TimeCast Range 8 - 6mm scale Southern European Buildings

The TimeCast Painting Guide for painting Italian and Spanish buildings

Italian Buildings

Italian buildings can be found in a wide range of colours, although plain stone buildings are frequent in northern Italy and along the Po valley. Coloured plasterwork or rendering would be more common in towns or on the homes of the wealthy. Utilitarian farm buildings would be more likely to be left in unfinished stone. The usual colours for buildings are simple earth tones, easily made from natural materials, while white painted buildings would be more frequent in the south. A row of town buildings may be painted in several different colours. Stone buildings are usually left in their natural colour. Window shutters are frequently painted green or dark brown.

We recommend these colours from the Coat d'arms paints for painting Italian buildings:

Plain stone buildings:                 221 - Horse Tone Dun
                                                     524 - Tan Earth

Plaster and Rendered Buildings:    101 - White
                                                        112 - Bone
                                                        224 - Horse Tone Bay
                                                        506 - Desert Sand
                                                        532 - Italian Red Earth

Spanish Buildings

The practice of painting nearly every building white is a fairly recent occurence in Spain. Originally it was only the wealthy who could afford to paint their homes white. On a recent visit to Spain we learned that it was not even common in Andalucia until the 1960's. Prior to this the houses of the less wealthy would have been left in the natural colours of the rendered plaster etc. Many buildings in Northern Spain, along the Pyrenees and in Catalonia, are simply left in a natural stone finish, with no rendering or plaster. Many churches in northern Spain are plain stone.

Some Spanish (and Portuguese) houses have the door and window frames outlined in yellow. This is an old tradition whereby the devil, who supposedly hates the colour yellow, is prevented from entering the house and can add an unusual touch of colour to the models!

We recommend these colours from the Coat d'arms paints for painting Spanish buildings:

Plain stone buildings:                 221 - Horse Tone Dun
                                                       537 - Faded Khaki

Plaster and Rendered Buildings:    101 - White
                                                        220 - Buff
                                                        221 - Horse Tone Dun
                                                        524 - Tan Earth

Tiled Roofs

The typical southern European tiled roof can be almost any shade from a bright terracotta red (modern tiles are generally a brighter and more cosistent colour), to a faded pink or even various shades of grey. The colour often varies from roof to roof dpending on age, weathering, lichen growth etc.

We recommend the following colours for painting tiled roofs: 119 - Rat Brown, 224 - Horse Tone Bay, 529 - Beige Brown

Coat d'armes paints can be ordered on line here...click on the link!


8/001 Large Italian Farmhouse (c1800) from the village of Orvieto in Tuscany
	Unpainted: £4.50
8/002 Italian Farmhouse (19th century). A traditional stone built farmhouse from the village of Vagliagli in Tuscany
	Unpainted: £4.00
8/003 Italian Romanesque style chapel. San Donato (11th/12th Century) sits on a hillside, overlooking vineyards and fields near the town of Trevi in northern Italy
	Unpainted: £4.50
8/004 Italian Barn (19th/20th century). A small run-down barn from the village of Fienile a Cervarolo
	Unpainted: £4.00
8/005 Italian Town houses (18th/19th Century). A row of three town houses, from the town of San Gimignano.
	Unpainted: £5.50
8/006 A set of two small Spanish farmhouses or fincas near Comares in southern Spain
	Unpainted: £4.00
8/007 A large Spanish farmhouse or finca from Benitachell in southern Spain
	Unpainted: £4.50
8/008 Spanish village buildings. Typical traditional Spanish buildings from Central/Northern Spain. Set of three models - two houses and a barn
	Unpainted: £9.00
8/009 A large Spanish church, based on the 12th Century Romanesque style church of Sant Esteve de Pedret in northern Spain
	Unpainted: £9.00
8/010 Spanish Town Houses. A set of two town houses, based on buildings in Andalucia in southern Spain. The larger house is built around a rock which projects from the front wall!
	Unpainted: £8.00
8/011 The Chapel of Nuestra Senhora (Chapel of Our Lady), based on photos from the battlefield of Salamanca in Spain.
	Unpainted: £4.00