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Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/07/30 18:48:52


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


These are work in progress shots of my Cities of Death terrain. I did a lot of visual research before I got started, using google image search and searching topics like "war damage" "War torn" "bomb damage" or any city's name that I might learn about in the news that I know is or has been touched by war - like Stalingrad, Aleppo, Mostar, etc. A word of warning on this, though. This research is not for the faint of heart. A lot of these searches will turn up very graphic pictures of civilian casualties. To avoid that, stick to searches that focus on World War 1 and World War 2, as those photos will have been censored to exclude atrocities.

My research has shown me that buildings affected by bombs and conventional warfare (like tank fire, heavy machine guns, rockets, etc.) mostly collapse into piles of broken debris a lot shorter than the buildings once were. It astounds me that a 5 story building will compact into an 8 foot tall hill of ruin. Larger buildings obviously create larger piles and one can imply that a building was enormous simply by building a gigantic pile of rubble. But this creates a quandry for my sensibilities, because wargaming terrain needs to be played on. While a human being can adjust their footing to stand on an irregular surface, our little miniatures have flat, wide bases. So I have to compromise my desire to create realistic, accurate reproductions of devastated buildings and the need to have wargame terrain I can actually play on.

This is the first of my ruins. It was once an Administratum building that likely held records and cabinets and dozens, if not hundreds, of personnel. I wanted to build a "city" that was not only bombed, but also subsequently fought over - thus bullet holes in the walls and shell holes (craters) in the rubble. This WIP shot is good because it shows the first few layers of build up on the rubble. I've glued down irregular shapes of styrofoam (in this case some pink foam I bought at a home depot for relatively cheap - 15' long x 2' wide x 1" thick for about $15 USD). On top of this foam I glued a mix of fine and slightly less fine sand. This is the base to cover up the seams of the foam and to begin to create depth in the rubble.




I've also heavily distressed the walls of this structure using a pin vice (a tiny, hand-held, manual drill), a dremle (a sanding and drilling tool), and a good old hobby knife (or exacto blade, whichever was handy at the time). Even sections of the walls that were already distressed right out of the box - GW makes the ruins I used and they come with molded damage on them. I modified these for 2 basic reasons. 1.) Some of the pieces were not damaged enough for the piece I was making, and 2.) I can't leave well-enough alone. I have to modify everything I touch. My whole ork army is converted. There's barely a single model in it that's built straight out of the box without any modification. So for this piece I tried to create some uniqueness in it by modifying the pieces to suit my aesthetic.





Here you can get an idea of the scale of this piece.




Thanks for looking! I appreciate any feedback.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/07/30 18:59:29


Post by: Desubot


Everyone loves a good war torn city.

I feel like the piece could use some ladders or addition steps and bigger units wont be able to use it properly (hard to stay within coherency when the steps are 6" apart.

I think another way to represent caved in buildings with ruins on the floor is to do a faux basement , to make it look like the majority of the upper floors is now burred beneath. FFT


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/07/31 03:19:55


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


This is the second building. More of an "outbuilding" or a filing house for storing records. It's a good example to show how I layer on the rubble. The inside is pretty well done, but the outside of the piece still shows as yet uncoated foam chunks. I used a variety of debris including pieces of the terrain itself, whittled down and glued into the foam at odd angles. Devastated buildings blow up in crazy ways and in some cases they're turned to dust and in some cases recognizable chunks can still be found scattered in the ruins. It's utterly unpredictable what survives a blast and what does not. Sometimes intricate details at the very heart of the cataclysm survive unscathed. I try to keep this in mind when I layer debris. When I paint this piece later I'll use random splotches of color to pick out the remains of mosaics, rugs, and other colorful details scattered throughout the dust and ash of the ruin.






I use a mix of aquarium gravel, Pegasus Hobbies' small grey bricks, craft sand, Woodland Scenics' coarse sand, and the miscellaneous detritus left over from all my clipping, grinding, and building for the rubble on my buildings. I usually put down a layer of craft and coarse sand first, then a layer of aquarium gravel and debris, then a layer of bricks and more gravel. Each layer is glued down with Elmer's Glue All, and when that dries, I seal it with a 50/50 mix of more Elmer's glue and water.




Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/01 04:51:41


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


This piece shows the second layer of rubble. It's also a large footprint building that's been reduced to a pile of slag and likely blasted again. What's left of the wall shows a rocket impact that still needs more shrapnel damage to the exterior of the wall. I've glued down some rough, angular aquarium gravel that has yet to get a sealing layer of elmer's/water to keep it in place. On top of this layer will be glued various tangled metal bits that I have yet to construct and then on top of that will go more rubble mixed with some small bricks.















Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/01 05:35:21


Post by: Galorn


Looking pretty good. I would reccommend a different basing texture material. What you have will look decent as rubble, but as "normal" ground cover it is far too coarse.

Playground type sand has a nice mix of grain sizes to look very much like "Dirt" at scale for 40k.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/02 18:34:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here is the last of the Administratum buildings that I am currently working on. There's another one in the works, but that one is 9 stories tall and since it was in storage for awhile it broke into 3 sections. So I have to repair it before taking any pictures of it.

Anyway, this piece is the most conplete and is actually just waiting for me to prime it so I can paint it.



I made a sidewalk for this one and the other small piece. It's easier to see on this piece. It's made from the WH Fantasy movement tray kits, cut to length and glued in place. It works great seeing as it's already textured and lined like concrete.













Thanks for looking. Feedback appreciated.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/03 14:09:58


Post by: sluggaslugga


You should get a group shot going on, so that people can see how the buildings fit together and form the battlefield. Good job on the individual ruins however.
If you want to expand your battlefield, you can check out the newest white dwarf (you don't have to buy it, just ask for your flgs for the store copy) for inspiration.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/03 15:40:59


Post by: Trondheim


I like this very much. Well done, and may i say if that you wish for more sources about war torn citites look up Allepo, Damascus and Sarajevo, although i imagien youa re already aware and have looked at these places.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/03 17:20:47


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


@Trondheim: Yes. I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures of every city that's been affected by war since the late 1800s. I've literally looked at thousands of pictures. I've even done research on buildings damaged by earthquakes, fires, mudslides, and floods. The length and breadth of human tragedy is sometimes overwhelming.

Thanks to both of you, Trondheim and sluggaslugga, for your feedback. I'll see what I can do about getting a group shot. I also have to see about getting a WIP shot of my 9 story building. New update soon.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/03 22:11:01


Post by: inmygravenimage


Great stuff! I like how there's like a spine of the building left only. How do you find using that much basing stuff as a surface to actually play on?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/04 04:29:34


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


A lot of that stuff is either going to fall off or get smoothed over once I seal it on. With the additional layers I have yet to throw on some of these pieces it starts to weigh quite a bit. I try to smooth out any dimples in the construction by filling it with either air-drying clay (a new method I've been using) or finer rubble. If I or my opponent has any wobbly models, though, the rough ground is not their friend.

It's a toss up. I prefer realism to flat ground, but that's just my personal preference. The stuff I sell has more level rubble piles.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/06 02:31:22


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So this update is not really "city related", but it is stuff I've been building and I didn't think it would be proper to just start a whole new thread just to showcase more in-progress stuff, irregardless of its flavor.

So, this is a basic how-to for the first 4 steps of my jungle bases. I'm in the process of making about 200 of these at the moment.

Step 1: visit your local arts and crafts store (to buy some wooden shapes. I use circles, ovals, hearts, and balloons) and then your local coffee shop (to take more straws than you need for your iced beverage. I usually take about 10. These places get their straws wholesale in boxes of 100 that cost them something like 15 cents. Just don't make a habit of taking 100 straws a day and they shouldn't give you a problem with taking a bunch). You'll also need a hotglue gun and some sticks (I use a high temperature mini-gun). Cut those straws into 1/2 inch lengths with a scissor, and plug in your hotglue gun. Once the glue is hot (i.e. melted and pliable) put 4-6 dabs on your wooden shape in a random pattern and stick your straw pieces to the base. Put it aside and give the hot glue a chance to dry and the glue gun a chance to heat up more of your plastic rods (its hotglue ammo).





Step 2: Begin using the hotglue gun to encircle your straws with layers of, well, hotglue. The hotter the hotglue, the more liquidy it flows. By varying the viscosity you can control, to a degree at least, how the hotglue drapes over the straw. Continue looping hotglue until all of the straw is covered except the opening at the top. If any hotglue gets in the hole you can scoop it out with a stick while it's still melty (I use a lollipop stick) or once it dries you can carve it out with a hobby knife (I use a hobby...knife).





Step 3: Again using that trusty hotglue gun, draw irregular lines of hotglue from the bases of the straws towards the edge of your wooden base. Wiggle the gun as you go to create organic shapes. You can also wait for the hotglue to dry and then go over it again so that the "roots" overlap.





Inevitably all manner of detritus ends up getting stuck to or inside your creations. Don't fight this phenomena, run with it.

Step 4: Once all the hot glue is dry/cooled to the touch (because hotglue isn't actually glue but rods of low-temperature-melt plastic that can non-the-less burn my pinky, finger tips, insert-body-part-I've-burned-on-this-in-the-past-few-days here) take a throw-away paintbrush and coat the whole piece with an acrylic texturing gel (I use Windsor and Newton Galeria Sand Texture Gel, but you can use whatever suits your fancy). Really put it on thick enough to fill in the crevasses that are the inevitable result of layering hotglue over straw bits.





Step 5 and 6...and 7 to come...stay tuned!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/06 05:10:30


Post by: inmygravenimage


Oooh, now this looks exciting!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/07 04:55:04


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Step 5: I've actually found a use for Elmer's school glue (it's a watered down version of Elmer's glue all...also known as PVA glue)! Usually I water my PVA glue down a bit before applying it to a base, but because the school glue is pre-watered down, I can just apply it straight from the bottle to my base! Hooray. Anywho, coat the base with this glue and then place said base in an uncovered box or tin (I used an empty Jacobsens of Denmark butter cookie tin, because those cookies rock...and the tin is shallow enough...and metal). Then throw some craft sand on the piece (I used Este's craft sand in obnoxious yellow, but you can use any really fine/coarse sand. I use Este's because I can buy a 5 lb bag for $4 USD), being sure to use more than you need (the tin or box catches the excess without making a mess) and tapping the piece around so that all the gluey areas are coated. Once the underlying glue dries, mix your PVA with enough water that it becomes essentially the consistency of milk (and color, we hope) and coat the whole terrain base with it, to seal the sand on. It's important to wait till the glue under the sand dries or you'll just be moving the sand around and clogging your (hopefully throw-away anyway) brush with clumps of sand. I usually wait at least 24 hours for this sealing layer to completely dry before I move on to my next step.

Also, at any time before you seal the sand on, you can rub it off some of the bends in your "roots" to simulate roots poking out of the earth.





I can't tell if this last picture makes it easier or more difficult to see the yellow sand...



More steps coming soon!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/09 22:03:05


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Not to diverge from this terrain tutorial, but I wanted to showcase a Hero's Plinth I've been making.






I wanted to make it tall and imposing. A pillar of heroism, something befitting the Imperium's audacity and tyranny. My Barry Ork is dwarfed by this thing.





I'm going to fill the platform where the sand and rocks are now with air-drying clay, but this close up should show the lights at the feet of the thing.





Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/11 19:31:38


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, so back to the tutorial.

Step 6: Once the glue dries on your piece, prime it. You can do it the old fashioned way with a spray can, or (if you're like me and have nosy neighbors who call the cops at the first rattle of the spray can) you can paint it on with some cheapo acrylic craft paint and a big brush. I use "My Studio" brand paint. It's like $5 USD for 8 oz. of paint (that's cheaper and 7.6 oz. larger than GW paints).

Tada!



Step 7: Once the primer layer dries (and you may have to coat it more than once to get an even color and to cover up any of the sand and material color peaking through...I've used cheapo paints, after all), begin overbrushing your base color. Two things to note here: 1 is that, if you aren't familiar, overbrushing is much like drybrushing but with intentionally too much paint on your brush. I use a flat, straight wash brush (Loew-Cornell 245B) and tap some color onto the head, then vigorously bat the brush head back and forth over the base. The idea is to catch the raised details (of which there should be plenty with all the texture I've invested into this thing), but not to paint everything. Some of the black primer should remain visible. The second bit is: your base color should be a color you would never think should be on terrain representing wilderness. My criteria are a) does this color seem like it would never occur in nature and b) is it muted enough that it won't overpower the remaining layers of color. In other words, shy away from neon colors, but purple, red, dull orange, and blue are all feasible. Don't be afraid to experiment. Personally I use "My Studios" Plum.



Step 8: Next layer should be a color more traditionally associated with nature and trees. In my case I used Brown (that's the totally unimaginative name for the My Studios color), but you could also easily use a dark grey, tan, blue-green, dark green, etc.



Here is a shot of the two layers side by side.


Step 9: The last layer should be very bright, like white, light grey, or bone. A subdued yellow could also likely work or a light green. Whatever you choose, it's the same method of overbrushing as all the previous layers.





Step 10: Now to hotglue your jungle stuff in. I buy "bushes" of plastic leafy things from my local arts and craft stores. They're usually $5 - $8 USD and have anywhere from 30 to 300 individual stalks on them. They aren't marketed to people like me, so this criteria I assume never goes through the manufacturer's heads, but I buy them based on how many stalks I get per 10 cents. It is likely very strange for the sales people at these stores to watch me count every tiny leaf to make sure I'm getting my money's worth.

Anyway, Once you pull these things off they have an irriating little nib on the bottom where they connected to the "bush" (by the way, don't throw out the bush these things are attached to, I'll have another tutorial later to describe what to do with those).


Just use clippers to be rid of that thing, like so -


And you get a usable this -


I separate all my various jungle stalks so I have a better idea of what I'm working with and also for ease of access once I begin.


Then put a dab of hotglue in the straw holes (action shot forthcoming), and glue your stalks into your bases.








Honestly, your possibilities are virtually endless.

Next I'll have a tutorial for building this thing -


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/15 21:06:19


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


The "Fernball" is built is much the same way as the jungle bases, except you start with a styrofoam ball hotglued to the center of your wooden base and then glue in straws of various thicknesses around the top of the ball. I also use wire or the metal-reinforced arms of plastic bushes clipped to random length, bent and hot glued around the base of the ball as the foundation of the plant's trunk.



Once that cools you can begin pouring more hotglue over the top of the ball being careful to a.) Avoid the straw apertures and b.) Use very hot and therefore liquidy hot glue si Iit cascades down the sides of the ball in a natural manner. This process usually takes a few layers/applications. Once the entire exterior is coated, loop hot glue around the straws to cover them as well. Remember to leave the holes uncovered. When everything is cool, coat the whole piece in textured gel. You can use the gel, if you wait for the first layer to completely dry, to cover up any gaps you might have in the trunk's exterior.




Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/16 17:22:32


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


After you've glued sand to the base and sealed it, you can prime it and paint it using the same method as for the flatter bases above. I usually clip down the ends of whatever plastic plant frond I'm going to use and test fit them to the straw holes to make sure I have cut them down enough. Once dry (and when using craft acrylics this takes seconds, really), use your hotglue gun and put a small dollop into the open straw holes. It's important to do this one straw at a time as the hotglue will cool pretty quickly once dispensed. Then put your plant fronds in the holes. If you've used a variety of straw thicknesses like I have, some will only fit 1 frond. This is okay as it breaks up the density of the foliage. And viola! You have another jungle plant. If you vary the colors you use to paint your bases and the color and type of plastic plants you use, you can create an endless variety of jungles. I sometimes use aquarium plant fronds because it makes for a striking alien landscape. Don't be afraid to vary your colors or foliage types, even on the same piece, as this adds believeability to your object. Also remember that the terrain piece is just a background piece for your wargame and it's your figures and armies that are the real showcase. All this terrain just makes them look cooler.












Automatically Appended Next Post:
You can also make trees with this method. I used paper lollipop sticks that I PVA-glued together and then sawed down to random sizes to create mine. First I hotglued some random styrofoam chunks onto my base then dug a small hole in the styrofoam (I guess Europeans might call this stuff expanded foam or packing foam, but I really have no idea) with a pointed file - I suppose one could use a hobby knife instead, the file I just felt was safer; less likely to slice one or more of my fingers open for no reason. Then I fill the hole with hotglue or PVA glue, whichever is handier (although I find hotglue to have a better hold once dry) and stick my lollipop trunk in the hole. When that cools, I use my gun to drape hotglue along the sticks and to create roots in a similar fashion to the flat bases above.



