Showing posts with label Terrain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terrain. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Cincycon 2024 Purchases

    Some of the 3-D 'Scatter Terrain' I bought at Cincycon for my Sci-Fi games
Heading down to Cincycon 2024, I had a pretty good Miniatures Purchased to Miniatures Painted Ratio for this year. I had painted 31 figures so far, while purchasing only 15. I knew that once the convention season arrived my surplus would take a hit. Well, it did in a big way, as you'll see below.

    Not sure what they are supposed to be, but they'll look cool on a Sci-Fi tabletop!
Despite buying from only two stands at the convention, I still dropped about $100. I do feel an obligation to support the vendors at shows I attend. They take time out of their schedule to show up and give us somewhere to browse and shop. Often times it is a money-losing proposition for dealers. They go more as a form of advertising, to get their name out. They hope that, later on, people will remember them and make purchases from them online. Or at least that's my take on it!

    Mounted gorillas for my Planet of the Apes force - these are 3-D printed from JS Wargamer Printing
The first vendor I bought from is one that I've mentioned on here before. Cincinnati area gamer John Leahy started JS Wargamer Printing a year or so back. My Terminators that I painted up where from him. He carries mounted "Planet of the Monkeys" gorillas. I thought they'd be a great troop addition for my Xenos Rampant "Planet of the Apes" detachment. I have three mounted gorilla figures from Battle Valor Games, and I need some more to flesh out a squad of them. There's a troop type called Berserk Infantry (or something like that) in the game, and gorillas charging in to close combat would be perfect for these.

    I am a big fan of 'The Last of Us,' so if I'm purchasing zombies I'll definitely get some infected!
My other purchase from John was part of a new project that I will be working on after I get Xenos Rampant underway. I have finally decided to take the plunge and do a zombie branch-off for my post-apocalyptic games. My idea is it will be a mash-up of Gaslands Refueled and Wiley Games rules. Each of my players will have a vehicle -- pickup truck, SUV, van, whatever. They will have three characters in it and will be road-tripping across the United States. They're heading from the zombie-infected and densely-populated East to the wide open spaces of America's Great Plains and West. Less people means less zombies, so the thought is to make it to the relative safety of "flyover country."

    John from JS Wargamer Printing had three types of zombies -- this was the other type I ordered
The problem is that I own no zombies. Well, I didn't before Cincycon! I sent a message to John asking if he had any zombies he could print up. He did have some files. One is of standard zombie apocalypse folks and the other is the "infected" variety from the great streaming show, "The Last of Us." His prices are hard to beat, so I ordered two packs of 10 each. So, that's 40 zombies plus 4 mounted gorillas. John also gave me some freebies -- 3-D printed figures of Planet of the Apes Dr. Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, and the humans George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova. 

    More of the 3-D printed scatter terrain I purchased at Cincycon - this from A Critical Hit
Since they were free, should I count those as purchased? Well, I guess I could technically call it "Acquired," just in case I trade for miniatures in the future! So, I added in 49 miniatures. That raises my total to 64 acquired for 2024. And no, I haven't finished any other batches, so I've sunk to 31 painted vs. 64 acquired. Oh well...it WAS a good ratio while it lasted!

    Two picnic tables, a phone booth, and Coca-cola machine from A Critical Hit
The other purchases were from a vendor that was new to me. They are called A Critical Hit (Instagram link), or email Blair Oyler at dungeonmaster@acriticalhit.ne. Critical Hit's shelves had quite a bit of 3-D printed scatter and buildings. Much of their printing was done in appropriately colored material so that they wouldn't technically require painting. I would at the minimum do a wash on these, but will likely paint most of them up. I showed my friend Keith their tables and he immediately snapped up even more than I did! Good stuff!!

    A few more from A Critical Hit -- I will likely paint the pipes but do a black wash on the container
Most of these purchases were Sci-Fi related. They'll likely end up on the tabletop for various Xenos Rampant games or Wiley Games skirmishes. It's been awhile since I've painted up a big batch of terrain, so I may likely pop in these pieces and others ones I purchased at Advance the Colors last October from Sailpower and Diabolical Terrain. You can never have too much atmospheric scatter on the tabletop. Now, storing all that terrain is a different thing entirely...!

