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I think it's high definition color printing.

They look okay-ish but on the pictures the lines between the cells aren't very visible.

 adamsouza wrote:

 Red Harvest wrote:
Hey Adamsouza from Massachusetts, do you know a Bill Souza?

Souza is a common Portuguese last name. In Massachussetts there are a ton of us. Oddly enough, I can't say that I know a Bill Souza.

why you should never let the Incredible Hulk use the Comfort Station after he has had a dinner at Taco Bell

I had no idea it would be a common surname. It certainly isn't around here. Ah well, thanks for the response.

Vik, Morgoth it was 300 DPI printing.. I was trying to hurry things along. I cannot say that I really like the result. But I had an idea during the drive home.


Just score a grid on a piece of clamshell plastic and place it -- scored side down-- over a piece of black (colored in with a sharpie) paper.


I'm liking this much better. So I'll go ahead and revise the panels.

Also started the final details to the exterior


Vents, and Electrical. Also need HVAC and Water entry/exit stuff, then the exterior will be done... except for the painting and perhaps some (printed) signage.

Thanks for stopping by.

I think you're crazy for scoring a grid in plastic like that.... also that grid is not much better than the print, I think you can improve the print to get a better result, either by adding some DPI, or by scaling it up a bit to make the lines less fuzzy

Given your taste, I am surprised they are not hexagonal little panels in a hexagonal box?

Both look pretty good to me, adding good detail. Your choice I am afraid in the end.

Speaking of Hexagonal, the tiles I can get on Ebay are all square with chipped corners / octagons with 4 small sides.

Hexagonal Solar Panels would look better with your general design though, that's for sure.
You could replace some of the rooftop tiles with Solar Tiles

I remember an image with those hex solar panels, it's from a game or CGI movie... can't put a name or anything around that though.
The hex tiles were on a big panel attached to a thick tube sticking out of the ground...

Maybe the next house/ main clubhouse should have a domed ceiling that's all glass, no exterior windows needed as all the light could come through the roof.

Hex solar tiles in the panel. Never even occurred to me. Derp.

The scored plastic is faster to do than playing around with the printer, at least for me. And I have an, erm, 'economy' printer. Even at high DPI the ink tends to bleed, so really crisp lines don't work out so well. But I still need to print some signs, so maybe I'll revisit the panels, time permitting. I have to get this exterior done ASAp, so I have time to do the interior right, especially the throne.

And hex shaped solar panels... sounds like an array of them would make a nice piece of scatter terrain...

Thanks guys. Lovin' the input

Great idea Theo. I've got this this


that needs a dome. Hmm... but after I finish the comfort station...

Nice detail work, Red.

As a judge, I can't really offer any help that may give you an advantage over others in the competition, but I'll leave this picture here and you can take *cough* thickness *cough* lip / level of the glass *cough* whatever you can from the image.


And nice looking curvy building going there too.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Hex solar tiles in the panel. Never even occurred to me. Derp.

The scored plastic is faster to do than playing around with the printer, at least for me. And I have an, erm, 'economy' printer. Even at high DPI the ink tends to bleed, so really crisp lines don't work out so well. But I still need to print some signs, so maybe I'll revisit the panels, time permitting. I have to get this exterior done ASAp, so I have time to do the interior right, especially the throne.

And hex shaped solar panels... sounds like an array of them would make a nice piece of scatter terrain...

Thanks guys. Lovin' the input

Great idea Theo. I've got this this


that needs a dome. Hmm... but after I finish the comfort station...

For the printer, if your printer sucks (most printers suck), consider a local or online print shop.

If online, you'll really need to combine a lot in one, you can have it printed like superior photo quality, with or without gloss for example, it's going to look a ton better and it's fairly cheap if you can batch it.

Local print shops, almost as good except it's a lot of driving for one solar panel.

Very good at first glance i thought some of these models where just bought ones you had painted, you are very skilled terrain builder.

Yeah, the solar panes aren't working with the style of build you have here...

Roof mounted hex panels seem the way to go...

but I also wonder if an umbrella style might also work - like you say can be used as scatter terrain and complement some of your other pieces?

