Hey all!
Well, as promised, here is some more info about the actual build of my first "Walking Dead" board!
I based the layout on a play-mat I had. I designed it with versatility in mind... the large 7-11 store I have can only go in one corner, but it can face either way. The smaller building can go nearly anywhere! Of course, you can play without buildings as well.
Here is the original as I was doing work on it. The sidewalks are made of balsa rectangles, with the curbs and cracks etched in using a pen. The concrete and asphalt areas are done with cork-lined contact paper, and the grassed areas are sanded and then flocked.
Here is a closeup of the street. You can see one of the drains here... I cut out underneath them, so there is some depth when you look in there.
I made a LOT of tufts for this thing... four strips to be exact... three shorter strips (4mm and 6mm) and one longer (12mm and down.) In retrospect I should have done as many longs... you really need long grass when mankind has stopped mowing! I used four or five different grass colors to do it, ranging from wheat to vibrant green. Above are a deeper green set and a lighter green set. Note that I did some tufts in long strips for sidewalk cracks and borders.
Here is the board mid-paint. Fairly simple stuff... dry brush each surface with a few different colors. I then went in afterwards and did some weathering with brown, black, and green inks.
And here it is, totally cleared off. Note that the smaller building can be put on the narrow side of the street in three spots (left, center, right on the pavement) or on the near paved area or anywhere in the larger grassed area.
So, here are some closeups. Here is the striped parking lot. I measured this one out carefully... the idea is that, if there is NO building on here, it can be a parking lot. But if you DO put the smaller building here...
... I measured it out so it completely covered the lines, no matter which side faces the road. It works well, I think.
Here is drain #1. It was a lot of fun doing the inks here, and building up all the stuff around the drain, which is naturally where a lot of detritus would end up.
Here is the other drain. Note the Time Magazines near it (and one even caught in the drain) of Donald Trump. Any connection to the end of the world? I'll never tell!
Here is the smaller lot. I added stuff especially to the edges of each lot... I wanted to keep the CENTERS clear for buildings, but wanted it to LOOK wild, and found that edging each area with grasses did that well. I just had to stay away from the sidewalk edges because I want the buildings to be able to butt right up to them.
Here is one of the fields. Again, note the paper in the corner... out of the way of whatever building would go in this space.
Here is the intersection. The yellow lines REALLY went a long way towards "finishing" the board... a bit of painters tape and voila! The only thing I didn't include was the white lines along the sidewalk... I don't think I'll go back and add them, although I will likely go back and touch up the black lines of the sidewalk cracks and the like.
So that's that! Hope everyone enjoyed! I have three more coming... a more rural one, one with an industrial feel... and then I am not sure, but I might try a water effect!
