Last week we sculpted our foam base and I got a bunch of hexes glued down on the 4 quadrants. This week I worked on our decorative end-cap. We wanted to make the diorama break down into parts for travel, the priority being the actual play surface. We painted some apartment buildings long ago and they always attract people to our table at conventions, this will be the deluxe version. With that in mind, we wanted to make an add-on with buildings and scenery that was optional.
I started by making a foam base of the same height as the tallest part of our board, then carved it to match the topography of the board. Then I spent some time arranging buildings until I saw something I liked. Our buildings came from TTCombat, luckily we also got some sidewalks that they sell. I glued sidewalk down to finalize the placement of the buildings. I also cut sidewalk pieces to match the edge of the hex board and cover the seam where the add-on meets the board.
Next I decided to paint the ATS garage. It was the first time I used my airbrush for anything other than priming, and man was it fun. I can’t believe how much time Bernie and I spent painting those other buildings with brushes :(
After basing it in gray, I went in with an off-white for the trim and then painted the ATS sign to match (roughly) our art for Thugs’s story.
Next I cut some sandpaper and glued it down for roads. I used a 150 grit for the main roads and a coarser grain (the green strip) which will be the start of a bike path or alleyway.
I’m getting excited to paint this thing! What do you think?