Coat the trunk with textured gel. Then coat the base with glue and sand, seal it, prime it, and paint it like all the rest. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do to the tops of these things yet. I don't know if I'm going to drill holes in the trunk and glue small pieces of plastic plants to simulate branches or put sticky craft glue at the tops and glue on tufts of colored turf. Decisions, decisions...



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/08/20 03:27:45


Post by: Master Azalle


Warboss your terrain is impressive! I love the tutorials! I'll definitely have to try out making some myself! Can't wait to see the rest of your buildings!

And I totally dig/see happening your Hero's monument, definitely fits with the overly ridiculous high gothicness found just about every where except Ultramar


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/02 06:54:17


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here are a few small buildings I'm working on now. These photos show the barest bones of the buildings. There is plenty more to come.








Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/10 06:11:36


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I also started some objective markers. I came across a cheap model of the MIR orbital space station and chopped it into usable portions, then based them on spare slotta bases, covering where they join with air-drying clay. Let me know what you guys think. I figured them to look like generic comms arrays.






I still need to base them and paint them, but any feedback is much appreciated.



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/11 04:48:30


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Some WIP buildings:















Feedback always appreciated!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/11 11:11:19


Post by: Citizen Luka


This is some really creative stuff! I'll definitely look forward to seeing the rest of your work.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/12 17:19:07


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, Citizen Luka!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/12 17:51:51


Post by: morfydd


Very Nice..So far so good ..Hot glue is a very verstaile tool ..the Textured gels are a nice touch as well ..

Saw Dust (all that you get from Making the MDF bases) is a very nice touch and addition to the rubble heaps or basing ..( I have three screens I send the dust thru I sweep off my shop floor to get it in different sizes..the finest gets mixed with paint to be flocking) the becomes rubble..

I like the use of various size and types of straws..and hot glue ..the little discs I will have to see if they are cheaper or continue to just cut random shapes from MDF for my stuff


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh ROTOZIP..Looks like and oversized dremel is a great tool for random and straight shapes from MDF ..and leaves a lot of fine sawdust that can be used for flocking


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/12 18:15:18


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here are some more work in progress shots of various trees and bases. Feedback always welcome!








These couple of shots show what the bases look like after the paint goes on, but before the trees get glued into the holes.



And these are a color comparison to show the variety one can achieve with little effort.






Automatically Appended Next Post:
The really tall trees above (with the green bases) are made with wooden craft sticks, but could just as easily be made with the little wooden coffee stirrer sticks they have in Starbucks.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/13 22:06:20


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the info morfydd. This ROTOZIP, I can get this device at a home depot or is there another place you would recommend I get it at? It sounds really useful. I've been purchasing precut hdf (a tougher version of mdf) from art stores. They have a canvas material on one side, but are otherwise just perfectly cut bases. I was buying them in bulk when they were on sale for back to school. I like the idea of modifying them slightly or chopping them into irregular shapes for use as forests, etc.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I feel I have been remiss in my gratitude for feedback. So with that in mind, I'd like to say thank you to Master Azalle, Galorn, desubot, and inmygravenimage! I very much appreciate your input!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/14 06:20:25


Post by: Galorn


Thanks for the ping. Roto zips are indeed sold at places like home despot, and lowes. They are an odd tool inbetween a full router and a dremel. The hdf squares sound really handy for squares and rectangles. The canvaslike fabric material would make cutting them into irregular shapes somewhat more difficult than it would be to cut mdf. Home despot does sell precut panels of thin mdf that are aproximately 2ft x 4ft. (Usually a little.larger or spot on)


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/14 14:34:19


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Galorn wrote:
Thanks for the ping. Roto zips are indeed sold at places like home despot, and lowes. They are an odd tool inbetween a full router and a dremel. The hdf squares sound really handy for squares and rectangles. The canvaslike fabric material would make cutting them into irregular shapes somewhat more difficult than it would be to cut mdf. Home despot does sell precut panels of thin mdf that are aproximately 2ft x 4ft. (Usually a little.larger or spot on)


Hah! I'm not the only person who calls them "home despot". The canvas on the back of the hdf board is actually just a canvas-like texture and not actual fabric, so cutting it is no more difficult than cutting regular hdf or mdf board. I've purchased thoae sheets of mdf from home despot bwfore but I'm personally inept at cutting perfect shapes. I use them to cut irregular shapes for larger forest pieces or wide expanses of rubble. I've also seen, but have no idea where to find, boxes of 20 roughly 18" square mdf tiles. These boxes are like my terrain-building holy grail.

Thanks for the protips, Galorn!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/15 04:43:47


Post by: morfydd


Home Despot also has the HDF ..often called Hard Board..and just as a side not the Crackle and diomand deck looking semi transparent light covers that are 2 foot by 4 foot and 1.5 mm in thickness is now made from semi clear Styerene and not from acrylic anymore making it very usefull source of cheapo plasticard


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Rotozip..also has other brands ..vesides the original now so the price is not horrid ..later (prolly sunday morning (I can post a pic of one beside a dremal for a size refernce


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/15 08:03:45


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Sounds great, morfydd! Very interested in seeing that comparison photo. Yeah, I've used no trespassing signs as cheap alternatives to plasticard. Evergreen and Plastruct make great products but they can be very expensive. Thanks for the heads up!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/15 08:12:32


Post by: inmygravenimage


I was looking again at your towering, skinny structures. How do you manage to keep them steady, stable - and vertical ?!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/15 14:54:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


You mean the tall one with the balconies? I start with elmers glue on all the joins. It's a crazy powerful adhesive. That tall piece did have a tendency to tip forward when tapped on the top, mainly because it was the tallest building on the table, but blu-tac or similar removable adhesive clay on the bottom of the base would solve that issue. Also, I'd texture the walls with watered down PVA white glue (elmers again) and seal the rubble on the base with the same. All that glue goes a long wayto strengthen the piece. Using foam as my base material also cuts down on the structure's weight and having more of the building intact at the bottom than on top helps, too.

Thanks for the question, inmygravenimage! I hope this answers it. Feel free to ask any follow-up questions if you need further clarification.

Maybe I'll do a tutorial at some point.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/15 16:09:06


Post by: morfydd


Rotzip..and Dremal Side by side (Well Black and Decker Rotoray Saw..as opposed to Rotozips brands version)



Automatically Appended Next Post:
and I failed on embedding the photo but the link is here on dakka so anyway its there


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just make sure to pick up the correct bits the dry wall bits do not work as well as the ones for other materials (they tend to break at odd times)


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/15 17:46:11


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I assume the rotozip equivalent is the big orange tool?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/16 02:23:01


Post by: morfydd


Yes it is .not impressive looking but I find it to be usefull for creating organic terrain


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/23 07:00:57


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Cool, thanks for the tip, morfydd.

Here are some step by step, WIP shots of some large trees I'm working on. First up is the basic shape. I use real sticks and hotglue them together in a random pattern, starting with just 2 and hotgluing them to a base. Then I add on more in ways that just seem pleasing to my eyes. I'm sure to add flowing hot glue to simulate the basics of a root system.









Sometimes I might break off some branches if they don't look right or if they seem too brittle. Then I coat the whole "tree" with a texturing compound. I'll be honest I can't remember what I used on these trees and I have no pictures with the texturing on them before I primed them. Ah well, any will do - acrylic sand gels, spackling compound, filler, etc. Then I prime them, usually by hand because I'm too lazy to bring all my gear outside. Oh, yeah. After I textured the trees I added craft shells to the base to simulate alien "pinecones" or seeds of some sort.



http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/540861-Terrain%2C%20Trees%2C%20Work%20In%20Progress.html

Then I overbrush the tree with a dark blue, followed by a medium grey, and a highlight of bone or nearly white grey.






That's as far as I've got with these so far.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here are some WIP of other projects, too.






feedback always welcome!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/23 15:30:40


Post by: Desubot


Ooo nice trees. i especially like the twisting ones.

Some moss or shroom could be cool


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/23 15:47:10


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Yes, they are definitely stil works in progress. I haven't decided what I'm going to use as foliage in them yet. I could use flock, but I was also thinking of individual leaves. I'll try to get some pictures of what I'm thinking about up tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the feedback Desubot!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/23 16:06:47


Post by: Nafarious


I really like those trees, I just saw this thread and I must say you work like a madman so much progress! I can hardly wait to see more of what you have to offer.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/24 02:08:46


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, Nafarious! I wanted to put up a few of the types of photos I use as reference when building city terrain.




These mountains of rubble are sometimes difficult to reproduce, but so much fun to try.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/24 09:31:55


Post by: PDH


Very cool blog. The twig tree is great.

Looking forward to a group shot and some paint.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/24 13:24:17


Post by: Nafarious


Very nice @Warboss I really like that giant tree you made, can't wait to see this table come together.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/09/27 07:15:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So, here are a few other items I'm working on. For whatever reason, my brain has latched on to the name "Blob tree" for these. I think it's because of the blob of hot glue at the top that holds on the collection of thin, plastic straw bits. These are a few work in progress shots showing the base materials (styrofoam, a little hot glue, and the clipped down stems of fake bushes that have been inverted). Then I loop hot glue around that shaft to create a pattern. At the tops of each I glue on a few thin, plastic straws (they're actually hollow plastic lollipop sticks that I bought at my local craft store and clipped down so that they'd fit at the tops without being ridiculously over-sized). The next step with be to coat them with sand-textured gel (good ol' stand by, windsor & newton acrylic sand texture gel) and, when that dries, to paint them. After all that I'll glue some leafy somethingerothers into the exposed tube holes.










This piece is the beginning of an alien "mangrove" sort of tree. It will eventually also get some branches and some textured gel, but I'm trying to leave the base open and flat enough to accommodate at least one miniature. Don't ask me why I named this one "Weepy".




Thanks for looking. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/03 03:45:22


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Arise, my thread!

Anyway, sorry I haven't posted in awhile, things have been very hectic on my end. I was recently contacted by a client who has commissioned me to make him a few terrain pieces. Namely, a Lake, some craters, and a debris field. I started with the lake. I'll be posting my WIP on this progress in this thread, so keep your eyes peeled for lots of updates here in the next few days/weeks.

I started with a square of masonite (MDF board purchased from Home Depot). Using a pencil I traced a basic shape in the square. Then, using a utility knife, I scored roughly along those lines. Using a saw takes too long and I am impatient. So I scored each line 3 or 4 times and then used my brute "strength" to break the masonite apart.


Using my trusty rasp:


I made a huge mess:


And also filed the rough corners to rounded ones and came up with my basic shape, seen here from two amazing angles! Yep, a whole two.



Then, using elmer's glue (essentially white glue) I started laying down the basic shape of the lake's shoreline.





The client's direction was along the lines of "Do whatever you want, I'm sure it will look cool." Which is probably what anybody who works for commission wants to hear when starting a new project. I wanted to give the shoreline an irregular feel and also be tall enough so that when I pour the resin water effects it doesn't spill over the sides. I'll post up the work I'm doing now tomorrow. Thanks for looking. As always, C&C welcome.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/04 05:18:16


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Although I promised an update today, I instead spent my Sunday driving, cooking, and then drinking. So I'll post my progress up on Monday, when I'm more sober and can remember how to take pictures of the terrain and not just my thumb, the floor, or the inside of the lens cap.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/05 04:40:28


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, so step 3 is underway. Mostly just allowing the hotglue to work its magic and then trying to exploit what it does.



Here you can see where I'm trying to create a more or less flat shelf on which models will eventually be able to stand.



Here is a close up of the little "island" in the middle of the lake.


I'm hoping the water effects will exploit this little hole well.


These two shots show the masonite warp. I'm not sure if the piece was subtly warped to begin with or if the heat from the glue guns warped it, but once I layer the hotglue over the edges and let it dry (and scrape it off the table that it keeps gluing itself to as it dries), it should solve this issue. In fact, I know it is, because I'm doing that right now.



There's more yet to do. One of the edges is not as high as I would like and I need to build it up some more so that the resin water doesn't spill out when I pour it. I'm also contemplating putting in some swamp grass or other vegetation along the edges. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. As always, comments welcome.

Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/05 05:04:27


Post by: Galorn


The warpage is being caused by the hot glue contracting as it cools.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/05 05:44:49


Post by: sir william the bold


Love those trees!
brilliant idea, and well executed. Nice work.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/05 16:39:09


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


@Galorn: I thought that might be the case. Usually i work with wood or plastic with this style of terrain and this is the first time I'm working with such a large piece of mdf with the hotglue.

Draping the glue over the sides seems to be working to fix this issue and it makes the piece look more complete anyways.

@sir William the bold: thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/12 03:54:32


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


This is another commission. The whole "Shattered City" is for a client in my neighborhood and while this isn't the centerpiece necessarily, it will be one of the largest pieces in the collection.



















And the front of this monster (in a so-far sort of way).



As always, feedback, comments, critique welcomed and encouraged. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/12 04:57:38


Post by: Nafarious


I keep seeing you do more and more wips but never a finished product. Such a tease.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/12 05:40:18


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I never realized that, Nafarious. I keep starting or continuing projects and sometimes it's difficult for me to knuckle down and finish something. My workspace is cluttered with half-finished projects. I'm trying to make progress on all of them, but I guess what you're saying is you want me to pick one and bring it to completion. Is thst correct?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, do you have a favorite that you would like to see completed?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/12 05:55:54


Post by: Nafarious


Haha don't worry about it man. I forgot the other half of the comment at home somewhere, this damn computer likes to fall asleep and then not turn back on. Anywho I really like the look of that building, you did a fantastic job of making it look like it is a part of a huge city. Too often we see these pidly little buildings but yours is a behemoth and feels right.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/12 10:39:30


Post by: lennymaybe


All of this terrain is looking awesome - I particularly like the jungle stuff. Looking forward to seeing more.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/12 16:26:35


Post by: Bobaram


Definitely going to hi-jack these techniques for when I get back into crafting my terrain!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/14 05:11:39


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for all the feedback guys! More pics of the monster in 12 hours. But first, sleep.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/15 01:29:06


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, to whet everyone's appetite I have some "action shots" of me painting this monster. I can't help but notice how much I resemble a bearded pear in a t-shirt in these photos. Sigh.



Those hard to reach spots:


And harder to reach:


And hardest to reach...or even see for that matter:


More photos as I get more done. Comments, critique, suggestions always welcome. As always, thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/15 03:33:18


Post by: Galorn


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Okay, to whet everyone's appetite I have some "action shots" of me painting this monster. I can't help but notice how much I resemble a bearded pear in a t-shirt in these photos. Sigh.

(Pictures removed as not relevant to comment.)

More photos as I get more done. Comments, critique, suggestions always welcome. As always, thanks for looking!


Looking pretty good, as for your geometric configuration dude at least your beard gives your face definition... I don't even have that going for me... Check out the early pics of me losing my mind painting for Templecon 2011 to see what I mean.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/15 03:57:43


Post by: Gorgrimm


Okay. So I looked at this off the bat because simply for the title, since my entire terrain collection is urban warfare based and expanding.

Thank you so much for the trees! I've never seen an easier, cool way to do them. Amazing. I am going to let my hot glue gun do the talking from now on. Very nice. Subscribed!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/15 23:52:30


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the kind words guys! I'm out and about now, but I'll have new photos of the behemoth up in a few hours. Coffee takes priority.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, first up are some WIP shots of another commissioned piece. This is the alien jungle world lake I posted up a few days? weeks? ago. I'm bad with time. I finished building the shoreline and am now in the process of applying a textured gel to it. I've placed a few "stumps" around it, including a bunch on the little island at the center. These will get some vibrantly colored plants in them when the lake is all painted and after I've applied the resin water effects.

An overview:


From the opposite angle:


The lake bed. I'm never sure if I should to use my original photos or the auto-adjusted ones:


My gap solution:


The island as it originally looked:

And now:


And from another angle:


Any place on this lake that you see a little green blip, it's a 1/4" length of straw I got from a coffee shop. It's covered in hot glue, but the top is open. I find these materials make for excellent receptacles for jungle trees. I got this idea from watching a husband and wife team work on a Tau display board at one of the Baltimore Games Days. I remember watching them for hours. They were good and I learned a lot from them. Anyone who is interested in building terrain or learning how to do it better I highly recommend researching how everyone else does it. Don't be afraid to copy. Don't be afraid to experiment. Try everything, let nothing hold you back. Any idea you might have to improve upon an old idea, just run with it. Experiment and learn from your mistakes, but don't EVER let anyone tell you it can't be done. When people tell me this I don't say anything to them. I just build exactly what they've told me I cannot. I don't build easy stuff, I build things that are difficult. I build them to challenge myself and to let people know that there is no such thing as impossible.

