French Harbor Town – Part VI

When I started laying out this board in my head I knew I was going to want to fill up some space by the mooring location with something other than a building. I thought some sort of crane would be visually interesting and tie in with a few other bits I was planning on having in the vicinity.

I wanted something that was good and tall – a good place for an MG team or a sniper. Also I wasn’t too concerned with historical accuracy, looking for something that would fit in an Alistair MacLean story.  Not having much faith in my scratchbuilding skills I was delighted to find this Things from the Basement kit at Fall In. It’s a bit modern but I figured I could change it a bit.

I built the base and the rails straight form the kit, only adding some sand texture to the platform.

I ended up taking quite a few liberties with the cab using some various kit and spare parts. Here’s what I came up with. I’m not sure if the physics would work for the winch, but visually I like it.

Here it is almost complete. I have some cable and a hook to add, but am waiting to complete other things before I commit to the length.

Next up I’ll be working on a few vehicles, some u-boat mines and a torpedo cart.

French Harbor Town – Part V

My new compressor showed up so I was able to complete the storage shed. It’s a Things From the Basement kit, and I built it straight out of the bag. The miscellaneous supplies are from various sources. The pallets and cable reels are from Things From the Basement, the fuel drums are from Tamiya, the stack of sacks and the grey boxes came out of my 1/35 scrap box, the bundle of crates and barrels are from Grand Manner, the other crates are 4Ground and the single barrels are pre-paints from an unknown source.

 

Next up, the harbor crane.

French Harbor Town – Part IV

I had a few moments this weekend to devote to finishing up the “non-dock” part of the board. Wanting something to delineate the commercial/residential area from the mooring area, I painted up a few sections of walls from Charlie Foxtrot. I also added in a checkpoint from 4Ground and some sandbag sections that I believe are from Warlord.

Also I added in a few more detail pieces. The doghouse is from Warbases and the small stack of newspapers is some parchment paper glued together, painted and then soaked in the bottom of my afternoon tea for a few minutes. Thanks to my friend Richard of Warpstone Pile for sharing his technique for the newspapers.

While I’m waiting on a new air compressor to show up, I’ll be working on some detail pieces for the mooring area.

French Harbor Town – Part III

Mid-week I’ve been working on rounding out some of the bits and bobs for the town and adding in the remaining buildings.

I’ve used this WWI memorial statue “as is” for a few years now, but always felt that it needed dressed up a bit, so I put together a small memorial garden to surround it. I cut a base out of plastic card, and then added some HO scale hairpin fence around the perimeter. I then painted and flocked the base, and added some bushes and flowers. I’m not completely satisfied with it – I feel there’s too much red going on – so I may circle back and add some different flora.

Thomarillion has this nifty cast iron water pump that I picked up a while ago, and I thought it would make a nice bit for the town. I scratch built a concrete catch basin by making a box with balsa and covering it with Liquitex Stucco Texture. Then it was just a matter of some paint and washes.

Here’s the remaining buildings for the town, again from Grand Manner. The warehouse truck is from Blue Moon and the clothes line was made from balsa and an old foil wine label.

Next I’ll start working on some walls to delineate the town from the dock area.

French Harbor Town – Part II

I’ve decided to work my way from the town toward the U-boat so I can knock out some “low hanging fruit” to motivate myself. While I had the draft layout setup, I measured and trimmed an old fleece blanket gaming mat I had to use for some grassy areas. This was my first attempt at having a blanket printed and it ended up with some flaws, so I didn’t feel bad about chopping it up. Here’s the first section with the church, Dr’s house, cafe and small house on it. These buildings are from Grand Manner as are the sidewalk sections.

 

When I run convention games I usually bring a shaker of flock with me that I’ll use to dress up the transition areas, like the one below. I guess I’m willing to trash a convention hall floor, but not my basement.

I like to add some detail pieces to my boards to dress them out, so here’s some shots of my proposed minutia.

MBA Woodpile and Table and Chairs from a Dollhouse Manufacturer

Tomato Plants from Scenic Express and a Cold Frame from Petite Properties

Cross Plinth from Grand Manner

Diecast Repaint and some Flowering Hedges from Scenic Express

I had some empty space by the Dr’s house that I wanted to add a greenhouse to. I already had the piece from Warbases and decided to detail it a bit. I covered some of the seams on the structure with cardstock, and then fashioned some potting benches out of Renedra bases and plastic rod. The flower pots are from Scenic Express, the tools are from true2scale and the other bits came from the spare parts bin.

 

Some paint slapped on and voila. I decided to add a plant that I hacked together with a pot from the craft store and a small scale Woodland Scenics tree. The brick on the floor is cardstock. I downloaded the texture from Paperbrick. I added in some “glass” by cutting an old sheet of inkjet transparency.

 

Here’s the final product with the base flocked. I added a few garden tools on the outside, also from true2scale.

Next I’ll be ginning up a small memorial park for the town square.