Hotel Paradiso

Hello and welcome back to my blog. In his post I am looking at another model to receive a refresh. 

Welcome to the Hotel Paradiso - we hope you will never leave. 

Hotel Paradiso is a older model in my collection, in fact it was the first ruin I ever built. This piece was built before this blog and even the founding of the Post Apocalyptic Wargames forum. I was playing a lot of Babylon’s Burning and Combat Zone at the time. I guess it must have been around 2004-2005.

It is a pretty large piece. The name was inspired by the Bottom TV series spin off film “Guest House Paradiso” with the late Rick Mayall and Adrian Edmundson. Although I suppose I could have called named it Faulty Towers.  The model is built from some white polystyrene packing sheet (liberated from a skip at work), foam board and plaster the hotel looked like this when finished. 

I am sure you agree ok for the tabletop but not exactly realistic looking. In recent years my tastes have drifted towards the older overgrown ruins. I have taken inspiration from pictures of Pripyat near Chernobyl, the Across the Dead Earth game boards and the Horizon Zero Dawn Computer game. Curtis from Ramshackle Games’ models have also inspired me.

So after a heavy light grey dry brush and a white dry brush I had a more concrete looking ruin. The old plastic drinking straws that make up old pipes in the rubble where reinforced by putting rolled up tin foil into them with a spot of hot glue. A sign was made up from a old gift card and laser cut MDF letters. 

After this lots of brown and green washes where added along with some old GW plastic skeletons. The rusty metal bits where painted and the sign letters got a coat of burnished gold to make them stand out. Classy joint this you know. 

Green flock was added but proved to be a shade or seven too bright. More dark brown washes toned it down and some green dry brushing in various shades made it look more realistic. 

Then the fun of adding plant rubber moss/matting, various plants, grass and flowers followed. I used it to hide the joints in the polystyrene walls. 

I am pleased with the how the model turned out. It feels good to give this old model a new lease of life.

Thanks for looking and stay safe out there.