As always, thanks for looking. Comments, critiques, and questions always welcome!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/16 05:13:31


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, here's a whole bunch of update photos for my giant building commission. I hope you like 'em!

exterior shots:










And some details of the sidewalk. I filled in the gaps with air-drying clay (just plain old crayola brand, nothing fancy) and put some "feet" around the side to act as bases for buttresses that will be on 3 corners of the "tower".



After these "feet" dried they came right off and I had to glue them back on with more elmers glue.


Buttress mock-ups:




Some interior shots as well:









Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/16 05:53:31


Post by: Galorn


Not bad the walls could use a grime wash for my taste but looking very good overall.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/16 17:05:24


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


The exterior walls are only base coated. I want to do them all at the same time to give them a more uniform look. That's my theory anyway.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/16 18:16:58


Post by: Phutarf


Impressive stuff on the giant building front - I think I might be stea... *ahem* - borrowing some ideas for my Cathdral! Def keeping an eye on this one


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/16 18:48:53


Post by: Nafarious


You got a lot done. That swamp piece is starting to look all nice and creepy I am just wondering how easy it will be to paint.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/17 06:02:34


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback! @Nafarious: these pieces are super easy to paint. Base coat in black, then just straight dry brush. Once the texturing gel dries the painting takes very little time. The textured gel also gives the paint a ready surface to draw out the detail.

Here's some mock-up photos for the behemoth building's facade:





And now in its painted and glued on state:










One of my favorite views so far:


Comments, questions, critiques always welcome. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/17 23:33:51


Post by: Bobaram


This thread has inspired a friend and I to create a full table asteroid board. Hopefully it ends up looking as good!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/18 05:17:46


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


That's great, Bobaram! I can't wait to see your progress! If you guys have any questions or want some suggestions please don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to help.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/18 17:09:10


Post by: Bobaram


For sure! We're slowly gather supplies and currently testing out the materials and paints we're going to use so we don't buy a bunch of the wrong thing!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/18 22:27:11


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Do you have a particular theme in mind, Bobaram? Like "asteroid base", "stray comet", or "spiky wonderland"? I find it really useful to have a general idea of what I want the end product to look like in my head before I get started. I also sketch a bunch to give myself an idea of scale and seek out reference photos from the interwebs to help me wrap my head around what things should look like when I'm done. Reference photos are great for building and for color pallette later on.

Throw some ideas out or if you have questions about how to make something, post them here. Will the board have static elements or do you intend to make it modular/scatter terrain? I think I have as much enthusiasm for your project as you do.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/18 23:06:43


Post by: Prophet40k


What an amazing terrain layout. love it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/19 00:03:22


Post by: Kandle


Subbed to steal the tree techniques... BRILLIANT!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/19 02:51:57


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here's a bunch of WIP shots of a bunch of jungle pieces (including some funky trees), small building ruins, and small Administratum ruins for the Shattered City commission I'm currently working on. The trees/jungle pieces and the small ruin (as well as some other similar ruins) will be available for purchase on my EBAY page (follow link in my signature) in a few days (go ahead and click the link to find a bunch of other terrain pieces I already have up there, too).








And the Administratum buildings:



Closeup on the debris. I like to incorporate chunks of the wall panels into the rubble. If there's one thing I've learned from researching the damage inflicted by explosives it's that there is neither rhyme nor reason for what survives and what does not. There's always going to be incongruously intact elements of the original structure within all the ruin and devastation. Also, when it comes to painting it, whatever the core building material was (concrete, brick, stone, or steel) will dictate what color the dust that covers EVERYTHING will be. If your building was constructed of concrete, then no matter what color the exterior has been painted, there will be a pall of grayish dust on everything for blocks in all directions. If your building's core was brick there will be a fine red dust on everything. If the core is steel, like on a sky-scraper, then the debris will be rusted, blackened, and a white corrosion. Interesting facts to keep in mind when painting.









Also, regarding rubble and debris, put everything in it. Most the devastation is going to be random, meaningless bits. Use large and small pieces of stuff. Structural bits, doors, sticks, etc. But if you're using sprue,remember to chop it down to pebble sized and never use the bits that have writing on them. These bits will ruin the illusion and make your terrain look like you used sprue on it. This just generally looks amateurish and sloppy. I use a wide variety of ballast - medium, fine, coarse - plus Talus, chopped up sprue, shavings from my masonite (MDF) and styrofoam, match sticks, broken coffee sticks, fine sand, model bricks, pulverized walnut shell, distressed pieces of wall panels, and random discards from things I've used before (like model kits, plasticard pipes and girders, failed attempts from other projects). The more variety the better. I also typically put 2 or 3 layers of debris or I embed my first layer in air-dry clay and then glue down a second layer over that.

As always, questions, comments, or critiques welcome. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/21 02:10:49


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Starting to get real paint on these pieces. The first of my Administratum small ruins has a (mostly) finished interior and steps 1 & 2 of paint (basecoat and first 2 layers of detail color) on its exterior. It still needs white and ivory veins on the purple panels, more red on the large wall exterior, a black wash on the purple panels, a red-brown wash on the skulls and red details, metal on the vents, verdigris on the exterior and more weathering. I don't like to paint things half-assed. Also this piece is acting as my paint-scheme test for all my other pieces. Whatever doesn't work on this one, I'll adjust for the others.

First, some exterior shots:



Barry stalks the ruins (and gives us a sense of scale):



And some interior shots. The inner walls, first and second floors, were both base coated in the same color (a dark grey from a company called My Studio; the color is called "Feather Gray") and then were drybrushed and stippled with lighter grays for the first floor and ivory/whites for the second floor. Then they were given about a dozen washes starting with a muted pink-grey, then light grey, then rust, then white, then black, then more rust.







Close ups of the debris on the base. I went just as crazy with these details as with all the others.



And, finally, a shot of one of my new objective markers, made by chopping up a model of the MIR space Station and gluing it to a base...and the painting the sh!t out of it. Enjoy! (more pics iof this marker in my "Terrain I've Made" thread).


As always, comments, critiques, and questions welcome! Thanks for looking.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Stippling effect on the other piece, before weathering:




The two pieces side by side:


And one of my "blob trees" fully painted.



Now I have a dilemma and I am hoping the Dakkadakka community can weigh in to help me. My original idea was to use thin lengths of grasses that I have an abundance of for this tree's foliage. Maybe something like this or denser:


But now I can't decide if I like that idea or this other idea to use these blue fronds:




Which version do you prefer? Comment and let me know. A.) green "strings" or B.) blue "hair". Thanks for looking and taking the time with this!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/21 18:38:48


Post by: Bobaram


The blue Frondy things, for sure!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/22 02:26:24


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the input, Bobaram. Staring at these pictures is making me lean toward the frondy things, too. I still would like to hear from other members of the community their opinions of the foliage types. I'll go with whichever gets more votes.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/25 07:51:46


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Whelp, considering I got one response and I totally agree with it, I went with Bobaram's advice and used the frondy things. Pics up of what that looks like shortly, but first I wanted to post some Paint in Progress shots of one of my smaller administratum ruins. I wanted to create a black marble effect on the exterior walls, but feel like I failed at the task miserably. I still need to touch up the large wall with red highlights and a brick-colored wash over that, but I feel kind of finished with the other walls, inside and out. I mostly started painting this piece rather than finishing the "behemoth" so I could test my weathering techniques and paint schemes before I committed them to the much larger building. So here's what it looks like (my lap, by the way, sheds so much light that I actually have trouble seeing with it. I never thought I would be plagued by too MUCH light, but it also kills the color in photographs. I used the auto-adjusted images because they were actually closer to the real colors. I'll have to get a new bulb for the thing soon):


Bad marble is bad:


I think I need a thinner brush...(this picture also faintly shows the application of sand-textured gel to the spots on the wall where the outer layer has been broken away. I wanted to try to create a realistic rust texture for when I weather those spots):


Trying to bleed the rust into the surrounding debris:





Comments, critiques, and questions always welcome. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/26 00:39:42


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here are the finished "Siren Trees" (formerly "blob trees"), so named because their frond-like leaves make them resemble air raid siren towers.

Barry hides in their shadow:








These are all for sale on my EBAY store. Link below in my signature. More photos in my Terrain I've Made thread. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/26 08:01:18


Post by: Blocka


Hey mate loving the ideas you have here, and I will be ....borrowing them.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/28 06:22:51


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Blocka wrote:
Hey mate loving the ideas you have here, and I will be ....borrowing them.

Thanks, Blocka! I'm committed to improving the look of terrain throughout the community, so please by all means, Borrow away! With luck I'll have some updates after the holiday. I intend to eat myself stupid tomorrow.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/28 06:40:27


Post by: Nafarious


Hey Waaazg I am working on a new display board for my orks speed freaks army, I am thinking of one a 2x2 board 2 roads that come together. Thinking of this sort of image, 2 roads with a few buildings and then 2 trucks chugging their way along on these roads with some enemies up in the buildings.

------------------------------
|-------\ xx
|--------\ xx
| x \--------------------
| x /-------------------
|---------/
|--------/
--------------------------------

In hindsight that image thing didn't work too well.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/28 07:20:01


Post by: inmygravenimage


Looking cool! And I totally thought I'd replied Yay fronds! Sorry about that.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/11/28 08:51:06


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Nafarious wrote:
Hey Waaazg I am working on a new display board for my orks speed freaks army, I am thinking of one a 2x2 board 2 roads that come together. Thinking of this sort of image, 2 roads with a few buildings and then 2 trucks chugging their way along on these roads with some enemies up in the buildings.

------------------------------
|-------\ xx
|--------\ xx
| x \--------------------
| x /-------------------
|---------/
|--------/
--------------------------------

In hindsight that image thing didn't work too well.


That's great, Nafarious! I can't wait to see what you do with that!. And I agree, the picture doesn't seem to convey what you are trying to do. I have some totally unsolicited advice if you're interested. First, my recommendation is to shy away from roads that turn your board into noticeable quadrants. Don't form a T and don't form an X, but rather have your roads come on at odd angles. Real roads (except maybe ones in modern cities) don't form up perfectly. I recommend looking at google maps satellite images of cities or towns in the American midwest or anywhere in Europe. These will give you an idea of how roads run together. Also I shy away from having crossroads meet at the dead center of the board. If they meet slightly to one side it adds dynamism to your layout and really makes it interesting to look at. Also, from a gamer's perspective, moving away from grid-like streets means your enemies don't have direct lines of fire on you from turn 1 and doing something as simple as angling your streets on a cityfight board will vastly increase the realism of the engagement.

inmygravenimage wrote:Looking cool! And I totally thought I'd replied Yay fronds! Sorry about that.

No problem, my friend, it all worked out in the end. The trees look great and I'm on to new and greater things. Next project is a series of jungle bases and then I'm not entirely sure. Probably some buildings and finishing up my Shattered City.

My future projects include creating resin panels compatible with GW's city stuff to represent the architecture of individual worlds, iceworld-themed terrain, and a couple of Hive interiors (one that's a vast interior farmland and one that's a sprawl on the bottom of a planet-covering glacier). Oh, and some immense cylindrical towers. The projects never stop.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/01 18:27:13


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Sorry I haven't posted in a while folks. Holidays and all. I started work on wall ssection prototypes and I'll have pics up of my progress in the next few days. Now I'm off to a friend's place to take a "giant resin castle" off his hands. I have no idea what that means, but free always grabs and holds my attention.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/06 03:04:20


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So, I've been doing some research for my next/concurrent project. Two projects, actually. One is a 40k urban ruins "hill" and the other is an emulation of a real world ruin from the Second Chechen War. Below are some of my reference photos. However, these are images of war and devastation. While not graphic per se, some folk might find them disturbing so I put them in spoilers. If you are traumatized by viewing such images, I urge you not to look.

First up are my "Hill" references:

Spoiler:






And the ruin I want to copy:

Spoiler:



Along with some general reference photos:

Spoiler:





Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/06 03:15:43


Post by: Nafarious


I can't wait to see what you do with this. Surely it will be pretty awesome.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/06 03:24:22


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks, Nafarious! I'm looking forward to building these for sure.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/07 03:41:19


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, update time. First, here are some pictures of the free castle I picked up last weekend. It was so dusty I was tempted to plant a tree on it. It seriously sucks that I have a dust allergy. Seriously seriously.

Look at this. This is absurd. I'm getting itchy just looking at it.


The castle proper. It was only 3 walls, because the previous owner misplaced one, but as I've already said, I can't argue with free. Besides he said if he finds wall 4, he'd give me a ring. I guess the missing wall must be the gatehouse, because there's no place to put the doors.














It came with two stand alone doors of inconceivable thickness:



And no, this isn't sandwich bread. This is what the back of each door looks like:


I have no idea what I'm going to do with this monster. For the moment it's going into storage. I put it up here just as a reminder to myself that I still have it. It's also made out of a kind of resin that feels kind of brittle. I might wind up chopping it apart and making a bunch of smaller pieces out of it. Who knows.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
And of course these are my attempts at custom wall sections. I dubbed them "fat" and "skinny".



I intentionally made them slightly different in size (height and width) to GW's pieces. Here are some shots illustrating that exact aspect.
Side by side with "skinny":

Skinny's width:

Fat's width:

Fat and Skinny are also the same height. And because I live in the States (one of the last bastions of Imperial measurement) I used inches to portion out my pieces. Skinny is 2" wide by 6" tall. Fat is 4" wide by 6" tall.

So I decided to start with Skinny in the detailing department. Now I have a whole lot of ambition, but not much direction with this so I just decided to do whatever and let the design happen as I glued stuff to the piece. This is working out only okay, but I feel like I need to get this done or I will wallow in a kind of "what if I do it wrong?" funk. Basically, I accept that this first piece will be horrible and completely "wrong" and that I'll do it anyway. Just so I can't have "never tried" hanging over my head. Because I can always use the insight I gain from doing it wrong this time to make next time look even better. I can't learn by wishing I did something. I can only learn by making mistakes.

That said, this makes my OCD go crazy:


And this is as far as I've gotten so far:


Here's some detail on the bottom part. I'm not really big on patience and tend to barrel forward making and breaking, adding layers and ideas as I go.


Let me know what you think so far. My end goal is to make a cast of this and reproduce it in resin (for which I have next to no experience with either). Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/07 08:54:21


Post by: Nafarious


If you don't have plans for one of those wall pieces I am in serious need of one for my Khador display board.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/07 16:57:35


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Actually, Nafarious, my intention is to perfect these wall sections, make resin copies, and then start selling them through my ebay account. So with luck these will be available for public purchase soon.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/08 01:01:50


Post by: Nafarious


If you ever get a bad one or just want to cut me a nice deal I could really use one


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/17 00:52:46


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I'll keep you in mind, Nafarious.

I've been seriously busy of late folks, but I promise I'll have progress shots up soon. Thanks for your patience everyone!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/18 05:28:25


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So I made significant progress on the lake commission. Here is a whole bunch of pictures.

Primed (Barry inspects my work):





Base coated:




Midtone:




Highlight and lakebed base coated:






Lakebed highlighted (waiting for resin water, now):






Tomorrow should be PIP on the small ruins I'm making. C&C always welcome. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/18 05:56:03


Post by: Nafarious


That looks great Waz, you going to do some water effects to it? I think you should start casting all of your terrain things, and sending me free copies


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/18 06:04:52


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Yes, I'll be adding clear resin water effects to create a pool. About the free stuff...man, everybody's gotta make money.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/18 06:14:52


Post by: Nafarious


Haha fair enough, I am still waiting on that castle wall though , maybe we can go into business together, you build the terrain send it to me, I paint it up, and send it back.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/22 00:26:52


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


A few weeks? Days? I'm not a really good judge of time...ago, one of the Dakkadakka members (Lockark) got in touch with me regarding his mountain of miscast hirst blocks. I had commented that they were just a dream for a builder like myself and he apparently took me up on that dream. So he sent me his miscasts. All 301kg of them. It was all I could hope for and more.





Holy smokes! It was all I could do to stop myself from foaming at the mouth and shaking on the floor (with or without pooping myself). Layer upon layer of gold (in the form of tiny bits of plaster)! It just never ended! Everything from tiny piles of bones...


to pipes and chairs and doodads... (by the way I can't believe "doodad" is a real word. my autocorrect didn't underline it in red)






Every time I thought I was done I would look into the box and there would be still more...


Separating by types...



In the end I had all this...


