Funfair progress - first paint

I have had a real good go at trying to get some paint on things. I am conscious of time and I want to make sure that there will be some funfair themed atmosphere and lets face it, that needs some bright colour.

I have made the Hot Air Balloon the centre piece and gone for the image of the Mr J's head. Well it stands out at least ;-) Other than that I have thrown on the colour and even cut out some paper advertising posters and stuck them on to large open areas using PVA.

It really is coming along.

I need more urban furniture to scatter on the ground and maybe a ticket kiosk or fast food outlet or a few seats to support the boxes and containers that I have coming.

The carousel remains unfinished. I have yet to find the right size horses for it. Maybe this weekend I will have success.

The board will also need some paint to reflect the night-time conditions. I have run out of spray so again another shopping trip required.

All in all I am happy with progress. It won't be long now until it is used in anger. Bring on the Batman! Mr J is ready and waiting.

Balloon Assembly

Well the big moment has arrived and it is time to pop the balloon and see if the paper mache structure has survived and hardened properly overnight. I left it in front of the fire so that it maxed out on heat. I didn't go for the Linseed option because I wasn't sure how the paint might interact so .... without further a do ..... I give you -

The Balloon Port will sit between the Funhouse and the Ferris Wheel with each providing access. There is a platform from the Fun House roof and we will have a special rule for the Ferris Wheel, maybe expending 1 MA and 1 SA to interact with the Ferris Wheel (or something like that). It is also less than 30cm high for Batclaw access.

I needed a basket for the balloon and this was assembled using foam board, cocktail stick dowels, PVA and 4 BBQ skewers. I added a layer sellotape later to give strength.

Then I needed something to link the balloon to the basket.

The loading would be vertical and downwards through the wooden skewers. I cut out a larger piece of foam board and took a nick out of each corner. These would house the top end of the skewers which would also be pushed outwards into a small curve which should look good. I then glued four squares over the top of these holes. I tried adding tape but without great success.

Now I needed to connect the ballon. It also had to be removable for easy storage later. I went with the idea of an upturned Coke plastic bottle which has a curved bottom and would sit well inside the top of the balloon. I cut off the mouth piece and then cut out two large vertical slots in the shape of the foam board top platform.

This worked a treat and the Coke bottle sat on top of the foam board in a stable way.

I was delighted. All that needed to happen now was to add the balloon itself.

And there we have it - one balloon. It dominates the playing table and I am thinking of painting it up like a Joker's head.

Then it will be ready for the Joker to invade Arkham, dropping poison gas or whatever his wicked plan might be. Can Batman & Robin stop him, that is the question?

Thanks for all the ideas guys.