Thanks Wolfmaster.

@ Doc: link is broken?

@ Morgoth; Yeah, printing at high DPI on good quality photo paper would solve the ink bleed problem-- assuming the source image is of decent quality. Using a service might help too. But these panels are a minor detail for the building, so I was inclined to stick with what I've already done. The important stuff is the inside. Then Ruglud posted that very useful photo, which changed my mind...

 Ruglud wrote:
Yeah, the solar panes aren't working with the style of build you have here...

Roof mounted hex panels seem the way to go...

Spoiler:

but I also wonder if an umbrella style might also work - like you say can be used as scatter terrain and complement some of your other pieces?

Spoiler:

Thanks Ruglud. That first image is perfect inspiration. Those hexes would be perfect. So I'll see what I can come up with tonight. Aggravated an old shoulder injury while splitting wood (Elm, not a very splitty wood either ) , so I am moving very slowly at the moment. Nothing some NSAIDs and rest won't cure. But I did a bit more building beforehand.

However, I am only missing one exterior detail at the moment, the water intake and drain valves. My thinking is use something like what you see on fire engines, with a few valves and gauges-- plus I may find some cheap fire trucks at the local dollar store, saving me a lot of searching/scratch-building.

Here are the WIPs for the other details, a vent, and access panel, and the service entry for the electrical, and the HVAC unit.


Naturally it needs a proper paint job. The bright orange cord is to connect to the generator I built for LoER 8. I suppose I need to build something for a water source too. I was thinking a variant on this, the HIPPO.


Looks simple enough and fits the theme nicely.

Thanks for stopping by. Forgive the multiple edits. One handed typing is hard :(

Wow. Epic aircon, you are just too good at this stuff

Looking awesome.

Aircon is amazing.

I'm loving the air conditioning system. It's the detail like that that most people forget to add that make it much more realistic.

Erm, it was supposed to be a heat pump But yeah, air conditioner, that's what I was really going for Thanks guys. It is kind of fun to build these little bits.

Last detail for the exterior is the water intake and drain. A PITA to do, and I had to resort to a very old method of making pipes


Yup. You wrap the paper around the toothpick to get the desired diameter. The advantage though is the thing is solid, so when you cut it, it doesn't flex and mess up the cut.

And the final results minus the valve handles-- still debating those-- before priming etc...


The valve handles will go where you see pins. I copied the designs from fire engine fixtures, or tried to. I need to make/paint gauges for the intake-- that's the single fixture-- too. Oh, and look for some useful signs. Considering that drain is a septic line, I've got all sorts of ideas for that . I need the exterior done this week, so I can focus on the all important interior, especially the throne rooms.

Thanks for stopping by.

Brilliant work, bloomin' fiddly too.

Yeah wow, very modern and realistic looking. If I were doing this project I'd be taking all kind of shortcuts and claiming "because future" So, way to kick it contemporary school and do it damn well

Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between a heat pump and AC unit in real life.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Brilliant work, bloomin' fiddly too.

One Word: Tweezers.

As many as you can get.

 GrimDork wrote:
Yeah wow, very modern and realistic looking. If I were doing this project I'd be taking all kind of shortcuts and claiming "because future" So, way to kick it contemporary school and do it damn well

I've just been looking at stuff around me for inspiration on this. The shortcuts may come as the deadline looms ever closer though. From experience, it'll be a rushed paint job.

 Valhalla130 wrote:
Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between a heat pump and AC unit in real life.

Nor can I But as long as the piece looks like something that belongs, I'm good with it.

Thanks guys. I hope to have all this stuff finished and at least primed tonight. So maybe more pix tomorrow-ish?

Edited because I need to remember that the forum automatically inserts line spaces between quotes and responses.

Raising the bar does not quite say it this time: You are really outdoing yourself now, and that is something!

(And hex solar panels is the way to go, IMHO!)

Even against my own interest (I'm sort of in the Comp too, you know, ), please, do not rush that paintjob, there's time enough yet.

And keep it coming.

Good work, Red. Push those boundaries, that's what the competition is about.

