MBA 'Customs House' with Scratch-Built Roof is Done!

    Miniature Building Authority's "Customs House" completed with my own scratch-built roof

I have this little thing that I like to do with items I've purchased from a vendor at a convention: finish them! What's more, my goal is to try to finish painting up what I bought from that dealer before I see them again at the next convention. Well, Kirk from Miniature Building Authority will be in Columbus, OH, this weekend as a vendor at Buckeye Game Fest. When I saw him back at Siege of Augusta in January, I bought MBA's "Customs House" -- a large, two-story resin building. It has been sitting on my painting desk since then, patiently waiting while getting "ditched" by trailers, Viking longships, and dozens of scatter pieces.

    Some of my 28mm Pulp figures investigate the MBA Customs House - a grand old resin structure!

The wait was over, though! If I was going to finish it before Buckeye Game Fest, it had to get done this week! Step one was to create a roof. Kirk sold it to me at Siege of Augusta for $40, less than half of what it normally sells for, because this one did not have a roof. While the Customs House had been sitting on my desk for months, I had been thinking of how I would prepare it for the tabletop. I decided to use two slabs of bass wood for the roof, taped together on the underneath. 

    I used some dollhouse scenery shingles to make my roof - slightly out of scale, but looks nice

Now, what to do for the roof's surface? It was too large for either of the two plastic pattern sheets that I had (they would have worked perfect). The craft store I bought them from and all the train stores no longer carried them. I could order them online, but they wouldn't arrive in time. While walking around Hobby Lobby, I found doll house roof shingles in strips. They were out of scale, yes, but with the black roof tile texture they were perfect. They even had adhesive backing. Score! I started with the bottom of the roof and laid each strip down, with the next one above it overlapping it. Wouldn't you know it, though? The length of the strips was about an inch short of the roof width, so I had to cut and add an extra half shingle in each row. It worked perfect, otherwise. Once I reached the peak of the roof, I cut a long strip of cardboard, folded it in half to match the roof angle, and epoxied it down. I painted it black and flocked it to match the shingle pattern.

    Close up of the front entrance and the lovely blue shade of wash I colored the exterior with

I traced the "pediment" -- the triangle-shaped part of the roof rests upon -- onto a piece of cardboard. This was used as a guide to cut out two triangular pieces of foam core which were glued to the underside of the roof, fixing the two bass wood slabs at the correct angle to fit snugly onto the building. I used black Sharpie marker on the edges of the roof piece, and brown paint on the part of the underside that would show. Other than a clear coat, the roof was done and looked great, I felt.

    A look at the rear entrance of the Customs House with its archways and my "oriental carpets"

As for the surface of the building, the resin piece came semi-painted, I would say. There was definitely gray wash done on it, as well as gray paint on the interior. By my standards, though, it looked half finished. I decided to see what just doing a colored wash on the surface would look like. I wanted to utilize the nicely molded exterior texture of the Customs House. So,  I put three drops of Vallejo blue paint into my palette of water to create a light wash and brushed it on with a wide, flat brush. I was kind of holding my breath, hoping I didn't ruin it. I really liked how it turned out, though. It preserved the pockmarked surface it is modeled with, and used its texture to my advantage. Another thing I like about the exterior is portions are modeled to look worn, with the exterior plaster having fallen away and the mud bricks (I think) exposed. I painted those in a light brown with a khaki dry brush. After examining it at this stage, I went back and forth whether to do an overall brown or black wash. I decided NOT to, afraid that it might "erase" my lovely faded blue exterior color.

    Interior of the building - note there is no 2nd floor, so I made one with MDF and bass & balsa wood

As for interior, I decided the gray it came painted with wasn't fancy enough for a Customs House or official government building. I did a wet brush of light blue over all of the interior walls. Once that dried, I did a very light black wash over it. I think this made the interior walls looked nice, too. Not as nice as the exterior, but more than just functional. The clock was ticking, though. I would see Kirk on Thursday and I really, really wanted it to be done (and a blog post about it created) before then. 