Now, bear in mind these are miscasts, so to a builder who is trying to make something that looks like a container or a section of wall, an object spotted by air bubbles is just not going to work. I'm sure Lockark had little use for these in his own project and may have even written these bits off as "garbage". But for me this is a treasure trove. There's a million ideas running through my head for these objects and the next few weeks we'll all witness what happens with them.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH LOCKARK!

And thank you, Dakkadakka community for all your support and views and comments. Cheers!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/22 01:06:27


Post by: Some_Call_Me_Tim?


Dang, that is quite the haul! I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

By the way, have you ever looked into getting an airbrush? They really speed up terrain painting, and you can do some great effects with them. Aside from being good for fast basecoating, you can do highlights, washes, glazes, smoke effects, rust, OSL, and all sorts of other good stuff.

~Tim?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/22 01:18:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I own a cheapo GW hand flamer airbrush, Tim?. But I've used it all of twice. I used to own another airbrush, but sold it long ago. I'll be honest those things intimidate me, but I should probably start saving my money and invest in one. Thanks for the feedback!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I did some more painting on one of the smaller "Shattered City" pieces I'm working on. It still needs an ink wash to tone down the red and pick out the details on the skulls and such, but I painted the frame work and some details with red and the incense vents with gold. I'm thinking of mixing my gold with silver and highlighting those incense vents before hitting it with the wash, but I dunno.





C&C always welcome, folks.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/22 01:35:19


Post by: Some_Call_Me_Tim?


Well, there are a ton of amazing resources on airbrushing miniatures and terrain all over the web, especially here on Dakka. I'm not that experience myself, but I can give you one solid tip: get rid of the GW "airbrush". Those things are glorified spray paint canisters. What you need is a dual action, gravity-feed airbrush. The dual action allows you to control the flow of the paint and the air, so you can do anything from pencil-thin lines to big, broad basecoat strokes. The GW airbrush is a single action, as are primer cans and spray paint cans. Not control of flow whatsoever.

~Tim?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/22 01:42:35


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the advice, Tim?. I'll look into it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, also. Here are some autumnal trees I made. More pics in my "terrain I made" thread linked in my signature below.











Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, also, also. Fern jungles.







Again more pics in my terrain I made thread.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, also, etc.

I'm also working on these trees. Gluing individual leaves on these trees is REALLY time consuming, fyi.







Tada!



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/22 22:58:28


Post by: Nafarious


What a great score from him, also thank you for turning me onto his thread, just another thread to sub to here on Dakka


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 01:09:48


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here is the part where I discuss with myself (and anyone who wants to join in on this open conversation) what I want to do with these hirst blocks. I have a huge archive of pictures culled from the internet of devastated cityscapes, so my first inclination is to use the blocks to create architectural details and then cast them in resin. The only issue with that is that I don’t own any molding materials or resin and won’t be able to stock up on any of it until after the holidays. But I guess that doesn’t mean I can’t start building prototypes and such.

I also have a ton of container miscasts that are pitted in such a way that they remind me of damage from extended periods of exposure to hard vacuum and/or cave dampness. It’s like they’ve been affected by stale atmosphere and long term corrosion. I might wind up using them in a kind of “space hulk debris” fashion or maybe an “abandoned colony detritus” sort of way. I’m open to suggestions on that one.

I’m likely going to use a lot of these pieces as architectural details quite different for what they may have originally been intended for. That’s just how I roll. I like to repurpose things. While I’m on this topic of repurposing things, does anyone know of any kits (GW, Tamiya, etc.) that have a lot of interesting parts? Like maybe gears or textured panels or pipes and things. I’m looking to add some interesting tidbits to my designs and was wondering what other builders might use, if they use stuff like that.

So, the first thing I’ve started with is a 2” tall pillar (that’s about 5cm for those that don’t have a conversion table handy). I’m not a tremendous fan of the GW standard floor level of 3” tall. While the building sets they put out are brilliantly detailed (the Basilica set especially) they’re enormous. Absurdly so. Have you ever measured one of the doors to a model? If a space marine is supposed to be 8 feet tall, that means the door is like 20 feet high. Why are all the regular doors in the 41st millennium 3 times taller than everyone who lives there? It makes the building look just silly. Also, if the door is even just 15 feet tall, that means the ceilings are all 20 feet high. Average construction heights are 10 to 12 feet per floor. Basically these pieces say that every building in the Imperium is a loft. That’s just silly. So, I’m going to experiment with 2” tall floors and properly scaled doors. It might be that the height of the floors is a design consideration as, looking at the half-finished monster building to the left of my work-space, I realize that 3 inches makes it much easier to place and maneuver models on stacked floors. But who knows? Not me and not until I experiment, that’s for sure.

As far as future projects go, there are many. I have a bunch of ruined hovels to finish. I have that alien lake and debris fields to finish. I have more alien jungle bases to finish. I have prototype walls to finish and cast (that will probably happen in January). I have “40k hills” to prototype and perfect. I have these hirst blocks to play around with. I have the “Shattered City” to finish. I have ideas for “Agrihive interiors” and “Iceworld” terrain. I have ideas upon ideas, too many really. And, yeah, I have a tendency to start one, then another, and another, before I finally get back to the first one to finish it. My brain is too ambitious, but man do I love building!

Thanks for reading all the way through! Looking forward to your feedback Dakka. Cheers!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 02:15:51


Post by: Lockark


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:


Now, bear in mind these are miscasts, so to a builder who is trying to make something that looks like a container or a section of wall, an object spotted by air bubbles is just not going to work. I'm sure Lockark had little use for these in his own project and may have even written these bits off as "garbage". But for me this is a treasure trove. There's a million ideas running through my head for these objects and the next few weeks we'll all witness what happens with them.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH LOCKARK!

And thank you, Dakkadakka community for all your support and views and comments. Cheers!


Your welcome, and yah you bassicly hit the nail on the head.

=)

I knew it was still useful stuff, but the miscast collection was getting out of hand, I needed help culling it. lol


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 04:30:14


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here's a tiny preview of the massive update I made on my "Terrain I Make" thread. Go there for the real show.



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 05:13:43


Post by: Nafarious


What the hell waz I thought this was the real thread :( you been holding out on us.

On another note where do you get your plants from/what are they (the green ones) and you should put a table together (4x4) and set up terrain on it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 05:49:07


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Technically this is the main thread. The other is just for finished stuff. I use plastic plants from a company called Silk Vision. They come in "bushes" (the one label I have in my hand says: 14" Plastic Boxwood Bush). They're usually $5 or 6 USD with 4 to 7 fronds that each have 20 or 30 plastic plant bits. I buy the ones that, once separated from the actual bush, equal out to costing about 4 cents each. I buy these bushes from places like AC Moore, Micheals, and Joann's Fabrics. Craft stores. I'd totally put these jungle bits together on a 4X4 but I sell them...and I don't have access to a 4x4 table. My own work space is a table less than 2 feet square. But I'm working on the "Shattered City" for a client that lives less than a mile away and with luck I'll be able to get some good photos of all the city terrain together soon. So many projects, so little time.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 08:47:59


Post by: Malika2


Wow...really digging those trees, the red/yellow/orange ones had something very alien to them!

The long poles with the individual leafs looks beautiful, that kinda detail really sets them apart!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2013/12/24 19:34:17


Post by: Nafarious


Huh I guess that makes sense the hard life of a commission worker :( I know that feel. Sometimes I really want to take models I finished up to the FLGS to show them off but they have to go into the mail the next day to send off to a client.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/01/03 06:47:32


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Holidays have been crazy. I'll be back this weekend with a decent update. Hope everyone has had a good New Year.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/01/05 07:15:25


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


A preview of finished things. More pics in the finished stuff thread.





Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/01/24 02:17:03


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Arise my thread! Sorry it took so long to return to this thread. I've been very busy. Here is some PIP shots of the second "small" adminastratum ruin. As always, comments, questions, and critiques welcome.












Here are some detail shots. I used Warhammer Fantasy movement tray panels for the sidewalk.


And here is Barry hiding out in cover.



The exteriors still need quite a bit of detail color and about a million more washes, but it's coming along. I finished the other piece, but forgot to get photos before delivering it to my client's place. When I deliver this one, I'll get a "group" shot of them together.

Thanks for looking! Cheers!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/23 05:54:45


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


more threadcromancy from me. detail work on another large piece.
left overs to work with:

Gluing bits down




This was a wooden dowel already stuck into the rubble that I drilled the end of. I might have some limp wires sticking out of this, but I haven't decided yet.

Never content with as-is, I whittled this chunk of terrain down until it was suitably damaged:



Test fitting:

This piece was put here so that Barry wouldn't roll off the terrain when placed.


Every little white rectangular brick you see in the next few photos was manually placed.





Next step is a sealing/base-coating layer. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/23 07:34:01


Post by: Gorgrimm


Looking really good. Love those trees. Buildings are coming out quite well. Any chance for a full table shot?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/23 08:13:10


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, Gorgrimm! These buildings are going to a customer who lives a few streets away. Once I get all the pieces done, I'll be able to get a group shot before they officially pass into his possession.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/24 01:57:06


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Did more work! Chopped a section of low wall to bits; suitably battered.


Even did way too much work on the side I eventually glued face down on the ruin's base, but that's just how I roll.

Once I picked a spot for it, I glued it down and touched it up with more rubble. I want to add more debris around it, but I also wanted to seal/base coat this monster, so I mixed a 50/50/50 batch of glue/black craft paint/water (with probably way too much water) and slathered some on to the whole piece. I took these pictures when the whole thing was still wet and glossy. Where the seal is pooled it will shrink as the water in the mix evaporates. After this layer dries I'll need to put another coat of black/glue with a lot less water next time. I just like to be thorough.






Barry Ork inspects my work:


More progress shots when this layer dries. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/25 04:38:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


HUGE update.
First up, a lake. With glossy resin water. It's just waiting for me to figure out what kind plants I want to use.





Barry taking cover.


These plants?

Or these "plants"?

That tall? or this small?



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/25 05:35:07


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


And then that building I'm working on.
Here it is after I sealed it again with a better concentration of pigment and glue, and then additionally base coated in grey.






Then base coated the crater inside the ruin in brown (technically I base coated it in rusty red first and then after deciding I didn't like the way that looked, covered most of it up with brown).



Then I layered on another grey (a mid-tone) over the grey areas and a couple of shades of brown over the brown, mostly by mixing the original color with the rusty red and a bone-like shade of grey. Then I added some spot washes in black and dark brown, picked out a few individual stones (probably about 50) that had been covered by the brown in the original drybrush grey color and weathered them with a black/brown wash. Then I drybrushed the whole thing in white and got started on the walls. The walls were base coated black and then loosely block highlighted in a 50/50 mix of a color called plum (which is a kind of dull magenta) and black. Then the exterior walls were streaked with white and red lines to create the basis for the black marble that all my "Administratum" pieces get. The interior walls were then stippled with different colors for each floor. I start with the darkest color and gradually lighten it. The bottom floor went from dark pink to light pink with the help of bone and the second floor went from midnight purple to lighter purple with the help of a lemony yellow. I still have yet to decide on a color for the top floor, but I'm probably going to go with a pale green or some such. This what all of that effort turned out.








There is a whole lot of color yet to add to this piece, but I'm glad it's coming along. Thanks for looking. Have a great day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/25 07:37:38


Post by: deadmeat85


First off let me say, your Terrain that you make looks really good. I enjoy looking at it and want to follow in your design in the realistic looking buildings and rubble piles.

But the only thing I'm not liking is how uniform and square your bases look. To me I think, the base should be more of an abstract shape, as rubble doesn't fall in a perfect square.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/25 08:01:51


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Yeah, I agree with your statement deadmeat85. And there's 2 good reasons why I use perfectly measured bases. One is that I'm working with what I have on hand and the other is that a lot of what you are seeing is commission work where the customer has specifically asked for these kinds of bases. If you look at my finished stuff thread, you will see more of the stuff I have done in the past has irregular bases. This commission has given me the opportunity to work really large and I would love to be able to have really irregular bases - heck, I'd love to make ruined skyscrapers and undulating hills and mountains of debris - but for the time being I'll work with this.

Maybe a page back I put up some reference photos for a personal project and you can rest assured those pieces will have very irregular bases.

Thanks again for the feedback, deadmeat85. I really appreciate it! Have a great day.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/25 10:23:54


Post by: deadmeat85


Thanks for the response, I'm glad you have the same idea on the bases. The photo of the larger Russian building is really neat as a concept.

As for a larger Skyscraper that would look so sweet as a center piece. Hell maybe a set of terrain set up like a hive spire all on a slant heading up to the center spire. Hummmm....


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/25 17:32:05


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Hmmm, indeed. That sounds like a really cool idea.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/28 03:51:03


Post by: Gorgrimm


Really nice update. I love the lake. It layered really well, plus it is good to see Barry go swimming. Is that deep resin or painted in layers?

I like the building ruin too. The crater, is that Mork's footprint?

I think it depends on the use of the terrain for square/uniform bases. If you have a table that is flat and you are placing scenery, then oblong shapes look best. But if you are doing modular scenery on top of a table, then you do need them uniform.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/02/28 21:26:53


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks, Gorgrimm. The water is layered resin. The stuff I used would only dry if the layers I used were 1/8" deep of less, so there are actually 4 layers of clear resin in the lake.

The crater is just a crater (but between you and me, it's likely Da Foot O' Gork!). I agree with the modular idea in theory, but this commission is a bit of a challenge in that regard. I'm going to be making a few "throw" pieces that are meant to abut these ruins and create a more irregular debris footprint. I'm also thinking of adding some alleyways complete with piled on debris.

Thanks for the feedback again, Gorgrimm.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Some might remember a piece I posted up awhile ago. The Astartes Victory Plinth. Here it is again, in case you've forgotten (or like me, are too lazy to go all the way back through the thread to look for it).

I did some work on its base, adding a sidewalk.

One can never have too much glue:


Why the square sheets simply won't do for the triangular panels...

And I was forced to use hexagonal card stock.

I wound up trimming the edge of the sidewalk just before I primed it this morning, but got no intermediate pics, unfortunately. I also filed down the edge all around the base to make it smooth and uniform...ish.

Then on to cleaning up/hiding the join at the base of the Plinth. I used a wire that came from a pair of headphones that don't work anymore. And this, kids, is why we builders never throw anything out.



I'll have more progress shots up later today. In case anyone is curious, this Plinth in taller than 18". Shazzam.

Thanks for looking!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I went crazy applying washes to the ruin I'm currently working on.








Interior walls got some individual attention as well. First a blue wash.

Then a rust wash.

And then a white wash.

Around the same time that I did the rust wash on the walls, I also applied a rust wash to the base in all the places I imagined there would be buried metal bits in the rubble.






I still think the exterior wall needs one more coat of heavy black wash.


That's it for now. More in store tomorrow! Thanks for looking.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/01 05:03:41


Post by: Galorn


Looking good so far Man!.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/01 05:43:47


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks Galorn!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/03 15:38:25


Post by: Ignatius-Grulgor


Really impressed with pretty much every single piece of terrain, it's so important for a proper gaming experience and so few people bother to make it right, watching with interest now.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/04 04:56:54


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback and the compliments, Ignatius_Grulgor!

Here's a bunch of pictures of my "shattered administratum" a mere 5 layers of wash and/or paint away from done:






And then a bunch more pictures with said layers finally applied.










And then more work on my Astartes Plinth. Conveying this thing's size is difficult.


Base coated with ivory and light yellow.


next will be two highlight colors. the bright yellow mixed with white and then just a straight white layer. Then grey for the sidewalk/base, and then I paint the statue like a really worn Black Templar because that's the army my client plays. More pics tomorrow. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/04 07:05:29


Post by: inmygravenimage


Very cool. If I haven't already said, I really like the colour of your imperial buildings, it's unusual and very effective.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/04 09:25:44


Post by: MagosBiff90


Really love those ruins..... they look great and the effects on the ground are great!

The internal shots of the ruins really stand out to be as being exceptional!

Not a criticism in anyway.... but to me the externals of the building dont look ruined or old enough to have that amount of dirt and be that deep in mud etc..... maybe a light dusting to the outside to tone it down slightly?!

Or just ignore me... because it looks awesome! haha!

Cheers,


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/04 16:41:09


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, inmygravenimage and MagosBiff90!

@MagosBiff90: I do a lot of research for my ruins and everything I've seen points to mountains of debris and deep rubble. Typically, and to scale, one 3" floor would be reduced to approximately 1/4" of rubble. The deeper the rubble, the taller we can suggest the building once was. If you go back a few pages you'll see a post with spoiler tags. These are pictures of actual wartime ruins, mostly from the second Chechen war and the Yugoslavian civil war (which ultimately created Bosnia, Serbia, Herzegovina, Moldova, and a handful of other, smaller nations).

