We will start with the board itself, which we will do with a miniature movement tray (measuring about 2″x4″, give or take). We will also need four wood strips a bit longer than 1″ (exactly 3 cms.), which will be used as support for the front metal grid. They must be greater than 1″ so we can be sure that a miniature with a 25 mm round base can be comfortably put on it. We have to cut four holes on the lower part of the movement tray, so once glued this wood strips won’t protrude from the billboard bottom edge (and it is also easier to glue them with the help of some kind of putty or filler).
The base for the billboard is a plywood rectangle big enough to give the whole thing a good stability, which will end up being quite high. We made it 18″x48″, but obviously you can cut it with whatever measures you like. The vertical supporting poles are 1/5″ width and 5″ high. We glued it to the base with the help of a chunk of two-components putty, to make sure they wouldn’t go anywhere, at a distance of about 2″ from each other (again, give or take, it has not to be an exact distance).
These are the supporting poles once glued to the back of the billboard/movement tray. The final height is completely up to you, we have made an estimation of what we liked and we thought it would be a good overall height compared to a Punkapocalyptic human miniature. We also added a couple of reinforcement squares or brackets to the sides of the billboard, made with thinner wood strips cut to such end.
Here you can see the process up to this moment, all glued, attached, dried and resistant to falling and dumb handling. The slimy Mutard is shown for scale purposes.
In this picture we have already glued some modelling sand to the base, first coat of color already applied, and added several metal bits scattered over it. I also glued a metal plate leaning over one of the supporting poles to add some cover element for the miniatures, making it useful in terms of play and not only a decorative element. A metal grid has been also glued on the horizontal wood strips to act as a catwalk, with a couple of plastic skulls from the bits box to add to the mandatory gory-postapoc mood: one impaled in a spike over the billboard, the other hanging from a chain under the right horizontal pole.
And a last minute idea: to make this highway billboard even more useful in a game we added a custom ladder made with some timber planks and boards, so it is perfectly clear that the upper grid catwalk is accesible. Perfect to deploy some mean sniper to harass the enemy. We used a couple of wood skewers and a chunk of balsa wood cut into bits (the more irregular they get, the better), and we are ready to go.
And here it is the painted final result. Vallejo metallics for the whole structure, with a shitload of Citadel washes in brown, greens and black tones to make it look dirty and old. Vallejo sand, browns and chestnut Citadel wash for the ground. Vallejo metallic blue for the metal plate, so it stands out. Vallejo bone and brown Citadel washes for the skulls.
The sign poster (downloaded from the Internet and printed at home) is a homage to the “Two Crude Dudes” MegaDrive badass game, a 1990 post-apocalyptic hit starred by two greased pimps who roam the Wasteland beating the shit out of people. Weathered with even more Citadel washes, we teared some parts of it and made some graffiti worthy of a teenager with barely enough brain cells to make it through the day.
This is the back side, too juicy to let it pass without being also graffited. “Eat Shit and Die” is a phrase just like any other, as well as the name of the death-gothic-punk metal band who kicks ass in the Wasteland (maybe you read about them in some of the Scrapbridge Gazettes). There is also a tag from the Red Vipers gang, as well as the “Dead Kennedys” logo in the upper right part, a punk-ass band from the 70’s and 80’s.
Done! With a couple of wood strips and a movement tray you can create this beauty too 😀