Benan Watchtower - Design WIP

I thought you might like to see some further development on the 3D design of the Benan Watchtower based around a 500ml Ben & Jerry's ice cream tub with a bit of pringles tube thrown in too! I seem unable to get away from Pringles tubes! It turns out that i needed to extend the height of the watchtower and a Pringles tube is exactly the same diameter as the base of the watchtower so its a perfect fit!

I decided to keep with the open hexagonal canopy shape for the watchtower top and to keep the low tech stockade feel rather than a full stone fortress look. The beam work on the tower matches that on the other kits allowing a consistent look to be created.

It took some fiddling to get the dimensions to work properly, but here you can see that the upper surface of the watchtower can fit six 30mm display bases. (note sections of the canopy are removed for clarity). clearly 25mm bases will have more 'wiggle' room.




The Watchtower is configured to meet with the modular Stockade walls at three locations with 120 degree symmetry.  This gives a high degree of flexibility in how the kit is assembled.

Slight Delay, Price Reductions and Custom Shingles.

Slight Delay to Haft-Oob Stables Pre-Orders Shipping

I was hoping to have the Haft-Oob Stables released today, a couple of weeks ahead of the date I advertised in the pre-orders. However I have found a small error in the geometry for the handrail meaning it wont fit the staircase spindles correctly. It is possible to 'fudge' the fit with a bit of work with a drill or craft knife, but I think if you've paid for a kit, you deserve to have that kit go together properly.

I have ordered a set of new handrails to be cut, and shall slip one into each of the kits later this week and dispatch them. I still expect to get these kits out before the 12th July as advertised.


Price Reduction and Direct Selling

The costs of using e-bay are a fair proportion of the kits price and I am finding that "word of mouth" and "word of blog" are more effective marketing tools, so I have decided to also sell directly rather than just through e-bay. This will allow me to maintain an e-bay presence for people who browse and come across my stuff there but also to sell directly to people at a more competitive price.

For the Pryn-Gul Tower this will amount to almost a 15% reduction and bring the price down to £12 + p&p. Clearly if you still wish to benefit from the extra protective measures that e-bay provides you can order through there.

Prices on the full range will be posted here next week. All you'll have to do is email me, tell me what you want and let me know your paypal address and I shall invoice you. I shall continue to only take paypal payments.

Custom Shingles

I have had a lot of interest in the slates and shingles products that I am selling, with a number of people asking for regular and irregular widths and different edge treatments and scales.

So I am looking to undertake a small number of commissions to create differing roof treatments. I shall add a custom section to the website describing the possibilities and the process later this week. In the meantime e-mail me if you have something in mind.

... and finally welcome to Griffit my 84th follower... its hard to believe 84 of you are interested in what I have to say. Just another dozen or so of you and I think I can start a religion and plan for Pringles tube domination of the world!!! 

Coming Soon - progress chart

In an attempt to give you an idea of what building kits I have in progress and when they might be available I've put together this chart.

I'll update it on around a weekly basis, or if there is any significant progress, but I wont be publishing it here on the news section - it will be on the "Coming Soon" link above. If you read this blog through an RSS feed or similar then you wont be notified when it changes but it will always be there for you to come and read.

Dates shown are estimates so I cannot guarantee that they will be accurate but they are what I am working to.

Hope that helps answer a few questions I have been getting recently!