New Brighton Part 11

This project needed something big.  I toyed with the idea of doing a version of Big Ben, something which I may come back to in the future, but for the moment settled on a large building that could act as either a royal residence or some other government official building.

Still in the early stages with this one as it is rather large.

My apologies for the poor-quality pictures.  At the moment the Sun is like a deadly laser melting everything it can see.

Still quite a bit more to do on this but this is how the painting looks after day 1.

I have some toppers to make for the pillars on the fence line plus I need to plaster the whole model and fix up or cover up some damaged areas.   I also have to come up with some suitable gates for this and possibly some guard boxes too.

New Brighton Part 10

Just a little update.

I made some signage for the shops and a sign for the police station.  Only minor bits really but I think they add to the buildings somewhat.

I designed them on 3D Builder and printed them out on my resin printer.

Honestly, I have been struggling to get much 'hobby' done at the moment.

Contemplating taking a break for a bit to recharge the batteries, or maybe just clearing some stuff out.  Sometimes I find when the hobby space gets too overcrowded it makes it hard for me to get motivated to do anything, which in turn just makes the situation worse as things start to pile up.

New Brighton Part 9

Right from the beginning of this project, I had an image in mind that I wanted to try to make these buildings at least a little lived in, whilst still keeping them not completely covered in extras.   I often find that any terrain can look good, but the little bits added at the end help lift it up.

This is my attempt to make what are effectively empty boxes, look a little more lived in.  Adding some life to them so to speak.

I started by adding curtains to all the windows.  To do these I simply added little bits of masking tape stuck inside the buildings.  Masking tape has the added benefits of having a slight texture, is not bright white, is self-adhesive and is thin enough to create a better finish than paper.

Street Signage was a must.  I came up with a selection of different street names.  I designed a small sign template, based on the Sesame Street sign, and embossed the letters onto them for each of my chosen streets.

Albert Road

Holmwood Avenue

Market Street

Baker Street (of course this needed to be there)

I also added some Victorian Science fiction-themed ones.

Floatwood Avenue

Olympus Mons Avenue

Valles Marineris Street

Hellas Planitia View

I painted the signs up in a black and off-white colour scheme.  Of course, the signs are all removable and interchangeable.

Next up was signage and posters.  I knocked up a quick sign frame on a 3D building program and printed it out on a resin printer.  A Google search was all that was needed to find suitable images.

Again, I have kept both the signboard and the picture within it removable, so I can swap images in and out as I please.

After that, I simply added a button battery, left over from tealight candles used during Halloween, to light up the streetlight.

I suppose I should look at adding some details to the insides of the building too as you can see through the windows a bit.   At the very least I should do that to the shops with their bigger display windows.  They will also need shop signs to brighten them up and help them stand out from the townhouses.

As always, I am open to ideas and suggestions.

New Brighton Part 8

Managed to also get a couple more buildings done to add to the growing pile.  I have one more that is almost done, I forgot to do the windows so just waiting on those.

After that, I have 2 more terraces each of 3 buildings to do and then I may move onto a warehouse of some sort.

I did consider doing 'Big Ben' or at least something very similar, and that is still an option I may pursue down the line.  It will be pretty big at about 36" tall though.

I would also like to do some railway arches and a city wall to keep those pesky Martians and Prussians out.

The little detail on the front is a small pendant that I found in a local shop.  I repainted it to make it fit in with the painted buildings but used colours similar to what the original pendant was.

I knocked out a couple more small terraces of 'regular' buildings.   Nothing that I have not covered before.  Simple prints with only the visible bits being printed to cut down on time and resources.

The collection is growing nicely.  Next up will be another larger feature building followed by some wall sections.  After that, I may move on to something else for a change of scenery.

Before all that, I have a few small details I want to add to my existing buildings.  Nothing too fancy, just some small details to give a more lived-in feel.

New Brighton Part 7

I didn't get too much done on this project today, I got distracted by Aeon Trespass and before I knew it time was slipping away from me.

I managed to add a bit of colour to the large chimney and also started work on figuring out some streetlights using a mixture of bits I designed, and 3D-printed, plastic railway set lights and little tea light candles.  I am pretty happy with how they came out.

Finishing up the walls and chimney so they fit in better with the rest of the terrain and I have ordered a load more fence railing so that I can make some more wall sections when they arrive.

Finally, I made a little progress on my Aerial minefield.  The plan is to have some 'deployed' and some on the ground waiting to be deployed.

New Brighton Part 6

Finally pulled my finger out and did some work on the simple free-standing walls that I cannibalised from other STLs.

First, I added some detailing to the tops to give them a 'Victorian' vibe.  I had some plastic fencing sets that were possibly for dollhouses or train layouts.  I can't remember exactly because I have had them for years.  I cut the top section off one design and the bottom section of the other to create two different finishes.

Then, it was just a case of painting them up like the rest of the brickwork.

When posting this, I have just applied the plaster to them.  Once that is dry, I will go back in and paint the railing sections.   I will probably go with black railings, although I am open to suggestions.

I also started work on three of the other buildings which were still sitting in the to-do pile.  I found a nice-looking little pendant at the local craft shop that I think will make a nice bit of detailing for one of the buildings.  I will post more details on that as it happens.

New Brighton Part 5

When building terraces in a hurry it is sometimes beneficial to take STL files and cut away all the bits that won't be seen as this can massively reduce both printing time and consumables.

With houses that are going to have a plastered appearance, the missing walls can always be replaced by foamcore.  You will hardly notice the difference with a thin coat of filler over the joins.  Although this is entirely optional.

My current state of play for this project is shown in the following photos.