    A look at my 2nd floor (with open stairwell) which was trimmed to fit precisely on the first floor walls

The blue wash from the exterior and the black wash from the interior had run onto the model's floor and made the gray concrete floor look even less fancy than it had originally. It needed prettied up, I felt. Government officials work here every day, and they need a nice place to show off for the ordinary folk who come to their office how important they are! I decided I would paint each room's floor a different, darker color -- Midnight blue, Hunter green, Moroccan red, Terra Cotta orange, and Dun yellow. Then, I would cover up part of that floor surface with a printed out oriental rug. Now, that's fancy! I went online and found images of oriental rugs and resized them to fit (and match the color of) each room. I put them on a flash drive to be printed off the next day at the local office supply store.

    Speaking of the stairwell, here is the 1st floor portion of it with its stone staircase and bright rugs

It was Tuesday evening, at this point, though...aack! There was one more thing I wanted to modify on this model. I wanted to create a flat surface to place onto the walls of the first floor, acting as the first floor's ceiling and the second story's floor. I used some MDF material that I had, carefully measuring it and trimming it to fit. Then, at dinner, I had the bright idea to cut out the portion over the interior stairwell for gaming purposes. I did that, and proceeded to fall down a rabbit hole. Next, I decided to do walls for each of the two second story rooms and glued them to the MDF, then scrap booking paper for the floors, then a door leading to each room. Sigh. I was setting myself up for a very busy Wednesday! I should probably have left it at a simple ceiling/floor piece with some carpet-like texture on it...but nooooo! I had to get all fancy!!

    A close up of the 1st floor's oriental rugs - images downloaded and printed out on a paper

One of the last things I did Tuesday evening was epoxy the Customs House down onto its own MDF base that I'd cut. I still would have to do the flocking to blend the exterior onto the base. And clear coat it. Heaven forbid it was humid on Wednesday and I couldn't spray it...! Oh no...what? Oh, yeah. I am pre-writing my blog on that very busy Tuesday before that very busy Wednesday. I am crossing my fingers and hoping everything comes out all right. 

    Another look at the exterior - the rear of the building seems to be a hub of activity

Cut to Wednesday evening: Loving how it is turning out. The oriental rugs are a classy touch. The second floor turned out better than I feared it might. Just finishing up flocking and taking photos tonight. This was a lot to get done in a week or so, but I'm happy to say I manged it.

    The cool shaded interior of the Customs House - reserved for government officials & their clients!

 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 119
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 60 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 13
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 55

    Another look from above of the colorfully decorated interior of the Customs House

 

    What secret deals are being made inside the shady interior of this thick European-style building?

 

 

Sword & Scabbard Ruins & Turn Marker

    Other than the trash cans, these are all purchases from Sword & Scabbard Games at Daycon 2025

I decided not to pack away the things I'd bought at DayCon 2025 when I brought them home a couple weekends ago. They were from Sword & Scabbard Games, owned by my friend Scott, who is assisted at shows by another friend, Lonnie. They had a lot more 3-D printed terrain at their booth this time than they did when I saw them a month earlier at CincyCon. At that show, Scott had a lot of painted 15mm DBA armies. Apparently, they've been selling well, as there were few left at DayCon. That was a good thing for me, as I'm not interested in those, but am instead a big fan of 3-D printed terrain.

    This 3-D printed ruin of a wooden building caught my eye immediately and is a great looking piece

Anyway, the wooden ruin in one of his bins caught my eye right away. I have plenty of stone or modern ruins, but this was a fairly unique piece. I think it could be used for everything from Ancient times to Modern. In fact, I was tempted to paint the outer wall in "barn red," but decided that I liked having it be more generic. As I suspected, this painted up VERY quickly. Prime black, wet brush Camo Brown, dry brush Khaki, and wash black, and it was done. It will probably see the tabletop in one of my post-apocalyptic games, but like I said, it is a very useful and generic looking piece. I'm glad I bought it!

    This ruined floor of an Ancient Temple (or modern government building?) is a cool design

The ruined floor of an Ancient temple was the next thing I painted up. I mentioned on my DayCon Purchases post how Scott gave me the idea of doing the square-tiled temple floor in a mosaic pattern. I decided to do that to give it a little extra pizzazz. Like the wooden ruin, this one was completed very quickly. A black prime, dark gray wet brush, and light gray dry brush got the piece started. Next, I took pale blue and green colors and highlighted the tiles in alternating colors -- like a checkerboard pattern. The remnants of the columns I gave a yellowish stone color on top of the light gray. I finished it off with a black wash, which sank into all the crevices nicely.

