The McPherson Farm Part 3: The Barn

The final piece for the McPherson farm is the famous bank barn.

The research for this was much simpler than that for the farm house. Since it still stands today there are plenty of images available on the internet and I have found plans of it.

That said, there are differences between the modern day barn and that of 1863. The first is that the lean-to sections on the uphill face were 22 feet deep in 1863, whereas they are 12 feet today - I have modelled it about midway between the two points to provide a better optical impression. There is also evidence of an additional lean-to, or pent roof, extending out from the forebay that I have decided not to make, in part because there is not enough information on it's appearance, but more importantly I spent too damned long making those stable doors to cover them up! It is an interesting model with that mix of field stone and whitewashed wood, but like the Trostle barn I have had to scale it down. It should stand somewhere between 170mm and 190mm tall, but the visual balance would have been wrong so I scaled it back by around 20%.

However, I must admit that I struggled with this model. It is one of the biggest I have made in a long time and in its raw shell looked too big even when scaled back even though when I stood a 28mm figure beside it the scaling was correct. The thought of those two large stone areas was daunting - stone wall construction is quite an intense task and needs to be completed within two hour before the stuff sets and if you do it in stages, it shows. But far more daunting was that HUGE roof area. So I worked this model bit by bit, uncertain how it was going to look at the end. Not until it was grassed did the model look right.

A bank barn is, of course dug into a bank, in this case it was dug into the eastern slope of McPherson's ridge, just past the crest. For a standalone piece like this the bank has to be artificial.

So here it is.

The western face as Archer's, then later Brockenborough's, Confederates would gave seen it as they advanced up the Chambersburg Pike.

The northern face.

The eastern face

The southern face

Finally here is the whole McPherson farm buildings set that will appear on the Buildings for Sale page (LINK) in a day of so.