    You can see the interesting colors that A Critical Hit print their terrain in with the second piece

What's next? I am almost done with the next batch of five "Blue-Skinned Aliens" squad. At some point, I really do need to come up with a name for that faction! With that squad complete, they will be ready for the tabletop. So, look for that update soon...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 31


Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Giant 3-D Printed Bridge (with Graffiti)

    My newest piece of terrain -- a large, stone bridge with brick sidewalks and an asphalt road atop it
This is probably the largest piece of terrain that I have ever assembled and painted. It is a 3-D printed bridge that I purchased from my friend Rusty Parker of Jarl's Workshop (jarlsworkshop19@gmail.com). I first saw it at Drums at the Rapids a couple years ago. I was sorely tempted to buy it then, but my cheapskate nature had me hold off. By the time that Advance the Colors rolled around five months later, I told him that I wanted it. I bought it and there it sat in my closet for nearly a year.

Nearly a yard long, this 3-D printed bridge from Jarls Workshop is the biggest terrain piece I've made
Recently, I pulled it out determined to get it completed and use it in a game. The first step was to glue its seven pieces together. I used superglue and assembled and was pleased how it kind of "locked together" tightly. You can see some gaps here and there, but for the most part, it fits together very nicely. I did add a couple thin pieces of styrene to cover a couple gaps, but otherwise, there were no modifications to the bridge as purchased from Rusty.

    Multiple layers of spray paint, washes, dry brushing, and another final wash color its golden stones
My next decision was to decide on a color scheme. I decided that I wanted to yellowish-golden colored stone. I scoured the aisles of the local Menards home improvement store, and found a nice khaki colored primer. First, I sprayed two coats on it while it was upside down. After drying, I did the same with it standing upright. The next step was to take a more golden toned khaki color craft paint and water it down so that it could be used as a wash. I slathered it on a couple times and was really happy how it settled into the crevices in the stone.

    Two of my street gangs taunt each other from opposite sides of the river, daring the other to cross
The next step was to take another craft paint, a light tan stone color, and use it as a dry brush to highlight the pieces. I used the largest flat brush I own and would probably say this was the fastest and easiest step to do. Once dry, it was time to work on the sidewalks and road surface atop the bridge. The sidewalks were brick, so I did my usual method. I painted it Iron Wind Metals Red Brown and then dry brushed it Howard Hues Middle East Flesh color. Once that was done, it was time to do the asphalt road surface. I used my second darkest gray color as a base coat. As I was applying it, I noticed that I could see the tiny ridges common in 3-D printed items. I was worried that a dry brush would highlight that and draw attention to it. The road would look unnatural. What to do?

    The top surface of the bridge with its brick sidewalks and "stippled" gray asphalt
I decided to take a somewhat frayed brush and "stipple" it rather than dry brush. I used a medium gray color and stippled the entire length of the road surface. My original thought was that I would do a medium gray coat and a lighter one. However, I was so happy with how the asphalt looked that I decided to keep it as is. Almost done!

    The Santanas have painted their side of the bridge to mark their turf, warning others to "Salir!"
The last step was to give it a brown wash. I have a bottle of seldom-used dark brown "vehicle wash" from Vallejo. I took a plastic container and filled it partly full with water. Then I began squirting in the brown wash until it had a color that I thought would work well. Applying this final brown wash was probably the messiest part of the process. I dripped quite a bit all over my desk and it soaked the paper towels I had laid out to collect the excess that dripped off. After it dried, I examined it and was very happy with how the bridge had turned out. Was I done? Well...no, not really!

    Creepy clown logo & threats sprayed onto the bridge's surface warn others they're in Flippo turf!
The final step was to dirty it up with graffiti. I went back and forth whether to paint graffiti on it. I finally decided that the bridge would be used most in my Mean Streets gang warfare games. Next, it may see use in post-apocalyptic games. In both environments, a clean pristine bridge would look out of place, right? So, I Googled images of "graffiti bridge" and saw ones that had way, way too much on it. I went back and forth on how much to do, but decided I the best way would be to start in on it and stop when I thought I had enough. 

    The first graffiti "tag" on the bridge that I painted was the purple & yellow Daos logo
I began with large, colored graffiti-style letters for one of my gangs, the Daos. I then did another set of letters for The Kings. I added it a bleeding eye for the fun of it, and then scrawled various phrases like, "Hate Thy Neighbor" and "Not Your Turf." I did a couple hearts with initials -- one "J.T." for Jenny -- and another a shout-out to the movie, "The Warriors. We'll see if anyone who hasn't read this blog post catches the "Swan + Mercy" Easter egg!

