Lead Adventure Forum

Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: lethallee61 on April 01, 2018, 04:27:06 AM

Title: No trouble building little China.
Post by: lethallee61 on April 01, 2018, 04:27:06 AM
In an earlier thread I talked about my plans to initially centre my Pulp Alley gaming in 1930's China. Aware that I would be the instigator of this game into my small gaming group, I would therefore need to provide everything required for play - figures, terrain and all necessary sundry items.

After picking up the majority of the excellent Statuesque Miniatures pulp figures, some Copplestone and Pulp Alley Chinese (Fang's henchmen), thoughts then turned to creating suitable terrain. From seeing a number of Pulp Alley scenario posts, I quickly became aware of the need for a reasonable amount of terrain, even for the small playing area. As I'm now semi-retired, gaming income would be limited, so as much as I could personally make, as cheaply as possible, would be the way to go.

When choosing what would be required (with the help of fantastic suggestions from fellow LAF'ers) I decided that my best plan of attack would be to first split my miniatures into distinct Leagues and then create suitably themed "home base" terrain for each League. This would give me a suitable supply of terrain that could also be chopped and changed for various scenarios.

I started with the nefarious Dr Fang and his cohorts. After making a few small generic houses, I moved onto the Temple of the Order of the Dragon. (Apologies - can't seem to get the photos to appear within the text)

The Temple model is all basically foam core, with some parchment paper, corrugated cardboard, styrene brickwork, wooden dowel, 2mm thick foam sheets and a couple of hours work with a graphics program to create the patterns on the walls and doors.

After that, inspired by a Facebook comment from a friend about "Kung Fu Panda", I decided to recreate the noodle shop as part of my next build. Once again, it's all foam core, with the addition of some "granny grating" for railings and wooden beads for lanterns. I must also thank Joekano for his excellent Chinese signs. The windows are all created in the graphics program and then just stuck on for simplicity.

We finish with a shot of everything created so far, plus the start of my Pulp Alley leagues. Not as good as I used to paint figures in the past (my eyesight isn't what it used to be, even with a magnifying visor) but good enough for my purposes.

Once I've painted a few more figures, it's on to the next set of terrain pieces - an airfield for my league of female pilots, with a modified Sarissa "Streets of Rome" building as their main hangout, with fuel dump, aircraft and a few vehicles.

After that, I'm thinking a tramp steamer and a seedy port to tie it up to.  ;)
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: S J Donovan on April 01, 2018, 04:59:39 AM
Lovely buildings, where did you get the ideas for them? Any simple tutorial for the design and building? Particularly the exterior decorations.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: lethallee61 on April 01, 2018, 05:11:16 AM
S J - I'll see what I can do.  ;)
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: warrenpeace on April 01, 2018, 08:25:11 PM
Fabulous start! Loving it!
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Big Martin Back on April 01, 2018, 08:42:04 PM
They're nice. :)
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Sinewgrab on April 01, 2018, 10:07:56 PM
This looks like a fine start to a good rousing pulp game!
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: d phipps on April 02, 2018, 12:49:12 AM
Fantastic! THANKS for sharing.  :-*
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Lost Egg on April 02, 2018, 08:05:55 AM
Very characterful. I particularly like your noodle shop.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: tin shed gamer on April 02, 2018, 09:12:11 AM
I'm glad you decided to post a topic. As said mentioned before some very useful ideas,and builds that deserve the praise.

Mark.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Traveler Man on April 02, 2018, 06:57:56 PM
Excellent buildings and figures.  :) I'm looking forward to seeing how your project turns out.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: marianas_gamer on April 02, 2018, 08:56:21 PM
Great start!
LB
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: NickNascati on April 03, 2018, 02:03:32 AM
Really nice work.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: pbjunky1 on April 05, 2018, 01:05:43 AM
Very impressive
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: CPT Shanks on April 05, 2018, 05:40:27 AM
Very cool.  A little clean from my perspective of 1930's China but excellent builds nonetheless.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: lethallee61 on April 05, 2018, 05:59:15 AM
Very cool.  A little clean from my perspective of 1930's China but excellent builds nonetheless.

Point taken. I know I should dirty them up a bit but don’t feel confident enough yet to try that - I’ve destroyed hours of work before by being too heavy handed with that aspect. Maybe down the track when I’ve tried it on a few test pieces.  :)
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Duke Donald on April 05, 2018, 07:24:57 AM
Your buildings are fantastic.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Vagabond on April 06, 2018, 12:14:01 AM
Point taken. I know I should dirty them up a bit but don’t feel confident enough yet to try that - I’ve destroyed hours of work before by being too heavy handed with that aspect. Maybe down the track when I’ve tried it on a few test pieces.  :)

It's always a problem, having created a very nice set of buildings, do you try and make them great and risk making them worse than when you started.
All I can say is that you've made a very impressive start here and I look forward to seeing how it progresses.
The two figures in the front of your group, do you remember who makes them?
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: lethallee61 on April 06, 2018, 12:43:40 AM
Vagabond - they are available directly from www.pulpalley.com.

They are Dr Fang's henchmen from one of the scenarios of the month. They come complete with character cards too.  :)
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Vagabond on April 06, 2018, 06:52:37 AM
Cheers - thanks for the info
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Andy in Germany on April 14, 2018, 07:06:14 AM
Point taken. I know I should dirty them up a bit but don’t feel confident enough yet to try that - I’ve destroyed hours of work before by being too heavy handed with that aspect. Maybe down the track when I’ve tried it on a few test pieces.  :)

When I'm weathering model trains, I start with a pot of crushed oil pastels and a small brush that's too manky for painting, working the powder into the crevices. This has the advantage that I can tone down the colour if I overdo it.

I used the method on this railcar, and added the rust effects later. Try to ignore the slipped window...

(https://korschtal.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hbb_railcar_26.jpg)

Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Elk101 on April 14, 2018, 07:10:20 AM
That's very effective. I'd very much like to see a tutorial of that.
Title: Re: No trouble building little China.
Post by: Marine0846 on April 14, 2018, 02:01:27 PM
Great buildings.
You are off to a great start.
Look forward to see what you do next.