The Japanese cityscape is quite different to what I'm used to and with having an interest in anime, manga, plamodel and wargaming it seemed only right to start a project including them.
As I tend to concentrate on the terrain aspect of any project the first thing to tackle was a simple block of flats. The vast majority of Japanese buildings are built separately from their neighbours (an earthquake damage prevention measure), even the very large ones so they lend themselves to being build individually.
I've got several thousand and photos of the buildings in urban japan now and picking a generic looking block of flats was fairly simple (lots of them look very similar). First off was to pick a decent floor size and start drawing. The flats are about 190mm x 120mm which seemed to be the best compromise. One of the intentions is to have accessible interiors and so each floor is removable. All the figures are based on 25mm and there'll be a separate blog post on the figures and vehicles at a later date.
The walls are lasered and consist of two layers stuck together which helps joining the corners and sticking in the window frames.
Below is a rough sequence of the build for the first flats. The outside is complete but I'm still working on the shop interior and internal walls for the flats. I'm still actually debating whether having removable floors will be game friendly. The other option is to have floor plans for each building on the side of the gaming table and figures are placed on them instead... It's still up for debate though.
The shop is lit with led strips and there is some progress on the shop interior but not really enough to show at the moment. I've also started on a basement bar but since starting I've changed the arrangement of what the buildings sit on (again, more on which later) and there's still quite a bit to do on it both on making it fit the new arrangement and actually finishing it.
ttfn
Awesome work. The concept presents some issues though in terms of whether or not you game inside the buildings--when by all means an entire game could quite easily take place within a single building let alone multiple floors of multiple buildings.
ReplyDeleteCheers mate 😊
DeleteYeah, still in a quandary about that. I did think of printing out floor plans to place on the side of the table.
Some of the other buildings I’ve done are just shells so it might not be a problem.
A couple more buildings and there should be enough for a small game so we’ll see what happens 👍🏻
cheers
James
I'd do the floor plans on the side of the table which would only be needed really if close-combat took place inside. Otherwise you could just keep track of where they are on a sheet of paper or place them on balconies where possible...
DeleteYeah, I thinks probably the best way to go. I’ll still do shop interiors (because it’s fun more than anything lol) but will keep the flats etc empty with frosted windows 😊
Deletecheers
James
I remember this from LAF and still shocks me. I'm drooling over my keyboard just as the first time.
ReplyDeleteThank you 😊
DeleteHopefully the posts here will be more concise than the ramble in the LAF 👍🏻
cheers
James
Stupendous. This particular building is great because it can fit a number of eras, depending on how it is mixed with other buildings or dressed with roof top items.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course the nice thing about a lasered model is that you could make a series of them comparatively easily, something that suits many areas of urban Japan.
Thanks 😊
DeleteYes, got a few ideas for stuff on the top but at the moment they are mainly contemporary. I’ve altered this one a couple of times to help break it up but haven’t got around to cutting them out yet.
cheers
James
Awesome. I can only dream of scenery like that. Must be great to have buildings that can be entered like that!
ReplyDeleteCheers, still plenty of work to go though lol
Deletecheers
James