10mm scale buildings for sci-fi (pic heavy)

[Doublesix66]

Hello everyone,

 

Right managed to get quite a bit done today heres the floors in place waiting for the front to be added

 

 

 

Now after I put it all together, I've painted it and shaded it a bit: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm quite pleased with the outcome thus far might add a bit more here & there such as a few burn marks where a floor has burnt out or water damage dirty it up a bit but overall it looks a lot better than the 1st picture in this thread as just a plastic grey building the adding of the bars/steel rods the bullet marks and sanding the edges not to be to smooth & regular made a lot of difference to the outcome if I had just painted it flat.

 

I'll make a start on the next building on the list

 

regards

 

'66'

[KruleBear]

Those look really sweet with the added rubble and the simple paint shading. 

[Jordan Peacock]

I'm not sure how it'd fit the look (I don't quite have a solid grasp on exactly HOW large or small these buildings are), but to decorate my own ruined buildings, I've been using a few plastic letter-board sets I've picked up at the local craft store.  (Every now and again, JoAnn Fabric offers up a 40-60% coupon on ONE item, and the store is on my way home from work.  I figure I'm SUPPOSED to buy more than just the one thing ... but I'll just grab some oddball item, and wait until I get a "25% off your entire purchase" before I pick up anything else.  ;)  )  Anyway, in most stores it ends up being near the papercraft items section that they have some little display board and then sets of plastic letters (or complete words in fancy script -- but not necessarily very USEFUL words for my purposes) that you can put on the boards like a marquee.  They come in different sizes, and I figure a few letters would work for some giant (short) company name or mysterious acronym (GENCO, ACME, whatever), with most of the letters still in place, but at least one letter broken loose and crashed into the ground, or precariously hanging at an angle.  (It's also an excuse to add some accents of color.)

 

Those "steel rods" sticking out of the walls and floor really add a lot of visual interest to the destroyed areas, and furthermore break up the artificiality of the original "break" lines, making it all look much more convincing.  I've tried using twisted bits of sprue for a similar purpose for larger (~25-32mm scale) buildings, but ... eh ... the results vary.  I think you really got it to work there.  :)

 

And I can sympathize about the uncertainty in which route to take.  Buildings with a bit of "overgrowth" would make for a great opportunity for points of color to break up the concrete grey, but might not necessarily make sense for a particular scenario or setting.
 

Anyway, it's looking great so far!  :D  I'm having fun watching how this is coming along.

 

[Doublesix66]

Hi Jordan,

 

We think alike I was thinking the same thing about the corner building adding a downwards part destroyed sign, will have to check out the cheap shops for any children's letters that might be the right size, just started preparing the second building adding some more damage more steel rods etc. The 1st building gave me a good indication of how best to create the damage and in which order was the best way to proceed painting etc.

 

I was wondering about the adding of signs to the outside of the other buildings might make them more like old electronic billboards that are now out of commission due to theres no language / letters on the buildings to make them a little more genetic.

 

I appreciate any feedback especially great ideas like this, or even constructive criticisms if it helps make them better and helps me  to push the project onwards.

 

regards

 

'66'

[hosercanadian]

Another option, although anbit more tedious is to print out letters on card and cut them out with a scapel.

[Doublesix66]

4 hours ago, hosercanadian said:

Another option, although anbit more tedious is to print out letters on card and cut them out with a scapel.

 

Yep I though about this as well, was shopping today and sneaked off to the craft Isle and found these with a little bit of work might be handy

 

 

 

they will need a little work to work well but the basic lettering is there,  might have to cut a few in half (not a big job) to reduce their projection down a bit on some but theres definitely promise here.

 

regards

 

'66'

[Jasper_the_2nd]

These are looking great!  They are definitely on my shopping list for when I start working on my boards.

 

[Jordan Peacock]

Great idea with those letter beads!  I see now that the letter pieces I was thinking of would be WAY TOO LARGE for this size of a building.