    For only $8, this turn marker was something I couldn't pass up & it painted up very quickly!

Although I am playing Saga less often these days, Sword & Scabbard's 3-D printed turn marker was a fun purchase. My friend Abel had shown me the one he bought earlier that day at DayCon. When I saw they were only $8, I decided to pick one up, too. I chose the one featuring a king seated on a throne rather than the pose pointing a sword. I was worried the sword might snap off, so decided to play it safe. It got the same prep treatment as the temple floor, above. For the Roman numerals marking Turns I - VI, I re-painted them black after all the dry brushing was done. Then I picked out the numbers in Iron Wind Metals Copper so they'd stand out more. I'm very happy with how it turned out, and it can obviously be used in any game with a designated number of turns.

    3-D printed trash cans from A Critical Hit sitting in front of "Wallace's Brewpub"

The last items in this batch have been a work in progress for more than a month. They are four 3-D printed trash cans from A Critical Hit. They were printed in a bluish-black material, which I wasn't 100% crazy about. I gave the cans several black washes, then picked out the metal handle rings in a Pewter metallic. The most time consuming part was filling them up, at least partially, with trash! I stared with tiny rocks, then put in shreds of cardboard and finally cut and balled up tiny pieces of paper. I did a bit of a wash on them at the end, but very lightly. Each successive layer of trash was held in place by a tiny squirt of white glue. With these done, I think I have trash bins from several sources, now. I think I'm good on trash for now!

    These have sat on my desk for nearly a month while I slowly filled up the bins with scraps of trash

So, what's next, terrain-wise, for me? I have finally begun working on the large, 2-story resin building that I bought from Miniature Building Authority at Siege of Augusta 2025. I got it at a great discount because it did not have a roof included with it. So, I have begun building the roof. The flat sides of the roof have been cut, as have the two triangular pieces of foam board. I will glue those to the underside of the two pieces of bass wood which will comprise the roof. Unfortunately, the plastic pattern sheeting that I had on hand, which I was going to glue to the roof to give it a terra cotta look, is insufficient. It won't cover the surface of the roof. Today's goal is to make the rounds of train and craft stores to find something that will work for the pattern of the roof. Hopefully, I will find something that will work that isn't too labor-intensive!

    Another look at the wooden ruin, which is probably my favorite piece of the batch

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 119
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 60 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 21

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 55

    The less exciting back side of the wooden ruin, which painted up extremely quickly

Sarissa MDF Trailer...Modified (& Some Scatter)Zombie RV: Unemployed? In Greenville..??

    MDF Trailer from Sarissa Precision modified with corrugated siding and large 3-D printed deck

It has been about 2 1/2 years since I finished a heavily-modified Sarissa Precision MDF trailer. Finally, the second one I had purchased at the same time is completed! I modified this one a bit, too -- but not nearly as much as the first -- which you can see here in this post. The first one was meant to represent a survivalist's repaired and reinforced trailer. Individual panels of metal had been "bolted" on, as well as metal bars over the windows. Instead, this new trailer was meant to look like one surfaced with corrugated siding material -- just aged and abandoned. 

    I prefer the plastic patterned material I used over the model's original scored or incised detail

The corrugated material I used for both models is textured plastic. This time, I ended up having to buy it online because the local craft store had stopped carrying it. I prefer corrugated plastic over the incised MDF it comes with because it looks more three dimensional. This time, I also took a big shortcut. Instead of cutting and gluing on individual pieces of the corrugated material, I did each of the four sides as one sheet. Before I constructed the trailer, I took the MDF sides of it and placed them over the plastic material,  tracing its outline, windows and all. I cut it out with a hobby knife and checked to make sure it was as exact a fit as possible. This would end up working out VERY well, and I finished this trailer in less than half the time it took to do the survivalist's one back in 2022. 

    Close up of the L-shaped plastic material I used to "cap" the four corners of the building

Once the corrugated sides were cut and ready, I glued all the MDF pieces of the trailer's model together with Aleene's Tacky Glue. The model goes together very easily, as do most Sarissa Precision kits. I then let it dry overnight. The next day, I epoxied the corrugated plastic onto the four outer sides. It looks better, but you could still see a noticeable gap where each face of the trailer ends and its neighbor on the next side begins. I wanted to cover this up. So, I cut small pieces of "L-shaped" styrene that you can buy from a model train shop to "cap" those seams. This gives it a much smoother appearance. It was tricky for the curved section, requiring about four pieces per edge, instead of one cap for the square ended half of the trailer.

