9 July 2021

Season of Scenery: Convenience store 2

With the Warhammer cottage finished I turned my attention back to the store, at least until I start doing one of the other two projects I have lined up for this year's Season of Scenery. As I was building this in short bursts in between completing the cottage, this post might be a bit disjointed, so bear with me.

At the end of the last post I'd got to the point of gluing the walls together and to the base, building the roof, covering the whole thing with chinchilla dust and priming it white. I knew it would need some colour, so after casting an eye over my paints I picked Emerald as it's a lovely green and I didn't fancy red or blue. I painted the roof edges, door and window frames and glued them on. The roof still isn't attached as there's more stuff to do to the inside. Well, not that much.

The gaps on the edges of the building were bugging me and I didn't know how to cover them up, and then Roger did me an absolute solid favour by suggesting using coffee stirrers. It's the perfect solution and I have about 900 of them, so I grabbed a handful, painted them Emerald and then gave them a coat of Green Wash. I won't be able to attach them until the roof's on so I put them to one side.

A few months ago I found some MDF air conditioning units online, so I bought them. I made four and here they are, weighted down with paint pots while the glue dries. They'll be heading to the garage soon to be sprayed with primer.


The next step was to give the walls and roof some depth and dirt by shading them with thinned Grey Wash. I used a flat 1½-inch brush and slapped it on, trying to vary the amount to add a touch of randomness. After giving all the green bits a once-over with Green Wash, I highlighted them with a mix of Emerald and White.

The store has two doors — one at the front and one on the side, which I'm assuming is the staff entrance and delivery point. I wanted something to cover the gap where the window would be so I used some mesh from an old frying pan cover that I broke when we moved. I superglued it to the back of the side door, almost gluing my finger to the mesh in the process.

Both doors are meshed and painted. They also have black card glued to their backs to block the emptiness of the store; I'm not going to be putting anything inside it despite the availability of model shelves and counters. The staff door is just Ash Grey dirtied up with Black Wash. I added a kickplate to its bottom made from plastic card and painted Plate Metal. It's too wide, but too late now. I went for a metal look for the front door, with more Plate Metal and Black Wash. 


With the doors in place and the windows blacked out I finally glued the roof in place, weighted it down with some books and left it for a while.

After an hour of working on the cottage I turned back to the store. By now the roof was glued on solidly, so it was time to add the stirrer sticks that I'd painted earlier. I started sticking them on with tacky PVA but it was proving to be a pain as it dried too slowly. After doing three sticks with it I switched to superglue, which was much quicker and easier. After doing the corner pieces I added more across the joins between the tops of the walls and the roof. They worked really well to cover gaps and I'm grateful to Roger for the suggestion.

As this is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic/zombie setting, I couldn't go without boarding up the windows and doors. I was stuck as to whether the boards should be on the outside or inside, so I emailed Keith for help and he suggested outside if zombies are the threat. With that in mind, I painted more coffee sticks with tan craft paint, shaded them with Sepia Wash and superglued them on. I put them over the side door as well. 

That's the progress so far, and with the basic construction and painting done I'm onto the detailing stages. I have plenty of ideas and I've ordered a few more bits to complete it, so now it's a case of waiting. For now I'll just paint the pavement, highlight the wood bits, finish the a/c units and work on the signage. I'm sure I can find something else to build in the meantime.

14 comments:

  1. Super progress, Matt. That really does look like great already, albeit your additions will definitely help elevate it to that next level for post-apocalyptic/zed gaming. Lovely stuff.

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    1. Thanks! It's got a way to go yet but it's definitely getting there and I'm happy with it so far.

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  2. Great progress Matt, the wire mesh reminds me of the old security glass which had metal wires running through it. The boarding on the windows and door is a great addition, the whole construction reminds me of the gun shop in the remake of the Dawn of the Dead

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    1. The security glass is what I was aiming for, so nice to know I got it right! I did think about putting clear plastic in to act as windows, but didn't see the point as they'd be broken anyway and once the boards went on they'd be hidden. I did use that gun shop as a reference too!

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  3. This is coming together very nicely. Its funny how getting some paint and a few details really add some life to something. This store would be perfect in The Walking Dead or any zombie themed game. I don't see why you couldn't use it in any "modern" wargaming you might do too. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing more!

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    1. Cheers! The details are really coming along, and the wash helped make the building look dirtier, which is what I was going for. I always find that making models look worn and dirty is a lot easier than making them look nice and shiny.

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  4. Ahhh bugger! the shops shut, and I'm out of milk! (and brains 🧟‍♂️).

    Great colour choice, love that green! Glad I was able to help with the stirrer idea (I'll be using that myself in the next week or so!). I'm intrigued with what that mesh did on a pan? we have the same stuff over here, but it's usually sold in car spares shops to use to reinforce repaired body panels.

    Cheers Roger

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    1. The mesh is from one of those covers you use to put over a frying pan to stop the fat flying everywhere. I managed to put a spatula through it when packing it away last year, so I cut the mesh out and kept it. As it's a bit blackened from heat I don't even have to weather it :-)

      The stirrer idea was absolutely perfect for covering the joins. I might have to add a couple more but for now they look great!

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  5. Great looking model and well dome covering the corners and other joints. Good choice of colours too, but a little wear and tear on some of the wood wouln't come amisss and maybe a few weathered posters too - or is tthat all to come ?

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  6. Wear and tear on the wood is a thing that's definitely going to happen, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't use chipping medium to achieve it like I did with my wooden fence. I'm not sure about posters yet, but there will be graffiti :-)

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  7. Looking great Matt - I really like what you've done with the doors, I might just copy that when I get around to my TTCombat scenery... if I ever do!

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    1. Thanks! Have you bought a TTCombat MDF building? I've been looking at those on Amazon and am tempted, but I'd like to know more...

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  8. This looks sweet! Very fine work. Coffee stirrers and chinchilla dust; two things never meant to be used in the same sentence, never mind project... but here they are and they look great!
    And my reasoning for boarding up the outside is that zombies won't be smart enough to remove the boards. If you were fortifying against post-apocalyptic raiders, I'd suggest putting the boards inside. They can't get to them easily if they have to go through the glass, and that would probably hurt.

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    1. Cheers, Keith! Honestly when I saw chinchilla dust in Mark's post I was all, "WTF?" But it works so well. It would also work on bases where you want texture but not the amount sand gives.

      Your reasoning for the boards going on the outside is rock solid, and I appreciate it as I was totally stuck on which way to go with them.

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