone sizes, the woods to get a result, and not to look like the houses in the kit.
What I want for this village is to show a number of possible examples of 14th century village construction, with a coherent set of a community.

 

Quote

One last question (for now): does the lord have to approve the construction of ALL the structures of the village or only the most important ones?

The lord and the religious authorities would welcome new inhabitants if labor was needed for construction or in the fields. If there was no more space in the fortified enclosure, then the "new ones" would build in the surrounding area and come to take refuge in case of danger.

[Kevin]

just doing my first kit, how much sanding do you do on the outside face?

[Ekis]

57 minutes ago, Kevin said:

just doing my first kit, how much sanding do you do on the outside face?

I do the same as for the wooden hulls of my boats: it depends on what I want to get.
Anyway, I already assume that the better the stones (or the strakes of a boat) are laid, the less work I will have afterwards in scraping and sanding!
But for example, the stones of the outside walls are left almost rough, without sanding, to show the joints, the stone more coarsely cut.
Conversely, the last house made of very small stones 3x3x6mm was very finely sanded to show the stonemason's trade of the time. One can hardly guess (before weathering) the joints between some bricks. 😉

[Kevin]

4 minutes ago, Ekis said:

I do the same as for the wooden hulls of my boats: it depends on what I want to get.
Anyway, I already assume that the better the stones (or the strakes of a boat) are laid, the less work I will have afterwards in scraping and sanding!
But for example, the stones of the outside walls are left almost rough, without sanding, to show the joints, the stone more coarsely cut.
Conversely, the last house made of very small stones 3x3x6mm was very finely sanded to show the stonemason's trade of the time. One can hardly guess (before weathering) the joints between some bricks. 😉

thank you, its just that i sanded my first wall quite smooth, and it just does not look right, i now have a smooth outside with rough mortar joint

[Ekis]

Yes, it is necessary to dose the glue without it protruding too much. The glue used (I use quick-setting wood glue) does not make a good fit, and is too elastic to give a real look.
I make the joints after drying, with a very fine crack-filling cement, mixed with stone dust that I keep when I sand. Then I scrape off the excess with X-Acto. 😉

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, Ekis said:

Yes, it is necessary to dose the glue without it protruding too much. The glue used (I use quick-setting wood glue) does not make a good fit, and is too elastic to give a real look.
I make the joints after drying, with a very fine crack-filling cement, mixed with stone dust that I keep when I sand. Then I scrape off the excess with X-Acto. 😉

Sounds a lot like brick and mortar to mee.... {chuckle}

 

What you do in modifying the parts into what you want and designing your own fits and looks is way beyond just building a kit, you really have mastered the medium.... You sir must have had a medieval stonemason in your family tree....

 

Outstanding work.....

[Ekis]

Thanx a lot, Sir ! 😁

[popeye the sailor]

I wonder if you can do as I've done with my wood boats.........   after the parts are dry,  rub white glue into the joint......wait a few mins and then sand smooth.  the sawdust will get into the joint, mixing with the white glue.  there are times where the joint is almost invisible when I'm done.

[Ekis]

Yes, of course I also practice as you describe it by inserting the glue between 2 stones. But the main difference with a wooden hull is that it's good to show the joint really instead of making it disappear! It's part of the design of an old stone house with its joints not always straight ... 🏚️

[Ekis]

Here is the result of these 2 houses, the inn on the left with the half-timbering, and a stone dwelling house. 😁🏚️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Breath taking😃

 

OC.

[Edwardkenway]

Amazing absolutely amazing, nuff said