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That piece is awesome, just a really well executed concept, and totally different sort of idea all around.

Guess the one guy can just play a long game since it looks like he doesn't have to leave the table to use the restroom......ever


Our birthday cakes wind up looking more like Jabba than R2

Cake is (was) awesome

Diorama is incredible and with the fluff to support it the atmosphere is set. You truly outdid yourself Graven. Well done

 inmygravenimage wrote:

Red Harvest wrote:Fantastic cake. I can think of one person who will have a very happy birthday indeed. (Voted for it too. Will a 10 for coolness suffice?)

Diorama is nicely executed too. Good luck in the contest.

Scunnered. Okay, now can you explain the word haver? ( like from that song by the Proclaimers)

Haver is to hesitate. It's subtly different to Swither, which is hesitation over a choice.

Thanks. Swither rhymes with dither, so easy to remember.

Gitsplitta wrote:Magnificent!

Thanks mate. I was really inspired by this one.

Knightley wrote:So very cool, both the diorama and the cake!

Cheers. My wife has mad skillz, yo.

Camkierhi wrote:Excellent work on the dio, really glad you pushed through on it and have made a fantastic piece.

That cake is a masterpiece too.

I didn't know if I'd get it done tbh. Enormously satisfying!

Theophony wrote:That piece is awesome, just a really well executed concept, and totally different sort of idea all around.

Guess the one guy can just play a long game since it looks like he doesn't have to leave the table to use the restroom......ever


Our birthday cakes wind up looking more like Jabba than R2

Splat cakes good too! Many thanks amigo.

TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:Cake is (was) awesome

Diorama is incredible and with the fluff to support it the atmosphere is set. You truly outdid yourself Graven. Well done

I do enjoy writing fluff, I must confess. Most English teachers are frustrated writers :/

 Red Harvest wrote:


Thanks. Swither rhymes with dither, so easy to remember.

Yup. Then there's the weather - dreich, drookit, smir, haar and of course Baltic

I'm pleased with the skills I used for this build - brass etch (eg so pleased with how the tiny watches worked as dials, the brass sprue for flooring, the filigree details on the Honoured Mantis legs), making the plinth, dark gem on big servo skull, gs sculpting the Mantis pad, and all the bloody green! Only forward, as they say.

And so back to Gotham. Started on the pile of TT combat stuff I have to review (Oh, what a struggle ).

Their containers (£5.95) are nice, generic and chunky :

Very easy to assemble. TT combat stuff is well placed on sprues to limit snapping of mdf, which is a bonus. I like also the doors being hinged; whilst mine will be sealed, it's good to have the choice.

The Refuse skips set (£3.95) is 2 separate lots of stuff. Dumpsters are nice

Very similar to the Knight Miniatures ones but if anything slightly easier to assemble. The set also comes with these railings :

I freakin' love these. Simple, modular, practical. My only niggle is I would love a couple more couplers. Great value though, a real steal at the price.

Again at £5.95 the HGV is great and perfectly in scale with your urban goodies:

I've used blister packaging to make windows, not necessary but adds to the aesthetic. Again, all doors are hinged, so great for modification purposes. Slight niggle here as the axles were a wee bit off centre, but just meant shaving the end of one down slightly (along with the edge of my right ring finger, but never mind).
Scale shot with Huntress and the Butcher:

(he is preposterously vast )
And a Batmobile I... acquired.


All great stuff, excellent Urban ruination. But the real highlight for me is this, at £8:

That's 1 x Sofa
1 x Refrigerator,1 door and 1 rear grille
1 x Broken TV
3 x Hobo in a sleeping bag (all different sculpts)
2 x Dustbin
2 x Bin Bags

Absolutely magnificent for adding character to games, beautiful definition on the sculpts and really well-conceived.
Now I just need to start two of the more complex constructions, the Crane and the MSV Ironsides, a cargo ship.

Meantime, as you saw, I got on with Butcher.

12' high in scale. Hmm. Bit daft but has got a real boost in the revised Flash/Arrow supplement with the new equipment lists. And yeah, Huntress too. So, shuffling on
Later peeps, and thanks for all your voices and voting!
Graven

That does look like cool stuff, adding it to the list for when I get around to eventually putting together a proper board.

Great job on the mantis-orama, idea and execution.

Nice cake too.

