Carpark 0.5

Yes the camera is going on Holiday but I shall have it till 8am Monday morning. So I should be able to post a pic or two after today.

Comming to the point I have marked in a parking grid. Done the best layout I could given the restraints and the need not to over think it. So it's head on parking to the sides and paralel parking between the pillars.

I found the best way to mark the bays was with a white colouring pencil. It's quick and easy and no fuss. Other more professional ways are availible but this gave the least effort for the best results. I did miss the line a couple of times and know there will be comments, but until they do better I can ignore them. It is looking more like a carpark now the parking bays are indicated. I know it's a long way from perfect but it is slowly coming together.

I shall start the Zombies as soon as I finish typing this. I think I shall do them in batches of 12. As I mentioned earlier I will try them in all greys first and see if I can get the computergame look. No idea if it will work, but got to be worth a go.

Tomorrow I have a Rainham club game of 7TV to put on. so you may have to put up with some ramblings about that as well. And if I remeber the camerera maybe a pic or three (but probly gloss over the whole thing when I loose).

Catch you later. Clint



Carpark 0.4

Well I am afraid that I was unable to post anything yesterday. Real life got in the way.

Anyway heres the latest. I have put myself a little behind by repainting the tarmac. It was getting to look to  light. I think for a Zombie game darker might be better. I have about 10 days now so still plenty of time so no worries just yet.

As you can see I have painted thebase again, darker. it's Quite patchy but for a car par I don't see that as a problem.I mixed a really nasty brown (black, read yellow and a touch of white) to represent the walls and slapped it on all the vertical surfaces. It's far from neat, but as a throw-away game it'll do, no point being precious about something only used once or twice, (2 different clubs).

As mentioened below I hope that painting all the cut walls bright red will give the players the idea that it's not full height and they can't just hop over from one room to another. As you can see on the second photo I have left it "natural" where the ramps meet the edge. I WILL paint it a tarmac colour when time permits. Probly tomorrow. I did want to mark the bays out today, but better to leave it til later and try to do it properly...... or at least not in a rush. The New Metric handbook has parkin at 26.5 sq m per car. Or in laymans terms 5.8m by 14m (for 5 cars) for head on parking. But I'll do whatever looks right when the time comes.

Karl at Crooked Dice has kindly offered to lend me 30 Pro-painted Zombies for the game. I have declined but can't express in words how generous I feel this offer is especially as we have only met once. I start painting mine tommorrow as the painting table is now clear.

My Camera is going on Holiday for a few days, so very unlikely there will be any pics till Thursday. And by then most if not all of the terrain should be done, or very close to being done. I plan to start Andy (from Ainsty castings) moon scape boards soon as well. I'll post the details here as I go. Thanks for reading. Cheers Clint

carpark 0.3

Well Everything is dry. As the base work is dry I thought I should get some of the other things done. As you can see in the photos, I have started on the lift block. I know it's as rough as barb wire underpants, but that will change as time passes. I have made the lift block seperatly so I can detail it in doors (warmth). But Have only made half height walls. This is deliberate before any ask. I know I'll take some stick for it and some ribbing, It's what they are like! The reasons are to make sure it fits in the paste table and also for ease of moving figures. I could run a sweepstake on who will be the first person to say they are clibing over the wall, My guess is Alex in the Sittingbourne club, and Ian in the Rainham club. Although it is pretty open as several people have that kind of mind set. I shall paint All the cropped walls bright red and the pillars and paste table edges, in a feeble attempt to deter people from saying such.

I had a small order from Ainsty castings today. First time I have ever used them and must say very nicly cast well packaged and swift delivery. I wanted some vending machines for the carpark, just because I know players will find a use for them, probly for blocking doors and staeling cans to chuck at zeds/each other. We all know they will. Also got a water cooler which I really like but  not sure where that will go (maybe not for this project. I can also paint two of the vending machines as ticket dispensers, but probly not have to wait and see.

