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Giant city is tiny. That is all.

I want a toy dinosaur on it, a 28mm kaiju!

Gitsplitta wrote:That's looking really spectacular!

Thanks Gits'. Good to hear.

Januine wrote:Khorne Building?!!!
Lovely work Dr.H

Ha That piece is actually a section cut from the exhaust shroud of a Predator tank (you may recognise the cross-section), so there is a little 40K in this.
It's actually ended up more Blade Runner inspired.
Thanks.

shasolenzabi wrote:So small, yet so HUGE!

That's what she said... ?

cormadepanda wrote:Giant city is tiny. That is all.

There will be more.

inmygravenimage wrote:I want a toy dinosaur on it, a 28mm kaiju!

lol Tempting, but will have to see how it goes and if that will fit (physically and thematically).

The short, fat one is done (although there are a couple of touches to add around it once the glue is set).
It even has a roof-top garden and statues.


On to the next.

That new one needs tracks and we could call it Wall-E

Are you going to have a shoreline of some sort? I cannot tell from the photos. Given the scale of the city, some sort of water effect border would look pretty cool.

Theophony wrote:That new one needs tracks and we could call it Wall-E

Well that building has certainly been picked on and called a lot on names (not just on here), and I see that as a good thing; it means it has a personality.

Red Harvest wrote:Are you going to have a shoreline of some sort? I cannot tell from the photos. Given the scale of the city, some sort of water effect border would look pretty cool.

Here you are Red', there will be water. I've given the river and what will become the port, a lick of paint to make it stand out. It could potentially extend a little further to the right, but this is the initial plan (there will be two bridges over the river as well).

And building number 5.



I may actually need to do some preparatory work for the first of the bridges, before I can add the next building (you will notice quite a large "step" in the landscape where the road approaches the river).

Great (or should that be tiny) progress... really like the latest building and what looks like a helipad on top. The first picture, taken from 'distance' is really effective for this micro scale model

Thanks Ruglud.
That's two helipads.

Yeah, that's the sort of distance I'm aiming for this to work for.
The extreme close-ups are not really showing any favours for my painting (or lack thereof) skill.

Micro-city is getting better each time I see it.

Thanks Shas'.

Well, I've not stabbed myself with the skyscraper's spire yet. But I have snapped it off again, and I thought I'd lost it (searched over the floor, surrounding area and moved everything on my desk) until I picked up the city and it fell out from between the buildings. So that's now been glued on for the third time.

I have used some putty to sort out the city's side of the river, giving the new building enough space to fit on and producing a sight-seeing area about the bridge.

And I build a bridge.
I did try adding the vertical suspension wires, but that wasn't happening so they (like many of the smaller details on this model) are implied.

And I've added building number 6.
This really shows how useful some items can be for models. Other than adding the spire on top and the little doorway, this is as it came. A fantastic shape whatever scale you are working on.



The bridge is only basecoated as yet; I've not decided on what colour it should be.

You may also notice (although you probably won't have noticed, but I'm going to draw you attention to it now) that in planning the area in front of this latest building there is a change in plan. With the addition of the roads and properly spacing the existing buildings out, there is not enough room for the two buildings I had planned to add there.
Therefore it will be one building and a car park, and the other building will be positioned elsewhere.

On to the next...

Needs more sports stadium

Dr H this is so cool!! I see a future in snow globes for you I might have missed it but what gave you the inspiration for this? It's a really unique project and I've not seen really anything like this before

That is a city for ants. The ants thank you.

Brilliant stuff is that a superglue lid?

Theophony wrote:Needs more sports stadium

It's not a bad idea. But I don't think I'll have the room to fit one on, I'll have to look at the scale and see.

bebopdrums2424 wrote:Dr H this is so cool!! I see a future in snow globes for you I might have missed it but what gave you the inspiration for this? It's a really unique project and I've not seen really anything like this before

Thanks.
The inspiration just hit me. I was having a rummage in my many piles of junk and found the old portable CD player and decided to use it as a display base.
As I settled down to draw up a list of possible things to put on said base, a city just popped in there (like the stay puft man) and it had to be done; no other potential ideas got a look in.

cormadepanda wrote:That is a city for ants. The ants thank you.

