New Commerce Field Museum WIP UPDATE 6/27/10

[Hammers]

I am getting eager to see the finished thing.

[Calimero]

I am getting eager to see the finished thing.

That's make two of us! Lovely stuff

[Operator5]

Some people have asked how I am assembling the walls using the magnets. Here are two photos showing a corner and what is done.

This first one is how the corner will look when the building is assembled.



This one shows how it looks apart. At point 1, you see that holes have been drilled to the size of the magnets and the magnets are then glued in place in the corner pillars. You have to make sure that the holes are cut deep enough so that the magnets on the walls will fit in as well (so basically your hole needs to be about 2 magnets deep).

At point 2, are the magnets on the walls themselves. These are just glued on with super glue.

Point 3 shows the cut into the floor so that the pillar goes below the floor. If by some chance I had mis-cut the pillar, the base could be off the ground and still would not show.

[Neotacha]

This looks great.  I look forward to 'borrowing' some of your ideas to make buildings here.  Did I miss you saying anywhere how deep those magnets really are?

[Operator5]

You did not miss it. These are small magnets so the hole is probably about half an inch deep. How deep you would do your own depends on the size of the magnets.

[traveller]

Awesome 

[Alfrik]

My comment for painting the walls with a Marble look:

http://hot-lead.org/advance/texturing_marble.htm

gives a good how to do it in small scale that is relatively fast and easy. 

[Operator5]

Already had bookmarked the site, but thanks again Alfrik.

I am going to do the stipling (sp?) with the sponge already, but I am not sure about the veins. On a piece this large, the veins may not look right especially since most white marble facades don't seem to show it.

[Luckyjoe]

Very nice. I love the idea of using magnets. What type of magnets are you using? Are regular strength magnets strong enough? Or did you have to use some of those molybdenum super-magnets for a build this big?

Luckyjoe

[Operator5]

All the magnets I use came from here:

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=10

They are all rare-earth magnets (neodynium). I have found that at this size, that if you use two magnets to attract to each other instead of a magnet and metal, that the bond is solid enough.

[Luckyjoe]

Thanks, Op5, for the info and the link. Perhaps I'll try these in an upcoming project.

Luckyjoe

[Daeothar]

That is most excellent!

Just the front alone is enough to invoke all kinds of Indiana Jones scenes in my head; very inspiring indeed.

Are you planning on adding some embellishments on the Tympanum? Perhaps some scrollwork with a latin phrase (or simply: 'Museum') or, a bit more ambitious, some mythical scene. I find that using other scale miniatures for that, say 15mm, will enhance the feeling they're sculptures, otherwise it might seem like simply some minis painted like stone. Cutting the backs off helps too.

Will there be a stairwell? Also, galleries on the 2nd floor, looking down on the center plaza (I'm assuming a large dinosaur skeleton will be put there ) would be ace and also make for a dynamic area to do battle in...

Just suggestions; this is looking to be awesome once finished!

[Operator5]

Things to be done yet:

Stairwell. It's in progress. There will be walkways that look down over the center gallery.

And yes I want to add detail work to the front. I probably will not have it ready for Historicon though. I don't want to rush it, so I will leave it blank for now and work on finishing what I can.

And thanks to everyone for the comments. I used the unfinished museum for the first time last night during a playtest of the Historicon game. Things went very well with it and I know what I need to do to make some things easier.

[Operator5]

This will most likely be the last pre-Historicon update. With less than 3 weeks to go, I'll be too busy focusing on getting things done to keep track of progress via photographs. But, if I get lucky and find time, I will be sure to post more.

Starting off we have an overview of the building. For the exterior, the only thing left is the center roof piece and painting. There are some details that I am going to forego for Historicon that I will add in later (such as the window frames on the second level).

Don't you hate when you realize there was something you could have been doing all along to make the project easier? You cannot tell from the photo, but I discovered an AMAZING thing at this later stage. Some of you will tell me that you have been doing this for years, but I just discovered something to make the build easier. Underneath the base is a Lazy Susan. I can now rotate the building while I work on it so that I don't have to keep shifting stuff around the table. I just wish I had realized when I first started instead of here at the end.



This next shot is a close shot of the stairs where I have done the marble effect. As you can see from the pieces next to it, the base coat is an almond (light tan) color. On top of this I use a natural sponge and dab two colors (light sand and a medium brown) in a speckle pattern. Be sure to use a natural sponge and not a synthetic one. You want the irregular shape of the natural one. Once these colors are dry, I use an airbrush to overlay a very thin off-white color. This will lessen the contrast with the speckling and brighten the whole thing to, in my opinion, look more like marble.



This last shot is of the statue but I really want to point out the stairway through the door behind it. There will be two staircases inside the main hall that lead to the second floor. I wanted them to look more real then "game useful" so a model will probably not be able to stand easily on them. I'll use a game mechanic to allow models to get up and down them without the need for having to measure and place them exactly.

[Luckyjoe]

Wow, this is a beautiful build. That marble effect really makes it pop. I've been using a Lazy Susan for years,  you almost have to when building with Hirst Arts.   BTW, got my magnets from K&J. Thanks again for the tip.

Luckyjoe