Project : XTC Retro Laptop

[Munty]

Kudos to that man! It is the first XCom and yes it was squad-based. The second one was as well but the third had an option of real-time as well. For what it's worth though this is by far the best one

The game (for those who clearly aren't familiar with it ) comprises a geoscape part where you build bases on the globe, shoot down UFOs etc. and then the turn-based tactical part where you clear said UFOs of any other aliens.

The battlescape (the strategy part I'm recreating here) is made up from a selection of 10x10 tile blocks and range from 50x50 to 60x60 (so 5 or 6 blocks wide) There are a great deal of different terrains in the game including desert, mountain, arctic, jungle and all sorts. I've gone with the most commonly occurring and therefore easily recognisable farm terrain though.

Below is a screenshot of the UFO I'll be building, the large structure I've made (on the right) and some of the scenery I'll be fleshing it out with. The stone wall in the sketchup will be the stonewall in this image for example but the ploughed field I'm using isn't shown in this image, nor is the small toolshed I've built...

[Munty]

Just a quickie with a few pics before I go crazy with getting these walls together. Finally the time is almost here for the fun part of this build, the UFO! First I've just copy and pasted my solution to the power button relocation from another topic here for posterity sake. Then there are some pics of the finished planking, prefab walls and general setup as it is now.

First the power switch. Here's the underside of the board, 6 pin arrangement visible in the top. There are my 2 wires and the enlarged mounting hole I've run them through.

And here it is from the top where you can see the switch itself and where the wires come out right next to it. The black plug just on the left is where the monitor cables leave the case so the switch wires will go that way as well.

Here's a pants image of the finished planking of the 1st floor. Where's all my hard work gone to :p

Here's a closer shot showing the stairs but I didn't have a light source to show it off much. More detail visible here though...

Below is how I've decided to position the screen. It may look very high off the base but remember the roof of the large building is about 40mm. I've already cut the hole for the wiring to come through and I'll be using that and another similar location on the right side of the case for 2 symmetrical mounts. I'm working on their final design at the moment but think I have it cracked!

Here you can see the wires exiting the case and the marking for the second support to the top left of the image. The running of the wires in this image closely reflects their final positioning but they'll need extending if I want to keep my screen nice and thin...

Finally here's an image of all the currently assembled components. I've put on another coat of wood stain here including the edges of the top panel and the underside of said panel is now painted black. I just need to do a little modelling on the top panel now before I can get onto landscaping!

Here's a virtually identical but slightly clearer image...

And lastly (I know I said finally already, I lied) here are the walls and windows for the first floor walls of the large barn. They need constructing and staining before I fit them into place and I'm hoping that both these walls AND the planked flooring will all remain removable after this stage of building but only time will tell of course...

[Munty]

Ok so not the very next day but it's still the same month so it's close enough for me! Finally got around to building up the walls and they've come out pretty nice. Not too dark so I'm happy with the contrast between brick and wood.

I've also fitted the internal walls so the large barn is nearly done now, just needs some roof supports and of course the roof itself! Would be nice to get the bricks looking a little more aged but not sure how that can be achieved and I don't want to risk messing it up after all the work that's already gone into it!

So anyway here are some pics but this is only a short one as I've been somewhat neglecting it of late! Next job it the UFO so that's the fun bit really! Will update when I make some progress on it but for now there are 4 pics from the game and the model to be compared as you like.

Bear in mind I already know that the top floor is brick in the game but the price of these little bricks is astronomical so it's a necessary adaptation!

First here is the ground floor from an ingame shot I made

And then the model as it stands...

Now the newly finished 1st floor as seen in the game

And the newly finished model complete apart from the roof beams...

So onto the UFO next, fun but tricky tasks abound...

[Munty]

Done a little work on the basic stucture of the UFO today but it'll take some time to get right. Also started working on the frame for the monitor by mounting it on a backplate and it seems like it may not be too big a job after all. Here are a few pics but the below text is copy-pasted from the game's forum so I apologise if any of it is out of context :p

First here's the screen mounted to it's backplate, very early stages but actually seems to be an easier prospect than anticipated.

