City Hall

Figured to build the largest building as City Hall. Got the first 2 floors done. Finding a suitable front doors took some doing.. my google fu was weak. Found the doors and spent an hour trimming and tweaking to get what I got done. Some light post from beads and bamboo skewers to fix up the front, though Im leary about the duration for the attachment method...

Hard to see the wall mounted globes... Getting the glue method to attach paper to foam core down better, and Tacky Glue works MUCH better than standard White glue. Also picked up some decorative trim wood pieces that I will cut and use to wrap around the building at the division between 2nd and 3rd floor.

Hotel Chicago Complete

Quiet a learning experience from start to end on this first block for Pulp City.

And yes, I did glue the sign to the supports... straightening it up after the picture! I made the sign larger than life to give it some character. Last thing I might add would be a "carpet" from the front door out to the curb edge, but otherwise I'm starting the next placard. Hope to have a stack of side walk papers and the road way sets shortly to get things moving along faster.

Hotel Tweakage

Corners of the Hotel were bothering me, how to get those edges to glue down and stay down, when inspiration struck:

This being the first complete building, well short cuts and work arounds are the rule, including the not dry yet glue holding the awning posts... heh. Still have a clock to mount, as well as the name of the hotel... not sure if the name will go on the awning or on an upright marque sign board...which Im leaning towards.  Windows behind the shrubberies and the side wall, another awning over the hotel café area to go. Then , on to the next of the 5 remaining placards.

Pulp City Hotel

After way way to much calculating to figure the print scale from PAINT, I broke down and bought some peel and stick paper to get to work on Hotel windows and doors.

Here's the front of the hotel minus a sign ... have yet to select a name and put it on the top edge, along with probably a Clock. Colored marker pen to touch up corners, though I found that if I wrap the pattern bricks around the corner it eliminates that particular problem. Back of the hotel is flat up against the back edge of the placard, hence no sidewalk for the flip side, but it can abut to a ally from the next 2x4 board. Planning on some low wide windows behind the foliage and a "café" front for the next part of the wide sidewalk.  Another tip was PAINT, set the basic paint area to 1500 x 1200 pixels, and then the area inside works out to 160 pixels = 1 inch (very roughly). When I ran a test print of a shop front based on it, it came out to within 1/16th of an inch of my target, unfortunately I also saw that I have to make sure the Doors will print in the scale I want and the rest of the building front has to be trimmed to fit based on the door! Constant learning process.

Probably on the left side of the buildings picture I might work on the Fire escape.... hmmmm.

Pulp City Update

Tried out a window Idea, placing the window prints on a thick piece of cardboard, then attaching the card to the side of the building.

Mixed results, not a good window print to start but I think Ill be using this method as I proceed along for some of the buildings. Still working at getting some 20s / 30s window pictures that are clear enough to use in PAINT to work up to print out.

Next up I have roof platforms on all of the buildings, with internal ledges to keep them from being "bumped" off the buildings. An assortment of top side walls and signs will be attached.

Pulp City Progress!

Put on some movies, broke out the cutters and hot glue and got to work on the recycled foam core boards. All the larger buildings will be perma mounted on their base 14 x 9s, the smaller buildings will be positional in any appropriate open block area. Some of the moveable buildings are very small so as to allow for a large Ally area behind them.

Here are a selection of the buildings with their Floor Designator boxes put in. One the floor of each small box will be the floor number. Some of the buildings that are lower looking I have decided, would be harder to get to the stairs for various reasons and added an extra box to simulate the time. An actual number of floors to the building will be put on the floor of the main area.

The buildings base "block" area will have sidewalks put on then the large buildings mounted (after they get their outside brick and window treatments!)

Pulp City Block Growth

After considering and discarding quiet a few options I settled on geomorphic ground tiles to use for the basis of the city block. Each rectangle is 14 by 9 inches. Large enough for either a very large building or a mix of small narrow store fronts.  Each will be edged on 3 sides with side walks to allow for maximal changes in placement but keep the side walks in place. I had tried the idea of separate side walks but it was resulting in way to many small pieces to place and keep in place.. especially hard when they are cut from foam board (super light weight).

The empty corner building will have to its other walls added but this quick layout gives the look of the block. The streets are 6 inches wide, not wide enough for parking but wide enough for 2 way traffic. With a smaller filler tile I can have no intersections or shuffle and have a 4 way intersection.

Building Interiors. Thinking that the "top floor" will be the "action" level for the building, rather than have multiple levels since the "bad guys" are usually located in one place in a building. Having this floor be the top floor will make it easier to reach with fingers! Also, borrowing on an idea from Skrapwelder, I figure to try to have a series of small "room" that are a couple of inches square for figures to be placed into, each having a number 1 to what ever story levels are in the building. The function of the small boxes is to have a physical record of what floor a character or party is currently on, rather than being distracted and then trying to remember where they, he or she was.....

The Foam block its all resting on will have channels cut for the Subway track, Sewer, Basements and secret passages. This will give it a dungeon set up so to speak. Cut out thin placards will cover each area to hide what might be lurking in it. Also have to mount the foam board on some other stiff board... back to the design pad for that.

Pulp Action City Block

Kicked off a new project, to make a city block intersection arrangement on a 2 foot by 4 foot board to feature a street with 2 side intersecting streets, but no cross roads. The street will be lined by brick buildings done with printed brick sheets. Some ally's will also be included as well as basement stairs, brownstone stairs, shop fronts, street lamps etc.

First picture of first building in progress:

Our lone hero is in what will become a shop front with windows and doors in the set back. The rest of the front will be a generic office front with apartment in the above floor level.  Tricky but not impossible will be the fire escape on the next building to abut to the right side of the 2 started.

A 2 inch thick Styrofoam board will go under the city to have the basements, and sewer system with secret passages linking some basements and to the sewer system, or........... subway train system.....