JoeDios.com Forums - View Single Post - Building walls/corridors

Ok, before we go on too much further, let me lay down some other elements, ideas and concepts.

Anyone who has viewed my dios know that I strive for a very particular look. It's MY look! No seriously, I build 90% of my sets because I want them to have a similar feel to them. It wouldn't make sense if I made my walls one way and then changed them up the next section as the characters walk thru them. It wouldn't make sense. Think Star Trek. Any of them. Sure the Federation ships are very much alike in terms of the aesthetics inside, BUT you wouldn't run into a Klingon or Borg section in the Enterprise (in normal circumstances). I realloy prefer to build just about everything, including my own computer consoles (as seen in "Transformations").

So check this out. I've buy most of wood from Lowes. I'm not very consistent at remembering WHAT I buy, but I know WHERE I am getting the boards from.[IMG]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Sonneilon/HowToWalls/Walls05.jpg[/IMG]

In the case of this picture, the full sized wood plank I bought looked like this. I took it home and chopped it in half. (Please don't pay attention to the fact that they aren't the exact same size. I'm not sure where it's sister piece is.) Cutting it in half means I now have 2 bases I can work with. I cut them in half because I was making corridor sets, not rooms, chambers or labs (or whatever). As you can tell, I now use these as scrap pieces to paint my Warhammer40k stuff on. Just ignore that too, please.

The next step is pretty basic. I choose wood for the bases of the sets because I don't want warping and wood stands up better than trying to build on foamboard. You can move these things around all you like. Drop the base, it won't break or bend, y'know? The idea, originally, was to have a ton of these where I could ADD walls as I pleased.

This part isn't tricky by any means. All you need are the 75 cent L-Brackets, wood screws (or just screws in general) and a drill. ASSUMING that the edges are straight (when cutting in half, I use a 90-degree ruler to make sure the line will be straight across), I plop 2 L-brackets where I think they would work best. I use a pencil, mark where the hole will be drilled, pull the L-bracket, drill and then screw it all in.

...And this is what you come up with. In theory, 2 L-brackets. I usually drill the smaller side onto the wood and leave the LONG side for the walls (more support).

In terms of painting the 'floor', you can paint it before or after. Depends on you. WHEN originally doing the dio, I was going for remotely smooth floors, not something with grating (that's a whole 'nother ballgame). So I just slapped a type of gray on there.

Not that the L-Bracket's flat side is sitting on the INSIDE of the board, not facing the outside. Eventually you'll attach the wall which will most likely be as LONG as the base. The thing to always remember is that walls can always be removed and new ones attached. BUT if you keep the base as is, you can always use it whenever you need. No need to make a new base each time, tho it's sometimes easier due to, uh, laziness. lol

It should be noted that you will want to find screws that will match the thickness of the board and the L-Bracket. If you use screws that are too long, you'll find yourself impaling fingers on them. Trust me, I've learned the hard way. Many times. In those cases, I'll just Dremel SAND it off. WATCH THE SPARKS FLY!

Please proceed to the next page...

01-27-2008, 08:29 PM	#6
Sonneilon aka 'Paul WS Anderson' ;) Offline --> Posts: 7,751 --> Join Date: Jul 2005	Ok, before we go on too much further, let me lay down some other elements, ideas and concepts. Anyone who has viewed my dios know that I strive for a very particular look. It's MY look! No seriously, I build 90% of my sets because I want them to have a similar feel to them. It wouldn't make sense if I made my walls one way and then changed them up the next section as the characters walk thru them. It wouldn't make sense. Think Star Trek. Any of them. Sure the Federation ships are very much alike in terms of the aesthetics inside, BUT you wouldn't run into a Klingon or Borg section in the Enterprise (in normal circumstances). I realloy prefer to build just about everything, including my own computer consoles (as seen in "Transformations"). So check this out. I've buy most of wood from Lowes. I'm not very consistent at remembering WHAT I buy, but I know WHERE I am getting the boards from.[IMG] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Sonneilon/HowToWalls/Walls05.jpg[/IMG] In the case of this picture, the full sized wood plank I bought looked like this. I took it home and chopped it in half. (Please don't pay attention to the fact that they aren't the exact same size. I'm not sure where it's sister piece is.) Cutting it in half means I now have 2 bases I can work with. I cut them in half because I was making corridor sets, not rooms, chambers or labs (or whatever). As you can tell, I now use these as scrap pieces to paint my Warhammer40k stuff on. Just ignore that too, please. The next step is pretty basic. I choose wood for the bases of the sets because I don't want warping and wood stands up better than trying to build on foamboard. You can move these things around all you like. Drop the base, it won't break or bend, y'know? The idea, originally, was to have a ton of these where I could ADD walls as I pleased. This part isn't tricky by any means. All you need are the 75 cent L-Brackets, wood screws (or just screws in general) and a drill. ASSUMING that the edges are straight (when cutting in half, I use a 90-degree ruler to make sure the line will be straight across), I plop 2 L-brackets where I think they would work best. I use a pencil, mark where the hole will be drilled, pull the L-bracket, drill and then screw it all in. ...And this is what you come up with. In theory, 2 L-brackets. I usually drill the smaller side onto the wood and leave the LONG side for the walls (more support). In terms of painting the 'floor', you can paint it before or after. Depends on you. WHEN originally doing the dio, I was going for remotely smooth floors, not something with grating (that's a whole 'nother ballgame). So I just slapped a type of gray on there. Not that the L-Bracket's flat side is sitting on the INSIDE of the board, not facing the outside. Eventually you'll attach the wall which will most likely be as LONG as the base. The thing to always remember is that walls can always be removed and new ones attached. BUT if you keep the base as is, you can always use it whenever you need. No need to make a new base each time, tho it's sometimes easier due to, uh, laziness. lol It should be noted that you will want to find screws that will match the thickness of the board and the L-Bracket. If you use screws that are too long, you'll find yourself impaling fingers on them. Trust me, I've learned the hard way. Many times. In those cases, I'll just Dremel SAND it off. WATCH THE SPARKS FLY! Please proceed to the next page...