Thank you ants. Although even an ant would be a giant monster on this scale (the cars are about 1 to 1.5mm).

Llamahead wrote:Brilliant stuff is that a superglue lid?

Thanks Llamahead. Yes it is. Useful in life, and now useful in death.

The next two buildings are done, and the bridge is painted.

There was no way I could replicate the effect on the black building, and so that has been used as it came (except for the additional revolving diner on top).
To make up for the lack of effort on that one, the other building has lots of nice blending on it.

It is looking stunning Dr, fantastic level of detail, love all the building designs, and the mix is really working. It looks like a city skyline perfectly.

The only one I am having a little trouble with is the Walle building (orange box) think it is the top, not sure, just not feeling that one. But that is architects for you. 300 years ago St Paul's Cathedral, today an Aubergine, times and tastes change. You have managed brilliantly to reflect that in this build.

Top notch work on that suspension bridge. Watching it grow reminds me of the way city images grow in the Freeciv game.

Thanks Cam'. Yeah, I wanted a mixture of styles to show the progression and competition between architects.
This initial wave of buildings had quite a few cylindrical ones and I felt the need to break them up with squarer ones, and there needs to be a variety of heights; short, square, fat and brown is the perfect antithesis for the taller, sleeker buildings.

That building needed something on top though to make it more interesting, and while looking through bits of plastic I found that part of the Predator exhaust I had cut off, which fitted on top. Placing it diagonally, in addition to it's angled shape, helps to throw off the very squareness of the main part of the building. The "oddness" that this brings to the shape is probably what is putting you off.

It has character though (like it or not), and that's something I'm trying to get with each building. Some of them I do see as specific buildings, with specific uses, but I'm stopping short of identifying them as other people may have differing views and I want to keep that open to interpretation.

It's also no accident that it is placed at the back of the model.

Thanks Red'.

Another two buildings done.
And a photo to show the top-down street view.


Summer has come to us for this week, and the heat is sapping my motivation to do anything.

It continues to go nicely. That is a city for giant monsters of average size then. Didn't realize it was so small.

 cormadepanda wrote:
It continues to go nicely. That is a city for giant monsters of average size then. Didn't realize it was so small.

Thanks Comrade. Yeah, it's a very small scale. You can see the size of the CD in the last photo; pick up a CD, hold it in your hand, and envision all this in that space. You could fit 2 or 3 of the largest buildings here onto a standard 25mm miniature's base.

Progress; the next "main" building and an additional residential building (that was only added as it fitted in the space left by the roads).
I also changed the road layout a little, and this will continue to evolve on this side of the city as there will be many small buildings here.
No room for a stadium I'm afraid, it would need a quarter of the CDs area for a modest-sized one.
And I added couple of trees in-front of the previous building.


It continues to look hideous up-close.

On to the next, which I currently don't have a plan for...

This weather would be unbearable if it weren't for air-conditioning... Oh wait, I don't have air-conditioning... I'm melting...

Isn't the weather horrible! Its very hard to remain productive in this heat so well done for continuing to build, I'm just going to sit still and eat ice cream. I bet they have air-con in your tiny city.

It looks tremendous. And yes, we're melting here too...

Thanks Weety. I had to really force myself to get one little building done in two days though... not terribly efficient. I'm sure they have the best air-con' available.

Thanks Graven.

At least it's cooler today.

And so, more progress:
A splash of colour for this side of the city.


One more "large" building ready to go,
and the building that didn't have space needs a home,
I have a pair of large squat buildings to fit in for the harbour (may wait until I have a design for the harbour),
I've started on some houses/terrace, but will have to see how they turn out and find a way (and design) to fit them on,
I have plans for a diner/rest-stop/service station on the bypass at the back (the lone road in the green expanse),
I've had an idea for some fencing that needs some testing,
And I've realised that some billboards are required...

