The Shoppes at Armageddon

I finished the first module for my zombie apocalypse strip mall...the Shoppes at Armageddon. Here we see a few Zeds taking advantage of the Monday morning sales...

I'm Baaaaaack!

Greetings! I have been away for a good while I know, so it's past time to get back to work on things. Personal issues combined with surgery and the loss of my previous PC are responsible for the silence of the past several months... but I'm glad to report I'm on the mend and the new PC is working well.

So, I haven't exactly been idle, game-wise. I discovered "Drop Zone Commander," "Project Z," "Infinity," and most recently, "The Walking Dead All Out War." Now, I've always been a huge fan of apocalypse literature and zombies in particular, and two skirmish-level games about zombies was just too much to resist!!!

Here's a shot of my post-surgery recovery project, "The End of the World Strip Mall." I'll be updating progress more frequently now that I'm back, but for now here's a shot of the first of three 2' x 2' sections:

The End of the World Strip Mall Board #1 

From R to L, we have "Manni's Pizza", "Expeditions" (outdoor clothing store), and on the extreme left Ace Hardware. The second board will include either a Borders Books or a Barnes and Noble, a Total Wine store, and a Rexall Drugs.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm also using lighting on this board...including animated window signs.

Stay tuned for more progress pics.

Cheers!

Scatter Terrain

My first batch of scatter terrain. I'm still waiting for my latest group of buildings to arrive, so I've been able to finish this batch and start on another.

Scatter Terrain - 1st batch.

Cheers!

Accessories

While I'm waiting for the room extension and fence for the Wing Lee laundry to arrive, I decided to start casting up accessories for the buildings and to use for scatter terrain pieces around the camp. I used a Hirst Arts mold (#85) and dental stone. If you haven't ever tried Hirst Arts molds, I highly recommend them!

I'll be putting these on 60mm and 40mm bases for scatter terrain, along with some pieces I ordered up from Ainsty Castings in the UK.

Castings after coming out of the oven.

Cheers!

Wing Lee Laundry

My next project is the Wing Lee laundry, and I've decided that not only will this involve a little modification in addition to customization, but it will also serve as the start of a new "Chinese Section" that I can easily transport to Harmony. I'm going to add a room addition to one of the TCL kits, as well as model a back yard area. The entire piece will be 6" x 12" and will be designed to work with a larger section (12" x" 18") that will have all of the Chinese buildings mounted to it. And yes, I will be including Mr. Wu's pigs!!!!!!

I think I've made it clear that I really like the TCL building kits from Knuckleduster Miniatures, and they will again be serving as the basis for the Wing Lee laundry as well as most of the "Chinese Section" buildings. This time around, however, I will be modifying many of the buildings more extensively (at least one of the buildings in the "Chinese Section" will be two-story) so the laundry is going to be my test run.

My first mod for the laundry was cutting a door in the solid back wall of the kit. A room extension (washing and hot water heating) will be butting up against this wall. The back yard will also be fenced in and include clotheslines with laundry on them and maybe a small garden for the owners.

Former exterior wall with new door detail.

Interior view with all internal framing installed.

Cheers!

The Buck Head

Well, I finished the Buck Head saloon and its double latrine. After I finish the rest of the SCTC buildings, I'll go back and add a few tables and chairs, a stove, stock the back bar shelves and bar top, and add the all-important mounted deer head and maybe a piano. But for now I'm moving on to the next set of buildings.

I really enjoyed working on the Buck Head and love how it turned out!

Saloon Front

Saloon Back

Saloon Interior 1

Saloon Interior 2

Saloon Interior 3

Double-wide Latrine

Until next time.

A Bar for the Buck Head (Updated)

Every saloon needs a bar, right? I debated what to install in the Buck Head...just a few planks on some barrels, or a full-blown bar with mirrored back. Finally, I decided on a little compromise: since the SCTC is a camp, the owner of the Buck Head probably wouldn't have a huge bar installed, but would likely want something more than planks on barrels as well. I did some research, looked at some period photographs...but ultimately my solution came from one of my favorite TV series, "Deadwood."

The bar in the Gem (also a rough-hewn sort of place) looked like a perfect design for the Buck Head, so I shamelessly decided to copy it and got out my plastic card, rulers and X-Acto knife. Once I got going, the bar actually just sort of finished designing itself.

I definitely think I got what I was looking for: a step up from the planks and barrels, but not overly ornate and something that could be moved in a wagon. I worked out the dimensions, and this thing would measure 18' from corner to corner, or 14' long on the front side. I did a test fit in the Buck Head, and I think the size is perfect for the small saloon!

Test Fit

The bar is sanded, washed and ready for priming, and I'll do that in the morning.

A Closer View

Cheers!

UPDATE:  A little insomnia tonight, so I went ahead and built the back bar. The top portion is recessed so a mirror will go in the back. I've already test-fitted it, and it fits like a glove. A zombie wandered in from my conversion bench, so I included him for scale.

Bar with Back Bar