    As my most numerous gang, the Kings are slated to take on a starring role in my upcoming games
Most of the graffiti was based around my painted up gangs, also including the Mohawks and Santanas. Once most areas of the bridge sides had something on it, I called it quits. In "reality," it would probably have more graffiti -- somewhat like the photos I saw on my image searches. However, I didn't want to cover up the beautiful golden stone color of the bridge completely. I figured in this case that less was more. I did one final matte spray coat and the bridge was finally done. The process had been dragged out much more than it should by my two bout of sickness. I accomplished little during that point. In actual, sheer hours put into it, I would say it took less time than a building of similar surface area. 

    Not all gangs got their 'tag' on the bridge, but I tried to cover most -- like the Indianola Mohawks
I think it is an amazing terrain piece. If you like it, contact Rusty of Jarl's Workshop at the above email and pick up one yourself. It is a definite eye candy cornerstone for a tabletop. Those who show up to Cincycon 2024 in less than two weeks will get the first look at it in person. I will be using it as part of my Mean Streets game scheduled for Friday evening. If you want a really close look at it, sign up to play in my game!

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Even More Ruins! Small, 1-story Corner Ruins for Post-apocalyptic Games

    3-D printed, one-story, corner ruins that I purchased from Diabolical Terrain at ATC 2023
All last year (2023), I was purchasing various ruined buildings in resin, MDF, and 3-D printed. Now that winter has arrived, it is time to start cranking some of these out for the tabletop. These three one story corner ruins were purchased from Diabolical Terrain at Advance the Colors a few months ago. I figured they would paint up fairly quickly, so I made them "next up" on my painting desk.

    One of the ruins was brick - I really liked the brick framing of the windows and dangling shutters
The first step was to cut L-shaped pieces of styrene to base them onto. The pieces were fairly simply, so I wanted to add various bricks and rubble to the bases to pretty them up a little. I did my usual method for painting ruins. I spray painted them first with Krylon matte black. Second, I went over thoroughly a 50/50 mixture of black paint and water brushed on liberally. For the two gray stone pieces, I did a medium gray wetbrush followed by a light gray drybrush. For the brick one, I used Iron Wind Red Brown as a base with a Howard Hues Middle East Flesh dry brush.

    The interior side of the largest of the the three, painted in stone with lighter colored plaster walls
On the interior sides of the corner ruins, part of the walls looked like they had plaster showing. I decided to use some pale colors -- light blue, green, or yellow -- to make it look like some of the paint was still showing on the interior walls. I did a white dry brush on top of the plaster to make it look faded and worn. I thought about adding some pictures or posters, but figured that realistically, those would have fallen or peeled off long ago, beign exposed in the weather.

    I added to the rubble that was part of the print (like the gutter) with bricks and piles of gravel
There was a decent amount of rubble and other details designed onto these ruins. Whether it was the boarded up wooden window or the drainpipe laying on the ground or the pieces of wood here and there, I picked out those details next. I added the bricks and coarse gravel randomly along the styrene base. Finally, the whole thing got a black wash. On reflection, it should probably have been even darker than it was. Still, I feel it "dirtied it up" a bit and made it look older and more decayed.

    The interior side of the brick corner ruins -- I like where the plaster has peeled away exposing brick
I finished the bases off with Woodland Scenics Mixed Turf ballast. I had originally been thinking of using a fine, blended gray ballast to represent stones, but felt the dirt would look better. Now that I am looking at pictures of them, I think they would have been helped by adding some grass, tufts, or clump foliage to represent vegetation taking root in the recesses and corners. Who knows? Maybe I will go back and add it later, now that I am thinking about it.

    The boarded up window was a cool touch on the larger gray stone ruin
So, what's up next? I have another, larger 3-D printed ruin that I bought at the same convention from Jarl's Workshop. I like how it is looking as I glued it together and primed it. So, look forward to that soon, along with another batch of Heavy Infantry for the Bronze Legion!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 26
    These three pieces will definitely make it onto the tabletop in my next post-apocalyptic scenario

 

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Chopper Down! Specialty Terrain Piece

    A helicopter has gone down in a ruined cityscape - a specialty terrain piece for an upcoming scenario
I was trying to think of something to lure my post-apocalyptic survivor gangs back into another free-for-all after their last cooperative scenario. Someone on the excellent Lead Adventure Forum suggested a downed aircraft in the city. Each gangs wants to scavenge ammunition and tech from the wreck before the others. Since my campaign is based around the Terminator concept with the apocalypse being the war between the sentient Machines and humans, this fit in well. I decided to use as my wreck a helicopter, with the story being humans fighting back were using it against the Machines when it was shot down.

