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I’ve been messing around with designs for modular buildings for a few months with the plan to try and build the components with plasticard and then make molds for casting. I managed to get access to a 3D printer so it looks like things might speed up. I wanted to share my designs to get some feedback and to share as the project progresses. It’s still my intention to make molds and caste the parts in dental plaster, a first for me on both accounts.

The intention in my design was to create the maximum variability with the fewest number of molded parts possible. Each of the buildings uses the same repeating framework with the variation resulting from changing the façade. Overall I plan on building 5 core building types, with 16 possible façades, derived using 46 pieces.

Examples of how they will go together are shown below (the two variations on the warehouse show how the part swaps can really change the appearance).



Office1



Office2



Apartment1



Apartment2



Warehouse1



Warehouse2

I'm a big fan of Office 1 and warehouse 2. I could see them being the most flexible in that you could block out certain windows with debris/shutters to create different lines of site.

Are you considering selling these? if so.... how much? :-)

I'm glad you like them. I plan on making and molding battle damaged pieces once I have things going which would definitely fit in with having debris lying around, not to mention providing some debris through the process of making them.

Depending on how it goes I have thought about selling them, probably at local gaming conventions and possibly online, but I have no clue on price since this is all relatively new to me and I'm not even sure what my material cost will wind up being. Since they're modular I've kicked around the idea of making a website with a flash program where people could make a building using parts and then order it, but that's really far down the line.

First question is how the printing goes on Monday. I still have concerns regarding the resolution and finish of the surface. Worst case scenario is that I use the printer to make the base and I make a lot of the detail work by hand.

I'm going to be printing on Monday and I wanted to share the other modular terrain I've been designing; Space Hulk. All told I have 6 different walls, 3 types of doors, and 5 types of floors and I can make every map provided with the game.

Again, I would love some comments since I still have time to make changes to the designs before I print.

Here's the results of the printing, at least for one of the buildings. It turns out that the printer I was using takes about 5 hours to print, at least to print my stuff, so I'm waiting on the rest to be finished. I'm pleased with the results, but the surface finish does leave a bit to be desired. It's do to the printing method where the model is built up using a 0.01" thick string of plastic and that results in a surface that resembles a layer of really thin, melted spaghetti. To provide a better finish I'm using a couple of rounds of coating with GW's liquid green stuff and sanding. The piece I'm currently working on is shown and while it's not quite done (there's still a number of unfilled surfaces along the top) the close up shows the almost finished product and I think it looks pretty good.

Thats looking really good! Wish I still had access to a 3d printer- Its an awesome little toy to play with!
Seems that the GS treatment is beneficial to your design- Makes it look like real stonework!

Im interested in seeing these guys with paint on em!

Thanks for the feedback. I really lucked out getting 3D printer access. A lab at my University recently got one of the more fancy/expensive ones and I just happen to be friends with the guy who's the primary user, so as long as I provided my own material I could get access.

I'm hoping to get the finishing done on this style building over the next week. Then the molds will be made over Christmas break so I'm probably a few weeks away from paint, but hopefully it will move along quickly.

I look forward to seeing your Space Hulk tiles

Me to. I really hope they turn out. I'm a little concerned that some of the details will be lost due to the resolution limits of the printer, but we'll see. At worst I'll get the basic structure and I'll have some modelling work to do.

The bricks look reasonable enough

Also, an excellent Pearl Jam avatar

The brick definitely turned out, I just haven't seen how rounded surfaces come out, and the details on the floors, like the diamond pattern, are really small.

Nice catch on the Pearl Jam avatar. Fits how I feel working in a dry lab.

Yeah, rounded surfaces are certainly the test of 3D printer quality. I certainly want to see what it can do

Hehe, labs are much more fun when there are fluids around.

Good stuff. The Space Hulk tiles look a bit narrow, will larger models be able to fit easily? I would be inclined to add some spacing between the floor squares and the wall, even if it is not accurate the boardgame.

 Bruticus wrote:
Good stuff. The Space Hulk tiles look a bit narrow, will larger models be able to fit easily? I would be inclined to add some spacing between the floor squares and the wall, even if it is not accurate the boardgame.

If they are 40mm floor tiles it should be OK, depending on how tall the walls are. It might be worth casting the walls in two halves so you can have short walls to make it easier to reach in and move models (or short walls on one side of the corridor and full size on the other).

