Shopping Mall

[archangel1]

...First up, remodelled the stairs to the second level - now take up half the space, and are steeper, more like normal stairs (stairs need some filler to smooth out the grain).

That's the biggest problem with balsa - it may be cheap but the grain is sometimes very open.  If you can afford it, get basswood (lime, for you folks overseas).  It's denser, cuts better and takes paint or stain beautifully.  I gave up on balsa long ago except for some of the harder variants or for internal support.
Nice job, otherwise.

[AKULA]

Looking good.

The bar/cafe might do with something extra - pinball table or juke-box perhaps.
How about an escalator ?
Possibly a fountain or similar.
One of those small information stands with a colour coded map "You are here". Do the map much bigger than your playing area and it implies that you are merely on the edge of the mall (or in the middle) and the rest is just off table.....
Perhaps an entrance/foyer/box office for a cinema....
A trolley park. Perhaps not - how would you make the trolleys.
So many options. 

Some good ideas in there - am already toying with a water feature, have some games machines to paint up, and plenty of other clutter too - ddin't want to add too much in to start with, as i suspect that i will keep coming back to it as i think of more things to do.

...First up, remodelled the stairs to the second level - now take up half the space, and are steeper, more like normal stairs (stairs need some filler to smooth out the grain).

That's the biggest problem with balsa - it may be cheap but the grain is sometimes very open.  If you can afford it, get basswood (lime, for you folks overseas).  It's denser, cuts better and takes paint or stain beautifully.  I gave up on balsa long ago except for some of the harder variants or for internal support.
Nice job, otherwise.

Cheers for the tip - the balsa was left over from another project and i'm trying to use my existing stock of material up first - a) to keep the cost down, and b) to clear some space  - will bear basswood in mind if i need more though.

[Bako]

Really nice. Can't wait to see further progress.

[BigMecha]

That is awesome!

Creative with the mall...

Your miniatures are painted very nice!

thanks for sharing

[argsilverson]

Very nice!

[AKULA]

Been a bit lax on posting some photos for this, what with other projects...zombies, and more recently A Very British Civil War.

First up - the original module is now finished:





Secondly, i've built another module:





This one also has the walkway (on the top, and right hand sides of the first picture), but also with an air vent system running around all 4 walls (still need to put some vertical grills over the openings).  The bottom left hand corner has room for two small shops, with a medium-sized store on the right, and a much larger store at the top of the picture.  Have tried to retain the openfeel of the first module, with the central space (although there will also be a lift in the centre of the module, that links up with the walkway, via the raised area on the righthand side).




This picture shows the air vent on the left - the room below is a maintenance area, with an external door, plus a set of stairs up to the walkway - so if someone forgets to shut the door, zombies will have access to the airvents, the walkway...and the other modules of the Mall....


This is the side entrance, leading into the maintenance area - as i think i  mentioned in a previous post, the door is on a bar hinge, and so can be left open or shut - i won't bother with this sort of feature for every door, but i thought it was pretty important in this instance....  BTW - the figure is Kendra from Hasslefree.

[gamer Mac]

Well thought out layout. Very nice
Loads of gaming potential.
Love the idea of the vents.

[AKULA]

someone asked me on a PM about the costs so far - i reckon for the first two 2'x2' square boards, it has cost £30 max - roughly a third on MDF & Foamboard/ a third on plasticard & paint/ and a third for the resin & plastic "furniture".

In reality its actually cost nothing as all of the items re in my scratchbuilding cupboard that i've accumulated over the years.  The cost of the next couple of boards would be less as there is still a fair amount of plasticard, foamboard etc leftover, and ther ewill be some blank boards for parking lots etc, so overall i'd guess the cost of a 6'x6' Shopping Mall will be <£100.