`The chopper wreck lies partially on its side, having crashed into a building and mostly destroyed it
The helicopter in question is one of the $2.99 ones in the bins at Menards home improvement store, where I picked up many of my die cast vehicles. I also decided this would be a perfect time to tinker with the pack of flickering tea candles I'd bought a couple months back. My idea would be that the chopper came down in an urban area, so I'd have a shell of the walls holding it up and it would be resting on the tea candle. I broke out the plastic windows (except for the front) and used wire cutters to trim away the bottom and one of the sides of the helicopter. The candle was still too large (or the wreck too small) for the candle to be essentially inserted into the underside. I decided to try slicing away the top of the candle, and that worked. I found out that really you need only the bottom half of a flickering tea candle for it to remain intact and keep flickering.

    The brick pattern base and the ruins were painted and readied before gluing the chopper into place
I used some Acheson Creations stone and wood post fence pieces to create "U shape", then added more bricks to enclose the wreck on three sides. The base was a piece of brick-patterned styrene plastic from Hobby Lobby. I cut a hole out for the candle to pop in through the bottom (so I could replace it if and when the battery died). I also added in lots of coarse ballast painted black and dry brushed gray like the rest of the stone walls to represent rubble and debris. I even recycled a few slivers of the tea candle's top as pieces of the helicopter torn off onto the ground.

    Two rotor blades were "snapped off" and embedded in the walls, the others bent by the collision
I had fun with the rotors, too. First, I trimmed off two of them and then embedded parts of them in the fence. The other two were bent at an angle to give it even more of a wrecked look. I had painted the walls and bricks first, then glued the spray painted black chopper in place. I used Tacky Glue and hopefully it holds. It seems pretty secure. I added some dark olive to the chopper here and there on the parts that would be furthest from the flames. Finally, when I was satisfied with how it looked, I stuffed in batting (pillow stuffing) and teased it out through the open windows. Then I turned on the candle and was pretty happy with the look of flames still flickering inside the helicopter.

    A final look at the downed helicopter, which you will hopefully see in a few weeks in a scenario!

All in all, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I won't win any contests with it, but it should add to the "cool" factor of a nicely set up tabletop! What's next, terrain-wise? I have several corner wall sections primed that I bought from Diabolical Terrain at Advance the Colors 2023. I also am getting ready another 3-D printed ruin from Jarls Workshop. So, stay tuned...more on the way!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 21

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Two New Corner Ruins for Post-Apocalyptic (or Sci-Fi)

    I bought these two 3-D printed corner ruins at ATC 2023 from my friend Rusty of Jarl's Workshop

Here are a few shots of some corner ruins I recently finished up. My friend Rusty Parker, who has a 3-D printing business called Jarl's Workshop, sold these to me at Advance the Colors 2023 because I liked the first one I painted up so much. They are originally from WOWBuildings, who sells the STL files. The kit is a six story corner ruin, but I decided to add some variety by lopping off a level or two on these two builds. Plus, my first one leaned a bit more than I liked when it got all the way up to six stories tall. Maybe that was my fault for not using some steel bases or something to wait it down on the bottom, but I am glad I made the decision to do 4- and 5-story versions. It should provide more variety on the tabletop.

    I used large bricks (Pegasus Terrain?) to simulate tumbled rubble on the base of the corner ruin

I cut my styrene plastic bases that I epoxied the ruins onto wider to also combat the lean. While I was at it, I added a lot more rubble on the bases, too. I want it to represent large blocks that that fell off the upper floors and now lay in piles on the ground around it. I used large red bricks that I bought at Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH -- which I believe come from Pegasus Terrain. I have long since thrown away the tag that came on the bag, so I can't be sure until my next trip there!

    These are great terrain pieces and really add to the look of a ruined, post-apocalyptic city

I did my usual treatment - spray painting the ruin with Krylon matte black paint and following it up with a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint and water. Then I did a dark gray wet brush and a light gray dry brush over the surface. I then added small red bricks and coarse gray ballast (from Woodland Scenics) to each of the floors to represent rubble piled up. For the ballast and small bricks, I went over them with a dark black wash.

    A good view of the small bricks and coarse gray ballast I added to each level of the ruin

You do have to glue the various levels together ("some assembly required"), but they fit together well and were no problem. Rusty sold them to me at a good price and I will probably (eventually) buy even more of them from him. I want to work on some more of the other ruined terrain that I picked up in the second half of the 2023. So stay tuned for more of those intermixed in with my Xenos Rampant figures!

