Warehouses Now Available! - A Photography Backdrop

The world of Locustae 5 is covered in wreckage and old starships that are no longer useful. Most are fought over for scrapping rights, as many lucrative parts are still waiting to be discovered. Many are also used as make shift homes and warehouses. After all, what's a better building than one already constructed to safe the occupants from the hazards of space travel? 

Some locals come to trade their goods in town.

Ever since I saw Axiom at Magpie and Old Lead build a backdrop, I've wanted to add one to my photo's. I had finally come up with a good idea, so I sat down to put it together over the holidays. Basically the idea is that the plant I've been building is covered in wreckages and retired ships. Most are scrapped, but some are repurposed as buildings. This is intended to be a starship turned warehouse. Here's a quick breakdown as to how I built it:

1. I wanted to match the little space ship hulls I had painted up earlier this year. So I drew out a pattern on a foam board, and then scored it with the back of my hobby knife. It's not perfect, but it really wasn't meant to be. 

Here's you see me weighing down the parts until the glue held.

2. Next I started to add some details. We had the house re-sided this year, so I cut off the top of one to use as a visual feature. I figure it's some sort of reinforcement on the ship between decks. I added a door a with a ladder as well. Now it may look high, but since it's a starship I figured it wouldn't nessisarly be on the ground. There is a handy ladder attached to the hull though. I also added some cake pop straws to the top of the build. Some sort of lines running across the hull. 

3. Here I added further detail. Mostly extra panels to make it more interesting. Again, using the smaller hulls as a guide to blend into. 

Yes the gap is wide, but I wanted to be able to see it.

4. I decided to add an optional hanger door built out of various scraps. 

5. Magnetized to hold it in place. At this point I added a few small pieces of metal to the main piece for these to line up with.

6. Details! The control panel along with all the wood cut laser is from Death Ray Designs. They have a really awesome pack available for creating your own terrain. I also scored a couple of panel marks on the door. 

7. Painted the whole thing with craft paints... and the $2 white I have is awful. I would have done this with a spray can or airbrush, but it was too cold. It worked in the end, but took too many coats for my liking.  This was after like 3 coats. Fortunately I didn't want it to be weathered anyway. 

8. The blue line is another call back to the smaller hulls. 

Without warehouse door

The Door

9. A few washes and some details applied, and here we are! 

I'm really happy with how this came out. It's not perfect, but it's meant for the background so it never needed perfection. I did learn that if I ever use craft paints on something this big it will be first airbrushed, and second sealed afterword. The washes I was doing started re-activating the craft paint, which was less than ideal. Turned out to make a cool bleeding effect with the blue when pulled correctly, but definitely had me concerned at first.