Hadley's Hope: a Weyland-Yutani WIP

[Braz]

"Welcome colonists to your new home as we start transforming this world into tomorrow's paradise."
Or so went the inauguration speech at the of start construction on LV426.

After trying once to build the Hadley's Hope Operations Block on a base half the size of that in the pictures and being not quite  happy with the results, I've restarted the build from ground zero and decided to document the build progress here. Going with a larger and more accurate Block size and layout will mean scaling down the whole colony to fewer modules so it will fit on my gaming table. So be it until I get a larger play area.

Let's start breaking ground.

Here is the dry fitting of med-lab walls to work out any kinks before applying textures and color:







FNG marines (unpainted) for scale are Copplestone troopers.

More to come soon.
C&C welcome.
Cheers

[supervike]

It's scaled very nicely.  The room size will make for some very claustrophobic encounters.

I'll be following along, great start.

[Grimmnar]

Braz,

I see thick walls and thin walls. And the base seems to be the same material as the thick walls.
So, what are the thin walls made of and what are the thick walls and floor made from??? :-)

Grimm

[Braz]

Good questions Grimm.
The base and thick walls are 1/8 inch hardboard , 2.5 inch high on the outside and 2 inch for the interior walls. Once glued to the base with wood glue, will give the base some needed rigidity. The hardboard is quite solid and will support other levels. Also, it uses up those cutoffs I have laying about.

The thin walls are made of illustration board about 1.5mm thick and found in art stores. It's much, much, much easier to cut than hardboard. Note that I use the hardboard mostly for walls without openings in them because of this. Some of the illustration board will be doubled up at the doors with a gap in between to allow doors to be slid into place to indicate open or closed doors. The lower 2 inch internal walls ,standard to my builds, make it easier for players to move their figs about, allow door tabs to stick up above the walls, allow smaller internal "roofs" for each room to be placed to hide room contents, and may allow space for a ventilation system to be placed on top...I haven't decided on this last yet. I will have to add a few 2.5inch columns to support the roof though because of the width of the build.

I'll stop rambling now.

Here's a few progress pics with the east section of the Operations block layout added that includes the proper medical section (vs the medLAB) or a science lab with a quick furniture swap, a security section with a drunk tank, and a WC. Elevators and stairs located and the Operations walls with windows added.

[Gluteus Maximus]

Coming along very nicely! The use of hardboard rather than foamboard for the walls is an interesting idea. What's the extra weight like? I'm presuming it will be quite heavy once finished, but probably sturdier and will help the baseboard stay flat.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Braz]

GM, as a rough guesstimate I'd say 3x the weight of foamboard and x2 the weight of illustration board but the extra rigidity IMO is needed to avoid warping and will be offset by hopefully not needing any extra bracing. I don't think that foamcore would have the strength needed. Sintra (foamed PVC) would have been ideal but I don't have that on hand. 

Another guesstimate is that the build in the last pic weighs about 1 bag of sugar (2kgs/4lbs). What you see is also about the extent of the use of hardboard on level 2.

Cheers

[AKULA]

I'm using 6mm MDF for the outer walls to avoid the need for extra bracing, but then using 3mm foamboard for internal walls, to keep the weight down - used a similar mix for my Shopping Mall, and haven't experienced any warping of the 12mm MDF baseboards.

 

[Bako]

From what I can see already it is shaping up rather nicely. Can only imagine how fun it'll be to play cat n' mouse with some xenos in there.

Do you cut the hardboard with a saw or with a tile-cutter/knife?

[Braz]

Akula, I've enjoyed your builds and glad to hear they are probably bulletproof. Good to hear you have no warping issues, it just remains to be seen if my half thickness hardboard will do the trick.

Bako, I mostly use a compound mitre saw for all straight edge cuts. When making cutouts for doors/windows in the hardboard I use a mix of box cutter/x-acto/ruler and lots of patience and many many small cuts that nibble away the material along the line I want to cut, followed by a file to smooth it out. Too much work IMO so used sparingly. Illustration board or foamcore for walls with openings in them and to reduce weight.

I'll be camping for most of the week so will be incommunicado, not ignoring anyone.

Cheers

[Commander Vyper]

Very pleasant indeed, love seeing other people's take on the genre.

The Commander

[AKULA]

bulletproof

or at least childproof....

 

[Bako]

Bako, I mostly use a compound mitre saw for all straight edge cuts. When making cutouts for doors/windows in the hardboard I use a mix of box cutter/x-acto/ruler and lots of patience and many many small cuts that nibble away the material along the line I want to cut, followed by a file to smooth it out. Too much work IMO so used sparingly. Illustration board or foamcore for walls with openings in them and to reduce weight.

Ah, thanks for the information. I have some hardboard myself, but never found a good excuse to bother cutting it up.

Have fun camping. Hopefully the mosquitoes don't eat ya' in your sleep like they do here.

[Braz]

It's been a while since I worked any significant amount on this build. Today a lot of progress was made on the ops and medlab sections. The exterior hardboard walls and some of the interior walls are glued in place. Structure is rigid but still has a bit of flex so will most likely need some reinforcement...TBD. Most walls painted, floor textures printed and cut to fit, ops platform base completed, door frames completed, detailing of walls continues, and a corridor test section completed. Plus a lot of small things elsewhere. Whew.

Most items are dryfitted only at the moment to facilitate painting and detailing and once enough parts are complete will be glued in place in a quick marathon of assembly.

Apologies for the lousy pic but lighting sucks on the assembly table.

Cheers

[AKULA]

is that door frame, bottom left hand corner all scratchbuilt?

Presumably designed to have a drop in door - very tidy work indeed.

 

I did consider something similar, but opted for a simpler, drop in door, on H-girders, due to the sheer number of doors I need.

[Ray Rivers]

 

Got your work cut out for you here.

Looking really good so far!