BSC2023 FifteensAway JBHU Hall of Worship

[FifteensAway]

More progress today:



Above photo shows the only hobby commercial products to be used - one of the five groups for the Hall of Worship, the rest for the other buildings.  These are all from Ground Zero Games laid out to dry after washing.  I also have lots of scatter pieces from them but they will be on their own bases and may not be ready for the contest and won't be part of the build anyway.



This is the supplies for the next step, paper towels, water, light weight sparkling compound, gloves, a couple of brushes, etc., for texturing the floral foam - otherwise once painted they'd look like grotesque Swiss cheese.



Apologies for the blurry photo but dark out and cold and called to dinner by 'the boss' so had to hurry.  At least you can see that progress was made on the worship hall (and two of the other four buildings - the other two tomorrow if all goes well).

Beginning to suspect that once I get the primer coat on that it will be difficult to show further photos of the process without violating the rules.  Probably be able to show the GZG details once they are installed along with the piece being primed.  After that it will be necessary to start applying the actual final painting before some of the additional 'texturing' of the exterior goes on.

[FifteensAway]

And more progress today, and better photos of the progress - both yesterday's and today's.

First, yesterday's progress, four shots:









And today's progress, five shots, adding door, windows, mechanicals, and sensors and such:











That last shot is a top down shot and shows three holes that have something in particular that goes in them but that won't be revealed until the finished product is shown.

Next step is clean up some, then prime, then sand the bases which does not involve sandpaper but glue and sand to give all the bases texture for painting.  These photos, as appropriate, are just of the contest piece Hall of Worship but all five bases are in the same status.  Well, there is one base where I had to pop off a door before it set because I put it in the wrong place and still need to put the door that was supposed to be there in place - minor oversight at the end of a few hours of work.  Easy fix tomorrow.

Texturing the foam had me flashing on the "mashed potato mountain" from Close Encounters.  And gave me an idea to enhance my concept which I think will really add to the finished work.  This process is very dynamic and changes as I progress - but adhering to the core concept along the way.  Still.  Getting a bit late to veer off course now. 

edit: I've taken the liberty to replace the photos that were here with larger versions so details can be seen better.  Previous photos were emailed as small and even though I enlarged them they translated to this site as small.

[FifteensAway]

Here are four photos showing the Hall primed.









After primer dried I was able to 'sand' the bases:











And here are a couple of shots showing a figure, an unpainted Obi Wan Kenobi figure, to show scale - had to limit the shots because of what has been added - some final view stuff that might violate contest rules:



Above is not in very good focus.

This is much better -



I'm afraid these may be the last photos I can show since I will be moving on to what will be the finished painting - though I might be able to show an additional detail shot but we will see how that goes.

I can say that I am really jazzed at how the five buildings that are all in the same state of progress look together.  And time, yet again, to give thought to any possible changes as I progress forward.  One thing I am thinking about is to make the Yoda head a removable piece to allow the buildings to be used in other scenarios.  Having fun.  Progress will slow for a week or so while I focus on some other hobby and non-hobby tasks.

[FifteensAway]

Not much to add, mostly just planning work since last post - and nothing until March 1 in order to get some unrelated figures in under the wire before end of February (171 figures!).

However, that jewelry piece I am going to use as the front door got some work on it and I discovered that the doors actually open; that was a bit of a surprise.  Not sure what I am going to do with the ability to open the doors but I might try painting something to add some interior "detail".  Just have to wait and see.  Not necessary for the contest but might be a nice 'add' to the process.

[FifteensAway]

Decided I can post a few progress shots - and a photo of the door closed and open, though not yet finished preparing to add to the model.

The door closed:


And open:


And here are five shots of the most recent update, I've painted the foam portions of the contest model (and the other four pieces of the university as well) but still much work to do on adding 'texturing' to the walls and then using a textured craft paint to paint the walls.  Then it will be painting the GZG parts and working on the actual ground - the sand - and then adding some flora.  And I need to paint up some of my Star Wars figures for the actual contest shots.  The photos:







With the above I had my biggest stumble in the process - the painted part nearest the camera didn't get done until all the rest of this and the other pieces were done and ready to be put away and then I realized I'd missed this part!  After some cerulean metaphors, I got to work and did the five colors to get to this point - and using a heater to get things dry so I could get it done today.  Grrrr.





Part of the reason I feel I can share these photos is that it is not the finished product and, more importantly to me, the parts that are masked off can't be seen.  Saving that for when it is all complete.

Oh, and I'm going to need to figure out how to create a 1,000 x 1,000 pixel jpeg to create a proper contest photo.

Wasn't expecting to get this done today but it was a big step forward.

[FifteensAway]

And today I worked on Yoda's head - which will be placed on the model as part of it but not attached since I could not come up with a workable means of attaching that I liked; allows other uses for the building.  Pretty sure it was just a McDonald's Happy Meal toy and definitely in need of some "improvements" for my purposes.

I just used two colors of inks, one artist's ink and the other a hobby ink (one of the very, very few hobby items I use - and probably bought ten years ago), and a bit of high gloss acrylic medium, another artist's item.  So, it was burnt Sienna, sepia, and the gloss to get the 'new' Yoda.  Hope you think it is as much of an improvement as I do.  The unmodified head can be seen numerous times in this thread.

Other progress but not stuff I feel comfortable showing because of the rules, the ground cover and painting.

[Aethelwulf]

This is........different

[FifteensAway]

Well, "different", to some degree, is sort of the point, isn't it? 

Ack, barely another week to get finished! 

[syrinx0]

Good luck finishing this week.

[Overlord]

Hmmm, an interesting build, does it look! 
I like the offset layout of the main building combined with the rock outcrops. Good luck completing the painting.

[FifteensAway]

Pleased to report solid progress has been made, hope to put finishing touches on the contest entry tomorrow.  The rest of the buildings are close behind.  Still need to paint at least one Star Wars figure for the photo to be submitted.  Ready and primed, just need to paint and texture the base - that will be a near run thing!  . At least in 15 mm it won't be quite the task it would be in a larger scale. 

Win or lose, if all goes well in the next day and a half, I will have the full project table ready.  And that was the real goal. 

Hope those still in - seems quite a few have dropped out - are making good progress towards the finish line.  I think some have already submitted their 'final' photos even.

Hope to be done on Friday but will go until noon on Saturday my time which leaves me a little latitude - I am 8 hours away from GMT on west coast of USA.

[FifteensAway]

The contest piece is done, the rest have some final glued on bits drying.  Some touch up in the morning on the other pieces.  And then it is just paint figure and take photos - pre-textured the figure base earlier and will put some paint on soon and hope to finish in the morning.

The "urgency" of the contest has really helped to push me forward on this project.  And caused a bit of stress here and there! 

[has.been]

The "urgency" of the contest has really helped to push me forward on this project.  And caused a bit of stress here and there! 

I hear you.
Good luck.

[FifteensAway]

And finished, photographed, and photo submitted. 

I had almost four hours to spare even. 

Alas, my photo skills are suspect so we will see.

Best of luck to those who cross the finish line! 

And - don't hate me for this - I managed to get the full university, all five buildings, built and table ready plus one Wookie for the photo - a bit of a rush job but passable.  Hard to see in a 15 mm photo of the building, though.  But there.

Now I can get back to other things - like a wife who doesn't understand why It All Doesn't Revolve Around Her.   

[FifteensAway]

Now that I am out of competition, I've posted more photos of the contest piece as well as a bit of the whole university under the Future Wars board here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=140959.msg1802721#msg1802721