But, rant aside rubble looks cool. And thanks again for your comment!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/04 18:41:11


Post by: MagosBiff90


Hey mate!

You are totally right! looking at it and at some reference pics... WW1 etc... your scaling is bob on! ( SLAP ON MY WRIST!) Your comment about the deeper the rubble being directly in reference to the previous height of the building is spot on! It had never occured to me in that way before!

Great work mate!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/04 23:57:20


Post by: deadmeat85


It makes a lot of sense, seeing the amount of living space between the floors.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/05 00:08:00


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Although, mulling over your comment, MagosBiff90, I might give the exterior a slight and subtle dusting of grey to indicate dust (which is also extensively present at the site of most bomb blasts and building collapses. So, good point on that count. Thanks for the perspective!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/05 19:53:19


Post by: Phutarf


Nice progress Waaazag - I particularly like the way you've painted the interior walls of the ruins (well, and the exteriors too! ) - I shall be pilfering effects... Eventually!!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/07 06:58:42


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So I dusted the exterior walls with light grey and then washed them with a blackish/brownish mix. I think the grey really drew out the color and weathered the piece nicely. Thanks for the heads up, MagosBiff90! It worked out really well.
But because I'm such an insane perfectionist, I still will probably go back and lightly highlight all the skulls. Sanity is for the weak and all that...








I also did more work on the Astartes Plinth. I drybrushed the tower with two more extremely subtle color shades, each infinitesimally different from and lighter than the layer beneath it. You can hardly tell from the photos. Then I washed it with a mostly black wash and then with a light brick/dark brown/black mix wash along each of the indents. I let it run down the pillar in whatever way took it. Then I washed the top of the pillar with the same mixes. Then I painted the sidewalk with 3 shades of grey and heavily washed it with that brick/brown/black mix. This is the result so far.







Thanks for looking! Have a greay day.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/07 08:03:19


Post by: MagosBiff90


Looking brilliant mate! The building is really has a lot of depth to it! ..... making me want to do my own piece now...... if i get it anywhere near as good as this i will be over the moon!!

Great stuff mate!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/07 17:43:35


Post by: inmygravenimage


Looks great! A drybrush highlight on the skulls could resolve the matter? Also like the fiery marbling, very nice.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/07 20:58:21


Post by: Galorn


IN a way I think the inner circle under the statue could use a slight glase of a color to differentiate it from the pillar but it looks killer as is.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/08 17:49:49


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

@Galorn: I see what you're saying about the base around the statue. Its texture is different than that of the pillar. Maybe I'll use a slightly different colored was to make it seem like it's made of a slightly different material. Thanks for that suggestion.

@ inmygravenimage: yeah, those skulls definitely need one last touch up.

@MagosBiff90: maybe I'll do a step by step tutorial on this thread about my process regarding the building of ruins. My primary piece of advice, though, is to use as much photographic reference as you can find. The internets is perfect for that. Use search terms like "war torn, libya, syria, chechnya, chechen war, tblisi, ww2, london blitz, iraq, ied, fallujah, ww1 Ypres, and bosnia". These should yield you a wealth of photos. Also, the YouTube channel "newsanna" is a Russian language news agency with literally hours of helmet and tank cam footage from syria and other global conflicts. If you can ignore the humanity of the conflict and the constant mumbling of the insurgents (I suppose you can just mute the footage), there's a whole city getting blasted at pointblank range and crushed underfoot of the grinding T72s.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/10 07:56:33


Post by: Rabid Ferret


Very nice. I am loving the SM statue. It really makes it stand out more on the battlefield too. The building is ace too.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/18 23:56:52


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here's some random stuff I've been working on.
Cork bricks (which my wife keeps thinking look like graham crackers and I hope to use as the basis for cast bricks...or something, I don't know):



Crazy poofy balls whose stems I wrapped with metal wire. I don't know what I'm going to do with these.

In a minute I'm going to upload a tutorial for some new trees I've started making. Stay tuned!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/19 04:40:01


Post by: deadmeat85


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:

Crazy poofy balls whose stems I wrapped with metal wire. I don't know what I'm going to do with these.

In a minute I'm going to upload a tutorial for some new trees I've started making. Stay tuned!




When I saw the tree it hit me like a ton of bricks what it looked like.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/19 04:51:23


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Yep, Deadmeat85. I draw a lot of my inspiration from Dr. Seuss. I'll be doing a tutorial on the knobby bits in the background of that photo in a day or two. Thanks for the feedback.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/24 16:12:47


Post by: Ignatius-Grulgor


Never thought of using the corkboard for bricks might have to try that as alternate rubble, been chopping up sprue when I'm watching TV up until now for ground clutter.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/03/24 17:23:48


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I used to use chopped up sprue, too, Ignatius-Grulgor. That is so time consuming though. I highly recommend going to a pet supply store and purchasing a 5 lb bag of coarse aquarium gravel. They usually cost around $10 USD and they'll last forever. The rocks look more like broken bricks than chopped sprue and respond well to white glue because they are porous.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/06 04:41:00


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Wow, I haven't been active in ages it seems. Steadily working on all sorts of projects. I promise a new update with loads of pics in just a few days. You only have to be patient a little while longer, I promise.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/06 04:55:44


Post by: bebopdrums2424


Hey Boss, i also live in new york city!! Brooklyn to be exact. Been here 2 years and I havent found anyone to play 40k with :( and the only place i know of is compleat strategist in midtown. Maybe when i get ny sharks filled out we can play sometime!
Cheers
BB


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/06 21:55:40


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Sure! In the meanwhile I suggest you check out the 20 sided store. It's in Brooklyn on 20th ave, I think.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/08 02:47:06


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Well, I haven't quite finished these things yet, but here's the beginning of an alien "tree" or "flower" design tutorial. For me, a lot of the time, it is good to have a basic, but mutable concept in mind of what I want the end product to look like. In this way I can build towards something, but not be locked into what the end result must look like. So I wanted to create a medium, flower-type tree thing. I also wanted to use materials that were relatively cheap. Half my inspiration comes from wandering around a craft store or a yard sale and just looking for things that catch my eye and inspire pictures in my head. Enter these things:

Wire


Dowels


Beads


Also tools


I decided to chop the dowels down to size with my trusty saw.


And considering I had two thicknesses of wire, I needed to cut some lengths of that, too.
"Measuring"


"Action shot of me clipping"

The more I work, the more my fingers begin to take on the role of hands. Like using my forefinger and index finger as left an right holding appendages. I've developed some very articulated digits while making terrain.

After using my thumb to pin one end of the wire to the stick I began wrapping it around each dowel. This picture does not convey the stiffness of the wire or the jerky violence of my wrapping it. Nor the raw redness such action caused to my finger and thumb tips. Forewarning, this is the "dainty" version of what actually goes into this step. You have to hold the wire firmly and wrestle the other end around that stick. It doesn't want to go. Apparently it has other plans - maybe it has a dinner date or intends to go drinking with some friends and you have to convince it that what it really needs to be doing is coiling around this boring dowel. In other words this wire is an unruly teenager and your hands are its disciplinarian step parent. I think I'm getting way off track here.


This is what you should end up with for the thin wire (note you will need more length to fully wrap the dowel with a finer wire than with a thicker one).


And a thick wire wrap.


You're going to end up with a loose end of wire at either end of the dowel "stem".


Just use your clippers (not a GW one because you'll just dent the blade; use a steel clipper from a hardware store) to cut the wire flush.


Then we can go to gluing on those wooden beads. Pour some Elmers glue into the hole like so.


Poke the dowel into the hole as so.


And twist it in so the wire grips the interior of the bead.


The view from above with glue settling in.


Tada! Step One done.


Just lay them down to dry.


And set them aside while you work on something else/go to sleep.


Here I tried to visualize the end product. This is vaguely what I hope they will look like in the end.


And that's roughly step one. Next is texturing and painting.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/10 03:24:27


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I use this:


To do this:


With a brush first to the ball head:


And then the stem:


Then I set them upside down to dry like so:


And they are dry, I take my hot glue gun and plug the holes on the tops of the beads:




Once that cools I texture over the tops, too and jam them into a block of styrofoam to dry. Then I prime the ball tops white with craft paint:


And set that to dry, too:


And then you will notice that spiky ball of madness on the end:



And you might think, "What the hell is that thing?" And I will tell you that was my first attempt at figuring out what to do with these wooden beads stuck to the ends of dowels. I clipped down about fifty spiral shells and hot glued them on to the bead like so:




Heck, I even textured it. But honestly, what I realized the most was that thing was top heavy, expensive to produce, and most of all, utterly ridiculous looking. So that's why there's only one them.

Next I primed the stems black with craft paint:


I also managed to prime my fingertips at the same time, so I guess I was multitasking. Next I used red paint to base coat the balls. It required two coats:



Then I stippled some orange paint on while the red was still a little wet:


The orange is really difficult to see:



You'll have to take my word that there's orange over the red. Then I realized I needed a better yellow paint, so this project is on hold for now while I go get some. But essentially that's the end of steps 2.

Next is painting and finishing the stem and head, and then adding some sort of leafy or flowery what not to complete the basic work. C&C always welcome! Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/12 16:19:23


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, got my paint, did some work, took some pictures. I'm heading over to a client's home (the guy for whom I'm building the Shattered City project) today to get some pictures of individual pieces and some group shots. I'll update tomorrow with the results. Stay tuned!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A preview of what;s to come.

Stalking the ruins:


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/13 23:20:19


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, dry brushed the ball heads yellow:


Yellow again:


And again:


And again, because this damn yellow is thin and needed 4 stupid coats to show up.


The I started on the stems with red:


Then a dry brush of grey, starting with darkest, to less dark, to least dark::




And then light and then lighter grey (which actually turned out to be white). I can't tell which of these pictures is light grey and which one is white, so they are arranged arbitrarily:



And finally, I glued the flower "collar" around the bottom of the beads:


And inverted them to dry:


Now I have to figure out what to do about their bases. Any suggestions more than welcome. As always, C&C encouraged. Thanks for looking!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/13 23:27:29


Post by: Dr H


Interested to see how these look in situ.

You should do some smaller versions as plants are rarely all the same size in nature.
Also, mix in some other plant life to make the base look more natural.

Keep at it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/13 23:30:20


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks, Dr H! Yeah, I did make them all different heights. You think I should make a couple of bases with these and other plants mixed in?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/13 23:38:37


Post by: Red Harvest


A large base for groups, and the individual plants/groups (1-3 per) on their own bases with their own base details-- smaller plants like Dr. H said. That way you can mix and match to build up good sized pieces, and still keep them playable.

I'm wondering how using a heavy gauge wire for the trunks would work.You could curve the trunks, instead of having them all straight. And there are those mats of plastic plants that you can actually thread onto dowel or wire to create nice clumps.

When working with plastic plants, sometimes it helps to paint or ink or wash them, to give them a more 'natural' look. Seems counter-intuitive I know, but in some cases it works really well.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/13 23:40:15


Post by: Dr H


It would look more natural to have a mixture of plants.
Unless they are something like yew trees and prevent other plants from growing nearby.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/13 23:45:48


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Red Harvest wrote:
A large base for groups, and the individual plants/groups (1-3 per) on their own bases with their own base details-- smaller plants like Dr. H said. That way you can mix and match to build up good sized pieces, and still keep them playable.

I'm wondering how using a heavy gauge wire for the trunks would work.You could curve the trunks, instead of having them all straight. And there are those mats of plastic plants that you can actually thread onto dowel or wire to create nice clumps.

When working with plastic plants, sometimes it helps to paint or ink or wash them, to give them a more 'natural' look. Seems counter-intuitive I know, but in some cases it works really well.


Interesting idea, Red Harvest. I'll have to try that.

 Dr H wrote:
It would look more natural to have a mixture of plants.
Unless they are something like yew trees and prevent other plants from growing nearby.


Yeah, I totally get this idea, Dr H.

Thanks for the feedback, fellas! I really appreciate it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/15 21:37:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


In the meantime, here's some action shots of the terrain I built for a client. This represents about a third of the stuff I'm making for him.

Here is the finished Plinth. Not my best work ever, but he seemed impressed by it.







Here it is with the ruined buildings:


And here's a whole bunch of shots with the buildings in various configurations:












And some close ups, detail, etc:











Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome. Have a great day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/16 12:57:08


Post by: MagosBiff90


Some really cool pieces there mate!!

and i REALLY love some of those camera angles..... the real eye level views... with the in focus mid ground and slightly blurred foreground (Oh dear.... showing my pitiful camera knowledge..... Macro setting?!)..... but hey... looks great!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/16 13:31:48


Post by: Dr H


Nice work. The ruins look great.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/16 16:05:21


Post by: bebopdrums2424


Awesome work war boss! Really creative use for plants and bits!

BB


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/04/16 16:23:36


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, guys! Yeah, MagosBiff90, it's the Macro setting on my Nikon P7700. I wish I had like a canvas backdrop painted up like a war zone sky, though. Something with clouds underlit by distant fires. But I do like how the mounds if rubble mesh from piece to piece; I'm satisfied with how that came out. There's still more pieces to go with this set. At least 2 more huge pieces and another medium one. And then a bunch of less fancy pieces. Thanks for the encouragement all! It really helps to keep me motivated.

More soon. Cheers!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/07 03:29:38


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I can't believe it's been 4 months since I last posted. I've been commissioned to build some terrain for a local wargaming store and I'm in the process of doing just that. It's a slow process and I'm working at the store with only the store's materials on hand. I've been asked to make 2 tables, 1 for 40k and 1 for fantasy, and I'm starting with the one for 40k. However, I've noticed they have a lot of Malifaux players, too, and I asked these gents what kind of terrain, if they had an opportunity to have the perfect set up, they would want for their games. I'm trying to use their feedback to create terrain that would work for both 40k and the more skirmish-style games like the previously mentioned Malifaux and Infinity. Anyway, the theme I have in mind for this table was originally rocky/mountainous forgeworld, but it's quickly becoming desert/mesa imperial colony. The store has a LOT of insulation foam, so I am taking advantage of that. I started with a flat with a ramp that I am making deliberately large so that smaller terrain pieces will fit on top of it creating new battlefield dynamics or just leaving it as a large, flat elevated position. I don't seem to have a great picture of this piece, but here are a few bad pictures of it.

Top down view of the ramp (that later gets a clay road bed).

And a sneak peak of another piece that will include a modular building attached to it.

The building will go in this nice big building-shaped spot here.


Thanks for looking! More updates tomorrow.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/07 10:07:22


Post by: angelofvengeance


Excellent stuff Waaazag- that should look pretty nice when it's finished


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/07 20:18:15


Post by: Red Harvest


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Thanks for the feedback, guys! Yeah, MagosBiff90, it's the Macro setting on my Nikon P7700. I wish I had like a canvas backdrop painted up like a war zone sky, though. Something with clouds underlit by distant fires. But I do like how the mounds if rubble mesh from piece to piece; I'm satisfied with how that came out. There's still more pieces to go with this set. At least 2 more huge pieces and another medium one. And then a bunch of less fancy pieces. Thanks for the encouragement all! It really helps to keep me motivated.

More soon. Cheers!


Try using a poster, if you can find one. Or have something printed? Or, just 'shop' a background into the scene?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/08 20:49:52


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So, after contemplating what to do next with an oversized piece of foamcore, I decided to cut it all down and texture the exterior with some really oddly appropriate wallpaper they had laying around.

Here is the boring rear wall. Notice the grooves I cut in the ends to hide the joins.

And the right facing wall.

And the "front" wall.

And for no reason I have no WIP pic of the left facing wall with the doorway in it. I very roughly measured on the window opening with a flimsy metal ruler and then used an enormously heavy right-angled level as a straight edge to cut along my penciled "dotted lines".
Then I cut rough strips out of the wallpaper and penciled the cut line for the heights of the walls. Hey look! My door frame wall!

Measure once, cut twice...or some such.

This is my glue mixture which is roughly a 1:1:1 mix of water, terrible old glue that looks like semen and smells like cleaning fluid but is somehow "nontoxic", and black craft paint. I used an old brush to apply it to the exterior of the whole piece (it's important to note that I had to test fit all the pieces and literally write "inside" and "outside" on all the facings so I would not mess this up).

And then placed the sheet on top of the glued facing. Tada!

And then flip the pieces over and do the superfluous step of marking the frames with pencil.