    The original corner ruin -- all leaning six stories of it...!

 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 14

Thursday, December 7, 2023

How About Some Blue-skinned Aliens for Xenos?

    My next squad for Xenos Rampant Sci-Fi games - from the Stargrave Mercenaries box
I am continuing to paint up squads for my Xenos Rampant project. This was my first batch of plastic miniatures from one of the Stargrave Mercenary boxes. Thanks to my friend Keith Finn giving me the correct glue to assemble the heads and arms to the torsos, I was able to actually put these together myself! You have to remember, I am the guy who likes to brag that the only thing I have successfully super-glued is my fingers to each other...haha! They are posed in front of another Miniature Building Authority building -- 10720 Arcade, from their Middle Eastern Series. This resin building came pre-painted, though I added some color in the mud bricks showing through and also the roof tiles. I also finished it off with a brown vehicle wash that I feel really gave it a warm glow.

    I used "Alien" heads for the torsos, and decided to paint them with blue skin and red eyes
I bought this box of miniatures from Shieldwall Gaming this past September at the Hold The Line convention in Port Clinton, OH. I actually glued them together a few months back, thinking I would use them for games of Galactic Heroes, or maybe Space Station Zero. So, I made sure to include guys holding briefcases or devices in one of their hands. I do like that you can mix up the weapons in these packs, but I still am not a fan of having to assemble my figures. At least these seems solid enough and won't snap at the knees like one of my 3-D printed Terminators did!

    The squad (Andorians from Star Trek?) deploy near the Miniature Building Authority arcade
From what I can see, forces in Xenos Rampant tend to have 4-5 squads. I figured it would be helpful to use my already painted up and ready for the tabletop post-apocalyptic survivor gangs as "cores" to build a force around. One of the most Sci-Fi looking of my gangs is Keith's Nightstalkers. I will likely need to paint up several more of them in metal to make that into two squads. They look a bit like the Stargrave Mercenaries, so I decided to do my best to mimic the color scheme of the Nightstalkers for this squad.

I was originally going to use these for smaller skirmishes, so chose hands holding various equipment
I thought these would paint up relatively quickly, but there were a lot of straps, ammo pouches, armor plates, and other details to put on. I began with a base coat of craft paint Khaki for their uniform. The web gear, holsters, and equipment or ammo pouches were done in a lighter craft paint called Wild Rice. Of course, these being 28mm figs, each color first got their own lighter dry brush shade over top (Howard Hues Khaki and white, respectively). The armor plates were done in metallic brown, which to me looks more golden-bronze. Think San Francisco 49ers football team helmet color. The weapons were done in Metallic Gray with highlights of the metallic brown and silver.

    "What was that...?" Squad turns to check out a noise from inside the arcade, showing their backside
When assembling the figures, I had chosen humanoid alien heads because...well, why not? So, how to make them look suitably alien? I decided to go with a light blue skin. I went with a base coat of sky blue and a wash of a deeper blue. For the eye sockets, I applied more of the blue closer to full strength and with less water. I then did my usual black oval for the eye -- and for an even more alien effect -- went with red eyes. I really like how they turned out! What are those blue-skinned, Star Trek aliens? Andorians? Well, no antennae here, but that was the effect I was shooting for!

    The squad regroups at the rear of the MBA pre-painted arcade (although touched up a bit by me)

Finally, it was time for the washes -- three different shades, in this case. I used my normal dark brown wash on the khaki uniform and lighter web gear and equipment. Next, I did my usual black wash on the armor and dark brown boots and straps. Finally, the weapons got a really dark black vehicle wash. I really like how that makes the weapons look a totally different shade than the rest of the figure. All in all, I was very happy with how this batch of figures turned out...well, other than them taking considerably longer than I thought they would! My usual Sci-Fi basing scheme of Fine Blended Gray Ballast (with a dark wash over it) and craft bricks finish them out. I hope you like them!

    A better shot of the roof of the Middle Eastern Arcade, with several Andorians on lookout

    Here is the post-apocalyptic survivor gang, Night Stalkers, I was trying to match this batch with

Friday, November 24, 2023

'Silent Slumbers' Motel - Resin Building from Miniature Building Authority

    The Santanas take over my Two Story Shanty Hotel from Miniature Building Authority
This is one of the heftiest buildings I have ever built and painted up. From Miniature Building Authority's amazing line of resin buildings, the Two Story Shanty Hotel comes with upper and lower levels, roof, stone staircase, and balcony railings. It's a fairly heavy hunk of resin, but incredibly detailed down to cans and other trash in the hallways outside the motel room doors. I took my time on it and worked on it here and there over a few months until finally finishing it today.

