Workbench: Building A New Frontier

Tuesday I read through an interesting article on the Antares Nexus about the different architectural styles common to the various factions.  I'd read this before but this time it really clicked for me. Within fifteen minutes I had an idea for a Freeborn outpost and within half an hour I had already started sketches and construction.

The basic idea for the outpost was somewhat inspired by the idea of Mos Shuuta from the Edge of the Empire adventure, Long Arm of the Hutt.  For those not familiar, Mos Shuuta is basically the base of operations for one of the lesser known Hutts, Teemo the Hutt.  The town itself is a small compound with Teemo's palace, a couple of docking bays, and a small town that has grown around these.  With that kind of an image in mind, I quickly sketched out a rough layout for my own Freeborn outpost.

In this case the center of the outpost would be an open plaza with a transmat in the very center.  This space would serve several functions within the outpost, from being a market for goods to a rallying point for troops.  Arrayed around this space are the rest of the structures, providing shelter from the elements and acting as a barrier to protect the transmat.  As a backup for moving goods and people in and out of the outpost, there is also a large raised landing platform.

This pad is large enough to accommodate a shuttle and also has a wall around its perimeter, allowing it to also function as a defensive position.  Construction of this piece was very simple since it is basically a flat surface but I also decided to add the ramp and exterior walls just to make it more interesting visually.  There are also some details made from off cuts that I used to decorate the edge of the wall just to give it a bit more of a pop.

The next building I decided to tackle was the warehouse/hanger.  This is another large structure that also features a large door in the front to allow cargo or even vehicles to be moved in or out of it.

The largest vehicle I own currently is the C3T7 and that fits through with room to spare so I think that most of the other vehicles should be able to fit through as well.  Again I grabbed some of the interesting off cuts that I had lying around after cutting out the pieces and used those to add some surface details to the structure.

With those two major features out of the way, I decided to focus on some of the habitation modules I would use in the outpost.  The concept is that most of the buildings are basically repurposed pods which made things easy once I worked up a basic design concept.

In addition to being used for the hab centers, I am also going to build a couple of the larger units to use as domari and vardinari barracks.

The final piece for the outpost (other than the transmat of course) will be the manor house of the vard.  This will be the largest piece in the outpost and will have multiple levels as well, making it the defensive heart of the outpost.  This one is still more of a concept at the moment but I am going to follow the container theme that I have been carrying through, just making it a bit more elaborate is all.

So far I'm happy with how these are coming out though there is the issue of the seams between the plates.  I tried using hot glue to fill the valleys but once they dried they became quite concave.  Instead I want to pick up some adhesive foam sheets to use for various details, in particular as angle pieces running along those corners.  That should make them look a lot cleaner structurally and using the foam should let me quickly add some details to the various buildings.  Then I can start hitting these with paint and I think that will really make them pop, but more on that next week.  Until next time...