The (final?) touches

 It's been quite a long way until we've reached here, but I think I can say that I declare myself satisfied with the results. You got to see essentially everything on last post, but now I had to add some details here and there to see it all finished.

Well, "details" can be sort of an understatement, given that the first thing I'm bringing is a whole piece by itself, but you know how these things happen.😅

If you recall the last post, there was an open terrace up on the top left of the board. It's meant to be a dock, but it needs a platform where ships can load and unload their stuff. I had been keeping this child toy for ages. It originally had some wooden pieces and plastic marbles going all the way down.

But, once upside down, it will be a decent landing pad

 

In fact, as you can guess, I designed the dock on the building thinking of the height of this platform. But of course it will need a base:

Can't even remember the source of that

 

I kept that... thing because in my mind it would be a Tyranid egg/organism/whatever. But fate turned different and will serve this way:

I'll make it look like rock or something

I covered all the surface with cardboard and glued some random gubbins here and there. All the base was heavily covered (and filled) with DAS to add weight and stability:

I do hope it won't fall

I also needed a bridge to connect the landing pad and the dock. Using my recently discovered technique of adding handrails, I got this:

It will have to do

OK, so some paint then!

Ta-daaa

It looks big, but it hardly can harbour any ship

Definitely nothing larger than the Arvus

 

Well, once I have the large piece finished, now it is really time for the tiny details all over the board. Nothing too elaborate, just these tiny flowerpots from GreenStuffWorld. I filled them with tufts, as I wanted just to add some colour, but not to provide any garish sense that would be out of place:

Still the most colourful thing of the whole board

I placed them randomly on different windows, just to give the impression of people taking care of what scarce life can grow here in the depths of the desert. In the pic below you can see a couple of them and another tiny silly proof of life in the town: look up in the corner, you'll see the laundry hanging on the rope:

Cozy corners

So, after five long years of interrupted work, long periods of procrastination and a final rush of frenetic activity, this is what I've finally got:

Remember, it all started with a Danish butter cookies box

Let me show a few close-ups of the whole monster:

Some strange visitors approach the bazaar to bargain their lavish products

The fellas in the Cult didn't expect to find another underground dweller here

You better keep an eye on your purse when entering here!

Hard neighbourhood, but interesting to visit in any case

Traffic can be an issue though

Apart from that, everyone has a place in Qala Debdou

Problems with the Administratum can be dealt quietly and in civilised manners

Planet Express delivers here too

When you have a labyrinth of streets, these encounters quite logically tend to happen

 If I add some of the stuff I've built along the years, I get this:

I should have put the desert mat for the pic

And what about a few pics with my recent silly idea of adding lights?

Let's sing some carols!

Blade Runner meets Mad Max

This could be the stage for a Broadway musical

The sign only reminds you that you can also play Firefly on this board

Scary? Dangerous? What makes you say that?

Private security escorts the lady to her home

If you are patient enough, here you have a puny video to show the whole thing:

 

I've never edited or prepared a video of this kind in my life, but if you find it useful, I may try better attempts in the future!

SO.

WHAT NOW?

Little shock. Please remember that this is just the first module of the board. It is by no means finished. I will try to add a second module upwards, on the back section of this board. It won't be as half as large or elaborated, of course, but it will avoid that sense of rectangular shape and will allow more interesting interactions with the third dimension, providing (I hope) some fun gaming options.

How will I build it? When will I dare to build it? Honestly, I cannot tell at the moment. I simply don't have room enough for such an element at home, so first of all I'll have to sort out the logistics of storaging such a piece and then I'll be able to design it! I don't think it will happen in the next weeks, so please be patient with that.

I'm declaring this module of the board finishe... Hmm. I'm declaring this module of the board almost finished. Esentially finished. I may still add minor elements (I'm not entirely convinced with the flatness of the entrance tower; the antenna on the front building doesn't look as satisfying as I originally thought...). But in any case there will be really small changes.

For the moment I have to say I'm happy with how this board came out/ is coming out. I may take a break of this kind of scenery projects for a while, as I need to do any kind of different stuff. Whenever I'm ready to come back to Qala Debdou don't worry, I'll let you know!