The lift block will consist of a lift, (naturaly) the indication of stairs for if the power fails. Whatcha mean if power fails, surely not! In addition there will be three public lavatories. Male Female and disabled. I did point out a company who do make a Zombie in a wheelchair, but I will not have it as it comes with a load more I don't want. Later I may look at getting it, maybe the company (Blue Moon Minis) will sell me a few of this one casting, I shall enquire in the new year. I might do a seach later today to see if I can find some "star" zombies. Maybe a Hunter or a Tank or a Boomer! For when the players get bitten.

I'll continue working on this on an off today, comming indoors to keep warm then going out again to freeze.

The lift block seems so far away from the Exit ramp!

I may put a service elevator in as well, but as yet I am undecided if it should go in and if it does where it should go. But I'll see what time is like and what else needs doing. I am getting to the stage where I'll be painting the parking bays and walls soon. Planning to do it Friday. Right lunch time so I'm off as I have Curry today.

Carpark 0.2a

Good news and bad news. Mr Zed has offered to lend me some zombies for the game. Which is really generous. Thanks Mate.The bad news is I have been awak since 2 am so I am not gonna get anything done today with regard to this project. I will clear the painting table though so a fresh start on the zeds tomorrow.

Tomorrow the 'Strike' is on and have to look after an eleven year old, while he will be willing to help, he'll soon get bored and cold and want to get on the computer. Sounds like I'm getting my excuses in early.... Time will tell.

Carpark 0.2

As ever things are going slower than I would hope, however they are progressing and moving in the right directions. No Photos today. As nothing really new to show, I am waiting for it to fully dry. Everything is drying and looking ok. So no problems. It was cold in the shed at 6:30am with frost on the grass outside. Looks like I'll clear the painting table today and with any luck start the zeds.

Carpark 01a

It's Sunday so didn't want to make any noise this morning and wake the neighbours. So waited till 7am before going up the shed. There has been a minor setback, nothing to worry about still ahead of schedule. Some of the hard board had come up rough where it was painted so I sanded that back. I'll have to repaint but that's 10 mins work plus drying time, and as I'd have to touch it up after the bays are marked out it's not an issue.

The minor setback is that when I was sealing the ramps they failed to glue down, and even some of the mix was still wet. Darn. So all I am doing today is attaching the "support pillars" to the other side of the board. I will restick the ramps this afternoon, even if I have to use a glue gun, although I do prefer PVA.

So wargaming wise today I'll start to clear my paint table (I am far too ashamed to post a pic of it). I have some Early WW1 Germans (28mm) to finish, a couple of bits for warmachine (which will probly get set aside for now) as well as quite a few unfinished odds and sods. The idea being I can then start painting Zombies come next week.

That's all for now folks, more later, most likely tomorrow.

Carpark 0.1

Well it's Saturday today, which is nice. I have recieved a very small order from Crooked Dice only a set of the 7ombie TV cards. Again which is nice and order to delivery only took 2 days which I'm very happy with, it's another thing ticked off for the game  and really fast delivery.

Anyway it's cold up the shed so wrapped up warm I start work on the battle board. Here is a quick pic of where I left it yesterday.

AS you can see it has been painted grey  for the ground. You will additionally decern that I only have room to lay half of it out flat at a time. If I put it on the floor it WOULD end up with foot prints (both human and animal) on it. The Flash has made the grey look a little lighter that it actually is. But still you get the idea.

When I measured the interior space it turns out to be just over 21 inches wide. Using the Cars as a rough guide each parking bay need to be 5 inches long and 2 3/4 inches wide, 3 inches if we want space for doors to open or figures to move between them. In an ideal world I would have liked the board a few inches wider and about 6 inches shorter, but who lives in an ideal world. At this stage I have 2 choices for parking bay layouts. I could keep them square to the wall or I could put tham at 45 degrees. The second option would make it harder to park, but would allow more bays. So I'll keep it square to the walls instead. The drawback of this is that the centre can only have one depth of parking space.

