Soyokaze Harbor Update

Soyokaze Harbor Update: The Devil's in the Details

I've been working on going slower with things and really thinking through some of the workings of Soyokaze Harbor. How things run, who's there and what's around it and why. It's been an interesting process for sure.

As I write this, I have some traditional Japanese music playing in my headphones - about as close as I can get to being Japanese. hehehe  And, that's the rub - for a lot of this, I'm just going on what I see in photos and what I like personally. It dawned on me while trying to work out the details that this really is just a "fremo", fun set of modules for me. Not being Japanese is one thing, but having never been to Japan is another. I'm winging this and am in NO way trying to pass this off as textbook Japan. :)

That being said, I'm enjoying the Soyokaze building immensely and seem to be able to work on it without the same, frantic, "I need to get this done" pace that I had with the Station module. This is a good thing. Again, looking at some more traditional styles of Japanese ways, a slower and calmer pacing seems to be not only good for me, but good for the modules as well. What's the rush?

I've come up with a very basic "story" for Soyokaze that involves this harbor scene. Soyokaze is more than just a temple tourist spot. It's also a place to get some of the freshest fish in the area. It rolls from the sea to your plate and is prepared by some of the most expert hands in the region. It's a taste treat that people flock to the area for. And, it's dolphin and shark friendly - another massive plus for their tourism.

The harbor itself is small, but their fishery is a machine that churns out fish for Soyokaze and some of the surrounding areas - Shizuka primarily. It's kept up properly, however it's connection to the building on the hillside is not. The tunnel and stairs that used to connect the harbor building area to the hillside building area are disused and run down.  People still use the stairs from time to time, but the tunnel is avoided at all costs for both physical and spiritual safety.  Why? That's another story. :)  I used styrene for the stairs and will post a proper, in focus photo of them at a later date.

The grey area will be painted out and detailed up with foliage

The overlook has been made safer with the addition of another railing making accidental falls less likely. They also provide a little privacy for lovers looking for a little get away of their own.

Additional moss and details will be added to this lover scene :)

The sea wall has been braced with additional pylons. The natural curve of the harbor prevents waves from getting too wild, but the extra precautions have come in handy on several occasions. In the final module in the Layout Of The Future, Soyokaze will be higher up and the harbor down lower to make it more tsunami safe and hilltop based.

My first pass at dock safety painting of the ramp and stairs made me see that "winging it" isn't the way to go. I'm going to go back and tame the painting down - maybe sticking with just yellow. I'll sit with it a moment to see how things come together.

Too much color? I might shift things to basic yellow and loose the red.

The flat areas on the hillside and waterside are now showing some variation. I added some foam to them to break up the flatness and splashed it with a little base brown. I'll go in and paint them up and add some foliage.

The final version of the rocks will most likely be rock grey. Currently looking for Japanese reference.

All in all, I love how this is working out visually and process wise. I'm managing to slow my pace and I'm enjoying the project much more because of it.

Additional details added slowly. I love the man fishing on the dock!