Mall Module -1

02.14.2012

Hobby prep this week felt like a step backwards as I didn't get around to making anything. Even worse, I've come to the conclusion that the 2 mall parts I've made over the last 2 weeks can't be used.

They can be used, but not used well. Although learning a lot in the world of paper craft by making my 5 mall stores, the 14"x11" foamboard I'm using is limiting. My goal is to make a modular mall, where the pieces will be mostly interchangeable. The problem I'm quickly seeing with the boards I'm using is that there's not a lot of options in spinning things around and having them still fit. So with that I'm taking a step back and re-evaluating how I want to construct things.

Like any good nerd, I dug out the graph paper and just started doodling. Although my goal is modular sections which can fit anywhere, I should start off with a floor plan to see how the initial layout of these modules will fit together. After a couple of hours, I decided on a 10"x10" base for each module, with no walkway attached. My table is 51½ inches square, so 10 inch bases will let me lay out 5 per side as an outer ring. To make the math easy, I'll start out with 5 inch wide walkways. This will allow my another 4 10" square bases in the center.

From here I looked and started playing with some of the layouts of what would actually go on a 10 inch square board. The default would be 2 10"x5" stores. Keeping this would make the corner bases inaccessible unless there were some extra doorways. Instead of extra doorways, I decided the corners first be specialty bases - security office, elevator, etc. - which may be laid out different. On top of that, I would cut the corner of one of the stores and make a "walkway corner" for entrance to the corner pieces. Although a specialty board, I would only need 4 for the 4 corners.

I'm still trying to figure out how to make a food court. I've got an idea for putting it in one of the corners, but I'm still thinking about that one.

I've also decided not to use the stores or floor that came with the Mayhem Mall. I need a mall floor that doesn't have a pattern to worry about matching up between sections, so I'm going to make a plain floor to use. I've also got a hefty list of stores to use that outnumber my available spaces, so I may as well stick to those. I'll still delve into the Mayhem Mall for props though, but props won't be added for a while.

All of this hinges on my ability to cut foamboard straight, both lengthwise and depth-wise. I showed Jerry a stack of not 5"x5" squares that I originally tried to cut. No 2 were the same size. Now, armed with a little more knowledge, patience, and a foamboard cutter I'm going to give it another shot. But not now, after all of this calculating and planning I'm going to try updating the graphics for the stores I've already made to match the new board size.

At that point I may bribe Jerry to cut the boards!

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Mall Module 2

02.05.2012

The best part about the second time you do something - you don't have to make the same mistakes again. My first venture last week into cardstock modelling went well, but I easily saw places where I could [quickly] improve. My second module for my 28MM mall would see how quick I could learn from those past mistakes.

I wanted to try a corner section so that was my focus for module 2. "Jewelry store" popped into my head when thinking about what stores are on the corner of malls. Although most corner jewelry stores have a freaky angle to cut the corner, I was going to keep it simple and just give the store extra entrances. I went to Google images and found a smattering of Kay Jewelers logos and some stock jewelry displays to use on the walls and I was ready to start texturing walls and floors.

Store #2, and there would only be 2 since the turn in the sidewalk was going to take up extra space, was going to be a home-made venture. At some point in the night I was thinking of Jerry's Cowboy Action Shooting Alter Ego, Bart Savagewoofer (not to be confused with Bloom County's Bart Savagwoofer). Bart needed a business. A western wear business. A store chock full of western goodness. This one was fun when I went to search for various textures.

In learning from past mistakes, I was ready to make some new ones. Primarily, I was going to be putting everything together in reverse order from what I had done last time. I was also skipping the blank grid as my template on the foamboard altogether. The reverse construction method made it moot.

The first thing I did was cut out and stick to the foamboard the mall walkway/sidewalk. With this down first I was hoping I could set the stores more flush against the walkway. Next, I started attaching the walls to Kay's, starting at the entrance and working my way around. When I was ready to complete the 4th corner, I instead attached all the walls to the floor (again, focusing on everything being flush) and then finished the last corner. I repeated this with Bart's and then stuck everything on the foamboard .

So far, 5 minutes after finishing up, everything looks a lot better. I still need to put exterior walls on 2 sides, but I've got to run and pick up more printer ink before printing out those walls.

Now I'm going to take a break from mall-making for a couple of days and get ready for the Formula D game coming up this week. I've got to go remember how to play that game....

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Mall Module 1

02.02.2012

I've been talking of making a mall gameboard for a few weeks (or has it been months). Today I finally got the 1st section finished. It still needs furniture, occupants, and bloodshed, but it's a start.

I was going to use the straight World Works Games Mayhem Mall, but once I started poking around the files I was a little disappointed that there were only 4 stores with interiors. I had dreams of grandeur with a fully accessable mall! After getting over my initial disappointment, I decided to use the Mayhem Mall as a template and to just make my own mall. There's plenty of graphics on the internet to steal from to make the mall I was thinking of!

