Small Scale Military Headquarters

I took my girls to Build-A-Bear last night and for the first time I took a really good look at the boxes they get for their stuffed animals. They are little houses for their new friends. I just noticed they have windows and a front door pre-cut into them and they are about in scale with 1/18. The roofs are peaked as well.

If anyone has seen them, you'll notice they are printed all over with cutsie print (Like the box of a McDonalds Happy Meal is) but it could be painted to look kinda cool. Some work would definately have to be done to the roof as the peak doubles as a handle and clasp to shut the top of the box, but with a little trimming, It should work. Some add ons could be some roof tiles or shingles (made of card board) mayve some small add on roof sections, (like the one that stick out over the door) and paint and I think they would make pretty passable little cheap houses for my XD guys. I could even cut some up and make bombed out ones, or add floors inside to make a second level. Alot could be done with these to make them work out. You could leave the handle on the top if you wanted and use them for a carry case for xd. You could get several and make a row of town houses.

The best part is, they seemed to not really care whether they gave away a bunch of them when I was there. My daughters went in with some pre bought animals that their Grandma sent them and they alreaday had some of the boxes. They had been around for a while and had gotten a little beat up, so they lady at the store (girl I mean, they are all like 16 or so) just gove the girls new ones even thought they weren't buying new animals. I just asked for a couple of boxes and she just gave me a few extra. I think they use these things like pizza places use pizza boxes, so you could potentially just go ask for a small stack and they would give them to you. At worst case, you might have to pay a dollar or two, I don't know, but I don't imagine they would be very expensive.

I think these make a great BASE for a house. with a little work, could be turned into something nice.

I think these make a great BASE for a house. with a little work, could be turned into something nice.

Give it a try and post some pics for us. It's certainly worth a shot because about the only source of really nice buildings are the Pola G scale stuff for model trains, unfortunately they are prohibitively expensive, and they have to be assembled and painted usually. A few of the outfits that cater to military modelers like us, such as Build-A-Rama and TSSD, produce some pretty nice stuff that is pre assembled and painted, and much more reasonably priced than the Pola G scale structures, but they can still be on the "pricey" side. Good luck.

I'd like to see a pic of what you're talking about too.

I find foamboard and hot-glue is good to use too.

Kevin.

I think Foam board and hot glue is an excellent idea too. This could be used in conjunction with that, you could frame in the windows, make window boxes, make a chimney, frame the door, make porches, overhangs, and extra rooms and floors with it. I just think these boxes come in a shape that saves me a little time. The basic town house shape is a good START, obviously they could use a **little** work. lol.

So far, we haven't tried anything for 1/18 dioramas, but a co-worker and I have used foam core (typically 3/16" or 1/4") and hot glue to create a base structure. We then create something in Illustrator or find a texture or structure photo we like and enlarge it in Photoshop to the appropriate size, clean it up as needed, print it out on a color laser printer. Spray glue it to the foam core backing, trim it out, and instant building. A person could easily add more details and contours and touch up any exposed edges. Not as nice as a cast plaster or resin structure, but if you want to create something fairly quickly, it works, and is a lot cheaper. And foam core and hot glue is surprisingly strong--with a little creative engineering, you could build something that would easily support the die-cast Tiger without sagging.

Thats a good idea, I have used that one in small scale with printer, paper and plasticard. I have also made some "flats" for a game I play called DBA this way. They are top down pictures of units printed and sprayglued down to foam core. Cut out and instant regiment or squad or whatever. What spray glue do you use though, I always have problems with the paper peeling up at the edges either right away but mostly after a little time. one set I made was fine for 2 years and then suddenly started peeling. They had been stored in the same place and the humidity hadnt changed or anything either.

I might try that idea with these boxes if I can find a good texture for them.

We typically use Super 77 from 3M. I have 2 WWII era photos (Corsair and Hellcat) that I blew up to about 30 x 40 inches and put on foam core and mounted on the walls of my office at work. They have been up for several months with no peeling or warping. And the different pieces we did before never showed any signs of peeling, even after 2 years. The only problems we ever had with them was when they were stored in a barn through a hot and humid Michigan summer, they started to warp, but flattened out again pretty quickly when brought inside.

I was tired of waiting for 21st Century or BBI to come out with new playsets or buidlings. I found an alternative:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

I was tired of waiting for 21st Century or BBI to come out with new playsets or buidlings. I found an alternative:

The little cabin pictured below is intended to be a bird house project, but it could be easily adapted for use as either a small XD shed or outbuilding, or 32X cottage or farmhouse.

The bird house /cabin type of buildings you are talking about still retain that look. Whereas, this bigger type of building (which was a do-it-yourself CD holder) is the correct height to fit a 1/18 scale fig in and still have plenty of head room to make the building look real.

I started to paint one I have in the 21st Century Normandy Farmhouse colors of brown with white to blend in. But as more could be done with this type of project to convert it into many other types of buildings we don't have - like a Church. There seems to be a big old bombed out church in all the games and movies on WWII. I don't know why 21st didn't get on it and make one??

Now I can make my own...

*I deleted this post as a courtesy to another boardmember.*

I found scratchbuilding to be a good way to get the buildings I wanted. Here are a few of my attempts.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/alb ... 9121RkwNXA

Wow, very nice collection
!!!!!!!!

Tool,

I really like the guard tower. It looks alot better than the one I tried to make last year.

Kevin.

Hey Tool, The brick building with the big blast hole is fantastic.
Good job.

Tool,

First: Where do you get your brick textures?

Second: Are you using some kind of netting on your para's helmets, and if so, what?

Third: What are those bunker looking things on your left side shelf, 'bout half way down in the picture with the tower.

Finally: Way to go man, that's what Im talking about!

quote:
First: Where do you get your brick textures?

Second: Are you using some kind of netting on your para's helmets, and if so, what?

Third: What are those bunker looking things on your left side shelf, 'bout half way down in the picture with the tower.

They are plastic dollhouse forms from Hobby Lobby

The para helmets are stock 21st Century 2nd waive figs

I think the "bunker things" your are referring to is the GI Joe Headquarters....if not I am not sure which one your talking about...sorry...the other builings in those pictures are made of cardboard or foamboard.

This really is a cool hobby.....if anyone knows how to scratchbuild a military train let me know

TOOL wrote: This really is a cool hobby.....if anyone knows how to scratchbuild a military train let me know

For that, Kevrut is defintely your man! He does some incredible work!!!

And your creations are awesome, although I have to admit: the Cobra legions are a bit overwhelming!

I played with the build a bear workshop houses to the extent that i even covered them with plaster and wood pieces.....they work pretty good.
also paint them after you let the plaster dry.

the only problem was that my daughters threw them away thinking they were trash!!!!!

oh well. better luck next time.

Speaking of birdhouse, if you go to your local Target store, back in the garden area you will find a wooden house with red metal roof for about $15.00. It looks like a simple one floor home and seems about 1/18. Needs some detailing and the roof doesn't fit tightly. Here is a link to the Target website with it.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr ... B000J6970E