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

Monday 30 September 2019

Soudanistanico Buildings (WIP)

After last week's post my overall well-being has not been as good as I would have liked and progress, though bountiful (by my standards) hasn't been as plentiful as I would have liked nor as I had expected. Nevertheless, I have been a chap, be it in fits and starts.
Herewith then is the photographic record of this week's efforts on my adobe-style buildings suitable, of course, for many different geographical areas - Africa, Afghanistan and Mexico - anywhere where there are desert-like environs it seems.
The photograph on the right shows my first "experimental" effort, just after the initial 'gungeing' phase.
The two buildings above in their cur out stage - note the rabbets.
First off, two simple four walled building (3" x 4" footprint) that differed only slightly in height; two walls of each were rabbeted at either end for a neat join.
Close up of rabbets
Initial fitting
Staircase added and buildings linked (to make a more interesting building (imho)
 A four-sided 'box' of a building is pretty boring, so adding bits to a simple house makes it a far more interesting model imo (as well as some extra detailing of course).
Base and a few walls added - note new cut-out in wall for roof access
Reverse view, with another wall (height difference very apparent)
Gunge cleaned up a bit and some detailing added (top centre corner)
Reverse view
The very flat, smooth, roofs still have to be finished off and doors have to be added too. and hten they will have to be painted, of course.
The second model I've been working on is my idea of a Souk (Arba Market) using discarded peices from my third building (its layout is still being planned).
This is a rather large building, more for a city or large town.
Base in foamcards too, the three wall are rabbetd to one another and the base !
Corner stairs, showing make-shift, haphazard construction.
Overall view of internal walls
Plan view, footrpint is about 12" x 8" - a bit big !
View showing internal walls and doors
Rear view after some cleaning-up and a few details addded
Side entrances added as an afterthought
Opposite side entrance - needing a little repair !
Internal door lintels and clean-up.
There's a not long way to go before this building is gunged, sanded and painted and I'm pretty pleased with its progress.
I'll be making a couple more simple buildings, probably 'L' shaped and tackling the largest planned building once its layout has been finalised in my mind.  - Do I really need/want a balcony?)
I'll also be putting a hold on painting any of the buildings until I've made a few more and until B&Q match my paint, now that they've ceased to stock "Harvest Field" !

Other than the first photograph, all the others are in date order showing progress.

That's it then for this week and hopefully my new, additional, medication (with known side-effects) won't be too much of an obstacle to further progress.

So that's it then for this week, this style of building is very easy to make, even for novice scratch-builders, it just takes thought, careful measurements and straight cuts!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, I hope that you've found something of interest and of course, as ever, your comments, criticisms, queries, bouquets and brickbats are always welcomed and truly appreciated.

30 comments:

  1. I'm very pleased with your excellent work too, Zab.

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    1. Thanks Jaym despite this last week being a bit of a struggle. I managed to please at least one person.

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  2. Nice progress on them Joe they look excellent already!

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    1. Thanks Brummie, I'm already pleased with their progress and will be even more pleased when they're finished !

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  3. Wow! Wonderful work, Joe!!! Everything looks like its coming together splendidly imho. Hope you feel better asap, and I'm looking forward to seeing both the additional buildings as well as the painting-fest which is to follow!!

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    1. Thanks Blaxx, now that I'm pleased with the overall concept, I think I can make quite a few in short shrift - making them look good is another matter entirely.
      "Paint Fest", as put it, sounds a lot more fun, as I envisage it more as "Pain".

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  4. They look wonderful Joe & I really like the idea of the wall needing a repair job :)

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    1. Thanks frank, i do have a bit of an aversion to buildings looking in pristine condition; plastered mud brick buildings all seem to have the plaster falling off too.

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  5. Great looking scratch built buildings! Lovely work, rapidly done!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, but these are probably the simplest buildings anyone could make. I think I spend more time designing and thinking of their look than actually building them !

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  6. These work so well Joe and great to see how you put them together.

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    1. Thanks Michael, the wip pics were at the request of one of the followers of this blog (I forget who)

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    2. That might have been me, I'm keen to see how you do them. As you said they are the simplest of box shapes and to be honest that's what most peoples buildings look like.
      You've created some more interesting shapes from your initial boxes, I like the first one very much. I might have been inclined to have a back door to help scenario driven playability, but the steps running up the middle is great design.

      Are you going to have the rooves removable?

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    3. Thanks Vagabond, I reallydon't like plain 'boxes' and try to dd something that will add a littlesomethingto makethemmore interesting. I decided that the size of the buildings setermines whether or not they would have more than a single entrance - smaller ones won't, whilst larger ones may have more than one.
      The roofs all lift off ! I really should have taken photographs to show this, but they're currently just 'drop-in' slabs supported in the four corners by triangular tab. I have a plan to remove them more easily, rather than sticking a finger through the door and pressing upwards.
      I'm making three more buildings which will be 'standalone rather than joined - watch this space, as they say.

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    4. I'll be interested in how you approach the lift off conundrum, I've seen square holes in rooves, thick trap doors to act as a knob, a central wall built across the roof or I did some once and only had 3 corner suports, you press on the 4th corner and the opposite corner lifts up.

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    5. I've seen all of these and haven's been that impressed, but you will have to wait and see.

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    1. Thanks you Michal and I'm already building more

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  8. Top building work Joe, I really like the Souk, that's gonna look terrific when its finished. What's the gunk you use to plaster the walls?

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    1. Thanks Ray, the SOuk really was an afterthought too, to use up excess arches !
      The gunge is ready -mix filler from Poundland, leisurely stippled on walls then lightly sanded down when dry. I'll add a photograph of the stuff on another blog. I also use it very watered down over the brick bits that show.

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    2. Cool!!! And from Poundland too!

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  9. Impressive level of building going on sir, looking good as well!

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    1. Thanks AL, it's full speed ahead with the buildings (anything to avoid painting camels)

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  10. very nice Joe, I love the Souk and I'm enjoying seeing how you construct these.

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    1. Thanks Da G, even though it was an "off the cuff" build, the Souk is fr more popular than I'd anticipated.
      I like seeing Wips and I hope that some folk will get something out of seeing mine, though they're not meant as a tutorial by any means.

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  11. Wow Joe! Great looking building, and playable interiors to boot, brilliant 🙂

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    1. Thanks Ivor, whilst it's normally a pain making interirors, this type of building is fairly plain and only minimal interior detailing wis necessary (and you still want room for figures !

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  12. Just happened across your blog, and have to say your buildings look very impressive, sorry to hear your health has been suffering

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    1. Thanks Dave and welcome to my blog; my buildings are a damn sight bettert than my painting (and that's not saying a lot).
      I've begun to accept that 'old age' isn't curable and one just has to get on with life, along with all the ailments, aches and pains that go with it, but I can still grumble and gripe about it.

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