Cardboard housing - page 2
Dated: December 5, 1999.
Continued........
Usbourne also makes another Medieval book entitled, 'Make this Medieval Port'. Again it is in HO/OO scale (although it does not state this fact on the cover like the others did). This is a perfect addition to any 100 Years War setting or Viking invasion of Italy or even a Second World War setting in an historic area (your imagination is the limit!).
Two absolute must have books for those interested in Ancient times are the Usbourne 'Make this Egyptian Temple' and 'Make this Roman Villa' books. Both are in HO/OO scale and a very welcome addition to any toy soldier collector interested in ancient times! Usbourne also makes a 'Make this Model Trojan Horse'; I am not sure if it is HO/OO scale as I have not seen this one in person, but it looks as if it could very well be from the catalogue. So, for anyone who does not have the Atlantic Trojan Horse (or does not want to take it out of the box - even though I personally believe toy soldiers should be enjoyed, not merely stared at collecting dust on a shelf in the box) this might be a very welcome addition.
These sets do come with baseboards and for some you would probably want to use them (i.e. Egyptian Temple, Roman Villa, Medieval Port) but with others you could just as easily leave them loose or on individual bases (Medieval Town, Medieval Village, Viking Settlement) and rearrange them however you want.
(Detail of "Make this Cathedral Model book")
Even though they are in full colour they can easily be enhanced by gluing lichen and model trees (readily available at all shops that carry toy trains) to the baseboards. You can even go that extra step and attach the building to your own baseboard and create a realistic scale diorama base for it and sculpt the ground contours and add flocking for grass ... etc.
These sets definitely add another dimension to toy soldiers and not only enhance set ups, but are also very educational, patience building and bring history to life for children. The Usbourne 'Cut-Out Models' series books are recommended for ages 9+, but I am sure with some parental help several years younger will be fine with them - parents should also spend time with their children anyway, so maybe this would be a good way to do so!
One other manufacturer I recently come across is 'Schreiber-Bogen Modellbau' by JFS (Verlag J F Schreiber GmbH). These are from Germany and I was only lucky enough to find two of their books. The first being a Windmill with Farmhouse and the other being the Frauentormauer Nurnberg. Even though the Windmill and Farmhouse are in 1/90th scale, the kit will work just as well with HO/OO scale figures as not every single building of a certain style is built to the exact same size in real life. The best judge is to actually look at the model and see how things like doors and windows are sized. This will be basically the telling point of whether or not you can use these models.
The doors on the Windmill and Farmhouse are the right size for HO/OO scale figures, so this model can definately be used. The Walls of Nurnberg however, are 1:160 scale so they are too small for HO/OO figures. I do not know what other models and scales this company sells but they do offer a 'well illustrated' model construction catalogue (with the model 'Esslinger Rathaus') for only 2,40 DM. I have not sent for the catalogue yet, but one hopes the scales of the models are listed as well!
Even though some of the books are not in the proper scale for HO/OO use, if one has some card stock and access to any printshop (or at work) with a colour printer you could figure out the percentage increase adjustment to make a copy at the proper scale.
My next installment will be with the very wide variety of Dover Publications 'Cut and Assemble' card building models. See you then!
Many thanks to Mr. Myers for his most interesting article. Indeed, buildings are very important and essential accessories to the battlefield. And not only have such cardboard buildings not been covered before on this web site, but Mr. Myers has made this contribution such interesting reading.
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