The cabin before the blow-up.
The cabin was made the same way as the previous Dreadnok hideout. Primarily Foamboard construction with scrapbook paper details. The quandry in making this project was one, how to do the trap door as seen in issue #32, and two, how to give the cabin the look of actual log poles without relying on carving or crafting individual poles.
The first problem was solved by raising the cabin on two inches of scratch made terrain. Using chunks of styrofoam, I made up the terrain in block style, and after cutting the 2" x 4" area in the center for his trap door, used my various tools to fashion rock face, cracks, hill slopes, and foot path. These were then painted, drybrushed, flocked, and then given a new German grass product that is actually twice the length of commercial static grass.
The second problem was harder, as I did not want to cut and surface the foamboard as this cannot be done satisfactory. So, I asked myself, what makes a cabin a log cabin as opposed to a regular cabin? The end poles. So I set out to wire cut styrofoam into the overlapping end poles of a log cabin, hot glued them into position, and then painted and drybrushed them to the exact pattern on the scrapbook paper. It came out fairly decent.
The chimney was done like the Dreadnok one, using PaperClay in a boulder mold to produce the rocks, and them they were hot-glued to a form cut piece of microdensity styrofoam. The same 5 step paint and drybrushing brought out a fantastic realistic rock effect that also feels like stone but weighs nothing.
The interior was given several shelves with doll house produce such as cans of beans, boxes of dry goods, and two plates. The table was scratch built and given three open boxes of chinese food takeout, and a GIJOE sized pair of chopsticks graces on box. The fireplace has kindling and glowing embers made that way by flourescent orange and yellow paint given a drybrush of charcoal grey. There is a small attic section with a mattress cot and room for essentials. In the center of the floor underneath the dull rug, is a trapdoor that leads to a crawl space where SnakeEyes and Timber can hide.
Lastly, I used one of my large trees to give the outside a touch of the woods. Also, various large ballast rocks here and there. The whole thing weighs less than two to three pounds, yet strong enough for spring loaded and other game play. Again, like the Dreadnok one, when I get my SLR film developed, I will have better pix(when I can afford it). I absolutely detest web and digital cameras as they seem to have this grainy pixilated look, and also a minimum range of 3 feet which is too far away.
