1/56 (28mm) Modular Buildings

[Rubicon Models]

A NEW RANGE – 1/56 (28mm) Modular Buildings

MDF buildings had been gaining popularity for the past year.  Pricing usually range from £12 to £20 for small unpainted buildings to over £60 for painted ones.  We had been working on a new project experimenting with different concepts and designs for over a year.  Now that we have some solid groundwork done, we would like to share it with you before moving onto the next work phase.

Disadvantage with MDF buildings are:
Heavy – because MDF are made from wood fibres with a resin binder
Thick – because they are made from standard industrial MDF boards
Flat – because they are laser cut, everything is 2D
Square – you will never see round corners or bent surface
Burnt Edge – because of the laser interacting with the resin, you always will have a burnt edge
WYSWYG – there is no way you can customized your building except with a different color

Besides MDF buildings, there are paper, resin, some plastic ruins, plus a few plastic huts of fixed design.  OR you can create your own with mixed material taking lots of planning and preparation work.

Our goal is to create a generic Modular Plastic Building for the wargaming community.  Advantages of our design include:
Plastic – light weight, sturdy and easy to handle
Modular – meaning you can customize the look of your building
Stackable – every floor and rooftop is removable to show interior
Details – everything are highly detailed
Expandable – expansion products are planned to add variety on a regular basis
Low Cost – most basic components are common to the whole range which meant lower retail price

Here are some possibilities and concept design for your comment:







We would like your participation to make this a better product for the community.  Things like:
- Type of wall pattern you want to see on the final product
- The look of the door design
- The look of the shop window display
- The look of the chimney
…and so forth!

Mind you this is still something of a work-in-progress project, if development cost is too expensive we might not proceed further.  We do have some 3D prototypes done, will post them up on the forum later!

C&C welcome!

[OzzyUK]

This would be a most welcome addition to your range, interior detailing is a bonus. You can get mdf with interior detail but it does push the cost up. I look forward to seeing how this develops. Now, if you can kick these out as 15mm as well as 28mm.......

[Eenies]

Looks great!

[smurfben]

These would be fantastic! laser cut buildings in 28mm cost just as much as other terrain products in the same scale and they are significantly less detailed. At 15mm the laser cut products are fine because you want the effect of scale from afar when looking down at a flames of war table. For 28mm its all about detail and these look like they'll be superb!

[Laffe]

I think your samples look vaguely European. In Europe, hell in Normandy alone, styles could vary a lot. So I think you should offer a lot of options :-)

Like in this one you have brick partially with render and those wooden frame rendered walls:
Traditional buildings in Normandy by EIL Intercultural Learning, on Flickr

Here is plain stone, probably more common on farm buildings like that modular warehouse:


If you remember the old Mordheim buildings (I still use them for WW2 skirmish) their way of affixing corners with plastic stonework would work with plastic walls as well. Is that how you are going to assemble the buildings? But I think your corner stones would need to look more uneven, sort of like this:


(Link to the page if the image doesn't work: http://www.bugbitten.com/photos/Europe/colleenashfield/Brittany_Normandy_amp_Paris/2431-342-73914.html)

So Stone, Brick, Rendered walls (some damage with stone or brick underneath), plain brick, with bigger alternating corner stones. Seems like you get more and more stone and brick houses when you go north into Belgium and Holland. But I'm no architect...

You also get some thatched roofs in Normandy and Belgium too.

Here's a lot of information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Normandy

This blog post is very nice: http://belgianpearls.blogspot.se/2011/01/belgian-architecture-and-interior.html

I'm not sure going fully modular is the way to go, maybe a modular series combined with one-offs that are more quirky and characterful.

[Rubicon Models]

Thanks, Laffe!  That's great references!  We are no architect or historian, we can only apply our design onto "generic" buildings that we can find on books and on the internet.  Your references would somehow go into the final design. 

Of course, there are other considerations... ease of painting and how to get the texture match seamlessly with each wall section and so on... Thanks again!

[Laffe]

I found another great page, Normandy then and now:
http://izismile.com/2009/09/03/normandy_during_ww2_and_now_204_pics.html

Some of the current houses are the same (or same style) as they were back then really.

[Laffe]

Another building, from the Bessin Normandie area (wherever that is?) which shows a 300-year old farmhouse.



Typical rendering over stone that has cracked and fallen off, slate roof and large window shutters. Satellite antenna presumably a late addition :-)

Edit: It's a bed and breakfast now, about 40 minutes west of Caen, smack inland of Omaha beach apparently. Website: http://www.normandybandb.biz/

[Ballardian]

I think Laffe pretty much nailed the descriptions, brick, stone, decayed render etc. As to interiors, I'm not sure more is needed than a textured floor (boards or tiles) & some detail on the windows & fireplaces ( I say this as none of the mdf scenery - 4Ground, Sarissa etc had them - & somehow it just looks wrong!) Look forwad to more news on this!

[therupert]

This is DEFINITELY something I would buy in droves.  I've been searching high and low for plastic modular buildings for Bolt Action and haven't liked anything I've seen until this...

I really hope you guys move forward with this, because I'm already sold!

[Morsleib]

The 300 year old farmhouse shows another possibility.With a little planning these can be backdated into other wars/time periods. WW1, Franco-Prussian, Napoleonic etc. Expands the market.

I like the idea of a few 'feature' models that can be also used to individualise the generic ones. It's very easy to fall into the 'rows of boxes' look although I understand that individuality would add cost.

Terry

[quietviper]

Ooooh, I love the idea! What I would like to see in the modularity of the kit is the ability to create ruined buildings as well as whole buildings. I know that I'm asking for a tall order, but, personally, I spend way too much time searching the internet for GOOD ruined buildings. If there was one building kit that could do it all, that would be awesome!

[Rubicon Models]

Ooooh, I love the idea! What I would like to see in the modularity of the kit is the ability to create ruined buildings as well as whole buildings. I know that I'm asking for a tall order, but, personally, I spend way too much time searching the internet for GOOD ruined buildings. If there was one building kit that could do it all, that would be awesome!

The initial product will be in a complete building format.  Converting it into a ruin should not be too difficult as most parts are in modular form.  Over time, we will create special expansion sprue(s) for those who don't want to convert.  This will be an active project for a long while... based on customer feedback!

[Keith]

This is a genius idea! Well done 

[Rubicon Models]

For the weekend, we are uploading part of our 3D prototype parts for your thoughts and comments...

The Floor Board - this is the basic building block of all buildings.  This one is 2 x 3, some might be 3 x 5, and so on...


The Walls - Walls are make up of a solid wall, wall with windows, wall with entrance, store front wall, and so on...





Wall Corners - These are the basic support for each section of the building


The Staircase - Connecting the upper floors, we have created some staircase that can be used on all 4 corners of the building.



The Slated Rooftop - The final top section of each building, can also be a flat rooftop or any other shape.  Can also add single or multiple gables to it for customization!  The rooftop will also define the building to be a townhouse or a standalone building as well.






The Chimney & the Rain Gutter Drainage - How can a building without a chimney or drainage.  These can be of various shape, depending on design...



ASSEMBLED VIEW - and finally some assembled view of our prototype building!





All these are our initial prototype parts, still a lot of fine-tuning and touch-up work before they can be put into our final design.
We have not put in (or etch) texture on the walls yet.  There is a lot of consideration on painting, seamless pattern matching between walls, and so on...
Other options will later be incorporated into the final design, such as balcony, back door, outhouse, and so on...

C&C are most welcome!