This is a pointless step because the textured sheet is already glued in place and I'm about to just use a knife to cut the area I've wasted my pencil lead on.

Tada!


Next step, detailing the interior walls with wooden coffee stirrer sticks I just so happened to have 20 of in my pocket at the time.

Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 18:06:30


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, so I decided to detail the interior of this building with wood panelling. I just so happened to have a pile of wooden coffee stirrer sticks in my pocket. I pick up a bunch at the coffee shop whenever I go and break off the rounded ends, then snap them in half before jamming them in the same pocket as my keys and loose change. The battering they receive in there distresses them in a believable and natural way. (I apologize for some of these blurry photos, all I had on hand was the wife's cellphone).

So I clipped the snapped ends off and started gluing them on to the interior of the "front" wall.

Yes, some of them completely covered my windows.

I also did the rearmost wall (where you may be getting the impression I intend to build a staircase).

Once glued in place (using the same glue, water, and craft paint mixture as for the exterior texture), but before waiting for it to dry...because I am impatient...I first test fit the walls to get an idea of what it will look like done (an also to make sure the walls still came together well...and also to show off my progress to the store's manager) and then I started to cut out the window blockers and clip the "boards" flush with the top of the wall.






And then I began (but haven't finished, yet) to measure, clip, and glue in the window frames.

Note the running board at the base/bottom of the wall to cover/hide the bottoms of the wood panelling).


More updates tomorrow or Tuesday. Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 19:03:06


Post by: Camkierhi


Can't believe not been here. Looks great dude. Subbed now.

Like the wood panelling.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 20:19:27


Post by: Dr H


Nice work. Good use of textured paper and the stirrers.

Why is it that you add the paint to the glue?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 20:52:59


Post by: Red Harvest


So that wallpaper has a textured surface to it? Interesting. I like the interior detailing. The floor?

May I offer a suggestion about the windows? you need to extend the lintels (the wood piece that runs across the top) so that it is supported by the side pieces. The way you have it looks awkward IMHO.

Writing on terrain WIPs is something I do all the time. Witness posts they're called. Or witness marks if it is just an 'x'. Sorry if it is TMI.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 21:10:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I always appreciate feedback, thank you very much guys!

 Dr H wrote:
Nice work. Good use of textured paper and the stirrers.

Why is it that you add the paint to the glue?


I add paint because it thins the glue as well as water and also adds a layer of "priming". Also, especially when I'm using white glue on a white material like foam core, it's easier to see where I've put the glue and where I've missed.

Red Harvest wrote:May I offer a suggestion about the windows? you need to extend the lintels (the wood piece that runs across the top) so that it is supported by the side pieces. The way you have it looks awkward IMHO.


Extend the lintel at the top? Or the bottom to create a sill? The exterior is still going to have more work done to it yet, to hide the crude ends where it meets the openings for the windows.

Red Harvest wrote:So that wallpaper has a textured surface to it? Interesting. I like the interior detailing. The floor?


Yeah, the texture is not very pronounced, but the project's caveat is that I use only what's on hand at the store. I haven't really decided what I'm going to do with the floor. I might make it a dirt floor or concrete on the ground level and wooden floors with carpeting or something on the second and subsequent floors. I don't know. In either case the floor will likely be a separate layer added to the bottom and might bring the whole structure up about a half inch. Still working on ideas. I go back to do more work tomorrow.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 22:20:50


Post by: Littletower


Everything looks great, and the ground level shots are ace!

Late to the party, regarding the plants you made some time ago. Have you tried, as Red H. suggested, using a large gauge wire for the stems instead of the wood dovels? Or maybe either a few wires, twisted around for thickness? That would allow for some flexibility in the stems/trunks, and maybe a more "natural" look for an organic shape.

(Or some thickish cable, a cut off of network UPT cable, for example? Thick as the dovels, give or take, bendable, and, it would keep the given shape with the outside wire-coil holding it)

Current project is looking good, like the panelling, and it will surely look great once tinted.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/10 23:47:21


Post by: Red Harvest


Hard to explain. so here the lintel rests atop the jambs. But if you put a frame over it, it won't be visible, and it will be a non-issue, since it is certainly not load bearing.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/11 01:34:17


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Red Harvest wrote:
Hard to explain. so here the lintel rests atop the jambs. But if you put a frame over it, it won't be visible, and it will be a non-issue, since it is certainly not load bearing.


I think I see what you are saying. Make the top cross piece wider than the side supports, right? Almost as if I were to turn the current setup on its side. Because at the moment it looks as though nothing is stopping that top cross piece from just falling down, out of the window frame. But give the impression that it extends into the wall to the left and right, then it becomes a load bearing structure and the window frame takes on a look more realistic and true. Is this interpretation correct, Red?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/11 04:50:03


Post by: Red Harvest


Right. The top piece rests on the sides (jambs) which are the legs that support it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/11 05:53:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Littletower wrote:
Everything looks great, and the ground level shots are ace!


Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback!

Late to the party, regarding the plants you made some time ago. Have you tried, as Red H. suggested, using a large gauge wire for the stems instead of the wood dovels? Or maybe either a few wires, twisted around for thickness? That would allow for some flexibility in the stems/trunks, and maybe a more "natural" look for an organic shape.

(Or some thickish cable, a cut off of network UPT cable, for example? Thick as the dovels, give or take, bendable, and, it would keep the given shape with the outside wire-coil holding it)


I'm taking this advice with another project I'm concurrently working on. I'm making some alien jungle trees using Styrofoam pumpkins and some wire in an effort to create exactly what you're talking about here - a more organic looking shape. I'll post pictures in a day or two.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/12 08:03:45


Post by: MagosBiff90


Wow.... i have missed out on a lot... that new piece looks the business! really cool! I like the building built into the side of the rock! Nice detail! And the timebr boarding on the interior is cool!!



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/13 06:23:57


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, MagosBiff90! More pics up on Wednesday. A million projects...give or take.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/13 19:59:53


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, so here's some WIP shots of the "mesas" I'm making. First the giant slab of pinkfoam. This has been cut roughly and then vaguely shaped to fit the masonite base I had already prepared.

Then I scored some lines along the side surface, roughly parallel with the bases. I also made a few cuts that were not so parallel on purpose to give some variety to the end product.


Then I vigorously scraped at those lines using only the tip of the exacto blade. This purposely creates all kinds of jagged tears.

Then I go back in, again only using the tip of the exacto blade and pluck away the loose bits and tear off extra chunks to create an irregular surface.

And then using a wide blade I shave the top surface ever so slightly to create an irregular surface there as well. It's important to leave it mostly flat, though, so models can still stand on it without falling off.



Here are the end results. A small Mesa and a long Mesa.


This method is time consuming but generates beautiful results.

Thanks for looking. Feedback always welcome.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/14 17:14:07


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Some folks have inquired as to where I get my plant fronds. I buy plastic bushes that look like this:

Pluck all the fronds off individually, getting these in the dozens (usually about 150 per "plant"):

And I'm left with this:

Which I then clip apart to use the "branches" for stuff like this:

And this:

And these things, too:






And I use the body of the bush for stuff like this:





I even save these little nubs from the bottoms of the plastic fronds and use them to create texture beneath the hotglue I use to create the landscape:


Hope this clarifies things for folks. Thanks for looking. More stuff up soon. Here's a preview of what I'm working on now:


Feedback always welcome. Have a great day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/14 18:35:49


Post by: angelofvengeance


Some really neat stuff there Waaazag. Nice work! Though I'd probably feel ill if I had a "to do" pile as big as that scenery wise.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/14 19:11:33


Post by: Jerp


Really cool stuff!

The mesas look really swell but have you seen this video on making rock textures? It seems to be easier/quicker to do.



Once again really nice stuff, can't wait to see more.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/14 20:35:44


Post by: inmygravenimage


You are a genius with random crap sir!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/15 05:09:51


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Why thank you very much, inmygravenimage! I'm flattered you think so.

@angelofvengeance: that pile is typical of how I work. In fact that pile is small for me. I usually work on 100 pieces at a time. I love it.

@jerp: I've seen that technique before; used it myself even. But it creates a different effect and I'm way too detail oriented to go about things the easy way. Thanks for the tutorial, though!

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I really appreciate it!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/15 18:13:30


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So here's more of my current projects. Trying to turn styrofoam pumpkins into miniature trees. I start by hotgluing a styrofoam pumpkin to a wooden silhouette shape.

Then I tear out that weird "button" on the top and discover it's a toothpick that leaves a hole when it's gone. Into which I insert twisted wire that I clipped off my bushes in the above post and start coating them with hotglue.



The trick is to make them not look just like pumpkins, so I draw lines of hotglue down the sides to create...uh, anything, really. It's an alien tree. It looks like whatever I want it to.

Here is one much further along in the process.




The next step will be to coat the exterior with textured paint to give subsequent layers something to drybrush onto.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/15 18:56:45


Post by: Littletower


The texture in the mesas came out great, and the alien garden seems to be growing just fine!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/15 19:45:09


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, Littletower!

Here are some more work in progress shots of the other terrain bases I'm working on.

I call these "Ridges" for reasons I can't personally fathom. I just go with whatever idea/name pops into my head first. This is where I started. The black and white tubes on this piece are plastic lollipop sticks I bought at a craft store in the baking section. I think they are made by a company called "Wilton".



And then coated the exterior of these straws with hot glue like so:


Here is one at stage 1 and one at stage 2, side by side for comparison:


Thanks for looking! Feedback always appreciated.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/15 21:47:51


Post by: Red Harvest


I never have good results with hot melt glue, and here you are sculpting with it. Impressive.

Edit:typos :(


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/15 21:53:10


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks Red Harvest!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/16 07:25:42


Post by: Camkierhi


Why do I suddenly want to model a forrest?

Brilliant work.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/16 21:35:47


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Camkierhi wrote:
Why do I suddenly want to model a forrest?

Brilliant work.


Thanks, Cam. I'll post up another update this evening or tomorrow morning.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/16 22:07:43


Post by: Dr H


Great use of hot glue.
Good find with the plastic plants.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/16 23:08:35


Post by: Theophony


You are a florists nightmare, and i Mean that in a good way. Some really nifty ideas with the flower parts. Really like some of the plants you made a while back specifically the small seashell tree.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/17 02:13:20


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Theophony wrote:
You are a florists nightmare, and i Mean that in a good way. Some really nifty ideas with the flower parts. Really like some of the plants you made a while back specifically the small seashell tree.


Thanks, Theophony! Yeah, I bought a bunch more seashells to try my hand again at that weird, spiky tree thing.

Anyway, moving on with work, I for some reason call these next pieces noodles. There really isn't a reason for it. I started them awhile back with really long straws sticking out of styrofoam like so:

But decided they would look better if I trimmed those sticks down and added some more:


Some bases were smaller than others:


Then I got adding my hotglue (these are all still work in progress):



I try to let gravity do a lot of the work for me, so I let the hotglue get really hot and then overload an edge with a huge dollop. Then it just oozes down the side of the rise and creates shapes for me.






More will be posted as I get photos of it. Thanks for looking. Feedback always appreciated! Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/17 18:51:34


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So, remember this mountain of "to do"?

I've gotten a bunch of it done! And by a bunch I mean these 2:

Here are some detail shots to try to illustrate my "gravity flow" method.








Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I made my pile bigger:

And here is my bucket of drinking straw bits:


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/18 12:32:03


Post by: MagosBiff90


Crazy lavels of ingneuity going on here!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/18 16:16:00


Post by: SJM


Very creative! look forward to seeing more.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/18 16:16:41


Post by: lliu


Waaagh Skargor is ready to waaaaaaaaaagh!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/19 04:03:39


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Okay, so millions of concurrent projects. This one is vaguely entitled "clothes pins".
Here the humble wooden clothes pin:

And here hotglued onto a bunch of wooden shapes, upside down:



Here its partner in crime, the coil of 18 gauge copper coated wire:

Here that wire already starting to do its job:

Essentially I wrap the wire around the clothes pin and hotglue it into place. Then I pump some more hotglue into the gap, wait for it to cool and add another wire. Coil, glue, repeat.


Here is the beginning of a branch:

I fold the wire over on itself like so:

Then pin the two ends together with a plier:

And twist the loop to strengthen it:

Then I can position these loops in virtually any way I like:


Once that's all done, I coat the branches and trunk with hotglue lines like so:






The next step will be textured sand and then paint. More to come. Thanks for looking; feedback always welcome!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/19 12:53:55


Post by: Dr H


The early shots made me think "It's the legendary forest of giant exclamation marks"

Good idea and execution. Look like they will make good trees.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/19 17:44:12


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I did more work on that store commission. I finished the windows. The first frame was glued in solidly and I didn't want to break the thing just to fish out the sticks, but I took Red Harvest's advice on the frame with the other windows.


I did more work, too, but I wanted to share another concurrent project I am working on. Garlic trees. So, starting with a humble styrofoam garlic bulb I found at a craft store:

I take hold of the straw used to represent the roots and yank it out:



Much easier than the toothpicks buried in the pumpkins. Then I slice off the very tip of the bulb like so:



Save your nubs!

Test fit the upside down bulb to your base:

Then hot glue that sucka on:

And use your nubs. They make excellent "saplings".


Next, you need to reinforce your point of contact with the base, because as you can see it is kind of weak at the moment:

So, just pump more hotglue around the base of the garlic bulb, being sure to crawl it slightly up the sides of the shaft:


Next, stuff a suitably large tool into the top of the piece to widen the hole. I use my closed clippers:

It leaves a slightly mangled aperture:

This is the hole into which I will be inserting the "branches".
Here are a couple of size comparison shots using the pumpkin trees (that are constructed via a similar method) and a Barry Ork.



Then, after dropping a dot of hotglue into the hole you've made, jam some pre-shaped wire branches into the apex of your piece, being careful that whatever you've made doesn't make the piece topheavy in any particular direction:


This then needs to be reinforced with more hotglue:

Then, make a million of them:













Next, start hotgluing the branches and dragging the lines down the body the the bulb to the base:


Use those extensions to create roots:

Add details to the base like drinking straw bits to add other plants to the final piece:






Add branches to your saplings and hotglue them, too:


Hotglue the whole thing until you are satisfied with the outcome:

The next step on these are much the same as for the clothes pin trees and the pumpkin trees, a layer of fine sand mixed in with a base coat color for texture.

Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome. Have a great day!




Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/20 20:47:26


Post by: Luciusletroll


Sir, your work is amazing and so inspirating !

Keep this show alive !


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/20 22:04:55


Post by: Phutarf


Utterly barking... I love it!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/21 00:22:57


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks, Luciusletroll and Phutarf. High praise from you both!

Okay, update time...again. As always, I'm working on a whole bunch of pieces simultaneously for the store commission. I go to this place maybe once or twice a week to work on stuff. A few weeks ago I glued some chunks of insulation foam together. Then some weeks after that I carved them into shape. Now I'm starting to glue them onto bases and texture them. Case in point:

And with an Ogryn for scale:


And with a 3 storey Imperial building (that I didn't make) for scale:

I had glued some random styrofoam cutoffs to the base of this smaller leaning piece a week ago:




Just in an effort to make the ground around it less flat while still making it stable enough for a model to stand on it. So this past week I coated the uneven foam with airdry clay:





And while I had some left over clay in hand, I also filled in some gaps on other pieces, too:




Then I glued down a mix of heavy aquarium gravel (one could also use Talus, if it's on hand, I suppose), pulverized walnut shell, and craft sand:








Here's a random Tau to try to illustrate scale:

And then that huge mesa with the ramp that I didn't have very many good pictures of last time got some sand texture. This is after I had covered the ramp with more air-dry clay to smooth it out. You can see cracks in the ramp bed where the clay shattered as it dried.




I didn't use any aquarium gravel on this one, except down near the bottom edges, because I wanted the surface to remain largely flat.







This yet needs to be sealed, but here is someone else's unpainted killa kan to show scale:




And the reason to keep the top of this thing flat is so that one could place other terrain on top of it:



Moe updates soon. Thanks for looking! Feedback always welcome. Have an awesome day!



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/22 08:05:55


Post by: Grag


Seriously nice textures there.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/24 02:55:15


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


More updates! Here is the small mesa painted.
Here it is sealed:



Here's my palette:

My rule of thumb with any natural paint job is to start with the color that appears like it shouldn't even be there to begin with. In this case, that color was Prussian Blue. I applied it rough and intentionally incomplete.






Next up was whatever this brown color is:





There's also a very light application of this red, but it's difficult to see with the lighting:

I can't tell if these photos are in order or not, so here's just a big pile to show I did work. At some point, I also highlighted with the Linen color mixed with my red and then straight linen and then straight white.




























