In trying to find inspiration for buildings to add to my library of village buildings, I ran across some very interesting looking windmills.
I ran across a variety of shapes of these structures, but this was the most interesting of the ones I was able to find. I thought about adding in the braces, but ultimately I don’t feel it would work very well in terms of a game table. The way the roof slopes down is intriguing, I wonder what the purpose is, but ultimately the silhouette felt like it would be fun to recreate.
The sloped roof was a challenge in, how do I separate this piece into something functional for war gaming, but also keep the odd shape? The inset is important to keep the tops of these buildings from being knocked off as hands and arms move around the table and at what point do I cut off the bottom from the top? I made a church based off a 10th century one in England and its shape doesn’t afford cutting the pieces apart very well. Perhaps I’ll do a post on the failure of that design.
Ultimately the roof was the place to cut it and worked well with the flow of the building. I still managed to create an inset that works very well. I’ve since redesigned the brick factory to have the insets separate for better printing. I imagine I’m going to go in and do upgrades on all of my pieces, especially as I get feedback. I don’t see a viable way to separate this inset though because of the odd shape. I did hollow out the center of the stack though, to reduce how much plastic is required to print this piece.
I also opted to not glue in the windmill blades. Originally that’s what I had intended to do, but it’s easier on storage to keep it separate and plus, it’s just fun spinning them. Perhaps an update can include a small motor and a band to turn the blades?
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