A "Little" Nostalgia

About 30 years ago, I built a number of 6mm buildings for use in Red Dawn type scenarios with micro-armor.  In time they were lent to a friend for games at his house, and eventually fell into disuse as we found fewer opportunities to game.  A couple of years ago, the friend returned the box of buildings and whatnot, and I had stashed them away,  again forgotten until the other night, while looking for something else.

I had forgotten about many of them, and as I looked through them, remembered others that have gone missing.  Some have lost their roofs or other bits, and a couple have been warped from being squashed in a box for a nearly two decades, though some may still be serviceable with a little touch up and detailing.

Most were based on buildings from where I grew up,  a few were inspired by other sources.  Generally they are built from styrene, some are styrene with vinyl textured sheet laminated to the basic walls.  A GHQ AMX30, and an old stand of H&R French WWII infantry are shown for size comparison.

If you were in Steubenvlle, Ohio in the 1960s or 70s, you might 

recognize a few of these buildings.  I believe Borey, Inc. was a 

furniture store.  I don't remember what the red brick building in

 the center was, and unfortunately, the sign over the door has 

been broken off.  And the First national bank building  

stood at the center of town.

I think the near building was a post office, but can't remember where 

now.  The second was a Steubenville VFW on South 3rd street, 

and Andy's Grocery was a block south from there on S. 3rd.

I don't remember the actual signage on Andy's, but it was similar

 in style to that shown.  This was done before the age of printing 

home made decals, so everything had to be hand painted.

This strip plaza is based on one in Columbus, OH.  And was to have 

a "Just Sweats" store and grocery among other stores in it. 

 It was made about 1988, when I apparently had already acquired the

 "more projects, than freetime" problem so common to gamers.

This radio station was based on a small station from 

somewhere out west, that we conducted a fire investigation 

on at work back in the 1980s.  The "WKRP" identification 

was inspired by the TV show.

The Holiday Inn sign was inspired by one on eastbound route 

70 west of Zanesville, OH.  The mail pouch barn was inspired by 

one somewhere along State Rt. 3 in Ohio.

A collection of houses, and a small bank with drive-through.  

There used to be a base with parking lot and drive through lanes, 

but it is long gone.

These next three pics are of the house I grew up in.  

There was a three story hotel facing the street 

(apartments by the time I came along), with a driveway under 

the sun porches to the bricked in courtyard behind it.  

originally houses surrounded the courtyard, 

when it was built in the 1920s.

Our house was the one at the end in back.  There was an apartment 

next to it over two garages.  On the other side of the little wall in back 

was a set of RR tracks going to Wheeling Steel at the end of the block. 

Despite the urban grungy-ness of it, it was actually an amazing 

place to grow up.

The model has suffered a bit, as did the real building that inspired it.  

Among its unique features, it had a number of passageways 

and compartments made during prohibition.  For example, 

the fireplace in my bedroom didn't work, and didn't have 

a chimney, because the gas front was facade that hinged 

upward, and concealed a little chamber with racks for bottles 

of  alcohol.  Additionally, there were two escape tunnels in the cellar, 

one passing under the two garages, and opening through a trap door 

into the hotel.  The other ended at a bricked doorway that used to 

go into another building behind the house, that was razed before 

I was born.  Wish the building was still standing; it would be fascinating 

to see again.

Also found in the box, were a few of my earliest attempts  at 6mm houses, dating to about 1983, and constructed from Bristol board.  By 1988, I had switched over to plastic to get better textures, particularly Holgate & Reynolds Z scale sheets (long out of production, as far as I know).

A few houses, with a bombed out factory.  Originally, I built both intact 

and bombed out versions of each building.  The first buildings were very

 simple, but I quickly began adding more detail as seen in the factory.

The Bristol board is very dense and rigid, and doesn't fray at the edges

 like poster board.  It has stood up pretty well considering that this 

model is 35 years old, probably used in 200 games, and been moved, 

squashed and stored in damp basements and dusty attics for 20 years.

 And thus ends my little trip down memory lane.  Time to get back to work on the present (and he past, and future for that matter).