Not to mention the factories over the river (that will mainly be getting the fencing if that works), and the forest on the hills, and the harbour (and all that entails), and the blimp...

And some story-telling if I can think of something that'll show up at this scale...

Much to do.

I find myself pondering: should I be amused about Britons complaining about the heat? For the next 5 days, we in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area are looking at: Fri. 35°C, Sat. 36°C, Sun. 35.5°C, Mon. 37°C and Tues. 35.5°C. Then there is the humidity... (Yes, we all have AC.)

Honest question, what does constitute hot to you all? Anything 30°C or below around here is considered pleasant for this time of year.

Fencing? At that scale Doc, even human hair would be too thick. I'm curious to see your solution. Also, any plans for glass effects? Given the "cover it in glass" attitude that today's architects have...

Your comment about not looking so good up close... My eyes tell me it is the lack of crisp 90° angles on the windows and elsewhere. I'm wondering if you could clean those up somehow... what visual impact/improvement it might have?

 Red Harvest wrote:
I find myself pondering: should I be amused about Britons complaining about the heat? For the next 5 days, we in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area are looking at: Fri. 35°C, Sat. 36°C, Sun. 35.5°C, Mon. 37°C and Tues. 35.5°C. Then there is the humidity... (Yes, we all have AC.)

Honest question, what does constitute hot to you all? Anything 30°C or below around here is considered pleasant for this time of year.

We are brought up to complain about the weather; too hot, too cold, raining, snowing, cloudy, raining, anything... even raining.

For me, comfortable is mid-20's°C.
It peaked here at 32°C, with 90% humidity. Although today was much better at about 27°C. It even rained a bit (Blooming rain!)

The problem we have is that the weather is very random, always changing, and never sticks with one extreme long enough to be worth spending on things to solve it.
It'll get unbearably hot; but only for a few days at a time, maybe twice a year. Not worth buying air-con' if it's going to be off for the other 358 days of the year.
When it snows, it causes all kinds of traffic issues etc; But again, not necessarily every year, or extreme enough, and not for more than a few weeks at worst. Not worth buying tire chains, or even enough salt for the spreaders... etc.

So we complain about it.

At least my hay-fever took a break for the worst days.

Fencing? At that scale Doc, even human hair would be too thick. I'm curious to see your solution.

Here's the test (I say "test" but it's glued on and I don't plan on removing it):

Can you see it? Around the little square building? Guess what that is?

Right, it's part of a broken jewellery saw blade. 4/0 size which makes it 0.23mm thick by 0.43mm high.

It is quite difficult to glue down, especially short sections. I had to use my needle-point tweezers, and even then it was a matter of drop-and-poke into position.
The trouble with longer sections is that it doesn't seem to bend well (to match terrain), just snaps. So that hampers plans a little.

Also, any plans for glass effects? Given the "cover it in glass" attitude that today's architects have...

What sort of glass effects do you mean?
You will notice that the only building so far to get reflections is the central skyscraper. I'm not sure I want to add reflections to the other "glassed" buildings, and I'm waiting to see how it looks once I have the next building in; True, this will make it more difficult to add reflections, but they are only going to be blurry shadows rather than the (slightly) crisper ones on the skyscraper; they will also be more distorted due to the shapes (so no need to try and get the shape right).

The buildings in question are those with the green-y/grey areas. Also the last building I added (the blue area).
These already have shading on, and some have that gem highlight line thing.

For some of them, I'm waiting until I know where the clouds will be on the sky (lid) before I can position them. I can paint the clouds on the skyscraper, but determining where they will be and where they will reflect on the other buildings is more difficult than waiting until I've added them to the sky with reference to the skyscraper. If that makes sense?

The last effect I can think of is the diagonal, transparent, white line that's used on many reflective surfaces.
I can't add that until any reflections are added as it tends to go over everything.

There are quite a few final touches that will need to be looked at during the penultimate "little touches" stage.

I didn't want to get too carried away with adding reflections and shiny effects to each building and then stepping back once they are all on and it just being a "glittery" mess.
So I'm adding all the "main" buildings, getting a feeling for how it looks, and then I can tweak later. It's easier to add something than take it away later.

