Old Town Progress

Well, I've managed to make some progress with Old Town - soon to be re-named!

While Downtown is undergoing preparations for being packed up (SO SAD! I hate this office move!), Old Town is actually being worked on. I'm using styrene as a base hill layer and getting a little variation in height which is working out well.

The main town is high on a hill with several roads leading up to it. The Temple Area is also on a hill. Between the two sections, a small valley lays. At the end of the little valley, the start of the pond with boat rentals. In my minds eye, the flow is starting to make some sense.

To the far left, the main station area brings visitors in. In front, the small main road leads visitors who braved the small, mountain road towards the "out of scene" parking area. (Which may turn into an "in scene" parking area at some point.)





All of this is being built out with a future, full layout being built once we get more space. This will combine the Downtown section with the Old Town section. (More info on that here)

I discovered something awesome when I started working with the styrene. My initial plan was to hack away at the messy stuff with knives, saws and the like. When I started this part of the process, it was a huge mess with slow progress. I was just about to look into a hot knife solution (used for cutting foam) when I pressed into an area of the styrene with my thumb. The area squished in perfectly. I tried to press in the area I was working on to mold it and it worked like a charm. When my thumb got sore, I snagged a thick shot glass and used it to press in the styrene. I was able to mold the rough cuts into the shapes I was looking for without cutting. Made me VERY happy.

Once I lock down the building positions, I plan to do additional molding and sculpting to get some subtle height variation between the buildings and add some walkway variation as well.

Once that's done, I plan to glue down the styrene and give the whole of the deck a base coat of dark brown before working in the ground cover and additional painting i have planned. Though, I have to admit, when I saw the white of the styrene, I gave thought to basing the spot in snow! :)

Some additional shots here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/malcojojo/sets/72157629476417877/