Ammo Arms, Take three...

Hi guys! as the lads in chat will know I decided a while back to rebuild the ammo arms. The old one has quite a few lighting issues, which although I could get around did course a few problems.
So, in August I stripped down the old Ammo Arms, some of you may have seen the same comic I did, outlining some of the ideas I wanted to put into place, but we know what happens with best laid plans!
I was also going to document and take pics as I went, but sadly that got pushed to the side in the excitement of the build, so although there wll be a few, it will not cover the build process.
So, the old Arms was 5ft x 2 1/2ft x 18", the new one has grown a bit! it now stands at 7ft x 2 1/2ft x 2ft. It i also designed to come apart (in case I ever have to move it).

Ammo Arms Sneak Peak by Dal Lee, on Flickr

the box it self is made from plywood, then covered on the inside with hardboard, this helps massively well wallpapering. I went for a black textured paper (as I didn't really want to change to much from the old look) and Red.

Ammo Arms Update (1) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

Now, what is Wille B. doing with a microphone you may ask?? well I decided to put a stage inside the Arms . Another thing I changed was, I made the bar itself much larger, so Joe and his team can serve more Atomic Ale to the regulars!!

Ammo Arms Update (2) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

After completing the bar area, I addded the pics and posters to the walls, and filled up the bar with its goodies.

Getting there! by Dal Lee, on Flickr

Ammo Arms Update (3) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

Ammo Arms Update (4) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

Ammo Arms Update (5) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

At this stage, the largest change was adding led lights to the ceiling, which I have to say are fantastic! I might add a third set yet? but we shall see. The next job was too add the seating and finish off the small pieces of skirting boards. Its all starting to come together here,

The night before the opening (1) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

"Hey guys, and girls of course, I'm Joe, the landlord of the Ammo Arms. At long last we are ready to reopen the doors.
As you can see, the bar is much bigger, we have new seating, new lighting and well pretty much everything is new!, let me show you around"

The night before the opening (2) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

"As you can see, the pool table is back, we now have a security door and a raised bar.
Yeah, some of our pictures and posters are the same, but we didn't want to change everything..."

The night before the opening (3) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

"Here, you can see our new stage, and look, it's Willie B, wo will be the opening act when we re-open"
"Hey Joe" smiled Willie,"We all ready to open?"
"Just about, but we still have a few minor checks to make before then, so we have a bit of time" replied Joe.

The night before the opening (4) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

"Why not grab a guitar Joe?"

The night before the opening (5) by Dal Lee, on Flickr

"You know, I know a few tunes myself" replied Joe,
"Cool, let's get started then!" smiled Willie B.

And so, with all systems go, Joe opened the doors and let in the regulars!!!

Opening Act by Dal Lee, on Flickr
Small Talk... by Dal Lee, on Flickr
A shared moment by Dal Lee, on Flickr
Pool hustle by Dal Lee, on Flickr
The bet is on! by Dal Lee, on Flickr
The Elf and the Wookie by Dal Lee, on Flickr
First time in the Arms by Dal Lee, on Flickr
Getting to know Tom... by Dal Lee, on Flickr
You wanna drink? by Dal Lee, on Flickr
Sisters by Dal Lee, on Flickr


Hope you guys enjoyed it! Normal service has been resumed!

Absolutely outstanding Dal. The new and improved Arms looks amazing.

Amazing work, Dal.

The new Arms is huge!! (I really want to see the comic where Jake sends Smiley Joe down to the Birmingham city council office to 'discuss' the exorbitant business rates they are charging for such a large premises! )


It looks a great rebuild Dal! The stage area is cool although with Willie singing it probably needs a cage like in the 'Blues Brothers' to save him from a hostile crowd.

The VAM world's best watering hole just keeps going from strength to strength!

Another great set of pics , have you taken any photos of the whole thing , seven ft is an impressive build , would like to see .

Really marvelous build Dal. The Arms is easily the world's finest 1/6th public house !!!

Wish I had local like that!!!

is the stage getting a chicken wire mesh to stop the band getting pelted with bottles A la blues brothers ???
the arms looks much bigger , bigger arms !
just re read the thread and see that skj mentioned the blues bros.
great minds skj !!!

Two foot tall walls! That's huge! But that will give you a lot of space to work above the figs and props when you need to, either for lighting access or for high-angle camera shots.

For those who are mathematically inclined, the cubic volume of the previous space was 18.75 cubic feet (0.53 cubic meters). By adding two feet to the length and six inches to the height, the cubic volume nearly doubles, to 35 cubic feet (1 cubic meter)!

