Like the last update, this one was accomplished a while ago but then I did a business trip and vacation so I’m only posting it now. TL;DR paint. Very much paint. Very importantly for my sanity, I followed the advice of BMC and applied spray paint onto bare foam, from a distance and carefully. This meant I didn’t have to brush goopy mod podge as a sealant everywhere and let it sit for days. Zero bubbling, all the texture you see is from a ball of tinfoil. 100% cool would do again, thanks Manitoba. I’m probably using this method forever now.
This is somewhere just past the 80/20 split. With the grey Krylon they’re playable and I could have stopped there. But when have I ever stopped when it was a good idea? Never, that’s when, just ask my wife. So instead I applied an acrylic black wash for better detail. That was a good idea, it turned out, and made things look much more concretey.
Then I added posters. That wasn’t a bad idea, but I don’t have a colour printer because I hate printers and the only thing I tolerate is laser black and white because it lasts forever and doesn’t force me to buy yellow to print greyscale. I hate printers so much. Anyway, the local UPS did me up a few sheets of full colour on heavy stock, I cut em out, and stuck em on with a thin layer of white glue. Worked like a charm.
Some of the doors I glued directly on to the “bottom” layer units (7×7 and 5×7) because I knew their bottom layer wouldn’t change. The smaller units, who might end up on the bottom and might end up halfway through a stack and have a lip around the bottom, got a magnet and a combination of vents and doors with magnets at different heights. I have plans for more magnetized greeblies and hangers-on, but as fun and creative as they’d be this project is nearly done and I want to paint some minis soon.
Then I painted the doors! Yeah, diluted yellows and whites over black wasn’t the greatest plan but it was a lot better than trying to get shadows in those recesses by hand. There’s a couple streaky doors, but they’re okay at arm’s length. Next time I’ll remember to do a couple coats of progressively lighter greys first. They’re not super pretty, but my DEX score is garbage and I’m really happy with managing this much freehand and making only this many mistakes. Managed to get some pretty slick ombre effects with very, very amateur wet blending and glazing. Slick for the effort involved and I like the colours, not slick as in “look how good this is.” If I wanted smooth blends I’d have torn up some playing cards and busted out my airbrush. But, again as a learning experience, real happy with it.
