Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 29 April 2013

Tenements

It seems I started this build way back in early September 2012, (and it's still not finished), but as always I hadn't finally decided on one or two aspects of the build.  I always intended to have some internal detail and that plus the decision of roof access delayed me a lot whilst I wrestled with the decision whether or not to have a staircase up to the roof or a ladder to a hatch (like in my supermarket). As you can see from the photographs I plumped for the former; it gives the roof a more interesting aspect with the roof exit structure.
 Here's a close up of the roof, showing the rear of the roof exit and the HVACs I showed in blog last week.Rather than a single central HVAC unit I opted for two, it provides for a more interesting roof space and of course more cover for those roof-top battles.


The structure itself is basically a box built from foamboard.
There are windows in the front and rear of the building, I'm sure I had a good reason for having no windows in the sides but whatever the reason was, it's now lost to the mists of time.
Lintels and sills were either made from card, matchsticks or stirrers and various combinations of all three.
The photo on the right shows (from left to right)
Ground floor front, upper front, ground floor back, upper floor back and finally sidewalls.
Here's the rear of the building, showing the roof exit and rear door, both as yet unpainted.
The "plinth" surrounding the base of the building was a complete pain to make mostly due to the amount of strips that had to be cut.
Base measurements are about 16 inches by 10 inches (including the base) and the base surround itself is about 1 inch high. You get a good idea of the size of the thing from Sid. The height of the building (to the parapet is about 8 inches. (That's 400mm x  250mm x 200mm for those of a metric persuasion)

Final view, just to show the remaining side wall.
Early in this build I'd decided on the colour scheme  not being grey as I thought that I already have sufficient grey from the terrain boards and I wanted a brighter colour.
The colours I used came from B&Q
from their selection of tester pots (Acylic emulsions).  I bought two of each of three colours (in a buy three for the price of two deal).
Unfortunately none of the three were quite what I was looking for, but by mixing two of them together  I got the result I wanted (the colours were Sunflower and Wholemeal)
The third colour was Sandstone and was far brighter than I wanted, but I have used it as a highlight and I'm intending to use it on my "Sarrisa" residence.

That's it for this week, over the next week  I'll be having a major tidy-up in my wargames room and I'm hoping to be able to put out all the models I've currently made.
And for those of a detective disposition there is a bit of a mystery to be solved from the colour photographs

The painting has all been somewhat rushed so far on this build, but I did want to be able to post this, this week. I've fallen behind in my self-imposed schedule even more so that when fellow blogger Mathyoo (blog) visited but mostly because of an early arrival.
I am again a grandfather, this time to my eldest son's son, all three of their family are fine and well and like me a bit surprised that my grandson arrived two weeks early.

Finally, let me welcome my latest follower who I believe is Cash1204, (there's no way of telling who joined when as far as I can tell) I hope you find something here to interest you. If I haven't already welcomed you then apologies and "Welcome"

As always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.


40 comments:

  1. wow, what a great build! I look forward to seeing it with the internals.

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    1. Thanks, me too Rob, but as you obviously haven't solved the "Mystery" yet, I'm not giving anything away.

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    2. I am no good at mysteries, although the front and back being different levels could be cool for an uncovered Indian burial ground or Evil Dead cellar ;D

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    3. Nice idea Rob, though a little cliched, don't you think ?
      Internally there are a few steps down to ground levelto an area behind the back door and underneath the stairs.

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    4. No such thing as too cliched in a zombie setting! next you'll be saying "Braaaaaiiiiins!" is not what average Joe zombie moans!!! ;)

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    5. NEVER, next you'll be saying Zombies aren't real

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    6. Now the clichéd "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" as my reality crumbles around me.

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    7. Lol, just doesn't seem appropriate enough

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  2. It does looks good and I really like the colours you choose. I will have to agree far better than grey. I can't help but but want to add a fire escape for some reason.

    Congratulations on the new arrival.

    As for the mystery its a bit sixth sense isn't it.