The extra height will also allow you to shoot from low angle positions without revealing the tops of the walls.

Although in this case you are finishing the attached ceiling, so that won't be much of an issue anyway.

You lined the plywood box with hardboard? I'm sure the hardboard offers a much smoother surface for the wallpaper, but what a lot of work!

The black wallpaper with the "glitter" highlights looks good! Contrasts nicely with the dark red for a "club" sort of vibe. Works well with the new stage.

The new longer bar looks really good. The back bar looks fantastic! I just noticed the baseball caps on the top shelf! Lots of fun details there. Impressive collection of bottles and glassware.

Good to see most of the old familiar posters back on the walls.

And a restroom!

Nice pic of Willie B checking out the acoustics of the new space. He looks good up there! Good-sized space, suitable for a single performer or for a band. Or it could probably be used for a dance floor or extra seating space when necessary.

As before, love the "hardwood plank floor." Cool new bar stools! And the ol' pool table is back! It wouldn't be the Ammo Arms without the pool table!

Joe seems pleased with the results.

Good turn-out on opening night! I see Poppy is documenting the proceedings, no doubt to feature the Grand Opening in the BAM-HQ newsletter. Everybody else seems up to their usual business: hitting on one another!

Even Redbox seems mellow.

Serious faces around the pool table already. Big money on the line. Especially if they're playing to see who pays for the beer!

I won't ask what the Lady in Red is up to. She might be... working.

Tom seems to have found his comfort zone pretty quickly!

Wrapping up the sequence with a couple of cold foamy ones. Or warm foamy ones... this is the UK, after all! As you say, it looks like things are back to normal at the Ammo Arms; or, back to a bigger and better version of normal!

Thanks for the tour, Joe! And for the sneak peek behind the scenes!

Wow, mate, that's just incredible. Very jealous of the space you have...our little Japanese apartment hardly gives me enough space to even store my VAM, let alone set up any kind of diorama! There are so many details, I keep looking back at each photo trying to find all the hidden secrets! Some day, I'll need to send Brace back for a visit and a pint or 5!

Wow .....looks great ...still baffles me how you manage to find all the 1/6 scale bits ....bottles ..beer pumps ..glasses....does it all come from China... I’d like a couple of those beer glasses .. do you have a website that you get the bits from....

Rogue-Trooper wrote:

Absolutely outstanding Dal.  The new and improved Arms looks amazing.

Cheers Chris! as you know, it wasn't plain sailing, but I got there in the end!

Kimono Troop Command wrote:

Amazing work, Dal.  

Many thanks Gary!

somekindajoe wrote:

 The new Arms is huge!! (I really want to see the comic where Jake sends Smiley Joe down to the Birmingham city council office to 'discuss' the exorbitant business rates they are charging for such a large premises! )


It looks a great rebuild Dal! The stage area is cool although with Willie singing it probably needs a cage like in the 'Blues Brothers' to save him from a hostile crowd.

The VAM world's best watering hole just keeps going from strength to strength!

I don't think the council excuses would hold much water for S.J!

Cheers Steve, It was an interesting build, and having learned stuff from other builds, this one was easier in some ways, ut also frustrating in others, especially as this one is designed to come apart if need be.
The stage came out really well, though it had to be large as I still need drums and a couple of amps, but they are on a growing list! , we will have to see how he gets on with his opening night .

Really pleased you like the 'new' Ammo Arms

Chip wrote:

Another great set of pics , have you taken any photos of the whole thing , seven ft is an impressive build , would like to see .

Cheers Mark! erm, I haven't actually took a pic of where it is, I will try and do that later

Dreadnought wrote:

Really marvelous build Dal. The Arms is easily the world's finest 1/6th public house !!!

Wish I had local like that!!!

Many thanks Kev! really pleased you like it! Spud would be welcome anytime to come and share a pint of Atomic Ale

Captian action wrote:

is the stage getting a chicken wire mesh to stop the band getting pelted with bottles A la blues brothers ???
the arms looks much bigger , bigger arms !

Still not sure about the cage Jase? Yeah, the arms has grown quite a bit, the boys must have got carried away with the sledge hammer when knocking the walls through

SCU_HQ wrote:

Two foot tall walls! That's huge! But that will give you a lot of space to work above the figs and props when you need to, either for lighting access or for high-angle camera shots.

