Tuesday 12 September 2017

Urban Project - The Winchester (ground floor)

Hi all

Now from my previous posts you will have gathered that the Urban Project has a pub as it's final objective - remind you of anything?? Yup, this is the game I have in mind for PAW 2018, based on a rather popular and extremely entertaining Zombie film based in the UK I decided I wanted a game that would be fun and engaging to play.  So anyone up for a race to the Winchester??

So how have I gone about putting together the board, well first of all I've sketched out a rough idea of what the overall board will look like.  This i'm not gonna show you until I've put all of the pieces together as I'm liable to change my mind due to cost and/or time restrictions.  All I did know is that I wanted the Winchester to be extra special, so I've gone all out!

This post will concentrate in looking at the ground floor and then the next two floors after that with a final post to look at it all together.

Firstly I'd just like to put out a disclaimer for all the purists out there who will decry my efforts as not authentic, not looking like the inside of the pub of "that film".  Yes you are right, firstly I'm pretty sure I would fall foul of all sorts of copyright issues and legal bulls*** surrounding ownership rights. Bearing in mind I'm a fan too go easy on me.  I'm not trying to get anything out of this other than a bit of enjoyment for me and anyone who wants to come and play in Plymouth next Feb, I'm just a bloke making this all out of his own pocket and with no intention of selling it in any way.  So yes it is not entirely authentic!

Secondly the lack of online material based around the inside of "that pub" is a real hinderance! So I just made it up! yup I just watched the film again (and again) and then just made it up.  Hopefully it's close enough that you'll like it anyway,,,,

Image result for the winchester pub

Firstly I needed to get lots of building material, but that can get kind of expensive.  For my hospital build I used 5mm foam board and that stuff is awesome but it is costly,  What I went for instead was blue foam.  This particular foam is 6mm deep and I bought it online for less than a tenner for two massive sheets roughly 5' x 4'. Yes I know its a bit more fragile and I know It's gonna need more work but to be honest for that price its a bargain.

When it arrived I measured out the dimensions - I've gone for 8" x 10" for the ground floor.


I then marked out the paving slabs of the road surrounding the pub.  I decided that the piece is going to go in the corner of the board, so only needs two side of pathways (I can always add some separately if required for other games).  I also decided to carpet tile the pub floor - I'm not sure what kind of flooring it has in the film.  I then used black emulsion (i bought a big tin, probably the most expensive part of this build!) to cover the whole thing!


while that was drying I set about making the bar, for this I used offcuts of the foam covered in coffee stirrers and tongue depressors.


I also cut out the stairs to the first floor.  Now as we don't see the other floors in the film, I've taken some 'licence' (ahem...) with them and imagined what would be in them.



for the walls I used blue foam, painted in emulsion and then "wall papered" with thick craft paper. The door detail I (crudely) carved in the foam with a coffee stirrer frame.


Not satisfied with plain walls, I went about adding the extra detail in.  I made wall lamps out of coffee stirrers, matchsticks and drinking straws.


and then printed some album covers and movie posters for wall art/////


I also put together some signs and billboards that will go on bus stops etc...


I wanted to make the sign a little special so embossed the name of the boozer onto some blue foam with a pencil.


I'm really sorry but I haven't taken too many photos of the rest of the build but the results are....


the jackpot machine and the pool table you've seen as well as the tables and chairs.  The bar was done in a similar way and the drink optics made out of milliput.  The toilet and sink were made out of blue foam as was the fridge and cabinets.




I also used a plastic rifle glued to a coffee stirrer to make a certain trophy that features prominently in the film...

Anyway, that's the ground floor.  I'll show you the outside when I do the finished building, as I'm really quite pleased with it.

hope you enjoy
dGG

28 comments:

  1. Wow this looks great Andy, very atmospheric. Keep up the great work mate

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    1. cheers Dave, I'm hoping to get more done soon

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  2. Awesome!

    Shaun: David, kill the Queen!
    David: What?
    Shaun: The Jukebox!
    ;-)

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    1. such a great film, watching it regularly - shame.....
      ;-)

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  3. A really impressive start, Andy. It should look awesome once you finish it.

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    1. thanks Bryan, it does look quite good so far

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  4. That looks bloody brilliant. Top work. I've decided I'm going to have to do similar for my Star Trek game, so have bookmarked the post so I can recall what foam materials you've used.

    The only thing I would say is, don't include the party political images on the board. From my experience, the only thing it will do is cause animosity and debate and spoil your game due to the discussion going down the route of real world politics and not gaming. But its your choice and I've no issue should you include them, so please don't think I'm wanting argument.

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    1. haha no worries Roy, good point about the political boards, they weren't going to go on my winchester piece anyway, but you're absolutely right not for public consumption but for my own boards is best. thank you for your comments, I appreciate the input more than you know ;-)

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  5. Gobsmackingly good, even down to beer coasters!! Astounding attention to detail and I'm very much looking forward to seeing a zed-battle take place in and around that locale :-)

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    1. The finished building will take pride of place on my table at PAW but I will wanting to be using it as a focal point in a few games of my own for sure!

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  6. That's lovely, Andy. Terrific work - the attention to detail is superb.

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    1. thanks Jez, I appreciate that. I'd be happy to achieve the same level of success you have reached with your recent builds

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  7. I think I read somewhere that you could spray or just brush on watered down glue so the foam would get more resilient and "robust" as it would suck the glue in make the foam more hard.

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  8. wow, the attention to detail is amazing - from scratch as well is very impressive. Excellent work!

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    1. Thanks Jamie, yes everything is from scratch although on the wider build there are a couple of bits I've got from manufacturers

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  9. Just brilliant! The detail is amazing!

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  10. Talented Bastard! THATS BLOODY BRILLIANT!

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    1. thanks buddy, you can always come down and see it in Feb!

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  11. I loved your Hospital build and I think I'm already loving this a lot more.
    It would be so easy to overdue the internal detailing (chairs, tables etc.) without leaving enough room for figures, but I think you've got the balance spot on.
    The onlything I hate about scratch-building are windows, but you seem to have that covered too!
    Roll on the next episode of this build = great stuff.

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    1. thanks for commenting Joe, I hope you're feeling better mate.

      I agree that it's so easy to overdo the furnishings and the smaller buildings store bought don't allow a lot of room. I'm hoping that these scratch builds will allow me to do more. I must admit I thought about getting that lovely furniture you got from eBay, but decided to have a crack at it myself. Windows are always problematic so I went for a simple solution instead.

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  12. Spiffingly amazing, and a tribute to what can be done with imagination, time and effort.

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    1. i love the word spiffingly Hils :-) it will now be added to my vocabulary from this day on!

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