It's all a bit rough around the edges of course (if it was all perfect it just wouldn't be mine!) but overall I am tremendously pleased with the results.
So without any further ado... I give you my Portable Custom Pitch!
Doesn't look like much, does it? This is the outside of the box, with latches and a heavy duty handle above it. It's "portable" in so much as it fits in a car boot for easy transport, but I wouldn't want to lug this puppy around for long!
Here is the box with one side open. As you can see, everything slots in and is bonded to the board with liquid nails. The felt around the hinges is not glued down, so it arches when closed and stretches tight again when open. This means there is no interruptions to the felt once the board is open for playing.
And here it is fully open with an imaginary game in process. The footprint of the box is roughly the same size as a standard board plus the two dugout templates, so it might seem larger but it's really not taking up any additional table space. The board itself is from Impact! Miniatures, the one thing I did not trust to my own wonky measuring!!
The first dugout, this one is the "Home" team. Actually, this shows the only part of the project not complete... the Home team coffin for the Casualty room is missing, but that will be rectified shortly.
And the "Away" dugout. As you can see, the theme throughout the board is to mirror the two sides, but with the away team getting shoddy versions of the home team. So busted bentch, plywood coffin and bare table instead of a bed in the KO room. Even the chalkboard is mirrored with the away team using it for graffiti rather than strategy
And the scatter template/sin bin which sits between the two dugouts. The sin bin is a great example of a last minute addition. I had space to play with and thought it would be nice to have a spot for sending sent off players, so with a few spare bricks left over I threw it together and slapped some paint on it
Here is the Home supporters, plus the turn/reroll track. The home side gets nice benches and a "Bloodwiser" booth. The fast food boothes are another example of a last minute idea... in fact so are the benches! Originally this was just going to have the counter tracks, but I had plenty of space and plenty of spare balsa wood/bricks to play with, and could easily modify the bench design from the dugouts on a larger two-tier scale.
And the "away" supporters, with their busted up benches and Zombway booth.
And between the supporters we have my thing-da-resistance! Apart from the portable nature of it (something I've never seen in another Australian custom pitch) this is what I really wanted someone to do... an electronic scoreboard! I didn't know it would be me doing it, but after teaching myself some basic electronics and with thanks to the kind people from Dick Smiths I managed to cobble something together. The commentator platform in front was again just made on the spur of the moment, but I think it works quite nicely given I never planned to put it there (good thing I decided to be generous with the space on the sides when planning the box dimensions!!)
And just to finish off we have the two ends of the pitch, with additional sponsorship signs. They all came from the TBB forums, most (if not all) made by a guy called Sp0n, so huge thanks to him too.
Ok, thats it! I'll be bringing the pitch with me to CanCon so if anyone wants to see it in person they can do it there
And if this inspires anyone to work on their own pitch, I have some recommended reading:
First, my progress thread, where I posted a lot of WIP shots and various observations etc about the process. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES!
Second, Rev's guide from CMON, which first inspired me and gave me the basic template for the box of my custom board.
Third, the TBB thread with Sp0n's adverts. They really bring a board to life, I can't believe it's not a sticky thread!
Fourth, Frank's website of custom pitches, with lots of great ideas.