 Bruticus wrote:
Good stuff. The Space Hulk tiles look a bit narrow, will larger models be able to fit easily? I would be inclined to add some spacing between the floor squares and the wall, even if it is not accurate the boardgame.

If anything I might have gone overboard on the width of the halls. The floor tiles are ~45mm and the distance from wall to wall is ~64mm. I wanted to provide enough room for the more dynamically posed figures like the bear hug lightning claw terminator from the recent space hulk.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
If they are 40mm floor tiles it should be OK, depending on how tall the walls are. It might be worth casting the walls in two halves so you can have short walls to make it easier to reach in and move models (or short walls on one side of the corridor and full size on the other).

I hadn't really thought about how easy it would be to pick up the figures in the halls, but you might have a point about making shorter walls. I'll have to see once it's made. The height of the walls are ~57mm (or ~54mm above the floor tile). I wanted to make them tall enough to leave open the option of making a roof system to allow the hulk terrain to double as an Anphelion type base where models could be "hidden" by the roof as part of the setup.

Here's a cross section of a hallway with measurements to give a visual to what I'm describing.

As for the hulk bits if you intend to make molds of em keep it "blank" for the basic tiles then add gubbins to the cast copy to make the next master.

 Galorn wrote:
As for the hulk bits if you intend to make molds of em keep it "blank" for the basic tiles then add gubbins to the cast copy to make the next master.

I actually thought of that, not just for the potential printing resolution issue, but also as a base to create future designs. I printed "blanks" of the the space hulk floor, wall, and door as well as the door frame and pediment from the buildings.

So, after some delays I finally have the rest of the prints. I still have to go over everything with the liquid green stuff to fill in the roughness, but here's a few pictures to show how they turned out.

First up a few of the building molds, specifically a couple of columns and pediments for the entrances, and the facades for the office buildings




Here's some of the hulk images, a couple of walls, doors, and floor tiles.




Here's a close up of the floor tiles. The diamond print turned out decently. Unfortunately my concerns regarding the resolution were well founded as the tile on the right is supposed to be a grid, but I can model it easy enough.

dude thats really cool! That Space Corridor set is awesome! I'd like to get my hands on some of those

 Rogue Wolves wrote:
dude thats really cool! That Space Corridor set is awesome! I'd like to get my hands on some of those

I'm glad you like it. As things progress if you're still interested PM me. While I'm doing this for my own interests, if everything worked out I was planning on getting a table at the local conventions around Philly to see whether there's any interest in buying them so I would definitely be willing to sell them.

Unfortunately my job is getting in the way for the next week, but I'm hoping to make my first casts next week. I'm taking it a little slow because I have limited experience making molds and I want to evaluate the final casts for a few of the pieces before making a ton of molds that have to be scrapped.

Cool stuff.

I'm glad I found this thread when it was still on the first page. That is some excellent casting and the designs are solid. You've definitely got my attention and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. Subbed!

Very nice work, particularly the "apartment" buildings, which are exactly what I think 40k civilians should live in.

Any chance of doing a double eagle pediment?

Thanks for the supportive comments.

If things turn out I definitely have plans to add more genre appropriate embelishments. However, since this is primarily to make building for my own scenery purposes I wanted to make them able to fit in with a range of chronologies and game systems, since I play modern, near future, and zombie apocalypse games, in addition to 40K. The design of the buildings are actually inspired from real buildings that I've seen thousands of times during my commutes in NYC and Philadelphia.







There's definitely room to branch out. For a 40K imperial theme I had planned to make aquila pediments, as well as embellishments in the joints that make the facade. GW has covered the ornate gothic look very well, but I've been thinking of applying the imperial theme to other time periods. For example I was thinking of doing a few facades inspired by 17th-18th century palaces, where the usual festoons and embellishments are replaced by the aquila. I also thought about art deco 40K. For example gargoyles like the Chrysler Building eagle, only with two heads.





Anyway, here's a progress shot. Most of the pieces have received their first green wash and I think things are starting to fit together quite well. I was concerned about gaps, and some things will require minor alterations, but everything is fitting pretty well together.

the latest progress shot..... WOW! the lines are so sharp. Fantastic work, I'll be keeping an eye on this for sure!

A lot of great detail in that, throw some sandbags and propaganda posters and you could have WWII or 40k easily

Another WIP shot, this time with one of the office facades. Also I included one of my hormagaunts to give an idea of scale.

Very nice, and I like the way you are thinking about future progression... the art deco/art neuvo embelishments in particular.