KILL ZONE
~ Near Future Skirmish Gaming~

Olsen's Parking Garage
~ 25mm Buildings for Kill Zone, Combat Zone, or other urban combat games ~

Inspired by Pete Garnham's parking garage, I've been working on mine. I THOUGHT it was a Fisher-Price toy, but it is in fact an 'Illco/Jim Henson' toy. It's about 9x12, rectangular, with 2 elevated levels and an elevator to move cars up & down. I think there was originally a ramp from the first floor to the ground, but it was missing when I bought it. ($2.99)

The building comes with a thick plastic base that HAD to go. I made a beaverboard base the same size as the plastic base, cutting out the space to inset the base of the elevator. At this time I also took the garage apart to prime it and to add details. It's held together by screws which makes the procedure simple.

While I had it all apart, I added details to the top of the elevator, and made a flat floor for the cage. (It had a raised centre that would have prevented cars or figures from standing inside.) I also removed the car wash rollers, their rotating crank, and an oil-change rack.

I also primed all the pieces grey to cover some ghastly yellow plastic. (I left the tower in it's natural state.)

I added walls between the support pillars to enclose the ground-level parking area. (Nobody parks for free!) The gap where the ramp may have been was filled as well, and a new sign was made for the roof. I used an expanded vinyl called Cintra for these walls, etc. Cintra cuts easily, glues beautifully, and accepts paint well. I use it for a lot of building work.

I had cut and made poles for mesh fencing to go atop the ground floor walls. It would look cool, and would keep the cars more secure. Then I realised that I wouldn't be able to get my hand in to move figures about! So goodbye, fence...

The rear view shows the added walls. The painting isn't finished, it needs more graffiti.

The outer walls were painted with stippled ugly cream colours to try for an old, weathered look. The floors were given irregular washes of black, and patches of oily grit and sand were added. (Pete did it better, his work was my inspiration)

I decorated the lower walls with the usual posters and graffiti, and added vending machines, trash bins, trash, fire hydrants, etc. As a touch, I downloaded the current week's 'Weekly World News' and 'National Enquirer' covers from their websites, and made a couple of scandal rags for the clutter. As an experiment, I made a lamp standard and based it on a fender washer. I glued rubber magnet to the sidewalk so the pole is stable, but will fall over instead of breaking or impaling the gamers.

These two magazines are each about 5mm high.

The traffic is channeled by concrete barriers from Ainsty Castings. They still need a black wash to bring out the details. (No surprise, the 'Car Park' range has a lot of useful stuff to detail a Car Park...) I'll be getting more to further detail the model.

There was still one very bare wall on the tower. I downloaded a photo from the net and added a caption: It now has a poster of the Olsen Twins, saying 'Wargamers make us hot... Play War Games.' That should be a boost for the hobby! I chose to leave the elevator crank in the natural red & yellow plastic so it would look like the real giant elevator cranks seen everywhere.

It makes for a large and impressive piece of scenery. You don't realise how big it is until you see it with other buildings. (It fits on my top terrain shelf with only 1/4 inch to spare.)

I'm still keeping an eye out for the Fisher-Price version!

It's not unitil you compare it to the figure standing in front of the building that you see how tall it is. It does dominate the table somewhat.

The various cans in the litter and on the ground have appropriate labels, and 'Get Into Taxpaying' posters decorate the building and trash bin.

If I was to do it again, I think I'd have the entrance on the right, and use the inset corner for a human elevator and a small vending area (Money machine, etc.) I found another garage at the same Valu Village, so I may yet!

Kill Zone Buildings KILL ZONE

Gisby's Gaming Page
Last Updated January 22, 2005 by Timothy N. Peterson