Sunday, June 22, 2008

Urban Development and other things...

June 22nd...
Well today is the anniversary of "Operation Barbarossa", and the longest day of the year, (from what they tell us). I find it interesting that as of today the days are supposed to "start getting shorter".
But no matter.
I've been on a slight building streak lately, and as promised in my last post, pics of what is going on and being built on my table were forthcoming and have arrived!
The first off is the third block of my four block urban project known as "Funkytown". I've got one more block to do, and then I will be done with it. Four blocks of urban downtown fun for everyone to fight over. This third block, I actually included an establishment (Mama Jujus House O' Good Eats), and used some N scale brick walling to do one side of the building for variety. A tacky paint job, some graffiti and weathering and voila! DONE!
(Block 3 of 4 of Funkytown...Contemporary Urban Living at it's best...*cough cough*)

A close up of the block...more on the VW later on...

No one ever said that city living was clean, or graffiti free...

The weathered brick wall...touched up with some local "graffi...errr.."artwork"...

It wouldn't be Bongolesia without B'wonah letting you know who and where you are...

I have to apologize for the poor pics of this block of Funkytown. For some reason, I have mucho difficulty in getting the building in focus. I used two different digital cameras, (A Samsung 4010, and a KodakCX7530), and both were having trouble taking close up pics of it in focus. Most of the pics I have taken have been with the Samsung, but for some reason the Kodak seemed to do better with this scenic than the previous, but it still didn't do a good job. I can only think that maybe it had something to do with the color coordination, which may have "confused" the camera, (purple, orange, and yellow CAN be a bit of a problem...).
Now that the end is physically in sight for my urban area, I've started working on some other buildings and projects also. Here are a couple of shots of my almost complete National Police Station...




I really just need to finish the doors, put the POLICE signs up, put the grilling/grating on the windows and weather up the building some, and it's pretty much done. I've been a schlub on getting this one done lately, and I need to get it done and off the table.

Next up, is a set of quickly made and painted, "chemical storage tanks". Well weathered and having seen better days, these two tanks are made from the cardboard tube of a paper towel roll, with a cardstock top, and mounted on foamcore! Yes, it's true when they say that you can pretty much use anything when you make stuff for this silly hobby.
I've got to add the groundwork and final touches to it, but it's mostly done.

A friend of mine recently asked me if I could show him what my "slums" look like while they are under construction, so to help him out, here are some pics showing that you CAN use pretty much anything you want to build them. These pics show paper, foamcore, balsa wood, corrugated paper, plasticard, etc..

An overall view of the three remaining slums blocks I need to do. You can see that I have made pathways 1" wide (to accompany a stand of figures to be able to move/fight in them.

Remember, neatness does NOT count in building these!

And finally, just as buildings have seen better days in Bongolesia, so have some cars that are out there and rolling.

This 1:87 VW Kafer was bought at Wally World, (Wal-Mart), and seemed like just a perfect vehicle for the lot of "Idi's Auto Sales". So a few moments with a Dremel brush and about five minutes of quick drybrush and weathering and voila!; vehicle depreciation at it's finest!

On the showroom floor...


Such a pretty paint job...lets take it for a drive in Bongolesia!

Well...that was an "errr..interesting" trip...


Ummm....this car doesn't look so nice anymore...ewww...


Soon to be on the lot at IDI'S AUTO SALES!!!!

I've got a couple of other projects on the pipeline and just started, (including starting to build a 15mm scale cargo ship), and will be getting more back soon.

As always, comments are appreciated.

Enjoy!



















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