Graven!! I can't believe you are doing this to me! I've just gone and ordered those skips and fences from TT Combat along with their set of small sci fi crates after seeing that you were recommending

I'm not in that much despair really. They are a real bargain aren't they? £3.95 for 5 crates was impressive. I actually went there to buy a bunch of 32mm bases for my Dr Who miniatures and just figured that while I was there, why not. Really looking forward to getting them actually. So genuinely, cheers for the tip-off.

Nice terrain collection. Can I ask where the sleeping hobos are from. I'd like to get some. Great fit for Gotham.

Paradigm wrote:That does look like cool stuff, adding it to the list for when I get around to eventually putting together a proper board.

I'm telling you, TT have it nailed.

Dr H wrote:Great job on the mantis-orama, idea and execution.

Nice cake too.

Thanks kindly sir. Cake was awesome, we're on to number 2 now, funnily enough it's a shield

TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:Graven!! I can't believe you are doing this to me! I've just gone and ordered those skips and fences from TT Combat along with their set of small sci fi crates after seeing that you were recommending

I'm not in that much despair really. They are a real bargain aren't they? £3.95 for 5 crates was impressive. I actually went there to buy a bunch of 32mm bases for my Dr Who miniatures and just figured that while I was there, why not. Really looking forward to getting them actually. So genuinely, cheers for the tip-off.

No worries mate. They are evil sellers of marvellous toys

ckig wrote:Nice terrain collection. Can I ask where the sleeping hobos are from. I'd like to get some. Great fit for Gotham.

Cheers! My thoughts exactly. TT Combat, I'll pm you the link.

So my court is built. My, but they are a pita to do. Pinning in the arms especially. They're tiny. The horror!

And so much GS. Butcher particularly. To be fair I have slightly repositioned arms and heads, but still. I am slightly dreading set 2 :(
I used a plastic based acrylic spray on the MDF terrain. No pics yet but initial impressions are encouraging. Also getting pins into Sandman's feet just now, going to make him properly drippy sticky feet rising up from the base.

However, might be a bit quiet for the next week or so. Marking season for the exams is upon us, so that will be all my time taken up. And stealing the wife's laptop so I'm not sitting next to the cupboard of geek. Still, it's nearly the end of the LOER contest, so I'll have judging to keep me busy
Adios
Graven

Added some drips to Mr Lazlo



Woo! Procrastination!

Really late to the party, but the Regicide diorama looks great.

EDC

@Graven - can ask your advice about the TT Combat terrain? I've not painted MDF terrain before and noticed you said you primed with an acrylic based spray. Is this an experiment or necessity? I was planning on priming with GW black spray primer - yay/nay? I mainly ask because I bought MDF bases for the first time and don't want to mess those up!!

evildrcheese wrote:Really late to the party, but the Regicide diorama looks great.

EDC

Many thanks!

TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:@Graven - can ask your advice about the TT Combat terrain? I've not painted MDF terrain before and noticed you said you primed with an acrylic based spray. Is this an experiment or necessity? I was planning on priming with GW black spray primer - yay/nay? I mainly ask because I bought MDF bases for the first time and don't want to mess those up!!

If you prime with regular paint, you mustcoat the whole thing in PVA first - MDF eats paint otherwise. I got some plastic based acrylic spray that's rather magical, however, can't rememebr the brand off the top of my head (Got it from Wickes, if that helps) - I'll check tomorrow and put up a couple of pics.

Cheers Graven. I might just try the PVA glue coat first. Will make sure I do this for the bases otherwise it will be an absolute pain.

Well hello there my lovelies!
Nope not dead, marking finally done, so I'm back in the saddle.
Whilst marking, kept myself sane with Clayface :


He's much drippier and I'm very happy with him.

I've also started converting my Arkham Ivy to Dr Pamela Isley - head turned, arm beckoning, and lab coat.


I've also been suckered in by review stuff from megaton's latest venture, Armoured Syndicate, a post apocalyptic skirmish boardgame and comic :

The various scavenger models are gorgeous, and the corporate mechs are huge and sinister.

That thing's about 60mm high. But the terrain is the real winner:

Clear fronted vending machine! Love it!

I've built most of my Court of Owls (finally) but the next big job is more TT combat stuff

Anyway thanks for swinging by, pop over to the LOER to take part in the public vote if you're so minded, and cyall soon!
Graven

Clayface looks fantastic!

All fantastic new stuff. Excellent work with Clayface. I think that new bit of terrain needs a NukaCola label, or failing that... Slurm.

I'm liking the idea of those post apocalyptic bits. I could definitely use some...right now haha

That vending machine is covered in win.

