Hi John - glad to see you're back in action! Too bad you had to redo the wall, but, the new wall looks like it will be a great backdrop! (and, it's authentic). I like the variety of bldg ht and the window pattern -

Look forward to seeing the next post -

Cheers
Nick

James, they won't be staying pink and smooth too much longer. That hideous sandy tan color will be making an appearance soon, ugh. The total revamp worked out in my favor in the long run, I used up the last of the green board except for a small amount on the previous iterations.

Nick, the pics I took have been a help. The ones from my buddy in Combat Camera turned out to be a big asset, too. Amazing what a couple boxes of Girl Scout Thin Mints can do for you, SWMBO sent over a couple cases of them. Surprisingly excellent material for horse trading. I don't know for 100% certainty that the building I'm working on today is actually the Fallujah Candy Store. I got an e-mail this morning from one of the guys in my unit that I asked to verify my info that it didn't survive Phantom Fury and what guys said was "the" candy store was just a shot up, abandoned shop (not that there weren't a butt ton of them while we were there).

One thing to keep in mind when depicting buildings in Iraq is that building codes are, shall we say inconsistent at best. Things are crowded in the built up areas and uniformity is pretty much non-existent, even after all the fighting in Fallujah.

Nice to see the reconfiguration taking shape,
J

Thanks, Jerry. It's been a process, but in a way I'm kind of glad it happened. I wasn't happy with the original orientation of the building with the produce stand in front of it, having been there when the we took down the real place, I was able to reproduce the building layout but it was backwards. Now it's right.

On another note, I verified that 1/8's candy store from Phantom Fury was actually a three stall building and not the single stall stand alone the 2/6 guys said was it. So the infamous candy store won't be included but it will be replaced.

Not a tremendous amount of progress today, a lot of test fitting and tweaking the interior walls to accommodate the floors for a nice solid building. I'm going to be pulling a page from Adamski's project and mounting the buildings on separate plates to make it easier to work on them.

Here is the progress from yesterday's session, had to recharge the batteries in the camera which is why no pics in last night's post.

View of shop/residence and IED factory from south side of Fran. The balcony will be attached to the second floor, just placed where it is to allow for pictures. Actual floor and roof will be added, just need more foam board.


Bad guy building with produce stand heading west on south side of Fran. The balcony hasn't been built yet, on the "work order" for today however along with fitting the floors and roofs.


View of northwest corner from southeast corner, three stall commercial building with apartments above. Still under construction. This will have a rooftop terrace as opposed to a balcony. In Iraq rooftop terraces and balconies were pretty common.


As Porky Pig says, "That's all folks!" Time for a supply run.

Hi John,

This is really coming together - a full on streetscape. I'm interested in seeing how you'll finish the buildings - you know, trimming out doors, windows etc, and other exterior "stuff" - looking good!

Cheers
Nick

This is coming along nicely... I must get my foam cutter finished to thin the foam I have.

Nick, you won't have too long to wait for the trim out to start on the exteriors, probably be able to start that over the weekend or early next week. Should be another fairly quiet weekend around the house, which usually bodes well for my projects.

Matt, save yourself a bunch of cutting. When I had to go back to square one with this I went to Home Depot and picked up a 48" x 50' accordion fold sheet of 1/4 inch XPS and just laminated the pieces back to back. You get a consistent 1/2 inch thick piece, it cuts with a knife and it works out to be cheaper than the 1" panels. I still have 46 plus feet left, and not having to use the hot wire cutter means using less electricity, which makes SWMBO happy.

Back to the shop, the stuff I glued up this morning should be set up by now. Cheers!

Still in business, just testing and tweaking stuff for the buildings. I've been experimenting with different materials to cover the pink board with, and in the process discovered the only drawback to the 4x50 XPS panel I've run into. One side is covered with a membrane that has to be peeled off so that the spackle will adhere to the foam. It's not difficult to remove, just really, really tedious. Gahhhhhh!!! Only one building left to peel, thankfully.