Well Doc, love pushing boundaries... As long as they don't push back

 Littletower wrote:
Raising the bar does not quite say it this time: You are really outdoing yourself now, and that is something!

(And hex solar panels is the way to go, IMHO!)

Even against my own interest (I'm sort of in the Comp too, you know, ), please, do not rush that paintjob, there's time enough yet.

And keep it coming.

And I expect you to bring your 'A' game to the comp, good sir

Yeah hexagons. Definitely.

Anwyay, when I mentioned tweezers, here is part of the collection, along with a few other clampy things.


No progress on the outside tonight. I did play around with the interior a bit. I'm thinking half-tiled walls.


I'm not sold on the beige though.

Thanks for stopping by.

Aw c'mon. Every crappy bathroom has to have beige in it. And I don't mean crappy in reference to your work, which is excellent. So far, your attempt at realism has been superb. Don't mess up the realism by not putting in some beige.

This is infinity should it not be i-white, or "apple" white?

You know this is actually starting to worry me, I mean IF (it could happen, even without rivets!) this wins the competition, how the heck am I going to make anything worthy of sending to you as a prize????

No worries, there will be a few rivets. Those storage tanks in the first post of this thread. Lots of rivets in those. Sewing pins. All of them. When I rivet, gets real.

In the Cheerful Brightness of the near future, Apple is long gone. So too is Microsoft. Yay. Anyway the Infinity color is that light blue in the 'N'. Or Orange. Not sure which.

 Valhalla130 wrote:
Aw c'mon. Every crappy bathroom has to have beige in it. And I don't mean crappy in reference to your work, which is excellent. So far, your attempt at realism has been superb. Don't mess up the realism by not putting in some beige.

Okay. I left in the beige, but I used one with more yellow, less red. See pix below. Had a bit of insomnia, so made a tiny bit more progress.

Here we go, and a prototype of the sinks


First you take some plastic blisters from medications. Claritin in this case. And glue them to your counter top. I used wood glue, since it will hold this plastic to paper fairly well. Then paint the outside of the pill blister, not the inside. See, still beige, just not pinkish.


And you have nice porcelain sinks, the kind that mount under the counter. In a good scale too, as you can see. And we've already seen how the faucets will look, more or less. So, once the sinks are done, I guess onto hand dryers, then urinals and the Thrones themselves. Still baffled about how I might do the latter two. Well, I have a month. And I can always add a few other details while brainstorming. Towel hooks, cabinets, vents,lots of vents...

And you could always use those pill blisters as glass bowls too, were you to need some.
Thanks for stopping by.

Now that is "outside the box" thinking. brilliant.

I like that you painted the outside of these pill- thingies... this gives everything that nice pearly glaze without using any glaze at all!!! I think with hand driers there is no need for towel hooks...BUT... I think hooks on the inside of the cabins for your coats and such stuff is always welcome....(I like to hang my backpacks there...as the ground is really no option with some places....)

also...that selection of tweezers is quite an eyeful! if I ever get my hands on some of these medical tweezers I surely will hold on tight to them... these are very useful! I own currently only two tweezers you have to press to open... so they are closed most of the time... very useful for pressing stuff together and holding stuff for a longer time if it needs to be...did you ever had any hurting problems of materials with these black and red clamps you have shown there? I was always a bit hesitant to get me some of these...they are very strong tho...
and the crocodile clamps... why on earth did I never came up with that conversion idea of yours???

I NEED DRUGS! That's why I've never built a sink before, not enough drugs . Great work on the terrain, I am humbled by you skill, now off I go to sulk for a while.....stomp stomp stomp.

great work by th way .

Thanks guys.

Vik, for the clamps, use something between the pieces being glued and the clamp jaws to prevent damage to the pieces, generally a section of plasticard will do. Or popsicle sticks. I'll post a photo later showing what I mean. We call the little ones 'alligator clamps' BTW. I put them on bamboo skewers. They are great for holding pieces for painting and airbrushing too.

Theo, Drugs are bad, m'kay Drug packaging, OTOH...

Now I really need to put pedal to metal. less than 30 days to go...