"Post Apocalyptic Above Ground Living Quarters?" Topic

What do you envision scavengers using for living quarters above ground?

Buses?
link

Truck containers?
TMP link

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

CC

Years ago, when I went into Mexico for a geology class from University of Houston; the first five miles consisted of truck trailers and people were living in them. How they got there and why they were abandoned I'll leave to your imagination.

Anything which can provide the shelter-and defense-of a cave will be used.

Mugwump

Anything that protects you from the acid rain.
Buses, carwrecks, improvised shanty constructions from builders plastic, aluminium plates…

Loads and loads of wriggly tin, if the movies are anything to go by :-)

The hollowed-out carapaces of giant cockroaches…

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I kind of liked the Chieftain tank as a shelter myself…

Damon.

AECurtis,

Have you ever stayed in one of those? Those things are made of mostly cardboard and plaster. Not much protection there. :)

CC

I guess some of the heavier built metal train containers might work, right?

Except I don't know what those things are actually called, in order to do a search for them in O scale.

CC

Don't have to look in the future to see what it would look like. Check google for Shanty town, ghettos, 3rd world living, homeless, squatters, tent cities, refugees, and south africa. You will find a lot.

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Just a few.
Toe

Toe,

In the even that trains and other things become obsolete, do you think people will choose a shack over a ready-built sturdy structure?

CC

That should read "In the event that trains and other things become obsolete as transportation vehicles".

CC

Not at all. The original question was for living condition for scavengers. I was just linking to modern "Scavengers"

You could just as easily see find images of people squatting in abandoned buildings, buses, boxcars.

The links I gave would be the poorest, living in the most over crowded areas.

I was once working on some modular wall sections to make my own resin shanty towns for my si-fi games. I used to have hundreds of pics for inspiration.
I wish I had them still to show you. Whole towns of corrugated metal buildings. Also a number of Asian/Brazilian towns built on the side of mountains. really interesting stuff.

Toe

Three or four of these could be arranged in a triangular or quadrangular pattern to make a nice fort.

I guess the problem would be to have the right machinery to drag those things into that configuration.

CC

Ooops. Here are the links:

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CC

Plasticville makes right-sized abanded boxcar. A set called 'hoboville' I believe.

abandoned trains can only be inhabited by people who decide to live near train rails. if train are obsolete as transport, why would people live near a train rail. Not much food to scavenge, unless it's very near a highway too.

Abandoned motels are much more interesting. With a bit of tactical barricading & boobytrapping you can hold out some hours in case of attack. But as a base to go out collecting it's much more feasable for day to day survival.
In a period of a few weeks, when organised well, you can turn even the worst third rate cockroach motel in a good fortress.

The containers you talk about are used or were by the MOD in the falklands on the mountain RADAR sites for living accomodation

My idea of post apocalyptic is 99% of people dead.
That should not lead to crowding anytime soon thereafter.

People would just live in deserted skyscrapers.

I also think that the majority of the population will have gone, with the remainder leaving the urban areas (returning occasionally to scavenge, though).

People would be hunting eachother for resources. Improvised fortified dwellings, away from most others, would be the way to go.

CC

Agree trapondur!!
Small villages on top of skyscrapers!

And gangwars on ground-level.

Didn't "Omega Man" reside on the top floor of a fortified building?

CC

Re: Living space in a post-apocalyptic world: whether people will be living in skyscrapers or not is all determined by the type of apocalypse, and the period of time from which it happened. A post-Nuclear wasteland probably wouldn't have too many skyscrapers for habitation (they would be glass). Similarly, 50 or 100 years post apocalypse may see those buildings in far worse shape; lack of human habitation and upkeep does bad things to abandoned buildings…

Damon.

I was thinking the same. Unless it's an all out nuke war were everything's is destroyed why would the survivors just not live in the best building they could find. Look at the "Postman" for a good example

How about a High School? Max Brooks sugested this in Zombie Survival Guide. In midwestern American rural counties High Schools are located in the middle of nowhere (in order to be more centralized and meeting the needs of everyone). Boarding up the first floor windows and blocking off some entrences would make it more defensible. Inside the high school would be (initiallly) lots of classroom space (for individual families), limited medical supplies, HVAC equiptment, Wood/Metal working tools, a large supply of (school) food, some clothing (ever see a school lost in found in Mid February?), books from the library, a greenhouse or at least a FFA center and (if you could get power) computers. Some rural districts still have NRA sponsered Shooting clubs. Everything a growing community of survivors would need.

Doc Out

"Look at the "Postman" for a good example"

not a phrase I ever thought to hear…………

The short lived miniseries Jeremiah is an interesting example of a post apocalyptic society. The leader of one city put her headquarters in the local highschool and put the labs and gyms to good use.

jeremiah.tv/story.html

an excerpt from the above site …
"Set in the future, the series focuses on Jeremiah (Luke Perry) who must navigate his way through a world populated by the survivors of a deadly epidemic that spared only those who had not yet reached puberty. Now those same survivors must find their way in a decadent civilization and attempt to create a new world order of hope."

Does anyone make buses for 28mm that have removable tops?

Thanks.

CC

"Look at the "Postman" for a good example"

not a phrase I ever thought to hear…………

you're not alone…

@Area23: Not so, I see old trains everywhere from backyards through public parks to canefields, plus if the rails go through a town or point of interest there may be a reason for people to stay there.
If nothing else then an abandoned train in the middle of nowhere would be shelter and somewhere to live away from everyone else.