Hey, by any chance do you have one of those old-style "label makers" around?  I have one that I hardly ever use because the label-stuff has never been sufficiently sticky to adhere to much of anything without simply peeling itself off (since the thick plastic of the reel is curved and seems inclined to STAY that way, regardless of how flat the surface is that it's attached to).  Another problem is that the letters it creates by stamping into the plastic tend to wobble up or down compared to the baseline, since it's hard to line up the tape JUST SO in the puncher.  I've still used it for a bit of sign-making for buildings, and the "wobbly" vertical variance isn't necessarily out of keeping with the style of some signage I've tried doing for retro 1960s-ish buildings for Fallout.

Of course, there's always the shortcut of just PRINTING something on paper or cardstock, to get instant billboards and such.

 

Now I want to check out the local thrift store and just keep a watch out for random pieces of junk that for whatever reason have raised lettering as part of a plastic shell that I could perhaps shave off and force-fit into some sort of ruined signage.  :D  (Or, more likely, I'd use a bit of Instant Mold / Japanese "plastic clay" and make a temporary impression for a push-mold, press some epoxy putty into the indentation, and then have as many copies of the letter as I wish, minus having to Dremel or cut it off of a surface.)

 

One time, I used a piece of plastic sprue from Games Workshop ... and cut out the sprue with "WORKSHOP" in raised letters on the back of it and turned that piece into a "workshop" sign.  I suppose I could use the "GAMES" part of the sprue for something that's supposed to represent an arcade.

 

A useful tool for creating high-tech ruins is what Froggy the Great calls "granny grating": plastic cross-stitch plastic, such as can be found in just about any craft store -- sometimes in different colors.  It doesn't directly apply to the lettering angle, but it might serve as backing for a sign, or some other surface, and it's easily enough cut with scissors for an irregular "battle damage" look.

 

If I see anything in the craft store that I think might be useful at 10mm scale, I'll try to take a picture to share.  :)

 

 

[Doublesix66]

Jordan

Nice ideas will look forward to what you find.

 

Time for an Update: 

Managed to get a bit done during the week its far from ready but ready for tabletop gaming I really want the paint to dry fully before I do anymore work on it so here's build 2

 

 

 

Added a metal railing to the top little room

 

Side by side comparison of this building and one that is yet to be done

 

Found these in the cheap shop today might be handy to make signs from as the plastic is about the right width

 

 

on sale here 

 

Cut some of the beads in half their projection is not as much so will look better now when painted up

 

 

Hmm  Wonder what this could end up as?? Plastic top from a bit of computer packaging

 

 

 

All will be revealed, my mad plans for it..

 

Anyhow thats it for this update

catch up soon

 

regards

'66'

[Chaoswolf]

You're doing some very nice work on those buildings!

[KruleBear]

A dumb question--I finally got around to putting one of my Outland models buildings together (a factory). I can't get super glue to gle the pieces together (Gorilla Glue superglue). What have you been using to secure them? I didn't wash them before trying to glue, so that may be the problem. I also noted that mine are 3D printed while the ones you have look to smooth to be printed. Any insights would be appreciated. 

[Doublesix66]

Hi Krulebear,

 

Mine are basically like the Airfix/Tamiya plastic kits so glue together fine with superglue and to be honest they almost would be fine just clipped together they are that decent. See 1st pictures when they arrive to see the type I've gotten I can send you a personal message with links to the ones that I've bought if it helps.

 

I've seen the 3D printed ones and don't  like the look of them TBH, having not seen the one your trying to put together, this is what I'd try and do, wash 1st as you suggested but depending of the surface area that can be attached together perhaps rough the joining parts up a little with sandpaper or a blade to give the glue something to grip into & if big enough perhaps a pin wouldn't go amiss if they don't clip together like mine do..

 

hope it helps

 

'66' 

[KruleBear]

Thanks, apparently they have two types of quality. I plan on washing and trying model cement (I am assuming it is ABS and not PLA). The one's I have are definately 3D printed and some sections are a tad warped and don't snap together tightly. I will try to get one done this weekend and post it to see the difference. 

[Doublesix66]

Remember the plastic protection covers for electrical pins, well I've repurposed them to be overgrown planters which you see in a lot of cities now these are the two test pieces others will have different colours and withered trees in them, figure is a 15mm scale for scale purposes and might be able to make out the unpainted one behind

 

 

[WhiteWulfe]

Those almost look like dust covers for DVI ports.... 

 

And ingenious idea!