Tuesday 14 July 2009

WWG Mayhem Armoury


This is something of a departure from my normal postings but it is the first of what will be a regular series of reviews of my World Works Games scenery that I use in my games. I have had a number of requests for just such articles, especially from the good folks on the WWG forum. Whilst some may think what has this got to do with the "World of the Undead?" I'd say it is worthy of inclusion. Just look at my battle reports of my zombie games and try to imagine them without the scenery. Good scenery can make a game come to life and add the "wow" factor.


One of the first WWG buildings that I made was the Armoury building from the Mayhem Armoury set. My philosophy in making my WWG scenery is this - wherever possible, go the extra mile to make the best model possible. What this means in practice is that all doors should open and shut; windows should be printed on transparency paper; all buildings should have interior detail. I print all of my WWG models on 130g Matt double-sided photo-graphic paper. Once I have cut out the components, I stick them onto mounting card, a very thick cardboard. This doubles my workload but gives my models great strength and durability.


Most of the time I use UHU clear adhesive for the vast majority of my gluing purposes but if I have a large section to glue down, like for example, a floor, I use 3M Photo Spray. UHU glue can be a bit stringy if you're not careful but that is the only downside I've found in using it. I like the nozzle on the tubes, which allow for great control when gluing small fiddly pieces. Best of all, it gives a permanent bond. Once a piece is stuck it stays stuck.



An important part of the art of making card models is "edging." This is the process of coloring the edges of your models to blend in with their surroundings. Failure to do this results in very noticable white edges that just look wrong. A thick marker pen is generally good enough to run along the edges. Black will work for most cases but for others you'll need coloured markers. Because my builds are stuck onto mounting board the edges are even more noticable. I always use acrylic paints to edge them. It's slower than using a marker pen but it means I can perfectly match the colours.



All upper floors of my buildings are reinforced with foamboard. Foamboard is roughly 5mm thick and absolutely must be cut with a sharp knife. If the blade is not sharp it will tear the foam, which is sandwiched between two layers of thin card. The main reason that I use foamboard on the floors is to keep them in place when stacked on the storey below. Some people use foamboard for the walls aswell but the big disadvantage of that is you lose floor space on the interiors. I lose about 1mm of floor space per wall, which is acceptable to me.



Okay, enough background info, let's take a closer look at the building itself. The billboard on the roof was an optional detail that I decided to add and it seems both appropriate and in keeping. Shown above is an overhead view of the ground floor interior. Everything in here comes from the Mayhem Armoury set. I love the textures of WWG models and the little details they add. Note the muddy footprints on the floor and all of the spent cartridge casings.


What, sadly, is not visible from my series of photos is behind the cashier's desk on the top shelf is a sawn-off shotgun, well hidden from any customer or would-be robber. This is what I mean about the little touches that make WWG such a great company




I had to move the accessories sign and shelves below it to the far end of a blank wall in order to accomodate the staircase. On the second shelf down is a row of helmets. I sculpted them all out of modelling putty to give a proper 3-D effect, rather than using the flat card models. Another example of "going the extra mile."


The two gun display cases at the front of the shop were very difficult to make due to the "roof" and "front wall" of them being made of transparency paper. Still, the extra effort was well worth it.


All of the interior signs and wall-mounted gun cases were cut out and stuck onto mounting board. Likewise, the props on the cashier's desk


Here is an overhead view of the upper floor of the shop and it is here that I deviated from the WWG instructions to come up with something totally original. This floor is split in two, with a storeroom for guns, ammo and accessories and the living quarters of the owner, whom I see as being a single ex-military man. He has a combined kitchen/lounge as well as a toilet/shower room and a small bedroom.

The shelves against the back wall come from the Ebbles Ambient Elements - Storeroom set. Ebbles make a great range of sci-fi furniture that does not look out of place in some contemporary settings - like here! The toilet and sink are from the Ebbles Ambient Elements - Barracks set. The black and red tiled floor comes from a WWG Shellendrak Manor Kitbash set - More Floors. The television is part of the Mayhem Armoury set, although I have changed the picture to one of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. I can just imagine the owner being a fan of Lara!

The cooker, sink unit and fridge all come with the Mayhem Armoury set. The overhead cupboards came from the WWG Mayhem Police set. The dining table and chairs are part of the Ebbles Barracks set.


The long set of lockers can be found in the Ebbles Storeroom set. I imagine the owner keeps his rifles, sub-machine guns and shotguns in these. The shower is something I created and is not commercially available, although I may submit it to WWG as a kitbash. The desk and laptop are from the Ebbles Barracks set.


The bunkbed, foot locker and assorted boxes you see are, of course, from the Ebbles Barracks and Storeroom sets. I should point out that all of the Ebbles models are to the same scale as the WWG models, which makes them totally compatible.

19 comments:

  1. Absolutely amazing!!!! I love your work with WWG models. One question, how many time did you spent with a model like this?

