Questions (and maybe WIP) re flat/2D terrain building "fronts"

[lexomatic]

So I'm thinking of building terrain "fronts" by taking some leftover foamcore, some photos of buildings, and creating some fold-out support  ('L-shaped?) so that they will stand up.

Has anyone ever tried this?

I'm thinking of building fronts because

a) more easily stored

b) give me lots of flexibility to create mood

c) my GNL mats will be used for layouts.

d) faster than building full, playable bulidings

 

I'm wondering about sizing. if I do 12 ft per story, that'll fit on an 8x11 paper? I suppose I should compare it to my existing 2 floor MDF stuff, but different eras.

I still have no idea yet whether I can find enough photos at sufficient resolution to do this.

I took one from google streetview (spoilered), which is also  3 storeys. I suppose I will test something out and report back. 

 

 

 

In the meantime, please make suggestions, refer to other similar projects/products you're aware of.

Thanks.

Edited July 27, 2015 by lexomatic

[Bonwirn]

There are several types of terrain in the "fold flat" method that you can just print out the "front" and a couple inches back on each "side" to end up with a "U-shaped" piece that should stand up pretty well.  If not, add a bottom and some removable weights to it.

 

Fat Dragon Games (some free if you pledged on the latest KS) has some nice buildings in PDF format that the PDF has layers so you can change the doors, windows, vines, etc... so you end up with multiple similar, yet different, buildings.

[lexomatic]

Part of the problem, is the game in question is set in a particular location, present day, so I need some recognizable landmarks. I can't use generic fantasy type stuff. For some buildings, maybe, but not all. I think any skyscrapers could be totally generic.

Sadly none of the stuff that comes in the KS PDF thank yous works for this setting.

[Watchman]

You could check out the downloads from Hawk Wargames and see if those buildings would work.

[KruleBear]

Fat Dragon hasmodern buildings in their Capital City set. I have been happy with the set and they should give you some flexibility.

[YronimosW]

It sounds do-able.

 

What you're describing (L-shaped constructions with one side folded back for support) sounds like it would basically be a little "Potempkin Village" full of Hollywood special effect style facades, and if so, it's certainly a lot simpler than building complete papercraft buildings and so on.  As long as you're OK with the lack of depth, your main problem would probably end up being stability: the facades would catch every breath you exhale near them like sails!  You might get more mileage from the U-shape suggested by someone else above, or by giving the buildings four sides for an O-shape that can be collapsed and stored easily.  You might also find it useful to paint a wide, short cardboard box black, and paste three or four foamcore building facades onto the side of the box (if you work in an office, you might find that the lids of the cardboard boxes that printer paper ships in would work well for this purpose, or perhaps even the boxes themselves); building a block of buildings like this would provide them with the stability of the box they are pasted onto, and keep them from getting easily knocked over or pushed around.

 

If you go with 10' per storey, you might be able to get as many as 5 storeys on a standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper printed in portrait format, or four storeys if printed in landscape format (assuming a scale of 1"=5').  10' storeys (or less) should probably be just fine if you're just building facades - it might not technically be the right scale, but it's not like you have to make any special headroom for the minis or leave room for floors and ceilings and the spaces between and so on, so I'm pretty sure nobody will notice without taking out the slide rule and measuring carefully.  :)