For those who are mathematically inclined, the cubic volume of the previous space was 18.75 cubic feet (0.53 cubic meters). By adding two feet to the length and six inches to the height, the cubic volume nearly doubles, to 35 cubic feet (1 cubic meter)!

The extra height will also allow you to shoot from low angle positions without revealing the tops of the walls.

Although in this case you are finishing the attached ceiling, so that won't be much of an issue anyway.

You lined the plywood box with hardboard? I'm sure the hardboard offers a much smoother surface for the wallpaper, but what a lot of work!

The black wallpaper with the "glitter" highlights looks good! Contrasts nicely with the dark red for a "club" sort of vibe. Works well with the new stage.

The new longer bar looks really good. The back bar looks fantastic! I just noticed the baseball caps on the top shelf! Lots of fun details there. Impressive collection of bottles and glassware.

Good to see most of the old familiar posters back on the walls.

And a restroom!

Nice pic of Willie B checking out the acoustics of the new space. He looks good up there! Good-sized space, suitable for a single performer or for a band. Or it could probably be used for a dance floor or extra seating space when necessary.

As before, love the "hardwood plank floor." Cool new bar stools! And the ol' pool table is back! It wouldn't be the Ammo Arms without the pool table!

Joe seems pleased with the results.

Good turn-out on opening night! I see Poppy is documenting the proceedings, no doubt to feature the Grand Opening in the BAM-HQ newsletter. Everybody else seems up to their usual business: hitting on one another!

Even Redbox seems mellow.

Serious faces around the pool table already. Big money on the line. Especially if they're playing to see who pays for the beer!

I won't ask what the Lady in Red is up to. She might be... working.

Tom seems to have found his comfort zone pretty quickly!

Wrapping up the sequence with a couple of cold foamy ones. Or warm foamy ones... this is the UK, after all! As you say, it looks like things are back to normal at the Ammo Arms; or, back to a bigger and better version of normal!

Thanks for the tour, Joe! And for the sneak peek behind the scenes!

Yeah, it has grown quite a bit, but I have learned loads from the old Arms, especially lighting and camera angles, so hopefully I have put that right here? but time will tell I guess?

Having lined the walls with hard board helped massively, though I did wallpaper the walls before assembling the pub, so that made the job a lot easier. The wallpaper I picked has a nice effect, but I think that having the pics breaks up the solidness of the colours, so I am happy with that, lus its black, just like the old arms.
The bar took me ages to build, lots of fiddly bits to get right, but again, I am pleased with the final result. As you know, I was a little unsure I would have enough booze to fill the shelves, but thos cake decoration bottles helped massively!

The opening night looked like a huge success! Willie had his first gig there after his wold tour, and plenty of booze was sold, so Joe was happy!
Jesse is just sat there chatting with BAM HQ's latest agent, Mila, although she is probably waiting for a special someone? .

blackbrazen wrote:

Wow, mate, that's just incredible. Very jealous of the space you have...our little Japanese apartment hardly gives me enough space to even store my VAM, let alone set up any kind of diorama! There are so many details, I keep looking back at each photo trying to find all the hidden secrets! Some day, I'll need to send Brace back for a visit and a pint or 5!

Thanks Scott! really pleased you liked it! I am quite lucky mate, I am lucky enough to have our spare room to play in . I have watched quite a few programs about Japan, their apartments do look incredibly small! but hey you have all that wonderful scenery for your guys to adventure in!
Brace would be welcome to pop back to HQ anytime for a visit, I am sure Jake would be thrilled to see his brother again and share a good few pints of Atomic Ale! they would probably end up well sloshed!

Rustygun wrote:

Wow .....looks great ...still baffles me how you manage to find all the 1/6 scale bits ....bottles ..beer pumps ..glasses....does it all come from China... I’d like a couple of those beer glasses ..   do you have a website that you get the bits from....

Many thanks Dean! the bits come from all over the place, some of the bottles are Barbie and sindy bits, other bottles have come from China, some are from Gloria playsets (whch for some reason are now extremely expensive?). I repaint a lot of stuff to work for my dios. The beer glasses are actually ketrings, that come off ebay. Hope it helps

Superb rebuild of Ammo Arms...
Well done photos!

inntruderr61 wrote:

Superb rebuild of Ammo Arms...
Well done photos!

Cheers Jim!

That's a great behind the scenes pic Dal!

I think the Ammo arms could be legendary !

somekindajoe wrote:

That's a great behind the scenes pic Dal!

Cheers Steve! it has grown a bit!