Mean Streets: The Warriors & More (Next to Last Buildings)

[Cat]

I did the board layout with allowance for pretty wide streets and sidewalks since the game is essentially an open air dungeon brawl.  Not as wide as the actual ones though, there needs to be enough buildings to feel like its New York, and even still, these are very tiny blocks by NYC standards.  But the visual impact should be good.
 
The Broadway Junction Station area was the best film location to model because it's a rare spot in NYC where the streets aren't in big giant grids.  I took artistic liberty adjusting the angles of the streets to make a good gaming layout with starting points separated, but all converging in the center.
 
If a gang has to run from the Browadway Junction Station over to the Rockaway Avenue subway entrance, they'll have to zig zag across the board to get there.
 
Not all the buildings will need high-attention details, but any that can will get them.  The primary goal is for the game to provide an immersion experience for the story telling.
 

[Andy in Germany]

The primary goal is for the game to provide an immersion experience for the story telling.

This is very much my motivation as well: I realised I can build my own theatre sets and tell stories.

My non-solo games are with Eldest Son, and we both have a tendency to make decisions based on what makes the better story, even if it means we don't win.

[mikedemana]

I like the layout! Can't wait to see how it turns out... 

Mike Demana

[CapnJim]

I like the layout! Can't wait to see how it turns out... 

Mike Demana

Amen to that!

[Cat]

About two weeks ago, finished up the first big batch of buildings.  Been kinda busy painting and prepping more, and clearing snow, and hadn't posted these yet.  Thought I would have had them done by the end of the year, but didn't get much modelling time in over the holidays from Winter Solstice to New Year's Day.
 
After applying signs and final weathering, sprayed with Dullcote, then painted the windows with gloss blue and grey (tiny windows with grilles were painted before varnish).

At the time I had finished these, had the 2nd big batch of buildings ready for detialing with all the base colours sprayed.  They're actually getting much closer to finished now than when I took the first photos of them.  Thought I might have finished them by the end of January, but those snow clearing days sorta kill fine motor control and painting ability for the rest of the day!

Many more buildings trimmed and awaiting spraying.  Just a few more to trim.  Construction of the elevated track is just beginning.

[Tom Dulski]

 Man those buildings look amazing.

[FramFramson]

Awesome!

[Andy in Germany]

Wow, a big batch indeed. And very smart too.

I like the slogan on the garage/repair shop.

[Cat]

Thanks folks!
 
Knight's and its slogan is an actual shop under the tracks at Broadway Junction Station.  Fulton Lumber & Supply is another real business a couple of blocks away.

There is a big cluster of auto businesses in this neighborhood.  Most of the ones there now have not been there since 1979, so I made up the others to fit.  Evergreens Cemetery is just the other side of the track (and a film location in the movie), hence Evergreen Sales for the muffler shop.  Steve O'Boyle of Corvus Games Terrain did a surprise design of a building inspired by the actual Fulton Lumber & Supply after this project was already in progress, but the footprint was too big for me to put on Fulton Street, so I repurposed it as Eastern Parkway Motors; I had an open space for a towing company's lot where it will now sit.

[Tom Dulski]

 As a life long New Yorker I'd recommend a lot more graffiti and garbage to make it look more authentic  l

[Cat]

Interestingly, the visual references I've been using for '79 are fairly light on graffiti.  The movie itself is my primary reference of course, and outside of the scenes at Coney, there's not a lot of graffiti in the neighborhood shots of the scenes with the Turnbulls, Furies, Lizzies, and Orphans.  Photos of a number of the filming locations today have much more graffiti than they did back then.  (For a heart-warming touch, there's now a big "W" Warriors tag on the wall beside the roof of the card shop where they first spotted an Orphan scout.)

I've done a lot of google image searching for the time period and locale, which also led to stumbling on a Facebook group collecting lots of old photos for Brownsville, and again all pretty light on graffiti in this area.  I've actually been going a little heavier on it in my painting.
 
Once I get the trains rolling, they will be in full glorious 1979 livery to really set the scene.
 
The few buildings with more pavement area (gas station and subway control house) have litter glued down, as do the bases of all the gang tag-markers that can be placed during play.  If you take a close look at this batch of buildings, you will see bits of trash glued into little nooks where I could glue it to two surfaces and it will be secure in storage and transport.
 
1979 should definitely be pretty well carpeted with trash for sure.  The bulk of that will come when I get to building the physical street boards and have someplace to glue it down.  Might also just drop some as loose scatter when I set up the board for the game.

[Cat]

Painting is progressing nicely on the next pile o' buildings.  And construction work begun on the elevated track.

Building the track in three sub-sections for easier storage and transport.

By using the files for subway platform parts and doing non-proportional scaling on the X axis, was able to print out a much better platform than the one that was included with the El parts.  Giving the platform top a significant overhang brings it to within 1–2mm of the car doors and a much better looking gap than the original platform had.  (Actual gap on the IND line is a mere 2", 0.8mm in 1/64 scale!)
 

[Tom Dulski]

 Yes the subway cars would have been covered from top to bottom in graffiti in 79. Oddly I don't remember homeless being as big a problem back then as it is now. Otherwise I would saw you could throw a few of them in there. A few burnt out cars or cars up on cinderblocks because their tires were stolen would also be a nice touch. Of course the permeating smell of stale urine would make it really feel like NY.

[Cat]

I've got a great photo reference book: Born to Run: NYC Subway Graffiti on the IND and BMT Lines, covers the 70s and 80s, organised by year which will help get the styling correct for '79.  Thumbed through that again today, buildings that happen to be in the background in these 70s photos aren't tagged at all.
 
Homeless population here in Boston started spiking in the early 90s when a number of the state's mental hospitals were closed and the patients were turned out on the streets.  Cost of housing has of course skyrocketed insanely, and now there's a lot of working poor who are homeless.
 
I'll skip the scratch and sniff back alleys and subways...
~ , ^

[FifteensAway]

I've peeked from time to time at this thread but since not really my area of interest...   However!   Your dedication to this project and all the effort being put forth is inspiring and slightly astounding.  Was there something seminal about the movie for you that keeps driving you forward?  Alas, I've never seen the movie - again, not an area of interest.  Perhaps your work will inspire me to see it.  Cool work.