Thursday, March 24, 2011

Using Sketchup to design a manufactorum

I really like the manufactorum on page 27 of Cities of Death so I'm going to try to build one to use as a centerpiece.

As it is always hard to see the back of a building on a 2D photo (har har) I've started this project on the computer using Google Sketchup. This way I can make a basic plan for cutting my foamboard (it is exact to the millimeter and I have used 5mm and 3mm foamboard as my building blocks, the little perons at the front is scaled to Astartes height). Also it gives me a chance to consider if the building will work on the tabletop. I am still in doubt to be honest, it is rather high so climbing it during a battle will cost allmost the entire battle. On the other hand it will block line of sight and if succesful it will look great. It will also give me a chance to use a lot of pvc piping I have lying around after a major home renovation project. So there we go.



The planning does not show battle damage, small detailing and the large crater at the back that will work to explain the missing rear wall (I will leave that for later). I have tried to model what I can see from pages 27 and 76 from Cities of Death I especially like the freefloating landing platform which should be strong (and big) enough to hold a grav tank.

Anyway the first steps are these sketches in a bit of a 360 view, I will use these today to make cutting plans for the foamboard. It's going to be a fun project I hope.









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