Sunday, March 31, 2013

Building some Swedish houses

Here are some pictures of how I built some Houses for my Finnish War project as well as my Medieval settings, at least the gray one that you have seen in a Baltic Crusade AAR.

The red house are bases on the numerous "Soldattorp" in english I think it would be "Soldierscottage". The Soldierscottage was where the Swedish soldiers and their familys lived in peace time.

The allotment system (Swedish: indelningsverket; Finnish: ruotujakolaitos) was a system used in Sweden for keeping a trained army at all times. This system came into use in around 1640, and was replaced in the early 1900s by the Swedish Armed Forces conscription system. The soldiers who were part of these systems were known as "tenement soldiers" (indelta soldater, the Swedish term, does not have the same meaning) due to the small tenements or crofts allotted to them. You can read more about the Swdish allotment system here.


Back to the building of the houses, I used a very nice house kit from Pegasus Hobbies "Russian Log Houses"


The Box contained 2 identical houses, the scale are 1/72 but I think they work fine for 28mm to.


I cut down the side walls on both houses so I would get a  less pointy roof and on the one that  also would be used for my medieval projects I filled one window and used the sides without windows as Swedish medieval houses just had few small, if any, "windows". 



PVA glue and a terry cloth towel to make the grass roof.


Medieval house to the left and the 19th century house to the right, ready for soem painting.


The Medieval house was painted gray as untreated logs turn gray by time. The 19th century house got the typical swedish deep red paint with white bargeboards.

About the Falu Red paint
Falu red or Falun red (pronounced "FAH-loo", in Swedish Falu rödfärg (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈfɑːlɵ ˈrøːfærj])) is the name of a Swedish, deep red paint well known for its use on wooden cottages and barns.

The paint originated from the copper mine at Falun in Dalarna, Sweden. The traditional colour remains popular today due to its effectiveness in preserving wood. In Finland, it is known as punamulta ("red earth") after the pigment, very finely divided hematite. Since the binder is starch, the paint is permeable to water.

The earliest evidence of its use dates from the 16th century. During the 17th century Falu red was commonly used on smaller wooden mansions, where it was intended to imitate buildings with brick facing. Except in bigger cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg, and in the far south of Sweden, wood was the dominating building material.

In the Swedish cities and towns, buildings were often painted with Falu red until the early 19th century, when the authorities began to oppose use of the paint. At that point in time more and more wooden buildings in urban areas were either painted in lighter colours (e.g. yellow, white) or sided with stucco. The number of buildings made of bricks (with stucco) also increased.

However Falu red saw a surge in popularity in the countryside during the 19th century, when also poorer farmers and crofters began to paint their houses. Falu red is still widely used in the Swedish countryside. The common Finnish expression punainen tupa ja perunamaa "a red house and a potato field", referring to idyllic nuclear family life in a separate house, is a direct allusion to a country house painted in Falu red.

Falu red during manufacturing

The actual colour may be different depending on how much the oxide is burnt, ranging from almost black to a bright, light red. Different tones of red have been popular at different times. Recently a mix giving a dark green colour, Falu Grön, has also been produced by mixing black and ochre.

The paint consists of water, rye flour, linseed oil and tailings from the copper mines of Falun which contain silicates iron oxides, copper compounds and zinc. The current recipe was finalized in the 1920s. Aging Falu red will flake off, but restoration is easy since only brushing off of the loose flakes is required before repainting.

A traditional Finnish falu red log house in Äänekoski, Central Finland

Traditional Swedish houses in the countryside, painted with Falu red paint.


35 comments:

  1. I love this sort of post! Fascinating!

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  2. Thanks for these interesting lessons in Swedish architecture

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    Replies
    1. Nice that you took your time to read it:)

      Best regards Michael

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  3. ...and very nice models, by the way!!!. Sorry I was absorbed in reading the text that i almost forgot

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  4. great looking houses, love the way you make the grass roof :)

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  5. Fascinating! I love your grass thatched models, and the history lesson. I'll have to remember the terry cloth tip. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Monty !

      Glad to be able to share some history as well as building tips, don´t tell the wife where the Terry towel did go... ;)

      Best regards Michael

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  6. Lovely models! Interesting background, too.

    Cheers, Simon

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    1. Thank you very much Simon !

      best regards Michael

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  7. Someone has to ask the obvious question of how they get the flymo up there to keep it tidy ;-)

    Nicely done Michael

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    1. Thanks Stephen !!!

      No need for a flymo when you have goats;)

      http://www.dailyencouragement.net/images/goats_on_roof.jpg

      Best regards Michael

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  8. The model buildings look great Michael and the info is absolutely fascinating, thanks.

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    1. Very appreciated comment Rodger !

      Best regards Michael

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  9. Your research pays off with the finished model, which looks very realistic. The terry towel looks very effective, great conversion work Michael.
    Cheers,
    Pat.

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    1. Thank you Pat !

      I have grovn up with the red cottages and it is typical Sweden, but I have got a tip that they have yellow doort in Osterbotnia/Finland and not Blue as here in Sweden...might have to make me one more...

      Best regards Michael

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  10. I have to confess I never thought about the red of swedish houses, though now I know there's A fascinating story behind.
    Nice paintjob in the buildings. Any Chance for a comparison picture?

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    1. Thank you very muc!

      Glad to shed some ligth about the stry about the Swedish red houses:)

      Comparison picture? A better close up of the houses I built?

      Best regards Michael

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  11. Excellent! Roofs are really impressive!
    Phil.

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    1. Thanks Phil !

      Glad you like my work, very appreciated !

      Best regards Michael

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  12. Thanks Andrew !

    Always nice to be able to share some Swedish history.

    Best regards Michael

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  13. They look really nice!
    That Pegasus Hobbies kit is indeed a great and very flexible kit.

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    1. Thanks Mattias

      Your buildings have indeed inspired me !

      Best regards Michael

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  14. Wonderful models; they are fantastic. I like a lot those roofs.

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  15. Very interesting and useful post !
    the difference between the two houses is impressive.

    (I'm curious to know how you can cut the walls in this very hard plastic ...)

    Never thought that it could be possible to use terry cloth towel for the roof: thanks !

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    1. Thank you Sam glad that you like my work !

      Very hard plastic indeed, but with a good knife it was managable, just remember to be carefull;)

      best regards Michael

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  16. Looking good! Will be great to get some fighting around those.

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    1. Thanks Jonas !

      In time you will:)

      Best regards Michael

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  17. Oh my god you're a genius!!!

    I've been wanting to get those for FIW but have held out. Now I almost can't not get them!

    And they look surprisingly Swedish as well. My wife would be thrilled.

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    1. Thanks Torbjörn !!!

      Glad that at least some one discoverd who the genius is;)

      Would absolutely work fine for FIW gaming.

      Swedish wife ! god for you :)

      Best regards Michael

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  18. Very nice houses!! And very useful piece of information.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete

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