    A look at the MDF roof which I left "as is," except for adding small MDF pieces to cover open slots

At this point, most of the construction was done. I let it dry overnight again. The next morning, I primed the whole structure. Knowing that I was going to paint the exterior siding a dun yellow color, I used a "Camo Sand" spray acrylic paint primer that I had purchased at Menards. Being a lighter color, it would required fewer coats to paint over than if I had primed it black like I usually do for terrain.

    A look at the light green interior & wooden floors - I chose to paint rather than paper both this time

I started the painting by "wet brushing" (think dry brush where you don't wipe off as much paint) my dun yellow color  over the ridged corrugated plastic material. Next, I did a straw yellow colored highlight as a dry brush. I painted the window trim and doors a medium green. It ended up needing two coats to really cover the doors, but not so much with the windows. Finally, I dirtied it up the exterior here and there with splotches and streaks of an Autumn Brown color. At this point, the exterior was done except for the black wash, which would come once the interior was also ready.

    Close up of the interior showing my "hillbilly decor" - posters made from Google Images

The interior I did in a very light green. It also took two coats to smoothly and evenly cover the walls. I did mess up here and there and I had to repaint sections of the medium green in a few places. By using a flat square brush, though, I was able to do a better and more controlled job than I would have with a round one. I need to remember to use the square brush more when I want a large area to be covered smoothly. The floor was next. I decided I would actually use the scored surface incised on the model and not cover it with scrap booking paper like I have for most other trailers. I painted on a dark brown base coat. This was followed by a Camo Brown wet brush. Finally, I did a light highlight of khaki. 

    The clear plastic skylights included in the kit are a nice touch, which I showed off with scatter leaves

With all the coloring done, by and large, it was time for the black wash. Here is where I screwed up the most, I feel. Rather than using a wide, flat, square brush, I used a round one, again. This gives the black wash a very irregular streaky appearance. You would think I would learn after having just noticed how much easier the interior was doing it with a square-tip brush! I ended up having to go back over it and re-apply a light green dry brush to tone down the streaks and darkness of the wash. It was simply too dirty looking!

On the outside, I remember to use a flat wide brush and it ended up looking MUCH better. I was amazed at how much quicker this trailer had gone than the first one. I still had the roof to do, though. I wet brushed the dun yellow that I had used on the trailer, and then used a khaki highlight because it seemed much darker.  Looking at it, I decided I didn't like the unused slots in the roof. There are six open narrow rectangular slots that MDF tabs from the trailer are supposed to fit into. However, the way I put together the trailer (did I make a mistake?), only two of them had corresponding tabs. So, I covered up the other four with spare MDF pieces that I had from other kits to look like hatches or mechanical stuff.

    I used brown splotches and a black wash to "dirty up" the trailer and make it look weathered

I painted both the spare pieces and the area around the two skylights Iron Wind Metals Steel. I highlighted them Pewter, to give it a more 3-D look as the detail was incised onto the MDF, not raised. The kit includes two clear acrylic pieces that I would epoxy onto the underside of the roof for the glass (or plexiglass) skylights. However, I would not affix those until after I had done any clear coating -- I didn't want them to "fog." At this point, I was mostly done with the trailer. 

Now it was time to add the other obvious modification I made to the Sarissa kit. I added a big, 3-D printed, wooden deck I bought from Bad Goblin Games to the long side of the trailer with the door. I wanted to wait until the entire exterior was finished before I glued the deck down, though. Otherwise, painting the exterior portions under the deck would have been a pain! Luckily, the Bad Gobin deck was just about the correct height for the Sarissa trailer. It probably should have been a tad shorter, but I wasn't going to try to saw off exactly the same amount from the eight posts holding up the deck. I primed the deck black, did a Camo Brown wet brush, and Khaki highlight. I also gave it a black wash. 