So that's what I did. I went to the web and gathered up graphics for floors, walls, store signs, things to sell, etc. Then it was just a matter of pasting it all on top of the WWG correctly-sized walls and floors. Ok, it wasn't as straight forward as that, but who wants to get bogged down in details?

After weeks of surfing for graphics, hours of pasting and printing, and another hour or so of cutting and taping, I've got my first 3 stores. I kept Manuels from the Mayhem Mall set since I had been using that as my primary template. I added in a Lids hat store and a Spencers Gifts to round out the first 14"x11" piece of fiberboard that will serve as the basis for my modular mall. Next it's time to get to work on more modules. Modulars? Modules!

This is the first time I've delved into proper cardstock buildings. I've read tricks from various forums on how to make things look better. I obviously need to work on matching up corners and sides better, but I'm pleased with my first attempt. We'll see how module #2 compares once it's put together.

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Eeking out another Tuesday

02.01.2012

This Tuesday was another edition that focused on me making some tasty salads for Jerry and myself as we watched Lord of War (which was better than I remember it being, although that's not saying much). My designated hobby prep night has been free of hobbying and prepping of late.

That's not completely true. Monday and Tuesday I worked on a cheat sheet/house rules for Formula D, as we're supposed to be playing it next Wednesday. Formula D was played once back in 2010, hence the seen need for some house rules. Hopefully the new additions will make the game less likely for everyone to finish in the same order in which they start, but we'll see.

Today I went by Hobby Town and picked up more paint to apply to miniatures. I had a coupon for $10 off $50 that was getting ready to expire. I had been thinking of picking up one of the Warhammer 40K Valkyrie Gunships, but the model prices went up after Christmas and even with the discount it's cheaper to buy that one off Amazon. Paints, though, paints are always cheaper to buy in person.

I've got a couple of orders of miniatures coming in, finally branching off into some non-military figures. This means it's time to expand my palette of painting colors. I've had a decent selection of [dark] greens and browns, but I needed more. In particular, I've got some police figures coming in that I want to paint with an NYPD style - light blue shirt, darker pants and hat, so I needed a better range than the 1 shade of blue that I had.

By the time I was done picking out my variety of colors, I had 20 bottles of paint on the counter. That was 25% more than I estimated I would need for my coupon to be valid, but I went ahead and bought them all figuring I'll end up using them eventually. I'm enjoying painting, or maybe I'm enjoying getting ready to paint?

Now I've got to go get the first part of paper mall put together and see if I can squeeze out a useful update from it in the next day or two!

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Just a regular Tuesday... again

01.25.2012

This Tuesday for HobbyPrep night Jerry and I watched We Were Soldiers. You may ask "What does the 2002 Mel Gibson movie about Hal Moore have to do with prepping for hobbies?" and off the top of my head I couldn't give you a positive answer. Mainly we watched it because I watched Black Hawk Down over the weekend and the two movies pair together well. But still, there was a distinct lack of hobbying or prepping.

I fault that in part because my revamping of the Mayhem Mall to become the Zombie Mall (with more store interiors) is a lot more task heavy than just printing out the PDFs I have and magically folding/gluing everything together. I don't want all the stores looking the same, so I spent a lot of the last week stealing retrieving a wide assortment of wall textures off the Google. I continues that trend by finding things to put n those walls (don't want empty stores, they need to sell stuff!). Type "hanging clothes" into an image search and look through for pictures not at a skewed angle. It's fun! Especially around Hour 3!

I've also decided that instead of mounting individual stores on foamboard, I'm going to use the 15"x11" sheets I'm able to get at Staples and try putting together multiple stores/walkways per board, and then have the boards fit together modularly. I have a hard time cutting the foamboard in a straight line (both lengthwise and depth-wise) so I'm hoping this will save me some pain along the way.

Test Board 1 will have 3 stores, each running 5"x8". I've got the floor and wall textures for store #1 finished (a tweak on Manuels from the Mayhem Mall), but I need to have the other 2 stores ready before I start printing, cutting, and adhesing. The walls intertwine for added stability, so I want to make sure I don't leave one side hanging. I need to double check the heights of the printed walls since I've been resizing images, too.

The only event I can see holding me up before next Tuesday is the Royal Rumble this Sunday. Matt and I haven't ordered a PPV since last year's Rumble (going to Wrestlemania 27 means we didn't order it, hah!). My wrestling interest has been waning of late - I've been watching part of the Monday night show every other week. Usually Wrestlemania Season (which starts at the Rumble, although Jason said last weekend he's already been on 2 site trips to Miami) picks up my interest.

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