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.

New Brighton Part 4

I want to make some free-standing or perimeter walls that I can move around and want them to fit the same aesthetic as the rest of the walls.

to do this I will use parts from existing STL's and cannibalize the bits I think I could use.

This chimney can be a good starting point for the columns on the walls.

This part of the roof would be excellent for the actual wall.

This section could come in hand for arched gateways.

Now I have identified the bits I think I can use it's just a matter of opening the STL in 3D Builder and using the 'split' function to cut away all the bits I don't need.

The next step is the 'settle' the remaining piece on the ground and resize its width and depth.  The height you can adjust by using the 'split' function to remove brick layers.  Add a cube or whatever shape you want as a topper and place it on top of the pillar.

As I intended to magnetise the walls, I made some little pegs a little longer than the size of the magnets I intended to use I positioned where the magnets would be and then used the 'Subtract' function to remove them.  This then leaves a perfect hole for the magnets and means they will always be in the same place on each pillar I print.

Finally, I inserted the wall I was going to use into the pillar and also 'Subtract' that, so it leaves a nice indent for the wall to fit snugly in.

Obviously, this is just a quick run-through of something really basic but should give an idea of what you can do.

I may add an additional magnet hole in the middle of the top to allow different toppers to be swapped in and out.

For the actual 'walls' sections I may do some with flat tops and some with little grooves to add railings.

Either way, I will save the files so that I can quickly and easily replicate the pieces whilst also having the option to go in and alter bits to make some pieces unique. 

New Brighton Part 3

These first couple of buildings are quite large and I don't want to make all the buildings quite so big as I want to have that nice variety of height on the skyline.  I can't do that with all the buildings as some will be in terraces so maybe I will have to have a variety of other smaller details to make them look interesting.

Painted in the same manner as the other buildings but with a slate-coloured roof and a more subtle colour for the roof trim.

I had to create the windows myself in 3D Builder because the files didn't come with any.

What the files come with are slots to slide in a piece of transparent film, like the sort used in overhead projectors.  I just didn't like the look of that on its own because large glass panels just looked too modern.

Shops are a must for any self-respecting Victorian-era city, and what better place to start than an Antiques and Curios shop?

Dated 1890 for good reason.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (H.P. Lovecraft) was born on the 20th of August 1890 and thanks to him we now have the amazing Cthulhu Mythos.   I won't go into too much detail about the person himself as that can open up a whole can of worms, what with his views on different aspects of life, but his weird creation of the Mythos has quite likely had a massive impact on a lot of games we have all come to love.

Painted in the same quick style as the other buildings.  Nothing too fancy or special.

Once I have a decent number of buildings done, I can go back over them to add more characterful details here and there.

Next up is a generic shop.  I will add signage to it later.

I wanted to get this building done because there are various bits from these buildings so far that I intend to put into 3D builder and alter and cannibalise to create other bits and pieces for my city.  Before I do that however I wanted you to at least see the fully printed out and painted buildings to get an idea of where my mind was going when I was looking at them.

New Brighton Part 2

Once the Quickshade or Agrax Earthshade is dry take a light sand colour and dry-brush the brickwork.  Any light sand or bone-type colour will do.  If I am doing a lot of walls, I go to the local hardware store and get them to colour match colours for me.  For these though I just used miniature paint.  Iraqi Sand by Vallejo to be precise. 

The next stage was smearing regular filler mix over the brickwork and then before it was dry, wiping it with a wet cloth.  This will leave some filler in the gaps between bricks and also remove some of the paint from some of the stones.  It gives a nice irregular finish.   Once that was dry, I just tidied up the bits where the Quickshade had gone over areas where I didn't want.

Next was painting some Citadel Nihilakh Oxide on the rooves.   I was quite liberal with this because I planned to lightly drybrush copper back on to blend it in a bit. 

The steelwork was drybrushed in shades of Green.  I used Forrest Green from Wargames Foundry.

For this building the windows and doors were spray painted black and then drybrushed with German Grey for vallejo.  I felt that the darker windows would look good against the otherwise relatively light-coloured building.  I also picked out a few random bricks with Army Painter Leather Brown and Vallejo German Grey.  I do this just to make it look like I spend more time on the brickwork then I actually do, plus it adds a few little extra details.  

For the Nef Station I went with green windows and railings at the front.   For some reason the green metal windows just felt like train station to me.   I'm not sure why.

Weathering the brickwork was the next step and is incredibly easy to do.  I used Vallejo light grey wash and basically drew lines down the building on the brickwork.  You can make it as subtle or as pronounced as you like by just adding more layers.   (The brush I used had snapped whilst frantically paint plebians for my Circus Maximus project last month.)

The next stages will be to figure out some stained-glass effects for the Nef Stations large windows and to paint up the lift shaft cages that go inside it.

Anyway, that is basically my quick method for painting buildings.   There are plenty more to do but I won't bore you with breaking down the steps for each building unless there is something drastically different that I do.