Yep, going to be a lot of WIP pictures for this one. This is basically working on my 'food court' board to get the ball rolling, and to have my first Boomer vs Hardsuit fight next week.

This build is basically just getting the front road sized, the main entrance, and four of the restaurant stalls seated. Nothing too special here yet, just getting the stuff put into place to get started.

One more pic from tonight.

Brainsssss!!!!

That's looking superb Jaynz.

Any idea what you're going to do for mall props in the open spaces?

Jaynz it looks great!

I was looking at the entrance doors and thinking "That would look awesome to see through the closed doors at the inevitable zombies clawing to get in." Now, I've got a penchant for window detail: acetate for the windows on my Maiden, the hearse coach from Wildwood, crawler from Mars, transit car from Mayhem Rail, and a current build of Pinzgauer Shuttle with flight-deck interior. [The thought of a whole 'nother Dropship to do that scares me though!] Just wondered if you considered that bit of detail?

[Yes, guys, I will load a 'windows sampling'. *Soon*... as soon as I can figure out getting my pics to work as uplaods.]

This morning I learned the concept of 'patching'. Patching occurs when you realize in a complex build that you forgot to take into account the thickness of several walls of cardboard glued together in a large layout. Nothing too terrible, but I'm seeing why TLX really is a better way to go for large projects - though obviously Mayhem Mall isn't a TLX thing yet...

This completes the structure of the food court build. All six food court shops are in place, with a standard mall hallway along the back, service halls along the sides, and the main entrance along the front (shown above). No mall props in place yet, but that comes SOON (TM).

Okay, time for replies...

And holy CRAP there was a lot of flash in the last three pics...



Thanks! I hate seeing all the mistakes I've made as I put the whole thing together, but it came out a lot better than I feared. I definately can see why TLX is a better solution for larger builds, though. The farther out you go on a build like this, the more the errors crop up...



I've had worse than zero luck when it comes to transparencies, unfortunately. My printer, which is excellent on paper, absolutely sucks on transparency. The Mayhem set has transparent doors and windows, though, so if you wind up doing your own build, it may be a good way to go for you.



I'm going to use the food court props for the open area, but try to keep enough space for combat to take place. Probably two sets of each table page. I was originally going to use the back area for the escalators, but I'm seriously rethinking the upper level at this point. (I only have three more stores at the moment, after all...)

The side halls will have 'storage room' props in them, and the front will have some Streets of Mayhem material going on. I may stick the large Mayhem Mall sign in the front corner, since the mall seems likes it's missing something without it, but since I deliberately cut down the space between the mall and street, I'm not quite sure.

No worries on the street outside, Jaynz, it's not a street, it is the parking lot drive. Put a field of parking places in front (doesn't need to be super deep, and you can also plant stand-alone stores or a gas station among the parking) with the street beyond that.

You can also plant rows of Hinterland trees to cut sight lines out there.

Alexio

'Cause we appreciate you!

Okay, snagged some props from the Streets of Mayhem set to help fill out and 'color' the front of the mall. Food court props are next for this build, but there's a couple of design things I wanted to tackle today as well...

Trash cans, tables, and photo booth added. I'm going to stop working on this board for awhile. I'm not sure how crowded this mall will be once I throw in the second board. So, after this, it's back to the shops again!

Just add Zeds.
You mall just gets better and better!

Yeah, I got a little distracted.. heh...

Today's update is seating the arcade, Manuel's, and the record store on the second board. This was a lot more work than I expected, sadly, but it came out well. I need to figure out some kiosk-style stores for those 'dead walls' on the sides. (Real Malls angle the stores or have two-open faces for these shops...)

The new signage was an attempt to fix the seriously warping front entrance. IT helped, but not quite good enough. Not sure if I'm going to revisit this problem again, though, largely because I'm not entirely sure HOW to fix it without making an entirely new front...

You could add a foldover triangular rail along the top edges, that would stiffen them up.

Unfortunately, it's a warp in the board itself. It's a minor warp but it REALLY shows in the entrance piece. I was hoping the new sign (bonus points if you get the reference) would take out the worst of the warp, which it did. A railing on the inside would probably be the way to go... but the warp is set in the piece pretty bad, so it would need replacing anyway.

Its one of the reasons i haven't built a First Light ship yet - without an upcoming game to build for, I worry the model will get all bendy before I can use it.

I do love your mall, and hope to emulate it this fall - I have plenty of zeds (and even more giant ants if I want to use them instead) painted up, so I could game in it as soon as it was built.

Alexio