Building the Salem Meeting House kit

 

  Most meeting houses in New England in the 17th and 18th century were plain, box like structures.   They were practical and not for show.  Some, like the one on Lexington Green were almost barn like.  Too many wargame churches look like late 19th century structures and are very wrong for the time period I game.  So I was most excited to get this model for my American Rev War and War of 1812 battles.  Plus I really like the models from "Things from the Basement" and knew this would be a good addition to my collection of buildings. The gentleman who runs Things from the Basement does a outstanding job and make truly outstanding models.  Highly recommend!

  The Salem Meeting House is based on the replica that was built for the movie "Three Sovereigns for Sarah" about the Salem Witch trials.  You can visit it at the Rebecca Nurse house in Danvers Massachusetts.  The site is run by the Danvers Alarm company, a reenactment group portraying a American militia company on April 19, 1775.  They are a excellent group, extremely authentic and very knowledgeable about the period.  They have maintained and managed the Nurse house and its property.  It's worth your time to visit them.

Now,onto the MDF building!

Before starting I lay out all the parts and review the down loadable instructions.  Once familiar with them I start construction.  I use a superglue to put the building together.

I start by putting together the windows and doors.  

Simple but clever.  I think that these add period charm to the building and give it personality.  They go together very easily.

Next, after fitting the walls together to get a good fit I glue them together and put a rubber band around them to hold them tight while the glue dried.  

I finish the entry way and glue the windows and doors into placce.

Next the roof is put together.  The rafters requires careful fitting and patience.  But once dine tit fits very nicely in place.  If you ate going to use it with figures inside in skirmish games do not glue the roof onto the building.

Once put together the meeting house looks great and I am sure will fit on my table rather nicely.  To give a scale of the building I have put a Fife and Drum miniature in front.  Next up I will be painting the building using the actual structure as a guide.

 Most 17th and 18th century buildings in New England were not painted.  Instead they were stained.  Windows and trim may have been painted and they usually show up in period illustrations as a light color.  This is a rule of thumb and of course there are exceptions.  For my buildings I was looking for a stained look much like I did with the William Smith house.  I included the two photos if the actual house at the top of the post to show how the stain looks at different times of the year and in different light.

I started out with the citidal stain.  I put a couple of light stains over the building.  for the roof I mixed in a little black paint to give it a darker shade.  Later I lightly sanded a few spots on the walls to show weathering.   Next I highlighted the roof shingles with a little gray.  I mixed a darker shade to give some contrast to the shingles.  Then the windows and trip also with gray.  Not too much.  

  And there you have it.  A New England type meeting house that goes together nicely, is fun to build and will look great on your table top.  Fir thise of you tgat woykd like more details "Things from the Basement" sells shingles for the roofs that will give great details and improve the model.  They also make furniture to fill your house if so desired.  but for me I am very happy with how the house turned out.  I am sure it will look great on my table.

Highly recommend!