Russellmania.com

Food Court

12.07.2021

The 4Ground Mall now has a food court! No tables to eat at, but there's a food court!

Now that the actual building (of buildings?) for the mall is nearing the end, the food court got details included during the build instead of just walls and windows. This worked out well, as my meaty man fingers would have had a lot more problems gluing signs in kitchen areas once the walls were glued together.

In keeping with "things I remember from malls" motif, the 3-kitchen food court features Chick Fil A, a food court staple around here. A Sbarro, which I only recently learned also exists outside of malls. Burger King made the cut because I still end up going there when I go to Opry Mills. I haven't been to Opry Mills since Feb, 2020 but I'm pretty sure BK is still doling out double cheeseburgers without me.

I tried to have a little fun with the entrance sign. The obviously-Googled "Food Court" logo is printed on vellum and glued (around the edges) to a wooden nickel, courtesy of Hobby Lobby. I was trying to see how much of the wood would show through the vellum, and I think it's "just enough" to make it interesting.

I left the columns and support beams in the dining area un-glued. Thinking again of my meaty man hands, when time comes to play it would be a lot easier to just move that stuff out of the way. The slots they fit in are tight enough for support and to keep things from falling over.

The one thing, or things, left for later are the dining area table and chairs. From past experience I know the 4Ground table and chairs, and furniture in general, requires patience. With 4-7 tables, and 4 chairs per table, to glue together, I need to save up some patience before I start.

The lone remaining mall building to make is the bathrooms. That one may get finished by the end of the year, but realistically I'm in no rush to get it all done. My Black Friday order of extra stairs/elevator/walkway bridges arrived too.

And then there's all of those stores that are in need of some clutter to sell...

Permalink 4ground-mall gaming miniatures hobbies

Nothing New To See Here

11.21.2021

The only true, new addition(s) to the 4Ground mall is an elevator (or lift, as they say on the product page), stairs, and support/pillars to help hold up the 2nd floor walkway & bridge. The real reason all of this came together was to check if there was anything I needed while 4Ground is having a "25% off for November" sale. It turns out I need more bridges. Honestly I thought I initially bought more than 1, which is just what I do.

While everything (that's not in progress) was setup, why not take some pics and make a filler blog post?

And yes, those are meddling kids loitering (from Foundry) in the mall.

Permalink 4ground 4ground-mall Foundry

4Ground Mall Loading Bay

11.02.2021

It's been a while since a build went quickly without incident. Maybe I was due? The 4Ground Mall loading Bay has to be one of the quickest things I've put together. It's just the standard kit with some extra Google Image'd work safety posters. The only thing I messed up on was the cross beams that support the garage door had some small grooves for the runner/guide and I, not paying attention, glued those cross beams in backwards. Luckily it doesn't appear to make a difference as the garage door can open and close easily.

I took a little extra care in dry fitting and sanding edges this time. There were few enough edges that I felt more inclined to take extra care - plus gaps/dried glue spreading out messed up the security office a little.

Only the food court and bathrooms left to build for the mall, but I think I'm going to take a little break and work on something non-MDF before I get in a "I can see the end coming" rush and not both take proper care while building plus enjoy it. In other words, don't expect another Built Update in 3 days!

Permalink 4ground 4ground-mall gaming miniatures

Mall Security Office

10.30.2021

Work on the mall continues in the realm of specialty shops/buildings with the Security Office. This section starts out with a couple of ATMs by the entrance door that opens up to a corridor to a fire exit door. Along the hallway are 2 doors that open up to a security office, which has an interview room to the side. The security office has an obligatory gun safe, which every mall security office obviously has, stocked with automatic weapons.

The only "I learned" moment on this one was that the blue painter masking tape I used to not paint sections grey ended up taking off some of the (off-white?) original paint. As it is, I think it gives a little neglected weathering to the hallway.

Bundled with the security office was a loading dock section, so I think I'll work on that next.

Permalink 4ground 4ground-mall gaming miniatures

Last of Not So Bored Games Minis

10.20.2021

Normally I have a quirky title or some kind of learning experiment to report on whenever I post a painted batch of minis. This time it's just something I learned after the fact. I like using contrast paints for fabrics, the translucency works well. The things I finally learned are that you really need an even coat of primer, and once a brush starts separating it's time to use a new brush - portions of the application of contrast paint are apt to dry faster, and following dips into the paint won't always get applied evenly. That's were my splotchy contrast paint jobs come from - some portions are drying faster while I'm still painting. Sometimes it comes across as shadows and shading. Sometimes.

I really need either an idea of a color scheme to use or a box/picture sample to work from. Some of the color combos I come up with are a little too reminiscent of showing I grew up with comics from the 70s.

I don't know if any of these minis have recognized names. Wheelchair Guy has a laptop I had a little fun with while using brush-tip pens. From tabletop distance it's just detailed enough.