Then I put the vaguest of red washes on the top and around the base of the mesa. And then I put it down and decided to call it done, because otherwise I would keep painting it until a month had passed.




That's it for now. Thanks for looking; feedback always welcome. Have a great day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/24 13:09:04


Post by: Dr H


Nice work. Looks the part.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/24 13:57:03


Post by: Malika2


Man, I love the rocky landscapes! Have you considered making them with weirder shapes/patterns, to look as if they are shaped like things or have faces in them? Kinda like the face on Mars or those "stone forests" in Peru (look up 'bosque de piedras' or 'Huayllay')


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/24 18:21:55


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Malika2 wrote:
Man, I love the rocky landscapes! Have you considered making them with weirder shapes/patterns, to look as if they are shaped like things or have faces in them? Kinda like the face on Mars or those "stone forests" in Peru (look up 'bosque de piedras' or 'Huayllay')


I had not considered that, Malika2, until I just googles those images. Man, they are beautiful! Bookmarked image search, project logged. Thanks for the feedback.

@Dr H: thank you very much. I hope the rest will look as good when the collection is all completed. More updates tonight or tomorrow evening.




Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/27 22:27:24


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


@whoever decided my photo of those rock formations were "not related to wargaming", you obviously haven't been following this blog. Sometimes inspirational photos are useful for us visual types.

Anyway, I got more work done on that store commission. I'd be brief, but that's just not how I roll.

I'll start with the walls I've been making. I finished the interiors and exteriors of them. I used slices of boxes to create the exterior sills that hide the horrible mess of the cut wallpaper:




Here's the interiors:

I put a running board on the wall that will have the staircase on it.

And a superfluous molding near the ceiling that was supposed to serve as a stop for the floor above, but I'm probably going to do something completely different that will make that detail be just there for show.


Then I glued it all together and in place:








Also, I sealed the leaning piece (and also the giant plateau, but the pictures of that came out like crap, so you'll just have to take my word for it):


Thanks for looking! Feedback always appreciated. Have a great day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/28 18:09:24


Post by: Camkierhi


Looks brilliant all together like that, Textures are very interesting.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/29 03:21:11


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks, Cam!

I also made some painting progress on the two mesas. The long one, sealed:



Based blue:




Brown overbrushed (sorry about the blurry pics):






Red overbrush:




Various pink and white highlights:












Flocked:




And static grassed (which of course I have just this one picture of because the rest were so blurry they were unusable):

And then the short mesa with flock and static grass:



And then a shot of what it looks like start to finish, side by side:


Thanks for looking! Feedback always appreciated. Have an awesome day.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/29 15:03:10


Post by: Jerp


Stuning! The mesas turned out great.
The house is coming along really nicely too, can't wait to see the finished product.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/29 19:50:40


Post by: Red Harvest


Some color to a few of those layers? Sedimentary rock tends to have different colored layers. See the Painted Desert for inspiration... I did


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/29 21:12:13


Post by: Phutarf


Excellent progress - from one to another I love the step by step progress pics, as well as the "before and after" pic - so handy for a true sense of development ! Keep it up - can't wait to see the full board....


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/30 14:49:17


Post by: Dr H


Looking good with the added vegetation.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/08/30 16:19:25


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback everyone!

@Dr H: I think I aspirated about a pound of static grass. I'm still coughing up tiny bits of it.

@Phutarf: yeah, me either. I don't know why, but this project is really wearing me down. I think it might be the 45 minute drive to the location and the weird limitations on materials. I'll be glad when it's all done and I have a whole table of beautiful terrain to show for it.

@Red Harvest: not all sedimentary rock looks like the painted hills. There's rock formations that look like what I've reproduced near me that are all a muddy grey. If all sedimentary rock looked like the painted hills they wouldn't be called the painted hills, they'd just be called hills.

@Jerp: thanks, I'm thinking of attaching the staircase to the second floor, but that idea is mostly a floater. I want to build the second floor with a wide balcony that overhangs the edges of the masonite base. We'll see how that works out.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/02 01:58:28


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here's a bunch of photos of stuff I don't think I showed off yet. I'm having some issues with my camera regarding uploading new photos, so this will have to suffice for now.
The ramp mesa WIP:



The long and the short mesa PIP side by side:


With luck I'll have more photos to show off soon.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/02 02:36:40


Post by: Littletower


Mesas turned up great, and the house by the mountain side is looking good too!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/03 03:12:26


Post by: Grag


Well you sure made a 'mesa' out of that one…. geddit All bad puns aside, they look great, I especially like the look of the house. Is it going to have an adobe style flat roof, or a slanted one?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/03 16:38:02


Post by: Fango


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:

Or these "plants"?

That tall? or this small?



Truffula trees!

Good stuff in here! Keep 'em coming!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/05 15:38:56


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I'm still working furiously, but my camera issue turned out to require a new sync cable. It was supposed to arrive today, but it's still in California. At least the shipping was free (I didn't pay extra for the delay). So more (and I mean many more) photos to come. They just won't be up until Monday or Tuesday at least. Thanks for your patience guys!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/05 18:38:46


Post by: Camkierhi


No it's those trees from that Lorax movie!

scenery looking brilliant, great stuff.

Just make sure we get some pics soon!! LOL


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/05 23:30:48


Post by: Red Harvest


Truffula trees are from the Lorax movie. U no know Dr. Seuss?

Pix when you can. Always enjoy them, even if just lurking.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/06 21:08:52


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks guys! Tracking says the sync cable will arrive today, so when I get back from the gun show it should be in the mailbox. If I get home early enough new photos up tonight. Otherwise tomorrow.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 01:45:08


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Wow, where to start? At the beginning I guess.

So there is project stuff literally all over the place. On the computer:


In boxes:


On shelves:

And in bags:

With all guns "blazing":

I'm set to make everything:

I let some stuff "drip dry":


While I busy myself with prepping the next couple of stages (like washing these "leaves"):

And applying sand to these other bases:



And also this weird tree-thing I found completed and buried beneath a bunch of other stuff.




Now, I have plenty more to post. If you want more stuff (and I'm sure you all do), post some comments or feedback and I'll post up more photos of stuff. Thanks for looking! Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 02:07:08


Post by: Littletower


I've seen many cowboy movies where the hero wields two revolvers, but three hot glue guns?

Now we all know how you manage to work so fast! Wondering if you hold it with your left foot, though...





Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 02:40:43


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


@Littletower: Hah! No, no left foot wielding (especially since I've bought another 2 guns). I use them one after another. They get hot, I use the glue. Then the stick I'm using isn't quite melted anymore, so I switch guns.

As promised, here is more. What can it be? Why, it's a new use for bottle caps (which I have been needlessly collecting for years, trying to figure out what to do with them besides remind me what I had to drink last night).




And plastic icicles:

And gluing them together:




And also some bits of drinking straws:



And then some craft sand:



And then some indigo paint:





A stone from the texture popped off during transit (I went to a crafting party with the Missus. The girls all knit and crochet while I made terrain):



And then a whole bunch of other colors that I will get into more detail about in a subsequent post.



And then some plants:



So, uh, I feel like they are unfinished. I want to try to make the tall "icicle trees" into more tree-like...well...trees. I'm just not so such how to do that. Ideas?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 04:59:07


Post by: Camkierhi


Branches.

It all looks amazing.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 16:30:39


Post by: Jerp


Looking really good!
Creative use of the plastic icicles, IMHO they look rather like palm trees. If you want to make them more tree-like maybe try painting them a more brownish colour and having drooping leaves? Maybe add some craft beads as coconuts aswell.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 17:10:21


Post by: SJM


More good stuff, I seem to be getting an underwater vibe?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/09 21:15:45


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

@Camkierhi: Branches are tough to add after all the paint is on, but I understand where you are going with that idea.

@Jerp: I was thinking of trying something with a palm feel. Interesting idea with the craft beads as coconuts. I have taller pieces that will have "alien coconuts" made from sea shells. Hmmm. You definitely have me thinking though.

@SJM: Everyone keeps saying that. Maybe I should start listening? Someone challenged me to do an underwater city a few years back and I never got around to doing it. I'm not sure if they meant like a domed city underwater (which would just essentially be a regular city except maybe with a nautical theme), or if they meant a city of buildings whose doors opened into the water. thus facilitating everyone walks around in deepsea robosuits. I don't know. Maybe I'll do a ruin that's been flooded. Or maybe, because I am crazy, I will do something that incorporates all those ideas. Hmmmm, yet again.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sooo, more work.
I decided to try to test craft sand as a texture on my lollipop stick trees, because the textured gel I normally buy has a definite shelf life and eventually turns to a rubbery substance that I have trouble reconstituting. So basically, I'm trying to cheat. I got mixed results. I'm worried the ground texture and the tree texture will "melt" together and even with paint you won't be able to tell one from the other. Anyway, here are the results:




So I picked a random base and decided to try to make a mold of it. This is the one I selected:

Obviously I've textured it. Not so obvious is the fact that I also coated it in shellac, because the rubber I choose won't solidify in the presence of wood. Weird, I know.


So I made a giant mold box out of foamcore and reinforced it with hot glue:

And then decided the box was way too big and selected 2 other pieces to copy. And then wound up mixing what I thought would be a ton of this Rubber:

But when I poured, it turned out to be just enough to fill one chamber of the box:


Sad, cold, lonely other pieces:


I'll post the results tomorrow. Thanks for looking and have a great day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/10 13:32:59


Post by: Jerp


Looking good.

Building an underwater city/ building would be sick, maybe make it in a steampunk style... like Rapture from the Bioshock series.
Spoiler:



That would be awesome *stares into distance with misty eyes*

Good luck with the moulds.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/10 18:35:47


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Mold came out great! I had to clean it up a lot, but aside from that, it worked like a dream. Now to cast something in it and hope that works out just as well....


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/11 13:54:44


Post by: Dr H


Icicle trees look good. As does the rest.

Good luck with the moulding and casting exploits.

Yeah, the silicone never goes as far as you expect.
I find a good way to work out the volume of silicone required is to line the mould box with clingfilm and then use water (the clingfilm is to prevent the box from getting wet, you could just let it dry before using it) to get a good estimate of the volume.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/11 16:36:42


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


That's pretty sound advice. Thanks, Dr H!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/11 21:12:07


Post by: Red Harvest


Indeed, excellent advice. I am curious about how well that mold will perform. I've thought about making some, especially after seeing how everybody here seems to do so well with them. Where did you get that stuff anyway?

And a novel use of bottlecaps


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/11 23:12:35


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I live in New York City, Red Harvest, and there's a shop in downtown Manhattan called the Compleat Sculptor that sells it among many other Smooth On products. Their staff is also very knowledgeable. But one could probably also find the product online.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Moving along. I made some other kinds of "mushroomy things".
I started with packing styrofoam glued to my bases:

And some wooden draw pegs and large craft beads:

With the aid of hotglue and my hands I glued them into place:



Then I used very hot hotglue to coat the sides with widely spaced lines. The glue has to be liquid enough that it will partially merge with the other lines, but not so fluid that it just drips off. Delicate balance.




Then I just hotglue the bead to the top by pouring a dollop on one side of the bead and pressing it down so it spills out from beneath the bead to create a sort of lip.





More updates tomorrow, folks! Thanks for looking! Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/12 14:05:39


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


As promised, here is another update. The textured bases all got a coat of indigo acrylic.



Some looked better than others:




Then I selected a more or less random assortment of colors to highlight the bases with. Here they are in the order I applied them:





And here we start with the chocolate brown:






I don't bother to clean my sponge brush between layers. I find it helps to blend the colors. But I do do all the bases in the same color before moving on to the next layer.



And the next:


The next few pictures show layers 3 and 4 side by side, because I got lazy with taking pictures.




And two fully painted bases:


Thanks for looking! More updates tomorrow! Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/12 14:12:04


Post by: angelofvengeance


Weird and wonderful lol. Great job


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/12 21:01:13


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Here's a "flower base" more or less start to finish. This one was a test. Call it a proof of concept.

Base coated:


Painted:


Inking the "flowers" before clipping them down to size:


And then the leafy bits from this thing...


...get doused in watered down green paint to make them less vibrant; less shocking:


And then a dollop of hotglue in the holes, followed by the "leaves" pushed in with another stem, followed by another dollop of hotglue and a section of the "flowers". And viola!


Thanks for looking. Even MORE more tomorrow.

Feedback always welcome!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/12 21:11:45


Post by: SJM


That looks great, love the colour contrast, very Star Trek away team.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/12 21:16:43


Post by: tonnez


Looking good! I agree with SJM the color contrast is on point.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/12 22:28:22


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 SJM wrote:
That looks great, love the colour contrast, very Star Trek away team.


Lol! That's the best descriptive phrase I've read of my stuff, yet!

tonnez wrote:
Looking good! I agree with SJM the color contrast is on point.


Thanks for the feedback tonnez!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/13 13:45:24


Post by: gwaahr


ha yeah, it actualky is giving a very 60s star trek vibe

great work mate, keep it up *fistbump*


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/14 16:01:29


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


@gwaahr: thanks for the feedback! Always appreciated.

Small update folks! Here I've applied sand texture to the "garlic tree" base.





More stuff Tomorrow! thanks for looking. Have an awesome day.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/14 21:00:06


Post by: Dr H


Ahh, I see... I was going to ask if you were going to paint the insides of the holes. Good use. Looking good.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/15 11:59:43


Post by: angelofvengeance


Man, you're like a human scenery factory!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/15 21:32:17


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


I finished a ton of them, but only have a minute, so I'm just posting a quick update. More this evening or tomorrow:





Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/16 20:11:51


Post by: Littletower


Is it this evening yet?

Looks good.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 03:14:30


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Littletower wrote:
Is it this evening yet?

Looks good.


Thanks, Littletower. It isn't evening anymore, but it is tomorrow. Bear with me, there's a TON (or TONNE if you're overseas) of photos. Ahem:


Phew! Thanks for looking! If anyone is interested in owning any of these beautiful terrain pieces, just follow the link in my signature to my eBay store. These and many other things are for sale there. Have an awesome day everyone!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 06:03:50


Post by: Meph


Damn looks, good. But someone's fish are feeling very self-conscious and exposed right now, aren't they?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 07:41:48


Post by: JensDK


Great job on the plants. I find that the aquariumplants make it difficult to work in height, and you seem to have solved that problem quite nicely. I also love the idea of you going out with wife, and them knitting (or whatever) and you in a terrain building frenzy =)


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 12:22:44


Post by: SJM


These look great, really have come out well, i don't see a link.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 15:02:15


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


The link is in my signature, but my signature isn't displayed if you're using a phone, SJM. I'm currently on my phone, too, but I'll update the photo data in the gallery when I get home this evening.

@Meph: Thank you?

@JensDK: Yeah, "craft night" was exactly that. 4 women knitting and crocheting, 1 guy making a chainmail dicebag, and me furiously building terrain. I made the biggest mess.

Thanks for all the feedback folks! I'll have more tonight or tomorrow to show! Enjoy your day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 15:29:34


Post by: Meph


lol, yeah, they look good.
The sight of those aquarium plants suddenly conjured up a mental image of a couple of fish floating around in an empty tank, looking a bit perplexed...


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/17 23:25:10


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Meph wrote:
lol, yeah, they look good.
The sight of those aquarium plants suddenly conjured up a mental image of a couple of fish floating around in an empty tank, looking a bit perplexed...


Ah, yes. Put that way it is quite silly.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/19 02:14:12


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Finally got back to that store commission. I've been driving about 30 or 40 miles upstate through the Appalachians (a mountain range on the east coast of the United States) and I've noticed that the hills the highway runs through still show the evidence of being blasted to make room for the road (I guess it's just easier to drill into rock, place dynamite, and cart the rubble away rather than try to build a road uphill? I don't know, I'm not an engineer). It occurred to me that one of the mesa pieces had a road on it, or at least a ramp, and that it was likely that whoever built such a thing would've done a bit of blasting of their own. So, I needed to do some modifications. I started with this:


Took this tool:


And did this:


I ended up with this:


And the realization that the lighting in this place is entirely too bright. Here I applied more of that foul smelling glue to the flat "gutter" along the road:


I used my finger to spread the glue around and then used my gluey finger to get some rocks:


Then used my finger to push said rocks into place. The reason I use my finger is because I know some of that glue is going to end up on top of the rocks which will allow subsequent layers of sand and gravel to adhere to them in a more realistic manner.