    Less than a week after being finished, the trailer was used in one of my games of Zombie RV

Now it was time for the posters! When I save an image online for a poster or sign, and then go to print it out for a model, I usually make it in three sizes -- the one I think is right, as well as one slightly bigger and another smaller. I also save my unused posters and signs. So, I dug this folder out and looked through it. I was able to find enough "hillbilly decorations" to put onto the open wall spaces of the interior. I also glued on a No Trespassing sign of sorts on the back of the trailer, too. I thought about putting gluing down some scatter on deck -- chairs, etc. However, I decided to leave them unattached and just sit them on the deck. I picked out four chairs from the one of the Mantic Games scatter boxes (Abandoned Office?) and painted them up. Those are the ones you see in the pictures, above.

    5 pieces of 3-D printed scatter from A Critical Hit and one MDF Outhouse I finished recently

All that was left was the flocking, which I did with my usual method. I painted the base (underneath the deck was the hardest) with a mix of brown paint and white glue. Then I poured in Woodland Scenics Fine Brown Ballast. Once it had dried, I added Blended Turf. Next I added irregularly splotches of Blended Green. For this building, I also added more tufts than I usually do to make it look weedy and overgrown. Finally, I used my tiny bag of leaves that I had bought at ATC 2025 and placed some on the clear plexiglass skylights and in the corners of the deck with white glue. It was done, once again, in about half the time the other Sarissa trailer had taken me. 

    More easy to get onto the tabletop scatter from A Critical Hit -- two 3-D printed picnic tables

I made my deadline, too, as I wanted to use this trailer in Sunday's game of Zombie RV: Unemployed? In Greenville..??. I now have an acceptable looking trailer park with six trailers and at least another half dozen buildings that don't look out of place alongside them. As I finished up the trailer, I was also hurrying up to finish some more modern scatter that have sat in my closet for a year or longer. 

    I bought these from A Critical Hit in 2024 and they've sat in my closet for a year...oops!

The two picnic tables and crates of tomatoes and salt were purchased at Cincycon 2024 from A Critical Hit. It is crazy that 3-D printed pieces that took so little time to get ready for the tabletop just languished in there for a year. For the picnic tables, I simply did a Camo Brown wet brush and Khaki dry brush. That was followed up with a black wash and they were ready (other than a clear matte spray). The crates took a couple more steps. I did the same thing to the wooden slats, but them painted the metal bands Iron Wind Steel. I picked out the bolts with Bronze and then did a black wash over the crate part, but not the produce. I left the salt alone. After clear coating it, I brushed on a clear gloss over the tomatoes.
 

    I *believe* this MDF outhouse is from Sarissa, but am unsure - it has sat unpainted for even longer!

So, if I'm embarrassed that the A Critical Hit pieces sat for so long, I should be mortified by this outhouse. It came with one of my kits -- I believe from Sarissa Precission. Not sure, though, as it has been so long. I assembled it long ago (before I even moved into my new house), and even primed it black. And there it sat, forgotten, but clearly visible on the shelf of my closet containing my unpainted or unassembled terrain and scatter. Literally, all I had to do was a Camo Brown wet brush, Khaki dry brush, and black wash, and it was finally for the tabletop!

    Look! Proof the Outhouse finally made it into a game, as 2 zombies feel an urgent need to "go..."!

What's next? Yesterday, I finished my Colonial Marines from Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps. I photographed them tonight, and you will likely see a post on them tomorrow. I've begun working on the 3-D printed ruins and turn marker that I bought at DayCon 2025 from Sword & Scabbard Games. What about miniatures, you may ask? Well, I think the time has arrived. After finishing this blog post, I plan on sorting through my 28m Vietnam and getting started on my first squad of U.S. Army troopers! The Vietnam project is finally underway!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 119
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 54 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 19

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 50

Clothes Lines (with Sheets & Clothes) from MBA

    Three sets of clothes lines from Miniature Building Authority - more decoration for my trailer park!

One of my friends, Jason from South Carolina, suggested that I add clothes lines to my slowly growing 28mm trailer park. That reminded me that a couple years back, I had purchased metal clothes lines strung with laundry and shirts and pants from Miniature Building Authority. I dug through my unpainted terrain and scatter and found that I actually had more than I thought. I had one pack of just a pair of clothes lines, but two packs of their "Clothes Line Set," that included poles, a wash basin, and other things in plastic.

