would like a bit of help on my project

[sishir]

For my English Classics project we have to make a project on a certain item or event. I chose Babylon during the time of Nebuchadrezzar ii, or a time when it was at its height. So i am going to make a city for my project. Ive got the maps, and a few refrences, but sorta afraid to start. Never build a city model, so i was wondering, how should i do it?

I brought a square wooden peice for my base, but i want to make the city took professional, and yet not sepnd a huge sum of money. Any ideas?

Oh that and any other ideas you can give me regarding this project would be of help, thankyou.

[Seedling]

Cardboard and glue-gun! And if you want to get fancy, slather plaster on top of that, and then paint the whole mess.

[tensai]

i made a lot of city and building models for work. there we often use hard blue isolation foam and a foam cutter but you probably don't have access to that. i'd use brown cardboard or foamboard (foam with paper on both outer edges).
i'd choose a thickness that would roughly correspondent to one floor height in the model (i.e. if your building is three floors high, use three slabs of board to built up the right height for that particular building).
this way you can keep things simple, abstract but indicate scale because the edges of the separate layers will show through.

add scale figures - models are all about indicating scale, so put some humans in there as ref. you can keep a model quite quick and abstract if you add good figures and cars etc.

focus (practice) on cutting tight and glueing tight. i'd never use a glue gun if it wasn't absolutely necessary (it isn't if you're using card board). normal transparant glue that glues styrofoam/plastics and papers is fine. i often workfaster and cleaner when i put a little pool of glue on a separate discarded piece of board and dip the edge of the part i want to glue into it. remove glue wires before attaching them to your model.


Ive got the maps, and a few refrences, but sorta afraid to start. Never build a city model, so i was wondering, how should i do
never be afraid to start - just do some experiments on the side and test how things work. that way you just get started while you learn from experience.

have fun

edit - another timesaver is spending some time on making your plan drawings suited to your model. draw some streets (adding road graphics if appropriate) put name of the project, the scale and your name on it too, then print it on the right scale, and on the right paper. then spraymount that paper on you base and you'll have the right position and size of all your buildings in front of you. just make parts and glue everything on top. tight and quick.

[sishir]

i didnt really think of the mapping part. I think if i draw a accurate and nice outline on the wood( clear enough) i can then build the models separately and work on it.

thanks

oh another question, should i paint with acrylics? or is there cheap paint i can get. I was thinking of airbrushing, but thats too expensive, and i dont think my art store has any airbrushing.