Wednesday 30 November 2011

Shipping Containers

I have been inspired by the card stock and paper buildings I have seen on peoples blogs. World Works Games make some great scenery. Wasn't sure where to start though. Then while I was playing a certain level on Battlefield 3 on xbox360 I noticed the shipping containers, and thought they seem simple enough to make. I have seen WWG sells some shipping containers, but wasn't happy with their colour scheme and texture. So I thought I would have a go at making my own in Photoshop.
I had to decide on a scale. So I did some calculations (here comes the science bit, concentrate). My average model height is around 1.5". So 1.5" equals 6 ft, and therefore 0.5" is 2 ft. (with me so far?)
Shipping container doors are apparently 8ft in width, so when scaled down that comes to 2". Theres 3 containers so it comes to 6" wide in total.

Basically the dimensions of the block are 6" wide, 6" tall, 7" long. But I'm wondering if they look too big. I'm thinking of making the width of a container 1.75" instead. That would make the dimensions 5.25"x5.25"x6". I plan on making some individual ones too, and some different colour schemes.

What do you think? How does the scale seem?

8 comments:

  1. The containers made by WWG are 1.5" wide, 1.75" tall and 4" long. Zombie Ad, another blogger made some and his are slightly bigger measuring 1.75" wide, 1.75" tall and 4.25" long. I have a resincast container made by 6MilPhil, yet another blogger, and his are even bigger, measuring 2" wide, 2.25" tall and 5" long.

    Your height and width seem fine at 1.75" each but the length of your containers need reducing considerably. 7" is way too much. Even 6" is too big. Anywhere between 4" and 4.5" would suffice.

    I wish you all the best with this project because I am on the lookout for LOTS of shipping containers. Oh, and definitely make individual ones as well as stacks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They look great to me. I though 7" sounds fine as its about as long as a trailer on a truck I have which to me sounds about right.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The scale might be a little off, but they are completely playable in my opinion. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They're fine and look really good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You did a great job on those. I like the way they scale in. I saw a big Intermodal container yesterday on the highway and it looked about the same scale.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks everyone. Having looked at some images of containers I think they come in different lengths. 20, 30 and 40ft. Mine were around the 40ft length. like this:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Line3174_-_Shipping_Containers_at_the_terminal_at_Port_Elizabeth,_New_Jersey_-_NOAA.jpg

    I think the ones Vampifan mentioned are the 20ft. I decided the ones above were too big anyway. They are almost the size of a building! I made some more that are 1.75"x5". They seem much better, plus you dont waste so much paper, printing ink and card!
    I'll post some images soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those are just beautiful! Nothing else needs said.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You did a bang up job on these. I saw you over at Angry's page and he and Ray have me hooked on these wargame pages. I follow Adam and Henry as well. You do nice work.

    ReplyDelete