    The 'shirts & pants' side of the pair of lines, along with the wash basin and bucket

I pulled out all of them and sorted through them on my painting desk. I decided to make three sets of clothes lines with poles based on MDF. The Clothes Lines Sets included a plastic base for the poles, but it was horribly warped, and didn't actually look long enough. So, after cutting my MDF bases, I drilled holes to plant the two sets of poles into the base itself. I made a third set of poles with dowel and bass wood, spacing them apart so that the metal clothes lines would rest on the horizontal beam across the pole. I used epoxy to affix the lines to the beams. The metal clothes lines themselves required minimal cleanup of flash. Once everything was upright and secure, I primed them with white Gesso.

    The 'sheets' side of the clothes line

I worked on these a bit at a time while painting up other batches of things on my desk these past two weeks. I did the sheets hanging from the clothes lines first. I chose light, pale "bedsheet" colors -- pink, blue, tan, etc. Then I began working on the shirts and pants hanging from the lines, doing various colors for them, and mixing those colors up amongst the three sets of clothes lines. I did a dry brush on everything after its base coat was painted -- white for the sheets and lighter versions of the base coat colors for the shirts and pants. The clothes lines themselves were painted in a yellowish-white bone color. I wanted them to be different than the white of the sheets, slightly darker. 

    You can buy these either in a set with poles and basins and such, or just a pair of lines with laundry

Once the clothes, sheets, and lines were done, it was time to paint the poles holding up the lines. I did some Google Image searches for inspiration, but couldn't find anything that jumped out at me. So, I decided to fall back on a metal aluminum-looking pole. I did a base coat in Iron Wind Metals Steel color, then Pewter, and finally Silver highlights. It still ended up darker than I wanted, but oh well. These are meant to be for scatter terrain for my modern games -- not for a diorama! I also painted up the wide, wooden wash basins and the smaller buckets to put on the bases, too.

    I painted the sheets in various pale colors like you might find on people's beds

Finally, I flocked all three bases and they are ready for the tabletop. Chances are their first game will come in May at Buckeye Game Fest, when I am running a couple games of Zombie RV. Until then, here are some photos I took of them.

    Pants & Shirts were painted in a variety of colors & highlighted

What else is on my painting desk? I also finished four stands of mushrooms made from charms I picked up at the local craft store. They'll be in a post here soon. I have another batch of Splintered Light Miniatures -- five anthropomorphic wildcats dressed in Roman legionary apparel. I am also adding painted details to one of the larger pieces of Sci-Fi scatter that I bought from A Critical Hit. After that, I will begin painting a huge MDF Sci-Fi building that John at Dad's Armies assembled for me at Cincycon 2025. Stay tuned for those, and a battle report on last night's Galactic Heroes game set in the Star Wars universe!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 100
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 49 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 16

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 33

Shipping Container Homes for My Trailer Park

    Inspired by an MBA shipping container office, I created two more 'homes' for my trailer park!

Last month, when I painted up Miniature Building Authority's shipping container office from their Shanty Town range, it gave me an idea. Since the core of MBA's building was a Reaper Miniature's plastic shipping container, I thought, "Hey, I have one of those! I can make my own." And when I saw another Reaper shipping container at Dragon's Lair, a local hobby shop in the Columbus area, I picked up a second. I would make up a pair of new homes with them simultaneously, and add them to my growing trailer park.

    Insulation foam base, surrounded by 'brick' styrene,  forms a platform for a the shipping containers

Mobile homes tend to sit upon a base, raising them off the ground. I would do the same for my shipping containers. I also wanted to use two of the 3-D printed sets of stairs to lead up to their doorways that I had left over from my Bad Goblin Games trailers (they give you a choice of two). So, I measured their height and cut strips of textured styrene to match it. I'd purchased the textured styrene long ago when a local craft store carried them. One had a brick texture and the other more of a stone pattern. They would be the platform that the shipping containers would sit upon. To give it a more solid base, though, I cut two rectangles of insulation foam to match that height also and epoxied them onto the MDF bases that I was going to use for my shipping container homes. The foam was a bit short, so I put a piece of bass wood atop it to give extra height.

