By Inventorofsoup
Hey chooms, Soup here! I was asked to write up how I built my Gen RED display board, so here it is: a busted clubhouse inside a condemned building, wired with LEDs, and a skate spot out front. The goal was to give every model a clean stage while keeping a grimy, lived-in, run-down look, without letting clutter swallow the minis.
I started by picking the scene. An arcade, a straight-up skatepark, and even a back alley all crossed my mind, but none of them fit the current sculpts the way I wanted. A condemned clubhouse felt right, a place kids can hang out because no one cares enough to chase them off.
After finding a building that worked for what I needed, I got to work on planning its rundown look. That permitted me to open the structure so that the poses read clearly from the front. The big move was splitting the building to add height and create layered sightlines, which made the board feel larger and made it easier to showcase each model.
For the building, I needed something I could carve, wire, and generally abuse, so I printed the building on a 3D printer. Before any cutting, I sketched a quick layout. Wheels outside on a mini skate spot by the curb, Trouble posted inside, as the big guns on the roof for an overwatch look, and the rest placed where they made sense to the eye.
With the sketch locked, I planned the lighting. A friend pointed me to Terrain Tronics, and their miniature lighting rig with docs and a YouTube guide made the electronics feel very doable.
Once the plan was set, I marked footprints for every model so I knew exactly where to open the facade. Cutting came next. A hot knife does the best work here. Stabbing cuts create fractured, explosive edges, while long slices look too clean for a building that is supposed to be blown open. I kept the big chunks I removed and turned them into rubble to sell the collapsed building.
With the surgery done, I moved into painting. I primed the building brown, then misted random blue patches onto the base coat to break up large planes of color. From there, I dry-brushed up through a few grey tones to pull texture forward, then picked out wires, electrical boxes, and exterior details for variation.
To prevent models from getting knocked over, I created recesses for the bases in all the places they would stand. I traced each base, drilled the pockets with a carbide Forstner bit, and widened them with a Dremel and an X Acto until each base sat snug. Under the terrain, and later under the tray and foam, I glued thin metal plates with contact cement so the magnets in the model bases had something solid to grab. It is a small step that pays off every time someone bumps the board. Only after that did I route the lighting. I ran the LED wires along the interior, fixed the strips to the walls with hot glue, and tacked the runs in a few spots so nothing sagged.
The battery pack sits behind a planned rubble barricade, which keeps the illusion intact from the front. I also glued in some extra wire with super glue to suggest cut cables inside the walls and used paper clips as rebar with small bits of rubble attached for a nice broken concrete effect. I placed the rubble barricade last to finish hiding the battery bay.
Weathering ties everything together. I worked in layered shade passes with Agrax Earthshade, Nuln Oil, Biel Tan Green, and Carroburg Crimson, letting capillary action do most of the work and wicking back any tide marks with a clean brush. The rubble pile that screens the battery got extra attention with Drakenhof Nightshade to cool the shadows and Dirty Down Rust to sell old rebar and water damage. Any bronze details took a touch of Nihilakh Oxide for a quick, believable patina. (I did not know the word for that finish before writing this)
The rest of the board sits on a simple wooden tray you can find at most craft stores.
I laid a sheet of foam board on top to create a curb and a step up from street to sidewalk. Since Gen Red has five models, two on skateboards, two on roller blades, and one on a bike, I built a small skate spot in the parking area. I used a quarter pipe, a rail, and a jump sourced from 3D print files and scaled them down to fit the Cyberpunk minis. Just like in the building, I drilled recesses for the model bases and glued metal discs underneath with contact cement so magnetized bases lock in place across the whole scene.
Street treatment came next. I glued down the building and skate terrain with contact cement, then spread AK Terrain Asphalt for the road surface. While it was still drying, I scored crack lines with an X Acto so the fractures would help the weathering read. After that cured, I laid in the concrete for the sidewalk and the curb, taking care where it met the building. Aging was quick. I gave the asphalt a dark grey drybrush, then hit the concrete with grey and a touch of light brown for dust and sun fade. I added a few controlled shade passes to deepen seams and finished the curb in red with a darker red and a lighter red drybrush to chip and fade.
For final touches, I tagged the skate elements and the facade with graffiti and layered paint so it looks like there have been half-hearted cover-ups over older tags. The last thing I did was place the display board in a picture frame. If I were to change anything, I would get the frame first. Finding a twelve-by-twelve frame was more annoying than it needed to be, or I would cut trim myself. I also think I should have used more lights. The Terrain Tronics setup is very cool, and I was probably too conservative on my first run with it.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me via the MFC Discord (I'm Inventorofsoup there, too).
The model packs shown are:
Combat Zone: Anklebytes (Gen RED Gangers)
Combat Zone: Generation RED Starter Gang
Combat Zone: Underfoot Urchins (Gen RED Gonks)