The white is the plasticard, screen is obvious and on the right is a little power convertory thing for the backlight... Though it's almost invisible there's an additional strip of plasticard below the screen to act as a shelf but it's primary fixing are 4 screws, one at each corner. Another screw secures the bottom of the board on the right and it's kept nice and close to the board with another piece of plasticard to it's right which prevents the top moving right as the wires want it to!

Here's exactly the same image but with the template for the finished work in place at the front. I need to fill 7mm of gap before I start putting the detailed front panels on but it shoudln't be too big a job. It's already as sturdy as it needs to be so I'll just build the rest kind of like a box! If anyone has some buttons laying around that could work as the level up/down or 'OK' switches that'd be great as I don't have anything suitable yet! Note the up/down are slightly recessed so normal keyboard ones aren't ideal...

NExt I have a few pics of the UFO itself starting with the template and initial cutting of the floor-panel from months ago! I just cut out a paper template, glued it to the metal then marked round it and cut her out! Soemtimes the simple plans really are the best!!!

I cut a strip of 20mm high sheetmetal to start making the walls yesterday evening but only just tidied up the edges today. I had about 200mm of the stuff from the first length I cut but for now I just used 110mm of it to test the theory behind UFO construction on one corner of it!

Remember this is the inner wall for the craft as the outer wall will be curved as it is in the game. Not looking forward to trying to get that right mind you! Anyway this means the inside needs to be as neat as possible but due to the underfloor elements I'll be detailing later it doesn't matter so much at the bottom. With these needs as guidelines I soldered the bottoms of all 3 pieces on the inside and did the corners on the outside. I used simple tape to hold the pieces in place while I worked and while it did the job nicely it has left some nasty residue thanks to the heat so will need a lot of work to get the shine back in places!

The images are as good as always so it's hard to tell what it really looks like but I'd say the finish is 'adequate'. It looks a bit messy but ultimately the only part of this construction that will be visible is the inside walls and they look perfect so it's good enough!

Finally here's one of it upside down to give an idea of the completed model but of course it's hard to tell while it's so incomplete. The roof will of course have the square tiled pattern on it and most of it will be missing completely to allow a nice view of the interior. The walls will be round and the whole thing will be detailed with the doors and 'windows' etc.

Anyone who spent more than a few seconds comparing the images in my last last post will have noticed I'm lacking one thing in comparison to the ingame sprites and that's the height:width ratio. The game tiles are only about 1.6 times as high as they are wide, whereas mine are 2x as high as they are wide. That gives me narrower and taller buildings and details but although it's noticeable I think it'll still give me a result I'm more than happy with.

The UFO will be the biggest contrast as in the game it appears very long and wide but quite short. Mine will of course be taller than the in-game sprites but hopefully it won't be too great a difference. At least at such an early stage as this it would be easy for me to shave off a few mm to bring the height down if I deem it necessary...

Tell you what though, this will be the only UFO I construct loyally and from metal It's going to be hard work, use a lot of tools and take a long time!!!

[Munty]

Ok here's the next update (copied from strategycore :p) and the first few steps of turning a wooden board into an X-Com diorama! First problem to overcome was the depth of flooring in the buildings I've constructed, it adds an extra 2-3mm of unwanted height to them as previously mentioned... Luckily I had some of the wood I used to build the case left over as spare so I used it to fashion a sort of 'hill' on the left side of the case which can be seen in the first few pics...

Here are the 2 pieces I used before being attached and with the buildings removed so you can see the recesses that will hide the extra height for me.

Here's a low view with the buildings in place, the edges have been sanded to quite an angle but will also be filled shortly to achieve the gentlest possible slope.

The front door to the larger building shows the level somewhat.

And a shot of the small shed does an even better job of it.

Behind the large building, I had to recut the hole for the CPU fan.

Here are some overview shots of the new landscape and one in which I've removed everything but the stone floor of the small shed for comparison...

After 8 pictures of the above I only seem to have 1 of the filling but it was a fairly straight-forward and boring process of fill, dry, sand. I only used a single coat as there will soon be paint, dirt, gravel and grass on top of this whole board

I seem to have slacked off with pictures of the board painted too but again it's only a minor change in colour so nothing interesting anyway!