Next, I glued those strips of textured styrene along each edge of the insulation foam base, using masking tape hold the corners flush with each other as the epoxy cured. Once dry, I trimmed a little slot in the rectangle I'd created to fit the corners of the shipping containers. I made sure the container's bottom fit snugly. Then, I put epoxy along the shipping container's bottom edge and on the piece of bass wood. I pressed the container down into its slot, so to speak, and used a rubber band to hold them together tightly while the epoxy cured.  The building would rest on the foam, and the styrene would grip the bottom of the container on all four sides. 

    The above picture illustrates the "slot" I created for the corners of the shipping containers to fit into

Although the two shipping containers were both from Reaper, they were slightly different. The roofs came off of both, of course. However, one you had to glue the doors onto while the other was molded with the doors sealed shut. It didn't look like the doors would stay in place, though, and be able to swing open and closed. So, I epoxied them into a half open position. For the other one, I would need to create my own door and glue it over the top of the surface, representing an opening that the occupant had been sliced into the shipping container. 

    Windows were made out of cardboard and bass wood strips and glued into place along the outside

In addition, I decided to give each building two windows -- one one each long side. I tried to use an X-acto knife to cut a rectangle out of the container's plastic material, but it was too strong. If I had been smart, I might have cut tried to cut the window openings out BEFORE gluing it into place atop its platform to give me more leverage. So, I gave up. The solution wasn't perfect, but in the end I scratch-built my own windows out of a rectangle of cardboard with bass wood strips along the edge to represent the window frame. The cardboard would be smooth and be painted black to represent the glass of the windows. Towards the end of the process, I even painted in tiny broken glass lines on the black of the windows.

    This aerial view shows the ventilator and stovepipe I created for the roof of each home

The shipping container home would need some sort of heating or ventilation, I figured. So I searched through a bag of miscellaneous MDF pieces I'd picked up at a flea market a couple years ago. I found a pair that looked like vaguely like ventilation grills, so used them. Each had an off-center hole which would perfect for a pipe to emerge from it. Luckily, I had some styrene tube that fit the hole perfectly, so cut two lengths to be the stove pipe vents. These were epoxied onto each shipping container's lid, or "roof."

    The front of one of the shipping container homes & the bass wood door I cut & assembled for it

At this stage, all of the construction part was done. I glued the cinder block stairway into place for one of them, holding off for the moment on the other. I spray painted both homes black with Krylon Fusion Matte Acrylic, and went over it with a 50/50 mix of glue and black paint to ensure it got into all the grooves and crevices. First, I painted the platforms the shipping containers sat upon. I used a medium gray base coat with light gray dry brush for the stone pattern. For the brick one, I used a base coat of red-brown and then painted in a highlight of Howard Hues Middle Eastern Flesh to pick out a highlight for each brick individually. It actually went faster than I thought it would (and probably sounds!). Once a black wash was put on at the end, I thought the platforms looked really nice.

    Long side of the blue trailer -- I chose lighter colors so they would show rust and weathering better

With the platforms for both done, I glued the 3-D printed wooden stairs I had left over from one of my Bad Goblin Games fortified trailers into place on the remaining trailer. Now, I had to decide upon what color I would paint the outside of the shipping containers. I looked at images of them online and decided I would stay with lighter colors so that it would show the rust and weathering effects better. I chose to do one in a sea-foam bluish-green and the other in a very pale yellow color. It took two coats of craft acrylic paint to fully cover the black priming, though. Next, I dry brushed each in white to represent the sun bleaching their colors.

    The brick patterned platform came out nicely, too -- I didn't try to do a mortar between the bricks!

Next, it was time to pick out the windows and doors. I chose a medium blue for the bluish trailer and a dull orange for the yellow one. I dry brushed the trim in lighter colors to show a bit of bleaching and weathering, as well. I painted the the ventilators atop the roof and the original iron rods securing the shipping container doors Iron Wind Metals Steel first, and then added Pewter highlights. The 3-D printed cinder block staircase from Bad Goblin Games was painted medium gray with a very light gray highlight. The wooden staircase was done in Dark Brown, and progressively highlighted in Howard Hues Camo Brown and khaki.