Hi John,

Ahhh, yes, good times eh? Scratchbuilding is sure fun...😄😀😀

Glad to hear you're almost through with this particular step of tedium...no doubt many more lay ahead. With that said, this sort of effort often results in nice work!
Looking forward to seeing the "mean streets"!

Keep building!
Cheers
Nick

Got more figgies en-route, the new MasterBox US set, and the boys and girls from MAiM that look really nice. Anybody got a take on the figures from MAiM before I send an even bigger order for the grown-ups? I'm envisioning one of the boys as one of those little hucksters that sold ice creams and sodas, took a lot of hunting to track down boys with that underfed look and they come the closest.

Given the proximity of Passover (wife and son are Jewish) I haven't been getting much done beyond cleaning - house must not just be clean but gramma level clean. Last time I did this much cleaning it was to pass pre-embark inspection for gear returning to the U.S. from the sandbox...

http://www.ammontijo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3726

hope this helps a little its big dio about iraq

henk

Thanks for the link, Henk! I've seen a pic or two from that build, but not the whole thing from start to finish, got it bookmarked. Cheers!

Very nice job - this is going to take some filling!!

You're right about a lot of space to fill, but it will all come together. Right now it's a matter of waiting for everything to arrive as far as people to populate this thing. All the vehicles are here, and I'm working on them here and there when I get a chance. SWMBO's list of yard work seems almost as endless as the snow storms were...the trials and tribulations of owning a house with a big yard - great for the doggies but a time suck to fix after the winter we had.

this is looking good. I'm interested to see the finished article.

Well, gents thanks to the "tremendous efficiency" of the customs unit in Bethpage, NY the MAIM figures from Australia finally arrived this week. And luckily I managed to find the OOP Verlinden wall and gate I've been searching for. This project is still very much alive, just that shop time has been difficult to come by recently.

Hey John,

I am glad you finally got your figures. I, too, have experienced the "great efficiency" of that same customs hub. For almost a month and a half I had to wait after seeing that a package from Bravo 6 had made it to that facility. And of course, it contained figures that I had really wanted to get started on.

Its also good that you were able to find that OOP kit.

Cheers,
James

On this day, 03 May 2006 we 1/25 Marines lost our first of the 11 we would lose in Fallujah. I would like to take a moment from this project and introduce you to Captain Brian S. Letendre who was assigned to the I&I Staff of Charlie Co. 1/25; Cpt. Letendre was a member of a Military Transition Team training the Iraqis who were eventually to take over the AO when he was Killed In Action. He had previously earned a Navy Commendation Medal with combat V while serving as a Platoon Commander during the fight for the bridges in An Nasariyah during the March Up in 2003. Cpt. Letendre was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Semper Fi, Sir.

Gents, I apologize for abandoning this project. Honestly wish I could say "I lost my mojo"... Not as simple as that. Truth of the matter is that wading through all the pictures for research was really messed me up and in the interest of my sanity I had to take a step back and rethink how realistic I wanted this to be. So, that being said I decided to do away with the layout and buildings and start from scratch again, with everything more generic. Generic is good, much less threatening and less chance of triggering the good ol' survivor's guilt. Well, here's hoping third time is the charm I only have until April to get this done in time for 1/25 Marines Fallujah reunion. And awaaaaay we go!

Hi John - good to know you're back and doing ok. Looking forward to see what you'll come up with - take care!

Nick

Take your time brother!! The most important thing here is to keep your "brain stacking swivel" in good order and keep doing the proper preventive maint. on it!
It's always good to check head space and timing and then walk the perimeter.
No worries!
J

I'm with Jerry, take your time John. No sweat, we'll all still be here.

Thanks, guys! Found some inspiration for generic buildings and started cutting foam this afternoon; so far one wall of one floor of one building cut out and the openings roughed in. There will be pics to come once I've got a bit more to show y'all. Feels good to hear the squeal of the knife blade cutting through foam board again! Guess we truly are back in business again.