That almost makes it sound like it's all planned out. Nope, this is how things go when I make it up as I go along.

Your comment about not looking so good up close... My eyes tell me it is the lack of crisp 90° angles on the windows and elsewhere. I'm wondering if you could clean those up somehow... what visual impact/improvement it might have?

It's tricky to get it across in photos, but in the hand all the blurry, wonky, misshapen blobs don't show up.
This is not to say that in my "tidy up" phase right at the end, I may fix some of the worst offenders that are obvious to my (critical) eye. I know they are there.

But the reason these do look like blobs is that they are blobs, and some of them are as small as I can get. Neatness always comes at the end.
If I tried to get these all perfect, all the way through, I'd go mad and probably wouldn't have finished the second building yet.

I always leave tidying until the end with all my models, as some will naturally become hidden as the model grows, and as plans change you may find you are painting over something that you have spent ages perfecting.

I'm sure you know that all my models look a right mess (at least to me) until that last step of tidying up.
We will all have to put up with it until then (and yes, they do bug me. But motivation is more important than perfection at this stage).

The next building is in progress, but has gone through a couple of scheme changes today, so is not ready.
I will cover that (and might write about this post's content) for the Painter's thread, as Guilden' asked about scheme planning a while ago and I didn't give a great answer then.

It is looking incredible sir. A crazy undertaking for sure. Fence looks good. Though would prefer a white picket! Going to think about it myself now, let you know if I think of anything.

Oh had a silly idea. You need to add a giant 1:1scale digital watch!

That's really come along beautifully!

Camkierhi wrote:It is looking incredible sir. A crazy undertaking for sure. Fence looks good. Though would prefer a white picket! Going to think about it myself now, let you know if I think of anything.

Thanks. Maybe I'll paint a white line around a house in the hills and call it a picket fence.

For me, the idea came from the saw blade. Rather than "what can I use for a fence?", it was "I have many broken saw blades, that might make a nice fence/wall".

Oh had a silly idea. You need to add a giant 1:1scale digital watch!

I'm all for silly ideas every now and then, but I don't get where this is going.

Gitsplitta wrote:That's really come along beautifully!

Thanks Gits'.

It's one thing giving measurements to get the idea of scale across, but I picture says a thousand words...

Yeah, that fenced in building is smaller than a skull and shorter than the height of a base and the windows are smaller than the paint-chips on that ork's armour...

Anyway, the last of the "main" buildings is on:

Another piece of 40K modelling in here in the shape of part of a flight stand.

I see those adverts are rotating around the building, but there's not really a good way to show that on a static model.
I may even add a hanging billboard to one of the other buildings overlooking the park as well. I'll make a load of them and see how it looks; I've got to add some billboards about the place anyway.

Next job is, as I mentioned last time, to have a critical look over these and see what needs adding while I can still pick up the whole city without breaking anything around the edges.

I did add a few reflections/shadows to some of the windows, but as they are quite subtle and not very exciting I have other things to show and you may see the reflections in the background.

Speaking of subtle, I've also done some putty work around the coastline. But you'll see all that when I come to doing the water and harbour, etc..,

Here you will see the latest building. This was the one that was "moved" due to it not fitting where it was originally intended.
It's mainly dark to contrast with it's neighbours (and the beach it'll be next to), and it's got a rotating billboard on top...

...That is, in-universe "rotating", Not on the model. It's far too fragile for that. I know someone out there was thinking it, I know you too well.

I've also started adding the smaller residential buildings that will take up the majority of the space on the right of the city. The first that you can see added, it's just primed at the mo.

And I've started detailing the factories over the river (also primed).


And, I have a question:
Does the below look like a giant electronic billboard, with a certain (obvious?) movie reference?
Or does it look too much like an impossibly large painting?


For those of you not getting the movie reference:

Looks amazing. Bill board lady looks good. Not sure how but you could add a glow around it to indicate it is a hologram.

The watch was a movie reference also. The locker people! MIB.