TT Combat: Completing the Warehouse

I decided it was high time I completed my Warehouse kit from the excellent TT Combat. This you understand had nothing whatsoever to do with its usefulness in our games of A Fistful of Kung Fu or All Things Zombie which are about to happen in the coming days. Nor was it top of the list because it's been waiting to be completed for months. Honest. You can see how long it's been on hold by checking out the first part of the build here. That was back in April.  Yes, it's been that long.  Excuse me while I go and hang my head in shame...

Right, I'm back.  I was getting a sore neck.  Of course, life has a habit of getting in the way of our wargaming plans.  It can do that to the best of us. But we'll not focus on the delay any longer. Here's how I went about finishing the build.

It all began with a lovely cardboard box my monthly food order for our dog came in. And whilst I'm sure that many people would have a much more professional spray painting station for their hobby, you simply can't go wrong with something as cheap and yet still as functional as this. I simply flattened the box, ripped it in two and used a little duck tape to hold the pieces in place.

I then set about spraying the additional colours onto the relevant parts. First up you can see the black going onto the roof sections. I used some parcel tape on the reverse side of the skylight windows to protect any paint that may pool from affecting the underside.

And here's the other items I'm painting gloss white. You'll notice the parcel tape on the wall. I thought it would protect it from the spray paint going onto the stairs that are built into it. It worked wonders. However, there were a few light spots of paint that went onto the grey. Mental note, always add in a second layer of parcel tape to make sure you mask the area properly.

And with that done, it was simply a case of leaving the parts for a good hour or so to dry out. I left mine for the better part of two hours. Just to be sure. And yes, I know. It's a miracle it didn't rain for two hours straight on a Saturday in September in Aberdeen.

Once everything had been brought back inside, It was time to get on with the main task: painting.  Not like I'd done enough already.

First up was the doors.  I decided to go for an off-white in keeping with the gloss white of the metal railings.

And then the real fun began because it was time to add the rust.

If you have an airbrush, there's a lot of fun to be had doing this kind of thing.  However, I've never had one.  And what you've never had, you never miss.  Apparently.

So for all of you out there in a similar situation to myself, here's what I did.

I took one of those foam inserts from a blister pack of models.  You know, the kind of thing that's used to protect your models.  I simply cut a small rectangular section from it.  I then looked out three paints.  Mine are Vallejo, but any make will do.  The first colour I used was dark flesh tone.  The second is copper.  The third is oily steel.

First up, I used my dark flesh tone colour.  I dipped a small section of the foam into my paint and applied it where I wanted.  As this is the most prominent colour I use, I make sure I apply it sparingly but widely.  As I'm applying this paint onto gloss, it's possible to drag the paint downwards and create streaks.  This simulates the effect of rainwater on the exposed and rusted areas.  You don't want to do this too much, but ti can be really effective when used sparingly. 

Next up I dip the edge of my sponge into some copper and begin to apply it.  You don't want too much of this.  You can experiment with the ratio yourself, judging by what looks good.  But you want to keep it within the areas you've already mottled with your dark flesh tone. 

Finally, I use the oily steel and apply it very sparingly to odd parts of the areas that have received both the dark flesh tone and the copper.  The result is rather satisfying. 

As to the ecterior walls, I wanted to keep the brickwork visible but not allow it to dominate the model.  I applied my own mix of black and grey and applied it with a large brush.  I then added more grey to the mix and began to dry brush the walls.  I make sure that most of the paint is wiped off onto some kitchen towel as I really can't afford to let any paint get into the fine brickwork detailing on the MDF.  I also made a particular point of avoiding the edges of any flat wall sections. 

You can see more of the work here:

With the exterior paintwork completed, I left everything to dry properly for a couple of hours.  I then turned my attention to glazing all those windows. 

Now, you can use the wonderful perspex sheets TT Combat sell on their website.  Or you can toddle off to your local craft or hobby store to get some larger sheeting.  Or you can do what I do. Collect every piece of perspex packing from whatever comes into your home and is destined to go in the bin.  It avoids any additional expense and it invariably is large enough to cover even the most demanding glazing jobs you could possibly imagine. 

I simply measured each window, added 4mm to the length and width to accommodate 2mm wide frames, and cut out everything I needed.  The extra width gives you the space you need to be able to glue the windows in place.  And in case you are wondering, I'm using the reverse of my cutting mat for the perspex.  The gridded side I normally use is filthy and has become a little rough.  I'm doing this to try and avoid scratching the perspex.

I then had a really original idea.  As I said above, I used parcel tape to mask areas I didn't want to get covered int he wrong colour.  This was especially important when it came to making sure the black coat on the roof didn't pool in the skylight and affect the other side.  When I removed the parcel tape from the bottom, it left me with a perfect template for the size of the individual window frames.  And because this was sticky side up, all I had to do was position the perspex and apply a little pressure to make sure it stayed in place.  I was then able to take my scalpel and cut some cracks and broken panes into the perspex.  I think this is almost visible in the next photo. 

Again, I use the principle that less is definitely more when doing this as I wanted a working and not a derelict building.  With all this done, I began to glue the perspex in place.  I used my ever-faithful UHU glue for this purpose, but you could always use PVA.  Just don't use superglue for this task.  As it oxidises it steams up the perspex.  Not the effect I'm looking for at all. 

With these windows done, I had to decide whether to paint the inside of the frames or not.  I've done this on other builds, but I have to be honest.  The sheer number of windows overwhelmed me somewhat.  And since the perspex gave the illusion of a different grey to the frames, I decided to cop out and not paint them.  Instead, I went and stuck the two base boards together and applied some English Uniform to the edges to simulate the accumulation of dust and muck. 

Then began the process of sticking the pieces together.  I went for UHU again.  It works fine on wood and dries quickly.  This is a real bonus when you're assembling something like this.  A bit of wriggle room and then it stays where you put it.  I began with the large end and two side pieces.  The first piece I glued in place is the small side section with the stairs on it.  It seemed a good idea to use a piece that was most likely to stay in place on its own.

With the building assembled, I applied my exterior grey paint to the tabs on the roof sections.  This makes them virtually invisible when they are attached. 

And then, with all the pieces in place, I went round the model applying dry brushing to the corners and other joins on the model.  This created the unity of colour to the model that you can't always achieve on the individual separate pieces.  It also allows you to cover over any mistakes and any exposed joints.

One of the last things I did to the model was to look out the same colour of grey I used to paint my pavement sections.  The model sits into the base leaving a straight lip visible around the footprint of the building.  This is great because it means your pavement sections can sit flush with it.  So all the visible surfaces were given a coat of this colour so they will blend seamlessly with the pavement sections.

And then, after going around the building carefully to fix any mistakes, the model was ready to feature in a game.  Here are a few shots of it taking centre stage in one of our games of A Fistful of Kung Fu...

As always, thanks for stopping by!