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After collecting bits of rubbish for the last 3 months I felt inspired to try my hand at making a larger, more detailed piece of terrain. I happened to hold onto a lid from a bucket of cement patch that screamed "Landing Pad" to me and worked from there. I decided to try and build a light-duty space port/recon post and I've been so pleased with the results that I couldn't wait to share.

Lots and lots of work still to be done, but I figure I'm maybe 2/3 there. I'm working on the windows now (have a couple of options on what to do). After that I'm going to do some extensive work to the landing pad portion and I think it will be ready for paint.

Might try to put exterior lighting fixtures on the walls but that can wait until a basecoat is on. Still debating whether to use rhino spot lights or christmas bulbs anyway.

I'm really pleased with how the communication arrays are turning out. I don't know if I want to stick with the three I have up there or knock something else together. The large black "dish" on the side was up there too initially, but I think it's a little out of proportion.

Anyway, here's where I'm at. C&C more than welcome!

So far so good, but shouldn't this be in the WIP blog section? Can't wait to see this painted, i've been wanting to make one for a long time, but there haven't been enough ideas to steal i mean borrow and i'm nowhere near creative enough to make my own from scratch.

Great start to it. What are you going to use for texturing?

Looks cool, I'd consider details like windows or if its for a more battle field role, turrets.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:Great start to it. What are you going to use for texturing?

Not 100% sure yet. I know I'm going to skim the stair sides with spackle to give it more of a rough hewn stone look. I keep wavering on cement vs metal w/ rivets vs just painting the building something somewhat colorful. The landing pad will get a cereal box veneer on the top and a gutter-screen "Mesh" encircling the bottom and be basically metallic. The walls I'm just not sure on. I've been toying with the idea of making it covered in ivy on the tall walls, but that's probably beyond my modelling skill at this time. The window will break up the flat surfaces quite a bit so I think leaving the walls smooth might be an option, but I really don't know at this point. I'm hoping by the time I finish the landing pad I'll have inspiration.

Wasn't really planning on more than maybe 1 or 2 updates to this so figured I'd stick it in this area rather than the P&M Blogs. My goal is to get it done by the first week of April for my next scheduled game, but we'll see. I was just happy to see it coming together so well so I felt the need to share Plus this way I can get some feedback on changes before I'm committed.

Glue is drying on the first set of windows now. I'm initially going to try long flat rectangles of wood that are framed in similarly to the doors. The windows will get a gloss black and high gloss finish to hopefully emulate a nice dark tinted window. I've got two other prototypes of "Paned" windows and also some disposable sunglass material from the optometrist that I think would work well also. Window options galore! I even toyed with the idea of round portholes w/ screen, but think I like those more as a waste pipe than a window.

Here's the progress made - I'd call it about 90% done now. Game tomorrow though and it's good enough for use now so I thought I'd post where it's at.

I'm mixed on how it turned out. It's the first building I've done (really the first man-made, non-natural terrain) and there's a lot of techniques I'm finding myself lacking in. Some stuff I'm really pleased with - the cement/stucco texture of the walls for example. Other stuff, like the doors are decidedly "bleh".

I may add a bit of weathering to the building to match the door trim (and I can see thanks to the magic of photography I need to go touch up some orange splashes) to make the whole building more...lived in. I'm also not sure about that banner on the 2nd floor - I may swap it out for something else or a number/letter sign. Think I'm going to add a layer on the roof and 2nd level similar to what the bridge is made out of. I'm just holding off for now because I've ordered some magnets and that's how I want to attach the communications equipment. Besides, like I said, I'm pretty much out of time for tomorrow's game.

Comments, criticisms, and advice more than welcome.

Very nice! I like the propaganda posters!

nice, how did you make the propaganda posters?
this makes me want to go make my own terrain.

The propaganda posters are dakka's own. I ran a search and found them in the gallery. Once I saw a poster I liked, I just right-clicked to print picture and then adjusted the size in the preferences. Nothing special or difficult about it, although I did use a heavier grade paper to avoid the glue-wrinkles.

Looks great, the propaganda adds a great touch of realism to it!