    Here you can see the iron rods that originally secured the shipping container's doors painted Steel

Now, it was time to make my "nice" new homes weathered and rusty! I used a craft paint called Autumn Brown as the base coat for the rust. I looked at images of rusty shipping containers online to mimic this, especially in places I felt mostly like to rust. These were the corners, the place where the container was sliced open for windows, and in wide open patches where moisture might collect. Inside the Autumn Brown, I added dots or splotches of fluorescent orange. I did this for the roofs, as well. I did not glue them down, because I wanted access to the interiors for play.

    The side of the pale yellow shipping container home, along with the misspelled warning to 'looters'

While laboriously doing the rust weathering, I was struck by a bit of whimsical inspiration. I rationalize that my fictional, post-apocalyptic occupants of my trailer park are "good old boys" who were never very good in school and have exaggerated, patriotic, conservative beliefs. Okay, you can call them "rednecks"...ha, ha! Well, circulating on the internet is a meme of a warning spray painted that "Lotters will be shot!" This is paired with a French-looking otter in a beret taunting, "L'otters are not afraid!" It is one of my friend Keith's favorites and he frequently posts it on Facebook. So, I just had to hand paint a similar warning on one of the trailer's sides. I did my best to give it tiny drips to represent spray paint running at the bottom of the letters. Hopefully, Keith will be pleased as the meme is commemorated in 3-D!

    Heavy black wash on the sides of the shipping container homes makes them look unkempt & dingy

The final step for the trailer's exteriors was the heavy black wash. I use a black vehicle wash from Vallejo that is watered down by 50%. I really like how the wash makes the homes look like they are dirty and poorly kept up. The wash was also applied to the stairs and platform bases, of course. I feel that a nice wash at the end of something (figure or terrain) always does a good job of muting brushstrokes and blending the overall look. In this case, it made the orange rust more subdued and gave both trailers a unifying the look -- not just a collection of differently painted parts. If that makes sense!

    The interior of the blue trailer, with its printed out windows, door, and posters

With the exteriors done, it was time to go to work on the interiors. I decided to do a shortcut for the windows and door, though. Instead of making another 3-D one with cardboard, craft sticks, or bass wood, I decided that I would print them out. Make the interior more two dimensional, since it doesn't get seen as much and that's what I've done with past buildings. So, I created images of the doors and windows on my laptop and then printed them out on a color printer. For the wallpaper and floor, I used scrap booking paper that I'd picked up at the local craft stores. I measured as closely as I could and cut them out and "dry fitted" them first. Then, I painted the interior of the wall or floor with a light coating of white glue. I pressed the paper down, and it usually does a good job of sticking. However, the container with the doors that needed glued on did not have flush walls. There was a curb at the bottom and top jutting out (probably to help glue the four sides, top, and bottom together). However, the paper is somewhat bowed. 

    Interior of the pale yellow trailer - note the blue door handles (I forgot this was the yellow trailer!)

After those were done, I added in the posters. I did my usual Google searches of what I felt were appropriate images for someone who chose to live in a shipping container...ha, ha! Same process -- print them out, paint a light coat of white glue, and press into place. After all the images were dry, I used a black dry brush to dirty up the interior some more. I added black smudges in the corners, around the door, by the windows, and so on. I couldn't go all out like I did with the smoke damage on the last batch of fortified trailers from Bad Goblin Games. These shipping container homes still have supposed structural integrity. Their cleanliness and upkeep just isn't up to Martha Steward standards...! 

The last thing I did was the flocking and adding various scatter around the container homes. The grill and folding chair are part of the Crystal Peaks camp set of plastic scatter terrain from Mantic Games. The two padded chairs either side of the other's staircase are actually 3-D prints from Sea Dog Game Studios that I bought a long time ago and finally found a use for! The cinder block are from Bad Goblin Games, and the bricks were bought at a gaming store, but I don't remember who makes them. I really like the way these turned out, although I admit there were a lot more steps and work to get them the way I wanted than I first thought! Still, the trailer park continues to grow -- which is good, because I will be running a Zombie RV game in May set inside a trailer park. 

What else is on my painting desk? I have a batch of 10 Splintered Light Miniatures rats that are partway completed. Also, I have finally started painting the three sets of clothes lines from Miniature Building Authority. Hopefully, these two things go WAY faster than these shipping container homes and the Dark Age cavalry! They certainly held up my progress for awhile...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 100
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 39 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 16

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 30