EDC

Hummmm.. Slurm..

Paradigm wrote:Clayface looks fantastic!

Cheers mate. I'd love a mudpack set but hey, wishlists...

Gitsplitta wrote:All fantastic new stuff. Excellent work with Clayface. I think that new bit of terrain needs a NukaCola label, or failing that... Slurm.

Absolutely I think it needs some graffiti too.

TerrainWalker wrote:I'm liking the idea of those post apocalyptic bits. I could definitely use some...right now haha

there's a really nice Container too.

evildrcheese wrote:That vending machine is covered in win.

EDC

Isn't it?!

Solar_lion wrote:Hummmm.. Slurm..

It's highly addictive

Sorry for disappearing - vomiting children. Sigh.

Anyway.

Decided to throw some paint at some Armoured Syndicate models, as the kickstarter drops tomorrow.

Chico, a wee scuttling droid

I thought about an R2 scheme for him (stock is plain yellow) but he's part of the Cuervos Muertos who are mexican nationalistas so went for the pinata egg look

He'd like a drink

And his owner, Maria:


Altogether now:


Choices, choices...

The building is Plastcraft post-apoc, btw. Also, new lightbox setup, which is working a bit better.

Other stuff: did an article on bigcomicpage.com on Court of Owls, KM liked it so much they're giving me a Marvel exclusive later today, apparently. Squee, etc. Need to build more TT combat stuff, and get ready for my soon-to-be annual "I am your father" X-wing match with my kids on Sunday

Cheers gang
Graven.

Ooh, exclusives! You're going up in the world!

Nice work on those minis, it's always a good sign when you can bring sculpts and paintwork together to tell a story (no matter how simple) that can be appreciated even without knowing anything about the setting or background. The sculpts and schemes create a great sense of atmosphere.

I like the new light box and the little post apoc set up there. Nicely done on the pop machine. Congrats on your new-found fame! People are just throwing stuff at you now-a-days! Nice to see your talents get recognized.

Love all the movie Graffiti references.. Do more!

Cheers chaps!
More post apocalyptic goodness to follow anon.
Busy busy. End of term and no let up. Took students to Sky Studios yesterday; Got to play with Oculus Rift which melted my brain slightly but was staggering.
Anyway, first a wee plug for Armoured Syndicate, why not pop over and have a look?
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/691743.page
I've even lifted my self (read: wife) imposes kickstarter ban on this one

Now a wee while back the mighty TT combat sent me a hearty pile of stuff to paw over. I've finally started looking at some of the bigger pieces. First up: the Construction Crane.

Coming in at £13.95, it's a steal for what is a bit of a beast; standing nearly 2 ft high built, this is a towering addition to a table (although there's also the even larger dock crane, at £19.95, if you're so minded). It feels like a fairly intimidating prospect to build also, but it's logical and well organised, both on the sprue and in terms of instructions.

After an hour of building, I was at this point:


So the entirety of the base section built. The arm is completely separate and, to ensure that you get all those nooks and crannies covered, I would suggest priming it at this stage.

A little note on primer. As we know, MDF eats paint. However, I have discovered something rather neat: PlastiKoat. This is acrylic spray with plastic in it, forming an effective seal without the need for coating your mdf in pva (and even then potentially multiple layers of primer) - here's one I made earlier:

Available in black and white (I picked mine up from Wickes for £9, other retailers are avaialble...), I'm going with white because I want a nice clean base to get filthy from. I may even spray it yellow. I wouldn't use this to prime anything other than MDF - fine detail becomes too obscured - but it's perfectly suited to this.

The arm is slightly more time consuming, simply because it has to dry in stages. This back section took about half an hour to build, and left to dry on its side with a weight atop it overnight, and the front likewise:


More to follow, hopefully will score some good dad loot tomorrow

Wow, love the crane looks interesting.

I really liked your MW fluff, fantastic job, don't trust anybody over 400!

That looks like it's going to be an amazing piece when completed... definitely Gotham-like to have large construction booms around.

OK so now I have to go buy that sucker, that is just too awesome. Might have to buy two actually because I can see amazing opportunity for kit bash terrain, all that girder work.....oh hang on, all the rivets I would have to apply, .........................I hate you!

Looking great.

Will definitely need to get that crane. I'll also share the plastikoat trick with the owner of my flgs. He has a laser and has given up painting the terrain due to the amount of paint it takes.

Crane is looking cool, looking forward to how it ends up.