Here's an image with the hill completed and the whole board ready for further detail. Thankfully the lines I drew on earlier are still visible. For those wondering why I painted it brown when it's all going to be covered up, it's just in case I lose a lot of topping over the years. Brown spots will be practically unnoticeable while the yellow-white of the wood could detract from the remainder of the case considerably...

The last job I did before this update was to lay the gravel on all areas that needed it and I have a massive amount left so will have to think of another use for it at a later date! I mixed up a thin water/pva mix first and literally painted it onto the areas I wanted to detail, first laying down a coat of soil and leaving it to dry overnight.

Sadly I have no images of the soil and after I laid the gravel this morning it's practically invisible but I laid it for the same reason as I've done most thigns here the way I have. Just trying to bring as much realism to the scene as possible! Also I'm sure the soil will become more visible with time as the gravel begins to deteriorate. It will add to the natural look of the scene rather than being a hard-edged effect and I may also deliberately thin the gravel down in areas later to simulate frequently trodden paths. Anyway here are the last pics of the gravel being laid down, none of the process all of result!

Here is the area I marked down for gravel with a main access to the front, pathway to the shed and entrances to both buildings. There is also a small path leaving the rear of the large barn.

Here's a slightly closer image of the courtyard area (yes I know, not true to the game but give me a break hey )

And finally a super close up which was intended to show a few areas where there is some soil showing through the gravel. It's hard to see but basically the darker areas are soil...

I may detail the gravel further once the whole case is complete as it's all very light in colour and a little too uniformed to represent realistic gravel. For now though it's worked out just as I'd hoped and the slope of the board has become a very gentle one as desired so success up to this point!

My next hob is to fill in the remaining gaps with soil before 'sowing' the grass! I'll post some images of that when it's done, probably over the next few days. For now I'll be leaving the 'field' area where the UFO will be crashed and the top right section of the board will now most likely house an apple orchard with a surrounding hedge like the one in the game. I'm struggling to source small enough trees though as they need to be between 20-30mm high at the very most and all the models I can find are about double that due to being based on full size trees rather than the small ones in UFO.

Anyway here is a final image just to round off the update. This is how we're looking so far but the UFO is upside-down so none of what's visible in this image will be when it's done! I've placed it here to illustrate how it ould look if placed at an angle though and I'm pretty pleased with it as an idea so I'll probably 'crash' it through the top of the case so it case be partially buried. Right now I'm concentrating on everything BUT the UFO while I wait on some better solder though as the job thus far has been a nightmare and I want to keep the joins as clean as possible...

Please comment as feedback is part of the reason I'm sharing this build

[xr4man]

here's the results of a google search for z-scale trees.

http://www.google.com/search?q=z-sca...72de1d&safe=on

that was just a quick search, but it looks like z-scale model railroad trees are just the right size for what you are looking for.

[Munty]

Wow never heard of z scale but 1:220 should certainly provide some nice small models of big trees! If I can find some decent looking models to start with I could use small beads or ball bearings to make my own fruit to match it to the rest of my 1:100 stuff

I've laid down all the soil on the left side of the case now and it actually makes it look a lot better compared to the painted wood beneath it. Even without the grass the whole thing is slowly becoming a believable scene rather than just a few models on a piece of wood!

Need to build about 25cm of stone wall soon and I'm not sure if I have enough of the material left over from doing to flooring so will have to wait and see... Was only a few quid for a big bag so not the end of the world if I need to buy another one, not worth compromising on a crappy resin wall when everything else is getting so much detail given to it I think...

[xr4man]

yeah, when i started looking at trees for you, i looked at n-scale, but they were all 30 to 70mm tall. the z-scale stuff looks like it's all 25 to 40mm tall, so it should give you a good variety of sizes to match your "model".

[Munty]

Found a few 30mm ones on ebay but they don't look as great as I was hoping they would... Also still on the lookout for a suitable hedge as without that there's no point attempting the orchard at all.

Currently shopping for suitable scatter for the grass as well and still haven't decided on the minis I want to use. I only need 3 different types but nothing I've found is quite right. I need armoured soldiers with no helments but I think I'll have to buy helmet'd ones and then seperately buy unarmoured civilians for a head transplant. Same sort of scenario seems likely with the aliens so looking at about £30 for over 50 miniatures when I only really need about 10

[msmrx57]

For the hedge you could take a sponge cut to shape and paint it.