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  2. Thanks very much, Fer. From what I remember I'd say about six weeks, or possibly as long as eight. For a building like this, the most time consuming part is making all of the interior details. The upper floor will have taken me a lot longer than the ground floor because it contains four rooms. The ground floor is just one big room with relatively little furniture in it.

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  3. Thanks for the detail on the interiors Vampifan. From experience the structure is fairly easy to put together - I really like the amount of thought you have put into the detail inside. All my builds so far are empty shells, but I agree it is worth the extra time to fill them. As posted on the WWG site - will be getting mounting board instead of foamcore for my walls.

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  4. You won't regret it, Muncey. It's true that I put a lot of thought into all of my buildings. the ground floor of the armoury wasn't that difficult to do once I'd worked out where everything was going to go. But the upper floor required a lot of planning and as I told Fer, was the most time consuming part of the model. By the way, I've left a long reply to your comments on the WWG forum. Once again, thanks for your kind words.

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  5. Hey Vamp,

    I found your blog searching for Zombie terrain. You have inspired me to build a mega board for ATZ. I've already ordered tons of Mantic, Studio zombies and survivors as well as purchasing a majority of the WWG Modern line. Your reviews and builds are awesome. I have a question though. I've printed out a few of the armoury wall panels and they seem a bit smaller (6"x2") then what yours look like. How tall and wide are the walls for your armoury? The garage that you built also looks larger then what I'm printing out. Thanks and keep up the great work.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Morbious, and welcome to my blog. There is a good reason why my Armoury walls look bigger than yours. My Armoury is the old style model, which had a footprint of 7" by 7" and whose walls were 3" tall. A few years ago WWG came up with the TLX (Terrainlinx) format to make their buildings collapsible for easy storage. TLX models share a 6" by 6" footprint and their walls are only 2" tall. I must admit that I prefer their old style models but sadly they have been withdrawn from sale. A lot of people like the new TLX models but I'm not a big fan, although I will admit that the TLX ground tiles are far better than the old style ones. 7" by 7" always seemed on odd size to use for me but the 62 by 6" format adopted by TLX is a much more logical size.

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  6. Thanks for the quick reply. I though they looked a bit bigger. I really like the larger style as well for the buildings. The 1 inch makes a huge difference in appearance. Can I borrow yours ;). I purchased the old streets with the 7"x7" footprint as well as the new streets. I still haven't decided which to go with yet. Can you recommend any other company that sells printable buildings but on a bigger scale then WWG? I really like the WWG stuff but they are somewhat small. Feel free to email me at: sales@ShowcaseTerrain.com Thanks again.

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  7. Hey Vamp, I just found this website: ModelTrainSoftware.com. It looks like an awesome program. It says it allows you to print in any scale and you can also import images/textures and rescale as well. Combine this with the WWG stuff hmmm. My head is spinning with ideas, lol.

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  8. Great work there Vampifan!

    I've just started on my own modular two storey armoury (inspired by your works) and have two quick questions

    Firstly, I don't notice any internal braces or corner brackets to help maintain structural integrity. Did you use alternatives?

    Secondly, did you buy black form board or used white foamboard and edged it black?

    Cheers and thanks!

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    1. I reinforce my buildings with mounting card, which I think is called art board in America. It's thick card, about 2-3mm thick. I don't use corner braces because the thickness of the card is enough to support the walls without the use of tabs or supports. I usually use white card. For adging, I always paint my edges with acrylic paints. You need a steady hand for this!

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    2. Thanks, I'll go hunt for art board!

      One more quick question, when you stack the levels, do the foam board bases sit on top of the lower levels or does it 'slot' in?

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    3. Ahhh sorry misread, realised you didnt use foam board. Cheers!

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    4. Actually, I do use foamboard. I stick it underneath the upper floors or roof so that the upper floor or roof fits snugly in the floor below.

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  9. Hi Vamp
    Just found your blog and I have to congratulate you on your work. It's an inspiration,
    I'm currently working on a modular table myself (4x4 30cms tiles, 1,20x1,20mts), but in my case the buildings will be glued to the tiles. I have a doubt, have you tried using MDF? I was planning to use 2mm MDF for the walls, and 5mm for the floor tiles. I have a few questions.
    - Did you have problems with the board/card getting arced when you glue the prints?
    - Do you use any kind of varnish or any prodcut to protect your buildings?

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    1. Hi Charlo. I haven't made any MDF buildings... yet. It is something I'd like to explore further.
      I have never had any problems with arcing or warping.
      I do not use varnish on any of my card models.
      All the best with your own projectt.

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  10. Thanks for the quick answer. Is your table an ongoing project, or are you "done"?

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    1. Charlo, I don't think my table will ever be done. I have so many buildings from numerous sources and I'd love to make them all. Sadly, that will never happen. I simply don't have the time to make everything I want to make but I'll keep on going for as long as i can. My current project is a fast food restaurant.

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    2. Oh, I know that feeling. Looking forward to see it. Cheers!

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