"Shanty town WIP" Topic

I started working on a 15mm shanty town for some Force on Force gaming. The setting is supposed to be a Central American or Caribbean-style village. I'm not convinced with the building colors. Any suggestions? flickr.com/photos/145801785@N05/shares/8h1Pi8

I think they look great. Maybe you could vary the size of the corrugated metal on the roof of some of the huts. That would make it look more rag tag. So put two or three pieces of overlapping metal on top instead of one big piece.

Even putting tires from toy cars up there would enhance the effect.

Have you tried google?

link

I wanted some different size roofs, but the model train store here only had O gauge corrugated sheets. When they get some HO in, I will grab them.

Do you think the darker color building too dark? I looked at some pictures on google and see a lot of lighter-colored shacks.

They do look nice. Looking thru the 79th PA's link there seems to be a similarity in structures at each location. However, construction, age and condition varies from place to place.

Your buildings seem to represent a little bit better construction so I wouldn't go too far in patchworking the roofs. A little patchwork and a little rust on the roof may look good with a little dirty (brown & black) wash on the walls. Again, your shanties seem to represent a little bit more pristine and substantial building so I wouldn't go to great lengths to muck them up.

The colors seem fine. Some of the pics show a great similarity in color and others, as you mentioned, show some brighter shades. If you are concerned about the brown building, give it a little bit of highlighting until you are happy.

Having lived in Guatemala for some time in the '80s I've seen a few shanty towns. First of all they should mostly be white/off-white, the volcanic ash they use in the stucco is white and there isn't much extra money for paint. you should mix in some buildings made of cardboard and plastic traps. I was whole areas built with wood frames covered with wood and/or plastic built so close together that not much sky could be seen.