Designing A Card Building for Robotech.

While I'm waiting for the Robotech Kickstarter stuff to start coming in I've been thinking about ways to make buildings for the inevitable city fight scenarios. There are several manufacturers that sell resin, laser-cut, or printable card models and some of them are outstanding. But while watching some of the first episodes of Macross/Robotech I decided that I wanted some buildings that look like those in Macross City. There's a sort of bizarre design aesthetic with these buildings that seems to combine sci-fi forward thinking with a basic Japanese neighborhood. 

Gerwalk down!

Sketches like this help to visualize basic shapes and proportions.

I took some screengrabs, did a few sketches and decided to start with this cool hex-topped building. Although I've done a good amount of card modeling I've never really designed my own model. Even with a building this simple there are difficulties that need to be overcome. 

I started by making a quick black and white mock-up in Illustrator and printing it out. This showed several problems and after correcting them I printed another copy, this time with windows and other details. Finally I took this into Photoshop and gave it some color. The windows were handled by Ronda Pattison, one of the perks of having one of the world's most talented comic colorists working at the next desk over.

I'm only taking baby steps with this one but I'd like to keep working on new designs. Please download the attached model, build it, and let me know of any construction problems you run across in the comments. Thanks in advance for your advice. 

Make sure to click this image and save the full resolution version. Print at 100%.