Quick peek at my work-in-progress for a possible kitbash submission.



I'm off on a short vacation for the next couple of days, but when I get back, I'll be applying real textures to it for Thoumont's and the Friar sets, and I'll do up some instructions for assembly. Y'all can see more/read more on my blog but of course I'll post pics here when I have some textures applied.

Slightly off topic, but does anyone use sketchup to make models? I did this in sketchup (which so far I *hate* - of all the 3d tools I've used, the controls feel so in-the-way-of-me-being-productive-y) and used a great plugin to unflatten it, but getting the results into GIMP was a pain in the butt. Is it easy and I just don't know how? Is there a better FREE solution? Ok, maybe "FREE" is too much to hope for - I will be giving Pepakura a try - $40 isn't so bad to feed a hobby!

Very nice, those roofs certainly need dressing up !!!

CS

Don't need to use sketchup.

I have access to 3DSM (and previously had access to gMAX, which is free, you'll need to install export scripts to make this work though) which in turn interface with PePaKuRa Designer to convert it into paper-craft templates.

PePaKuRa costs a bit, but you seem to be a working man and it's not that costly.
3DSM costs a lot but gMAX is a free alternative.

I like the concept. Something like this can add nice variety to large numbers of buildings.
It makes me think if a fairy tale cottage for some reason.

But I'm going to guess that you will Ned to update the textures before this becomes a kitbash.

Thats a cool bash.


Way back I used to do my kitbashes in sketchup and then import the geometry into GIMP. But honestly its been years since I really used either and I no longer recall how I used to do it.

Looks good. Almost like an eyebrow dormer.

Makes me think of a Hobbit hole...

So true...

Now, mproteau you know what your next bash will be

I can't even get good promo shots of the two practically complete conversions I've done so far! No fair trying to trick me into making new buildings! (That being said, I have a notebook of sketches for both woodland and hill-dwelling critters... NO! Not until I can find a way to take some production-quality photos...) I fear I will have to sub-contract out the effort!

Actually, I think my next submission will be the 1/2-height walls for HV Streets. The rounded ones I did a while ago are gathering dust, but came out pretty nicely, I thought. I'm wondering, though - 2x height walls are more than 2x the height of a standard wall - they take into account the thickness of a floor tile so that the can stack... Does that mean my 1/2 height walls should really be 3/4" rather than 1" tall? Hm... So short...

Are there any other sets that have 1/2 height walls in them? I know the Shellendrak set has some small posts on the stairs but I don't remember seeing anything elsewhere. I guess it's because in many cases, railings to the trick. I really want to make a bunch of 1/2-height TLX walls to replace the lame-o fences I did a while back. They were my first attempt at anything, and I know better now. I'm itching to do some better fences, some stone walls, some hedges, and even some short stairs to lead up to platforms...

My gut says account for the tiles to encourage ultimate modularity, but my gut also tells me to eat junk food and drink beer.

your gut is rarely wrong, Talae...

Back from vacation - Thoumont's textures went on very easily (though only a real test build will show whether or not it looks good at that scale). I'm adding score lines galore now. My preference is to put score lines above and below:



and not to have white dots all over the middle:



In the top photo, there ARE black lines to guide the scoring. After I do some test builds this way, I'll post some pics and decide whether the black lines are too ugly when the model is made. I doubt they'll be obvious after scoring and edging.

I hope to get the cutfiles made tonight, so I can build a few, see what way I like to assemble them best, then I'll make the (simple) instructions to go with them.

EDIT: The cutfiles are done, and I built one gable to try it out. This time, I assembled it from the FRONT rather than the BACK, and it went together in seconds. YAY! Hopefully I'll get to the instructions this weekend.

I think the top one, with black lines instead of white dot, is best.
When you have one score line every few inches, it's not too obvious, but when there are so many score lines next to each others, the white dots are just very visible...
But that's just my opinion

Instructions are done! I swear, they're more of a kitbash than the prop itself is! The whole thing is only two pieces that glue together in a fairly straight-forward fashion, so clearly I'm just a fan of overkill. I did them in the same style as the 3d Garden prop I did, so I hope people are OK with that format.

Anyway... final packaging is in progress (kitbash text file, preview pics etc.)...

Submitted!

I'm really looking forward to feedback (maybe even some build pics from other people?) to see how well this works out. If it proves to be successful in the hands of others, I will happily make some for the Friar set. I'm thinking it's not a big win to spend the effort on making them for Deadfall, but I certainly could.

Every time I work on roof stuff, though, I really want to continue working on a new roof system for myself. Something that would let me make the trusses and roof textures interchangeable. Right now, the roofs and trusses are tied to each other, so I can't easily make a set of roofs from Friar and plop em on the trusses that go with Thoumonts, or vice versa. Or, even, I can't easily kitbash more roofs because it means kitbashing the trusses, which are kind of a pain in the butt. I've started trying some things out with some success...

I digress. Sorry! I look forward to good news from this submission, and I'll move on to the half-height walls now.

Glad to see this get submitted. I still think you should figure out how to use this for hobbit holes for a later bash...

The eyebrows look great. A nice way to break up all the gable roofs if you have lots of buildings. Thank you for submitting this, I am looking forward to building it.