Modern town/ Zombie town 2

Horsemans Diner - a WIP

I was hoping that this week’s blog would be showing a completed model, but alas things have conspired to delaying the finishing of this particular project, so it has unfortunately become yet another work in progress !  I was also hoping to get this blog out yesterday (I’m trying to make a Saturday my target posting day), but again real-life and she-who-must-be-obeyed held sway on that idea.

Some of you will no doubt recognise the signage of my Diner, being very similar to the free “Horseman’s Deli” (from “Microtactix” - http://www.microtactix.com/) that can be found on the internet.  A bit of jiggery-pokery on Photoshop and the “Horsemans Deli” became the “Horsemans Diner”. 

I always liked the look of this building but I wanted something a bit different from everyone else’s Deli; you have no further to look than Vampifan's rendition of the Deli to see what the original was intended to look like.

Parking is at a premium in these parts.

The first photograph shows the general overall view of the diner with some of my latest vehicle acquisitions (picked up today for 10p each !). The overall footprint of the Diner is 9” x 9”  (22.5cm x 22.5cm approx) , with a height of 3” (7.5cm) to the top of the rooftop parapet which is approximately ½”  (1.25 cm) tall.

Notice the glaring mistake ?

This photograph is merely a close-up of the front of the Diner, I had to redo the front doors and enlarge the door frames to make a better “hinge”; all the doors in the Diner are openable.

Notice that my photography skills haven't improved and I'm still getting glare on the windows.

The boring back which needs trash cans posters etc.

This picture is of the back of the Diner, nothing spectacular here,  but note that the inside floor of the diner still has to be removed from the outside ! 

The next two views show the inside of the diner from the front. The fixtures and fittings in the model are only a temporary measure and aren’t glued in place or necessarily what will appear in the finished model.  They’re there just to illustrate what the final product may look like, if and when I ever get it finished, most of the fittings are from World Works Games. I have posters, menus, tables, more benches and other fittings to put into the model, along with a couple of posters for the outside walls to bring the model to life so to speak.

Overall view, the toilet is in the dark top right corner

Close up of counter, seating and kitchen

The last two views are from the back of the diner, showing the kitchen area, nothing spectacular here.

I need twice the bench seating shown and tables !

Kitchen area, a few more fittings still needed here

Advanced techniques for cardstock banners

This great Deathwing banner comes from Wienas. He emailed me the other day to ask about fixing a small problem he's having.

Here's my tutorial he followed: Cardstock banners.

If you look close enough, you can see the raised edge where the image was added to the larger banner shape. While it doesn't stand out too bad, it's just enough to cause problems and if you're going through this much trouble, you want to make sure it comes out the way you want.

In an effort to help him fix his banner and prevent it from happening again, here's what I would try to do:

First, his banner... unfortunately, there's not too much that can be done. The one solution I would try is adding some linework where the raised edge is in order to camouflage it.

For future banners, here's what I would do to prevent the raised edge from standing out as much.


If you look at the Black Templar banner above, you'll see a red line around the "image." This painted line goes over the raised edge where the paper image is glued to the banner shape and makes the feature a little less obvious.
To do this means you have to plan to include your image in one solid box from the start.
But the problem is made worse when you dont have a "box" to put your image in or you are doing more of a vignette type image.

In this case, you have two choices:

1. Make the paper the image is on large enough to cover the whole banner so you don't have the raised edge. Just make sure to glue the paper image to the banner really well, you don't want it peeling apart later on.
In the example below, the painted black line hides the raised edge along the top and sides, along the bottom of the banner though, the image paper extends all the way down.


2. Or you can cut the paper image out along the edge of the actual image. This can take a little more time depending on the detail you have to cut around. I did that on the example below.
On the sides and top, I follow the white line (it's painted on to hide the raised edge) and along the bottom, I follow the hilts of the chainswords and the actual flowing scrollwork itself.


I hope this helps some, and maybe this will get you thinking about some more detailed images to add to your banners.