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I'm currently working on some terrain pieces,
I'm slapping togheter whatever i can find, and make anything i can think of with it,
but i'm a little impatient so they usually don't look so good
Like this next thing i just made, new record, under 15minutes !
It's supposed to be some sort of generator... but it can be many things,
I know it looks kinda crummy but hell, it's fun to make and homemade terrain is always awesome to battle amongst !

I used an empty Fanta-Can, 4 caps of Oasis bottles and, those things you clean your ears with ! ( don't know the english term )

C&C most welcome !

I like the creativity shown here!

It is a little bit obvious that those are Q-tips, though... maybe you should try dipping them in rubber cement or covering the tips with GS to make them look less... "fuzzy." Then basecoat with black spraypaint before painting, would look pretty cool.

Anyway, nice use of a soda can, for sure.

While I understand the need and fully support using common household items for terrain, I think a little effort to blend or disguise those objects is necessary. If you had spent half an hour instead of 15 minutes, I think the results would have been more than twice as impressive. Right now, it really does just look like a soda can, some bottle caps, and a few cotton swabs. If I wanted to give it some background, "generator" isn't the first thing that would come to mind. More like "possibly alien techno-shrine to the oversized Q-tips of the future."

If you just want something on the table that isn't a naked soda can, then great job - you only took 15 minutes. If you want terrain that you'll want to keep using because it looks awesome, put in the extra time and effort.

Thnx for the replies, and yes, i totally understand what you mean, but thats just it, i didn't take the time cause i want to slap some terrain together quickly because at the moment me and my friend don't have jack-sh*t.
Love the "possibly alien techno-shrine to the oversized Q-tips of the future." part, i think i'm going to name it that from now on

The yellow tops of those cotton buds look like someone has used them to clean their ears with.

If you have any plastic packaging I would cut a circle out of it to disguise the dip in the can to make it look less obvious and then use the rest of it to make little boxes around the tops of the q tips so it looks more like an actual structure. For 15 minutes though that's not bad.

That's good, but it could be better
If you've got it...

Slanted Lego bits with wires, (a console?)
Army men bits (The fancy sets)
Foam Board
Bits from old electronics (VCRs are good)
Little rubber animals, sliced and bloodied with paint
Fish tank fake plants
small rocks

Also, I would use bases much larger than the piece, so it looks bigger

Hope that helps!

I like how the only one in this thread calling them 'Cotton Buds' is an Aussie. I've always wondered if it was an Aussie thing, or I was just weird.

Yeah, they are definitly used cotton buds there...I've always wondered why everyone else calls them q tips?!

To be cool/Americani'z'ation.

IIRC it's a brand-name-association thing same as banaids....... and that's all I can think of

Jihadnik wrote:Yeah, they are definitly used cotton buds there...I've always wondered why everyone else calls them q tips?!

I dont remember the story very well, but iIrc Q-tips were not the first name...

on topic: The terrain piece looks ok, but not all the way there. Try to remove the cotton parts, or cover them with something. Putting something on top would also be an improvement.

and if its made for your orks, Glyphs and spare DAKKA!

Haha, interesting, I agree you need to spend a bit more time on it. The cotton buds do have a used look about them ewww

HadoukenAvenger wrote:I like how the only one in this thread calling them 'Cotton Buds' is an Aussie. I've always wondered if it was an Aussie thing, or I was just weird.

A Commonwealth thing I think and I'm not an Aussie if you meant me.


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Oh and trying to stay on topic, cardboard is good for making flat surfaces more interesting. Cut some geometric shapes out and glue them to the can before painting.

thnx for the replies everyone,
I'll be sure to put more effort into the stuff i post on here
and i think thats the last time i'm gonna use cotton swabs for anything :')

it looks good for a rushed job! it would make something similar if i ever get off my ass..

OT: i have heard them refered to as "ear buds"

Not bad, if you really have nothing, then check out charity shops and car boot sales if you have any near you. You can generally find some old toy or something interesting to base terrain off of. As for the actually terrain I would have added a card collar around the can and cut off the ends of the cotton buds at an angle too (used or otherwise, lol ).

The base definitely needs to be bigger and go for a more random shape, rather than the straight edges of a square,so that it blends into your table more.

I think this will look fine if you just rip out those cotton buds and tear out the fluffy part.

In a related note, we call cotton buds "cotonetes" where I come from, which is really odd because we don't say "coton" and "netes" sounds like something stolen from a french word, but it's not. So during some time I had a feeling we got it from the English at some point but your word is totally unrelated. Where the hell did we get that word from?

So i can see the what we call "oorstokjes' (q-tips, cottonswabs,...)
Really took the cake

As an example of how i'm making quick terrain, this is a building i just made,
didn't take too long, about 40 mins i think,
I like it that way, because i want to build a city, and i just don't want to spend a LOT of time on it,
so it the same old see-trough paintjob, but it looks a bit better in real life (less see-trough)

Still, i like building these kind of things,
No cottonswabs this time,
just a few straws and an old "Sun'" box

For supports you can also use the sprues that the models came on. I usually will shave them down to be straight and then start building x-frames and a-frames.

UsdiThunder wrote:For supports you can also use the sprues that the models came on. I usually will shave them down to be straight and then start building x-frames and a-frames.

thats... a frigging good idea,
n1

I really need to stop clicking on this link. I'm always shocked at what I find inside.