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    1. Thanks and thanks Brummie, I've been contemplating fire escapes and how to make them for a long time now, but alas the qyest goes on.

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  3. Nice work again mate, and congratulations on the new arrival

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  4. Many congratulations on becoming a grandad, Joe.

    The tenement looks pretty nifty to me. I'm far too tired to try solving any mysteries. Perhaps I should come back tomorrow.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, I know how you feel about being tired, I was never one for early morning arrivals (read middle of the night)

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  5. That's a big building, isn't it!

    As to the mystery, I think I spot something stuffed into one of the HVAC units. Am I close?

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    1. Unfortunately Colgar, you're wrong on both counts (clue how many HVACs do you see ?)

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  6. I will not play the Blame-the-foreigner game, but I would like to congratulate you on the occasion! I am glad to hear the young one is fine, do not worry about early arrival - it was same with me and you know I am impersonated delight.

    I love the building. Especially the ornaments, it is the exact thing my builds are missing. As for the sides, I know I didn't want to include windows at my buildings so I could put them together and it wouldn't look weird. Plus, with too many windows the building just looks...wrong.

    I went trough your pictures at least 3 times and I couldn't identify the mystery. The grey line has caught my eye, but unless you've added this, it comes from taking time to take a photo. I had plenty of ruined photos from my trip because of this...or you were referring to the black cloth perhaps? :D

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  7. The thought of blaming the foreigner never crossed my mind, but now you mention it...

    On my apartments/flats there were far too many windows too, so I blanked the side walls for those.

    As for the grey line ? - Damn you, you had me looking through the pics too, but I thinks its probably just the terrain board I'd put underneath. I use the black cloth for all my photographs and on this occasion the sun was exceptionally bright - so no cigar this time Mathyoo.

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  8. This is a beatiful building! Great work!

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  9. We got a lot of those different Level doors here in germany on old buildings on the hillsides. Though I don't know why they did the stairs on the back inside the house and not outside like on the front. Probably just for the looks.
    Anyhow you got a pretty nice building. I especially like the windows, the frames look awesome.

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    1. Thanks a lot Oli, in a lot of older buildings the rear lower door tended to indicate a root cellar, I believe.

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  10. An excellent piece of kit and congratulations on being a grandad!

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  11. That's a great looking building! and like Fran said, congrats on the arrival of your Grandson!!!

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  12. Just having a re look at the pics trying to play detective! If I'm not mistaken, the frontage of the building differs between the first and last pics. So I'm guessing either you altered the design between taking photos, or you are secretly showing us two buildings?

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    1. Give the man a carrot (I'm out of cigars), you're almost 100% right, there are in fact three buildings in the photo's *there were meant to be four but I cocked up somehow along the way.
      Photos, one, two and five all show the front of a building, all five of the upper windows have different lintels on them.

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  13. BIG CONGRATS!

    I'll have a stab at the mystery..... the main door changes colour sometimes red sometimes beige!! Also there is a window (centre back façade) that is in one pic but not the other.If it's more complex than that I'll have to study the pics for longer.

    Overall the building is Great! I Particularly like the quoining.

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    1. Thanks for the effort Clint, you get a "mentioned in dispatches", it wasn't really that complicated, more like sneaky. See my answer to Dave above for a more complete reveal.

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  14. Damn fine work Mr Z - colour me impressed! and many congratulations on the increasing horde of descendents!

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    1. Thanks Colin, should I try a new paint mix just for the purpose ?
      And yes, I have now have a third generation to add to the family tree.

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    2. oooh! Do I get to name it then?!? how about 'dead flesh' or 'zed-a-lypse'? they're no worse than some of the paint names I've seen recently ...

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    3. You're unlucky I'm afraid, all the "good" names have been taken, red, green, grey etc.

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  15. Congrats on being a Grandad mate, thats always a great occasion, the build looks the biz, especially the rooftop looking very authentic.

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  16. Thanks TE for great occasion I think I should read "expensive", and you're right about the rooftops, a bit of effort is probably worth it for the asthetics as it's what we'll see initially.

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