takes a gamble on a blurry image in an auction.
Our 6mm Agricultural Colony buildings range came out just over 18 months ago and has proved to be pretty popular, and has been added to a couple of times (and there are more in the works). Now we haven't introduced any new 15mm buildings for a while, and so the ideal range for us to scale up had to be those.
But we had a think about it, and instead of just a straight scaling up of the 6mm models, we took a different approach. We stripped all the accoutrements (doors, windows, etc.) off of them and reduced them to simple shells. The external components were then made as separate pieces that could be positioned anywhere on the shells.
The building shells have a lip around the bottom half, just to make them look a bit more interesting. This means that where necessary, the components have been designed with a rear profile to fit over this lip. Fortunately, this profile is the same on all sides of the buildings, so it doesn't limit placement of the doors and other parts.
So far, we have four different building shells – a simple rectangular building, two L-shaped versions (mirror images of each other), and a smaller, lower square shell which works as a shed or utility building. These buildings in this preview are made from one of the L-shapes (blue and green) plus the shed (yellow). Components consist of doors (three types), windows, roof units (four), aircon units (three), side extensions (two), and a large shed/garage door.
The idea is that we'll sell the buildings as complete kits – something like a shell with a door, a couple of windows, a roof unit, an extension and an aircon unit. Extra components will then be available in separate packs so that you can further customize them. We've built up a couple so far, and it's surprising how different they can be made to look by utilizing the different components and reorienting the doors so that a different face becomes the 'front' of the building – it's not immediately obvious that the blue and green buildings in the photos are the same basic model. These are both made up from the set of parts listed above.
One distinctive feature of some of the 6mm buildings is the raised bases, intended to keep the inhabitants safe from nocturnal visitors. So we've also made a resin base with metal legs that is large enough for a single building. You'll be able to buy the buildings with or without a base (and a set of steps), or again buy the bases as a separate item.
Coming to a Salute near you in the next few weeks…