    This hotel is a hefty hunk of resin, but very solidly built and has LOTS of details
I bought it last year at Advance the Colors (2022) and was honestly hoping to have it done before this ATC. Alas, it was not to be. That incredibly busy period from late Spring through October was consumed with getting things ready for that convention. I wanted to paint the hotel up as generically as possible so that it could be used for different periods. The air conditioning units affixed to the back of each room definitely dates it to the 20th century forwards. However, the weathered and aged stone construction means it could be used in a number of settings. Heck, with Star Wars liking for desert planets, this wouldn't really be out of place in a Sci-Fi game, either!

    Once you glue the balcony railings on, it is a three piece building - upper & lower story and roof
The first step in getting this ready for the tabletop was to glue the two balcony railing pieces to the upper and lower levels. I also glued the stone staircase to the side of the lower level, placing it so it would help hold the upper level in place. To help with that, I cut a piece of curved wooden molding and epoxied it to the front of the building. I attached it to the lower level, but half of its height extends to the upper level so that it will also help keep the upper level stable and in place. I considered magnets, too, but felt that the weight of the piece, along with the staircase and sign holding it in place on two of its sides made this unnecessary. 

    The stone staircase glues to the side of the lower level and its top step helps hold the upper in place
Once all the epoxying was done, I spray painted the three levels (lower, upper, roof) with Krylon Matte black, and followed that up with a 50/50 mixture of black acrylic paint and water. This helps the paint sink into all grooves and crevices, as well as giving a thick surface for the paint to adhere to and prevent the wear and tear of scratches or gouges. I decided to begin the painting with the interiors of the motel rooms themselves and work my way outwards. I chose four somewhat pastel colors to wetbrush the four rooms on each level in. I then painted the tiled floors in a contrasting color. Next, I picked out the interior door and window trim in a darker version of the pastel color. So, each room had its own color scheme.

    I began painting the interior rooms first and then worked my way outside
Next up were the blinds and doors, which I did with a base coat and dry brush. Finally, when all was dry, I moved on to the exterior surface of the building. I did its base coat in Howard Hues Camo Brown. This was applied in a thick wet brush, covering most of the surface, with only an occasional crack left in black. This was also applied to the tops of the walls separating each interior room. Once dry, I dry brushed the exterior in Howard Hues Colonial Khaki. I really like the way it came out, giving a warm, earthy feel.

    The front of the motel - this is a quality model and can likely be used in many periods & settings
It was on to the numerous details next, which included the air conditioning units on the back wall of every room, power wires running to each unit, the exterior window trim and doors, metal door handles, metallic plates anchoring the power wires, and even the trash in the hallways. The floor of the hallway was done in to look like concrete with a dark gray base coat and light gray dry brush. Once all the very significant details were completed, I applied a brown wash using watered down Vallejo vehicle wash. I am always happier with how anything dry brushed look when I finish off the exterior with a darker wash. I feel it "softens" the edges of the brush strokes and makes it look smoother overall.

    A three quarters view of the hotel back and good look at all the detail molded into this model
The last thing I did was the roof. It had been done in black base coat like the other sections. I did a red brown wet brush next, followed by a dry brush of the more orange tone Howard Hues Middle Eastern flesh. Once dry, I applied a dark brown wash over this, as well. The motel was almost open for business! I designed a sign on my computer to go over the long piece of molding I had glued to the bottom level. I went back and forth on naming the hotel. I was tempted to name it "Suite Dreams" -- liking the irony if it was used as a hotel of ill repute in a bad section of town. However, I know how wargamers are and someone would invariably point out the rooms are far too small to be suites! Wanting to forestall that banter, I decided instead to go with "Silent Slumbers Motel." This also has a slightly ominous tone for a location in the bad section of town!

    The detail goes all the way down to the trash strewn in the corridors
Miniature Building Authority terrain is always high quality and looks amazing on the tabletop. I encourage folks to shop with Kirk -- he's a great supporter of our hobby and a nice guy all around! Look for a few more of my MBA purchases to follow the motel onto this blog. I have more cool buildings I purchased from MBA, and hope to begin working on them soon!

    "Get a room!" the rest of the Santanas may have shouted to Margarita and Julio...