Smock Windmill

New 3D Printed Smock Windmill

Here is my version of a Smock windmill - created using a picture of one on Der Alte Fritz's incredibly helpful Seven Years War blog.  In fact, I see there was also some inspiration there for the first Post Windmill as well as the picture I posted.  

There are three main types of Windmills.  Post, Tower and Smock mills.  My first creation was of the Post variety where the body of the windmill is elevated and revolves around a centrally located Post.   Tower windmills are simply stationary beast.  These windmills operate with a fixed tower base but have a "cap" on top which rotates with the wind like the body of a Post windmill would. Smock mills are essentially Tower mills where the masonry tower has been replaced with a wooden skirt or "smock". 

Smock Windmill

I have been designing these for use on my 15mm SYW battlefields. This one tested my developing 3D modeling skills as it has compound angles to it but it has some neat features.  A nice stone foundation and the cap is on a peg so it can swivel "as the dice blow"!

In addition to the Smock mill I have included a Battalion of IR17 for scale.  Can't wait to paint this one up and picture Der Alte Fritz surveying the landscape as he sizes up his Austrian foes!

For God Sake - Forward Boys!

Designing and Printing Battlefield Windmills

Battlefield Windmills

I have been looking for 15mm windmills to adorn my Seven Years War Battlefield but have either found them to be too expense or just not what I was looking for.  Like many things in the hobby, I don't know exactly why I need these but they have been calling me for a long time!  So, I sat down and put some 3D skills (humble at best) to use and created my own.  I copied a picture I saw from one on the internet.  These of course come in many forms and have regional variations but I thought that this one might be general enough to have wide application.

Here was the test subject!

And here are the windmills fresh from my 3D printer.

I printed out 3 of these.  I have complete 2 of them in different paint schemes.  Thinking about what color the 3rd one should be...?

Well, what do you think?  I may have a go at creating a circular one which is a bit more typical of SYW's battlefield I think but I think these will serve me well and they were fun to create and easy to paint!

For God Sake - Forward Boys!