I've decided to use trim sheets for this project. Using trim sheets is just one more skill to add to my arsenal in environment art.
For this update I have created my models, a majority of the trim sheets, and began to make my UV sheets as I complete the trim sheets for the relevant models.
Here is the first pass on the models. I would later clean them up and remove the unnecessary face from them. I am considering remaking a majority of these because they really lack the amount of detail that I would like to show in this piece.
I created this metal trim sheet in 4k to maximize the quality since, because I was using trim sheets, I wouldn't have to load nearly as many materials into UE4 later. Here you can see I've lined up the model with the trim sheet to create a variety of textures in a variety of locations so the textures still feel complex and interesting even though they are all on one sheet.
Much like the metal, I did the same with the brick. Though the places with this texture are just one flat, continuous wall. This allowed me to make the texture even more interesting and really worked in my favor.
The wood trim turned out to be my favorite and it looked really solid to me.
It was at this point I realized how much I had limited myself with the trim sheets, though, and it started to show. My models were simply too basic and even with solid textures and lots of other detail models these would fall very flat. I've decided to start from scratch with my new found understanding of how trim sheets work.
I plan to now make very complex models to begin with, then lay them out. I initially planned to make simple models, layout my sheets, then make the models more complex, but that simply was not working out, adding complexity just forced me to stretch my sheets out to make up for the new geometry. I'm confident the next update will show vastly improved models and texture work.