The Port of Gierburg - Part 5: Dock Section II Ground Level Painted

In the previous installment of my Port of Gierburg project I described how I built the base board for my dock section. Now that part is finally finished.

Section I, the Water board and Section II set up together

Wow, time sure flies. And, wow, am I good at procrastinating. I posted part 4 of my Port of Gierburg project log in September 2014! I really had a tough time deciding how to continue with this part of my board. I have made some progress since then and decided that the other buildings and raised level section will be a single removable piece. This meant that I could move on and just paint the board section as it was.


I used black Aero Design spray colour for base-coating the board as it can be used on styrofoam and similar materials without melting them. I have used it before on my Water Board.

Cobblestones

The important part was having the colours of the cobblestones match those of Dock Section I. I did not fully succeed with that but it is hard to tell. It always suprises me how stonework comes out differently every time even though I use the same paints and techniques. I am still quite happy with the result.

(Update: In the meantime, I have written a detailed tutorial on how I paint stonework such as these cobblestones.)

Close-up of the dirty streets around the port of Gierburg

The Jetty

The scratch-built jetty was fun to paint. I always enjoy painting large areas of wood like this as it is mostly dry-brushing and then some details like green for weathering and some rust around the bolts.

The jetty

The Tunnel

The underground tunnel is probably the highlight of this board section which is otherwise rather unspectacular without the elevated part. The tunnel is accessible from the edges of the board so that miniatures can be moved. It can later be entered from the warehouse - models will then be placed in front of the door in the tunnel. Another door in the corner will (probably) lead to another tunnel in the adjacent board section (which is not yet planned). Finally, at the other end of the tunnel, models can get to the jetty. I think of this as a secret tunnel that are used by smugglers to load and unload their illicit cargo.

The entrance to the secret tunnel underneath the jetty

The tunnel is accessible from the edges of the board

One end can be entered from underneath the jetty

The tunnel runs around the two outer edges of the gaming board

On the longer edge, there is a door that will lead up to the ground level

On the other end, the tunnel leads to a door which can later take the figures either
to an adjacent board's tunnel or inside of a house above - depending on the set-up

With the main section being done, I need to focus on the buildings and elevated module that comes on top of it. I have a rather good idea by now so it is really just a matter of pulling through. Seeing this part painted is a great motivation boost so I am positive that the next update will not take as long as this one. We'll see...


Update (July, 26): For some "in action" shots of pirates raiding the Port of Gierbug, check out this post.