26/05/2019

Rock-cut houses

This mining town project (I really should think of a proper name) is incredibly time consuming, but at least I can show some progress. If the first section of the board was a huge bulk, I wanted just the opposite for the next part. Thinking of the Anasazi Cliff Palace (or something in that fashion), I wanted to try a rock-cut section. So in fact, instead of Anasazi, I should really be talking about some fabulous Indian structures.

Whatever the case is, here you can see what I mean:
This will be the front part

The general idea is something like this:
Central section of the board
Of course in due time I'll have to deal with those flat surfaces and square angles, but this serves my purposes for now. So next step is to build that inner structure...

This was the time consuming stuff
Nothing too complicated, but at least with different volumes

Well, this is more or less what I'm trying to get
Working with foamboard has pros and cons. Of course it's super easy to work with and I don't think I could have achieved these results using any other material. But on the other hand, warping is quite an issue. It's become my main problem by now. All the delicate measures and planning have faded away and I have to deal with pieces that don't match and stuff of the like. Besides, the rear panel has also warped; not significantly, but enough to be a concern. Lesson identified. I didn't think that MDF was a suitable solution for the back, for weight and structural purposes, but I may have to consider it for future boards (ahem).
Anyway, I hope that future pieces I have in mind will bring a solution for this unexpected problem. Time will tell. For now I have other issues to think about.

You can see there is an arch down right. I built this to give some depth there:

A store? The entrance of a house?

If the whole board is going to look like adobe, desert rock or something like that, I wanted something to break that monochrome look. So I gave it a whitewash appearance, kind of Mediterranean villages. To give it another touch I browsed and printed Andalusian tiles:

The other piece of paper will be glued on the main structure
The sign over the door makes this board suitable for any Firefly themed game too ;-) (not the first time I use this kind of stuff).

OK, so let's see the next stage. I had to paint the rock-cut houses before I glued the whole section, or else it would be harder later. But hey, once I had the spray I said 'I really don't fancy all this white foamboard, let's make a full colour test'.

Lots of details will vary in the final version

I should have built more different shapes and levels here, but it's done

I'll need a table, chairs and things of the like

General overview of the board so far

Sunlight!
 I'll give it another hand when I add details, this was but a colour test. The spray is somehow darker than I expected, but I'm not dissatisfied, I think I can work with this. I'll have to think how will I add different tones to such large, flat surfaces (and make it all look natural), but that will be a problem for the future me. The most pressing issue now is dealing with warping foamboard (oh, and thinking of a name for this town), I'll see what I can do...

31 comments:

  1. That overview shot: wow! This really looks impressive. As for varying the tones, a light, dusting spray of a lighter colour?

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    1. Thank you! Right, I think I may get another lighter spray, I have to make some experiments here. I'll also try to look for places where to use other colours, so it's not entirely monochrome. Gasp, that's a lot of work...

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks! I have to make a lot of decisions yet -and turn them into something real!

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  3. Oh, fabulous! I love it! I love where you're going with it and it brings many great ideas. This really is a splendid project. :)

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    1. Thank you very much! I'll try to keep it as simple as I can, but I think it offers some nice possibilities to explore :)

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  4. Very effective indeed. A Cornish sounding name for the place would be interesting.

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    1. Thanks! Hmm, Cornish; I hadn't thought about that, it might be interesting indeed! Thanks for the input!

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  5. Impressive work so far, these additions are wonderful.

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    1. Thank you! It's still in the very early stages, but defining volumes and shapes is helping me to finally envision this behemoth beyond my puny sketches :P

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  6. Y todo esto para jugar un par de partidas al aรฑo..... si es que estamos locos :D

    Te estรก quedado muy bien, y para el nombre del pueblo busca alguno de las cuencas mineras.

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    1. Soy consciente de que acabarรฉ jugando tres partidas a lo sumo... ¡pero me comprometo a que sean vistosas!

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    2. y justo por eso me comprรฉ un par de battlezones y las pintรฉ :D

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  7. Looks awesome! You might want to look into expanded PVC foam as a replacement for foam board. It's not like traditional foam, more like thick plastic card. Not as easy to cut as foam board, but it won't warp and doesn't have any of the issues of mdf.

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    1. I'm essentially paying the consequences of being a n00b. These have been busy days and haven't been able to solve the issues, but I really need to spend some time fixing them before moving forward. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll make some research!

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  8. That looks amazing! I look forward to seeing what you end up doing once you've got some more practice and experience with making these!

    And yeah, warping is a real problem for foam board. Best of luck dealing with that and/or finding another material.

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    1. Thanks! The good thing is that it's super easy to work with, so I'm feeling encouraged to build more daring structures. Let's see where this ends!

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  9. Ace idea!

    Kinda reminds me Petra from Indiana Jones movie ;-)

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    1. Thank you! Haha, I guess it's a major influence in us all, you can't resist your subconscious! :D

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  10. Fantastic looking mountain town, yes warpage is an issue with foamboard and you have big areas,I think it's lots of glue and pins! I'd do a wash and dry brush with a 1"decorating brush but then I'm at the fast and dirty end of the spectrum!
    Best Iain

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    1. Fast and dirty sounds good to me!
      Ehm.

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    1. Thank you! I'm enjoying the process; I have a rough idea of what I'm trying to get, but some things have to be sorted as I build, so that makes it even funnier!

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  12. Wow!! These look amazing!! I need some of these!!!

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    1. Thanks! It's easy to build, yet it takes some time :S
      I'm adding some details and fixing a couple of issues, I hope I'll be able to show more progress really soon :)

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  13. I really like the attention to detail with the shop sign. It evokes a very real world feel.

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    1. Thank you! I'm incredibly far from your skills, of course, but I try to add this kind of silly details, they are terribly fun! :D

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  14. Looks great so far Suber :)
    As to adding "different tones to such large, flat surfaces" you might want to try blending some oil paints or even use enamel weathering products that reproduce streaking effects e.g. rain, dried-up dirt, rust, etc. But I'm guessing you already you know this. But just in case :)

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    1. That's the kind of effect I'd like to achieve, but I've never used oils or anything different than the most basic acrylics. I'd really should dare... (Gasp!)

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    2. In my experience acrylic is harder to manipulate. But if you need to clean up unwanted acrylic streaks I've found through trial and error that some cotton buds made wet/damp with alcohol swipes (containing isopropyl alcohol) can clean up unwanted acrylic paint that hasn't had much time to dry.

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    3. Thanks for the tip! I'm quite familiar with the trial and error methodology -particularly wit the 'error' :D

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