Sunday 14 April 2013

Stoelzel's Derelict Commercial Building

Last week I finished making my latest card model from the Stoelzel's Structures 28mm scale range of contemporary buildings. This is Carl's derelict commercial building.
It is a two-storeyed brick building with a flat roof and parapet. My figure of Vampifan appears in the first six photos to give a sense of scale. The building has a footprint of 7.5" (19cm) wide by 10" (25.5cm) long by 5.5" (14cm) tall.
Access to the roof is via a ladder leading to a hole in the roof. This should be covered by a trapdoor, but do remember, this is a derelict building. The hole is behind and to the right of Vampifan.
This is the front of the building. Most, but not all, of the windows are boarded up. Please note that transparencies for the windows are not included with this model.
I got round this problem by printing out the four outer walls onto transparency paper and then I cut out the windows to glue in place. 
The back of the building is the only side that is secure from break-in on the ground floor.
This side wall has a door towards the back of the building. I used my transparency paper to make the glass portion of both doors.
This is an overhead view of the ground floor. As you can see the building is devoid of any furniture or props apart from the staircase. The newspapers and bits of rubbish that litter the floor give a sense of abandonment and dereliction. Likewise the cracks in the floor. It is a very good touch.
This is the view towards the front door. The front and side doors were made out of thin card. A piece of masking tape is sandwiched between the front and back of the door to give me a hinge so that I can open and close the doors.
The staircase was quite easy to make. The side away from the far wall is reinforced with mounting board. The stairs themsleves were made out of foamboard. The back piece of the stairs and the side that abuts the far wall are reinforced by thin card.
When I printed the stairs out, they were almost black. So I lightly brushed over them with Foundry Bay Brown 42A so that the stairs matched the colours of their side pieces.
Here you can see that the doors do open and close, a feature of all of my card buildings.
Here is an overhead shot of the first floor (second floor, if you're American). Note that as with almost all of Carl's buildings, the walls and floors are reinforced with 5mm thick foamboard.

I glued the boards covering the windows to thin card, then cut them out and glued them in place. This was quite fiddly and very time consuming but the end result was well worth the effort.
I cut out the ladder that leads up the roof and glued it to a piece of mounting card to reinforce it and to give it a 3D aspect. It is in the top left hand corner of this photo but is hidden by shadows and hard to see.
The hole in the floor for the staircase gave me a slight problem as I had to extend its width and length because I'd made my stairs slightly bigger by reinforcing them. No problem to a man with a sharp craft knife and a steel ruler!
This floor is also littered with old newspapers and pieces of rubbish, although not as badly as the ground floor is. I am highly impressed with this model for a number of reasons. First up, it is a decent size. The texturing is up to Carl's usual high standards and you can see he is improving his textures all the time. It is a very useful building for a number of gaming periods and genres. If you don't go for the level of detail that I include in my models it is a very easy model to make. Finally, the best thing about it is that it is free. Yes, you read that right. You can download it for free from http://www.wargamevault.com/product/111723/Derelict-Commercial-Building?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=4244 Go on, you know you want to!

37 comments:

  1. Wow that is really nice Bryan! Look like a perfect place for hiding a dead body, the homeless, drug users, and other assorted never do wells! And the windows are already boarded up to keep out those pesky zombies!

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    1. Quite right, Dave. Hopefully the boards will keep those pesky zombies away.

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  2. Another great building Bryan,
    I do like the look of these new Stoelzel's builds, it's shame I have nowhere to store them otherwise I'd definitely make this one! A worthy addition to your new look Mayhem City indeed!

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    1. I too thought it was a worthy addition, Dave.

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  3. Great looking building could get used for all sorts of modern gaming.

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    1. Not just modern game, Simon, but WW2 or as far back as Victorian times.

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  4. That is a fecking excellent building Bryan, epic work.

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  5. Looks excellent, love the newspapers laying around, they just add that final touch.

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    1. The scattered newspapers are a nice touch, Ray.

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  6. Great build!
    I do have this one as well, and I hope to get it started soon. I too will be removing the boards and reattaching them. First I will need more ink...and I really should finish my battlefleet gothic ships and the honking huge pinzgauer!

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    1. I hope you do get round to making it, David.

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  7. Solid stuff mate. Vampifan looks over his new palace. Reinspired me to get back into building. Thanks.

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  8. That building actually looks like it belongs here in Gillingham! Maybe would need a bit more graffitio. It's another great addition to the tabletop.

    Will Mathyoo be returning to yours after Salute? (If I make some fudge he could carry some back)

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    1. I'm sure we can all identify somewhere like this in our own towns and cities.

      Mathyoo is returning home from Salute so I'm afraid he'll have to eat my share of fudge... goddammit!!!

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  9. Excellent, as always! Perhaps this building was a newspaper printing shop before it was abandoned :-) ?

    Do you plan to have some separate trash piles to scatter around the floors? That might add a bit of texture...

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    1. The only thing I had thought of adding was some crates, which could be empty or may contain some useful loot.

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  10. Very nice looking building my friend, and your right the detail is the best part about it.

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  11. You put a lot of love into this one, and the little details like the window boards (my fingers ache just thinking of that one), and the door windows really set this one of nicely. Well done Bryan.

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    1. Thanks, Carl. I had a lot of fun making this one and I do believe that the extra effort in making it was well worth it.

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  12. Thanks Bryan, very well done. I need to get to building all the sets I have ordered, I think I also forgot to download an update on one. The main things I'm mulling over is how to scale them to my 1/72 figures and put them on mounting board instead of foam core.

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    1. I can't really help you with your scaling problems but I'd consider using 3mm foamboard instead of mounting card. Just a thought.

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  13. Great build Bryan, well up to your usual standards and has already been said useful for all sorts of periods.

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    1. Cheers, Joe. I can think of so many uses for this building.

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  14. Very cool, great job on the windows.

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  15. Fantastic looking building. And the fact that it is free means I have no reason not to give it a shot.

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    1. Free is good, Adam. So, no, you have no excuse not to get it.

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  16. Damn fine work as always Bryan. Very impressive result

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  17. Thanks for the refresher post, it was nice to catch the 1000 downloads milestone. Would've completely missed it if you hadn't poked me thus ;)

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  18. The juxtaposition of the derelict commercial building against the backdrop of glass creates a striking contrast, highlighting the passage of time and the evolving landscape of urban architecture. The weathered exterior of the building stands as a reliable commercial glass company silent witness to the changing cityscape, while the glass elements hint at modernity and transparency. This visual interplay prompts contemplation about the intersection of the past and present, as well as the dynamic relationship between decay and progress in our urban environments.

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  19. Derelict commercial buildings often represent neglect or disuse within urban or commercial areas. They may Concrete driveways signify economic downturns, shifts in industry, or neglectful property management. These buildings can have significant implications for the surrounding community, affecting property values, safety, and aesthetics.

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