Sprinkle some gravel:


And then some sand:


Then I left it to dry. More tomorrow. Thanks for looking. Feedback always welcome. Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/19 18:18:18


Post by: Desubot


Oh thats a clever way to get that texture.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/19 18:38:12


Post by: Camkierhi


Very effective, looks great. Also try cat litter, mixed in pva then spread it around, looks very good. This will be a brilliant piece by the time you are done.

Also how about a wide angle shot of your forest!? Trees look amazing.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/19 18:53:10


Post by: Dr H


[Pirate]Argh, good call Warboss. Looks the part in all but colour (and you will fix that shortly). [/Pirate]


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/19 22:19:41


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Dr H wrote:
[Pirate]Argh, good call Warboss. Looks the part in all but colour (and you will fix that shortly). [/Pirate]


Yar!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Camkierhi wrote:
Very effective, looks great. Also try cat litter, mixed in pva then spread it around, looks very good. This will be a brilliant piece by the time you are done.

Also how about a wide angle shot of your forest!? Trees look amazing.


Thanks, Cam! I'll get that pic up forthwith.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Desubot wrote:
Oh thats a clever way to get that texture.


Thanks very much for the feedback, Desubot!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/19 23:36:16


Post by: Red Harvest


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Finally got back to that store commission. I've been driving about 30 or 40 miles upstate through the Appalachians (a mountain range on the east coast of the United States) and I've noticed that the hills the highway runs through still show the evidence of being blasted to make room for the road (I guess it's just easier to drill into rock, place dynamite, and cart the rubble away rather than try to build a road uphill? I don't know, I'm not an engineer).
<snip>


All along the Appalachians you see that, and in the Rockies too. They need to keep the road at a reasonable grade. You'll see the same thing with railroads. The rubble can be re-used as fill in other places.

Intriguing way to do emulate the effect. Looks very good.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/21 03:30:03


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks, Red.

Today was a long, long day at the Queens, NY Maker Faire. Tomorrow is more of the same. Sorry there's no pictures tonight. I'm just so exhausted. Next meaningful update will likely come Monday, though I may check in again tomorrow. Cheers all!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/21 21:49:39


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Day 2 at the Maker Faire proves equally exhausting. But I bought some reusable mold making material, got coupons for plastic drinking horns, and got a deal on a 3d printer. Also priced laser cutters and picked many makers' brains. Also discovered Dremel makes a $70 portable band saw. Worth the aching feet.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/23 00:49:30


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Did some more work on the Building for that store's commission table. This is the slowest going project I've worked on in awhile.



Essentially I cleaned up the corners of the building and smoothed the join between walls and base. I'm hoping this looks like poured concrete when I'm done. Also, not pictured here mostly because it doesn't look like anything, I sealed the air-dry clay I used with watered down PVA glue. The clay has a tendency to crack and break away otherwise.



Thanks for looking and have an awesome day! Feedback always welcome.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/24 03:18:59


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Did some more work (the very beginnings of texture on that tall one). This'n:


Anyway, I threw down a bunch of sand before realizing I needed to smooth the join at the baseline. Then I forgot to take pictures of what I did until I glued sand on top of the clay I used to smooth the join. So, here's that work:


You can kind of see where the clay is beneath the red sand. And you can see the spray of rocks I put down first. I kind of like the way it's coming out.


Here I put some "dirt" on the top of the mesa:


And then I started on this monster:


Sorry I have nothing to compare it to, but just understand that it's probably about as tall as that other piece and more complex a shape. Of course when I started it all the pieces were aligned in a way that would've made mounting easy, but somehow as it dried everything shifted. Now I was left with this for the bottom:


So I took this and a sanding block to it to try and fix things up a bit.


Mixed results:


In the end I had to prop it up on one end using, ironically, the piece I had chopped off.
Carving has begun:


And then scoring in semi-parallel lines:


And then cross-scoring:


And then tearing it up:


Here it is propped up for the test fit:


This ramp is being turned into a staircase:


Test fitting a model to one of the platforms-to-be:


The monster glued down and fill added to the gap at the bottom. Next step is to smooth this out with air dry clay:


That's it for today. Thanks for looking! Have an awesome day. Feedback always welcome.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/24 06:07:18


Post by: inmygravenimage


These are turning into some serious badlands! Great stuff!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/24 15:20:27


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks for the feedback, inmygravenimage and meph! Yeah, I've done a huge amount of research (read: staring at thousands of pretty pictures) for my terrain builds. There's a plethora of hilltowns similar to the one linked throughout Italy. They're actually the base model for modern cities. It's really cool stuff.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And because I am impatient, here is some WIP shots of yet another project that will involve modular sidewalks. This is the framework of one such detail piece. This is inspired by a section of sidewalk along 1st avenue in NYC near the UN building. Over this basic frame will go plastic and other materials to seal it so maybe, just maybe, I will be able to make multiple copies (my rubber won't cure in the presence of wood for some inexplicable reason...)





Size comparison and coverage photo:


Thanks for looking. Feedback always welcome. Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/25 02:54:41


Post by: Camkierhi


Amazing stuff dude. The building is looking great the mountains are AWESOME, and now modular sidewalks?! Brilliant.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/25 03:01:50


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Camkierhi wrote:
Amazing stuff dude. The building is looking great the mountains are AWESOME, and now modular sidewalks?! Brilliant.


Thanks very much, Cam! Here is more stuff! I bought some more cheap gourds and pumpkins and tried some new stuff with 'em. Cutting pumpkins in half:


Gluing them to bases:


And then chopping the "tails" off some gourds:


And figuring out what to do with the "tails" first:


Getting creative with the gourds and gluing some straws down in a hive-like mass:


There's plenty more to do. Always busy, always busy. Once again, thanks for looking, have an awesome day, and feedback always appreciated.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/25 13:13:10


Post by: Littletower


Those groceries are awesome, they make great pieces once "treated" W_W style.

And the massive rock spire will make a sight to behold when done.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/25 16:24:11


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Littletower wrote:
Those groceries are awesome, they make great pieces once "treated" W_W style.

And the massive rock spire will make a sight to behold when done.


Thanks very much, Littletower. I'm going up again today to do more work. Hopefully that will mean sealing the rest of the ramp mesa, more work on the building, texturing the massive spire and starting 2 more buildings (1 for the spire with the wedge conveniently chopped out of it and possibly 1 stand alone). I was thinking of adding some trees to the big block spire's base. Like 3 or 4 just to fill out the base on the opposite end from the rock. Plus I've been working on other stuff at home. More pictures tonight or tomorrow, I promise!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/26 10:11:29


Post by: shasolenzabi


That is some awesomely funky terrain! I may have to nick that idea for myself once I make some organic terrain.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/26 19:53:47


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 shasolenzabi wrote:
That is some awesomely funky terrain! I may have to nick that idea for myself once I make some organic terrain.


Thanks for the praise, shasolenzabi! Feel free.

I recently purchased some new texturing paste from a supplier that turned into a wholesaler. 40% off, woot!


And with my Garlic trees needing some love, I set to:


Also, I did a few other items as well...


Thanks for looking and have an awesome day! Feedback always welcome!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/26 23:22:08


Post by: JoeRugby


I can't wait to see your alien forest all finished and on table Waaazag.





Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/30 03:01:25


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 JoeRugby wrote:
I can't wait to see your alien forest all finished and on table Waaazag.


Thanks for the feedback, JoeRugby!

Switching gears a little, here is more work I did on that store commission. Let's start with the stairs WIP.
Measure once, cut twice:


Here, the enemy of straight lines and cutting, coffee:


Defying my enemy:


See how they stack!


Now for the actual stair bit:


And the top back fit perfectly:


The bottom back not so much. So I did some simple trimming:


And then made sure each section fit flush against the wall:


And finally glued the whole thing together and set it off to dry:


Next step will be to cover this thing in wood panelling. Next time!

Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/09/30 07:40:42


Post by: shasolenzabi


Now a useful panel with a closet door would work some wonders for the stairs.



Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/01 06:21:15


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Normally I'd be all for adding minute details like that, shaso, but as these pieces are commissioned for a set rate, they don't rank lavish details that have no game-related purpose. I like where your thinking goes, though. Fine details is where it's at my friend.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/01 06:46:55


Post by: Camkierhi


By the time you line that up with wood panels that is going to look great.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/01 15:32:58


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Camkierhi wrote:
By the time you line that up with wood panels that is going to look great.


Thanks, Cam! Another update with pictures of some other stuff in 24 hours. Stay tuned. In the meantime talk amongst yourselves. Lol

Have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/01 20:08:36


Post by: shasolenzabi


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Normally I'd be all for adding minute details like that, shaso, but as these pieces are commissioned for a set rate, they don't rank lavish details that have no game-related purpose. I like where your thinking goes, though. Fine details is where it's at my friend.


Ah, skipped the commission part, so if that was for your own terrain collection, then you might have that detail added, I get it.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/01 23:58:33


Post by: Red Harvest


The fine art of stair building. The piece is coming along nicely. I don't recall seeing what game this piece is commissioned for?


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/02 03:53:45


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


It's meant to work for fantasy, 40k, or malifaux.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/03 04:46:19


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Sorry for the lack of updates folks, I'm suffering through a hellish toothache. Updates will happen when the antibiotics kick in.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/03 05:03:01


Post by: Camkierhi


We may forgive you, depends how big and how delayed!



Get better soon bud.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/03 17:48:19


Post by: shasolenzabi


Tootaches are never fun, ever. Get better.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/03 21:15:49


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Thanks guys. My antibiotics kicked in and the face pain stopped so the universe conspired to break the tip of my thumb. Huzzah.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/03 23:53:50


Post by: Red Harvest


Ah, universal terrain. Cool. I like the idea.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/04 19:29:29


Post by: shasolenzabi


 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Thanks guys. My antibiotics kicked in and the face pain stopped so the universe conspired to break the tip of my thumb. Huzzah.


Dang! time to do some prayer work so the Universe gives you a good break, so much bad stuff back to back is never a good sign of things


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/04 22:01:51


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


Where to start, where to start. There was this more or less featureless rock spire in the back of the store where I am doing this commission. It had been cut out with a hotwire and glued to a base and in some places spackled a bit, but for the most part left incomplete for months. I was told that I could do anything with any of the half-finished terrain projects in the place - break them, rebuild them, use them. I decided this thing needed some love so I beat the hell out of it with a rock and then tore it apart with my (then working) thumb. Here are the results of that beating:


Then I applied some sand of various consistency and size to the base:


That's as far as I got with that piece that day, but I worked on a lot more. The building got more sand to show off the doorway:


(Also, here are some random stairs pictures I forgot to share for some reason:
)

This giant thing got some love:


Remember that as you build, there is really no such thing as trash. All those little scrap pieces have value for various other applications as wedges, or for building up ground around the bases of your larger pieces. Here are some examples of not trash:


Here I've selected some "not-trash" for use with the above giant spire:


After some carving down I ended up with three pieces that I began test fitting to see how I liked them:


With the application of glue their positioning changes slightly:


And then some smoothing is done with air-drying clay. The piece is beginning to take real shape:


Using the clay I built up some areas to give slight variation to the ground:


Then more of the foul-smelling glue goes down and I spread it with my finger so the rocks stick to my finger tip and the sand eventually sticks to the rocks in the ways I want it to.


And then the application of sand in its various forms. This is one of the things I'm really grateful to this store for having. There's 3 sizes of coarse gravel - Woodland Scenics Coarse Ballast, Talus, and Aquarium Gravel - plus really fine craft sand, and crushed walnut shell. It's all just excellent for comprehensive ground cover:


I didn't like the initial look of this section, so I cleared away some sand with my fingertip and reapplied:
A
B
C

That's it for today. Tune in next time for another update. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/04 22:37:23


Post by: Dr H


Nice work on the rock structures. Nice to follow the process.

Hope the tooth and finger get better soon and are not joined by a third piece of bad luck. Maybe you should stub your toe on purpose just in case.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/04 22:41:34


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 Dr H wrote:
Nice work on the rock structures. Nice to follow the process.


Thanks, Dr H.

 Dr H wrote:
Hope the tooth and finger get better soon and are not joined by a third piece of bad luck. Maybe you should stub your toe on purpose just in case.


I don't know how sound this advice is. With my luck my foot will explode. I think I'm just going to get one of those full body clear plastic inflatable balls to wear wherever I go from now on. It may be difficult to maneuver in, but at least my core organs will be safe.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/04 23:51:28


Post by: JoeRugby


Sorry to hear about the run of bad luck dude.

How tall is that spire it looks massive.


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/05 00:03:42


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


 JoeRugby wrote:
Sorry to hear about the run of bad luck dude.


Thanks, I appreciate that, JoeRugby.

 JoeRugby wrote:
How tall is that spire it looks massive.


Both big spires in this most recent update are about 46cm tall. Give or take. (that's about 18" to all the Imperial users. I'm looking at YOU America).


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/08 18:01:19


Post by: Warboss_Waaazag


So I did more texturing of the largest piece because I wasn't satisfied with the look of it. I also smoothed down the shelf and inner wall (because A building is going to go there eventually and I want it to fit as flush as possible):


I tested the flatness of the shelf with a random bit of foam core and a headless tau that was lying around. You can barely see around the back corner of this thing that there's some new, random chunks of insulation foam that I glued down to make the ground underneath where the staircase will eventually go a little bit more uneven:


Then I set about smoothing the irregular join of the block on the base with some air-dry clay. I notice that so long as I cover the clay with a layer of glue BEFORE it dries it stays in place. Otherwise it just crumbles away once it dries because there's nothing adhering it to the base. Clay is tricky. In its wet or damp state it sticks to everything, but once it dries all it wants to do is crumble into dust. One must really wrangle with the stuff.


Here you can see the flat smoothness of that one section of cliff face.


I noticed it, too, and boy did it bother the heck out of me:


Then I threw down some more glue and scattered some Talus around the rock spire and up on the edge of that cliff:


Followed by sand and more work on that flat inner edge. You might also notice that I used some coarse gravel here as well to supplement the talus. The Talus is the tan stones and the coarse gravel is the light grey stuff. I find it helpful to use differently colored texturing sands so at a glance I can see exactly what steps I've completed on a given project piece.


When it came to that cliff, it became an issue of just not knowing when to stop.

Then I stared at this thing. I knew I wanted to connect a building to it somehow and to incorporate that shelf. The original idea (just a nebulous thing in my head) was to put a tiny 2 storey building in that nook, but as I fiddled with the foamcore I started thinking how maybe I could make an open deck on that shelf or create a tower there with the middle floor just all open. The logistics of creating that, especially after seeing how long the building with the interior staircase was taking me, made me change my mind. Instead, I went with something entirely larger (because apparently that's how my brain works - "Hmmm, a tiny building open to the outside? That's too complicated! Let's instead build a complex, 4-storey factory. Yeah! Much simpler." - Stupid Brain). So I sketched out my idea quick on the first handy thing nearby - my coffee sleeve:


And because I happened to have a second coffee sleeve in my pocket - don't ask - I also sketched out, very roughly, the dimensions of each panel:


And then I started cutting the foamcore using my trusty T-square. It's always funny how my sketches are utility, but do not match the reality of size: Here is the actual piece for the sketch directly to the left of it:


Lol, whatever. Then I started making basic assumptions and decisions about where windows and doors would go. I also decided that this building would not have a detailed interior, but that I would build a texture on the exterior to signify where the doors and windows would go. Also, also, because there would be a staircase around back I decided this building would a 3rd floor entrance accessed by an as yet unmade walkway and would have a lot of exterior balconies. Because whats the point of having a massive building unless you can interact with it beyond it just being a giant LoS blocker?


This is an easy way to make sure your details line up around corners. Once you've made decisions about the where of your details for "wall 1", just use the T-square to extend those measurements across to the other walls. I use a miniature (unfortunately not shown because I did not take any pics of it) to determine the appropriate heights of windows. I want the bottom sill to be at about waist height for your typical infantry model and the top of the window to be about a 1/4" (6mm) from the top of that same model's head. Doors should be a little wider than infantry. My rule of thumb is 1" (2-3cm) wide and about 2.5" (6-7cm) tall. Each floor is then also a default 3" (~8cm) tall. Once all put together, open windows then provide adequate cover and become a realistic looking fire point as most 25-28mm models will line up perfectly.


Then I set about gluing the walls together:


And that's it for now. I'll have another update of some sort soon. Thanks for looking! C&C always welcome! Have a terrific day!


Waaazag's terrain tutorial blog (formerly The Shattered City) @ 2014/10/08 18:52:09


Post by: Knightley


That's really cool to be able to see who whole processes behind doing scenery, I find I lack skills in that department so seeing a step by step really does help