The Next stage is to drop some "support columns in place. As a broom handle is actually cheaper than dowelling and as I had one ready to hand, not attached to a broom I hasten to add. I cut some short stubby pillars, short enough not to go above the edge of the paste table. I now realise I should have made them taller as they could then fit into the void above when the table closes up. (Oh well live and learn).

Nice shot of my work bench.



I then marked out the osition of the pillars. A single row down the middle, spaced at 7 inch centres.

As mentioned above only enough room to really work on 1/2 the board at a time. I was going to screw these on, but settled for PVA instead, PVA is actually a resin (resin w to be precise), I made sure I put enough on. So with a parking grid spaced out, but not maked out I then knew where the roads should be and thus where the entry and exit ramps should be.Made from balsa wood, simply because it was to hand and easy to work. I'll sealthe wood last thing tonight with watered down PVA. so It should be dry and ready for paint tomorrow.

Lastly for today here are the cars I have been using to gague distances. They were originally bough for 20p each at a boot fair last year and then repainted for a zombie car race game "DEADRACE 2010" which I never got round to finishing.

Underground car park model

Well those that have come across from the Crooked dice forum. Know That I have a tight deadline (less than 3 weeks) to create a Christmas game for two wargames clubs. So for ease I have decided to start the games compleatly from scratch, mostly because I'm stupid and can't think to recycle old projects.
So the game is going to be set in an underground car park, mostly because I thought it would be a bit different and pretty easy to construct given time and of course budget. yesterday I went and bought the components, not all of them, but enough to get started.
For the baseboard I went and spent £9.67 in Wilkinsons to get a paste table. I figured the basic wood and hard board would come to close to that anyway so it's not a big problem.
Today I have stripped out the legs (with a hammer a pry bar and a smile on my face, why is destruction so much fun?) Because it's an underground car park I'll have to put a ramp in so the cars can get in and out. I'll also have to add a service and customer elevator. And am considering putting a recycling area (bottle banks mostly) in as well.
That can wait a few days though as eager to get started I have painted the interior of the paste board dark grey. I used ready mixed pain from the Works, costs £1.49 a bottle. As they don't do a dark grey I added white to the black stirring as I went to get a consistent colour. Be aware you only need a little white, I would say 1 part white to 10 parts black.  Suprisingly it does look like old tarmac now which is a pleasent suprise. I mixed about 1/2 a pint in all and added a splash of water to make it a bit more runny.
 The texture on the hardboard does not look out of place, if anything it looks like block paving. While it is unlikely anyone would (in real life) go to the trouble/cost of putting block paving in an underground car park it looks ok and most wargamers will tolerate things like that as long as the game works ok. I know the rules work having tried them over the weekend but for now back to the scenery.

I have been offered some toy cars (of the right scale) for the game. I think, from memory, the paste board is wide enough for 4 parking bays and two roads, I'll have to measure it once dry to be sure. So once the tarmac floor is dry I'll paint the "walls" (the battening which encases the paste table) in an off white colour, and probly add some staining. but more of this in the next episode....COMMING SOON.

Post script, no photos yet as batteries are low in the camera... and did not want to walk back into the house with muddy shoes.But I'll try to get some done for next time.

Pilot.

Hallo and welcome to my Blog. In this space I shall be talking about all things wargaming with particular regard to Rainham Wargames Club but also touching on Sittingborne club (MHWC) and maybe Walderslade Club (Medway Wargames Club). However being egotistical I shall mostly be waffling on about what I'm working on from a Wargames point of view with making and painting and playing games.

I have many balls up in the air at the moment, but yesterday I was tasked with creating a Christmas Game for the Sittingbourne club. The basics can be found here.... http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/forum/Blah.pl?m-1322064290/ ..... Yes I know it's a lot of mucking about swappimg from one website to another and then back, I'll try to focus it a bit more as I go along and get more confidence with what I'm doing. Well while it's not a good start it is at least a start. to be continued......