Painted a couple of things.

Heskan the Dragonborn Wizard. It goes with the other D&D figures shown earlier.

Still undecided how to finish the bases on these. Since they are for a board game, but can be used for the RPG, I really am not sure what might work best. Perhaps just paint them all gray? Or color code them for Characters, Monsters and Villains.

And the odd little land mine that came with the Cosplay Bolt mini

Now to paint the actual mini.

Ah, buildings.

Added ledges to part of the contour building.

In the last image, the minis have no LoF to each other. Might make for a fun in-game situation. I'll need to re-paint that hill too, to match the buildings better.

Started work on the final small building for the table.

Since this is the last of the complete small buildings I planto build -- at least for this table-- I think I may do some things a bit differently than I did on the previous buildings. Up the bizarreness of it somehow.

Thanks for stopping by.

I love these buildings

I can't say much for the dragonborn as I don't believe in them!! But you've done a good job of adding paint to it in any case.

Drop bear is pretty cute for an antipersonnel mine.

I like where this new building is headed, cool design as always Red!

Love the colours on the wizard but that Drop bear is too cute (until it explodes you)! x)

Looks like the Anyat is waiting to jump down onto the other girl hehe. Great terrain!

I am eagerly awaiting a pic of all the finished buildings in a town-like formation.

Man i love your painting on those old DnD figs. They have so much style. Great figs and painted just lovely The buildings are out of my league and eralm of knowledge, they look like they should and i realize thats no small feat. Great stuff sir, great stuff.

Great work, Red.

Wizard is nice and vibrant.
Bear-mine is nicely done.
Buildings are great as always.

Thanks Guys.

Finished the Orc Storm Shaman. Not a very good mini at all. And not very Orc-like either. I grew up with the pig faced orcs of D&D. This looks nothing like that. I also hate painting fur.


But this only leaves the 2 large villains for painting. And of course the BB itself.

I am debating what to paint, or finish painting, next. This Otyugh, one of the two large villains?

Which I have started on at any rate, or take a break from the D&D stuff. (and I'll have more soon enough, when I get that new Temple of Elemental Evil board game. My little group, we played through the first 3 of the adventure games and had much fun. So we are looking forward to this release)

Or another goblin? I have a whole wrecking crew base coated and ready to be finished. They've been this way since 2011.


Or another Infinity fig? Maybe the Cosplay bolt to go with the Drop Bear mine? Yeah, it is so Kawaii (hey, no eye-roll Orcmoticon?)

Anyway, a bit more work on the building

Don't worry about that flat roof. I'm thinking a partial second story, and of course a dome. I like the porches. They turned out well, IMHO. Ended up using more filler than I though. Ah well.

Thanks for dropping by.

All looks like a great place to go. I personally have a soft spot for D&D and would love to get more games in if I knew where to go, so my vote would go to the D&D models, I would love to see more of them so bring on that Temple of Elemental Evil box game.

Great looking stuff as usual! Those poor neglected goblins though :( haha

Red, the building looks like a badass palace in the making.

Your orc gives me a WoW vibe btw, makes me want to paint up some Outland orcs.

I'm all about the goblins.

I vote for the goblins as well!

Nice work, Red. Liking the shape of the new building.

Thanks Doc, but building is on hold for a while. I've caught the painting bug, so that is where my hobby time will be going. Plus I actually have a goal-- see below somewheres...

 ckig wrote:
Great looking stuff as usual! Those poor neglected goblins though :( haha

Oh I'll finish them eventually. They sat for 8-9 years in a friend's basement before I got them, so they are used to waiting. They are on those 30mm bases because they saw some time as Gremlin proxies for Malifaux 1e.

 Stormwall wrote:
Red, the building looks like a badass palace in the making.

Your orc gives me a WoW vibe btw, makes me want to paint up some Outland orcs.

I had to look up WoW orcs. yeah, it seeems WoTC 'borrowed' from that Orc image. Ah well.

 Archer wrote:
All looks like a great place to go. I personally have a soft spot for D&D and would love to get more games in if I knew where to go, so my vote would go to the D&D models, I would love to see more of them so bring on that Temple of Elemental Evil box game.

I only recently started up again with the 5e RPG rules after about a 20 year hiatus. It is proving quite fun.

The ToEE box arrived early. Some interesting stuff. But a bit smaller than the old D&D minis. WizKids is the company making these now/ The Red Dragon from Ashardalon and the new Dragon --it is Dungeons and Dragons, so of course there must be a dragon it it, eh? The black one is a bit weedy.

And a similar issue with a few of the other minis being, hmmm, of less volume, but they are still fairly nice. As you can see I started to paint one of the characters.

My little gaming group won't be playing again 'til the 23rd, so I should have at least the character minis painted by then. That is the current goal anyway.

I was working on these Grell when the ToEE box arrived. WIP below.

Struggling to get the right look for the head. Needs to be slimier looking, I think. I'm not too familiar with painting things pink, or pinkish, but there are 3 of them, so good practice

Thanks for stopping by.

Huh, not what I was expecting to see

D&D is fun though so enjoy!

ToEE= Temple of Elemental Evil. FYI. Ah, painted a few. The elementals, since they are the named monsters, no?

The terribad quality Fire Elemental. The Orange is much more vibrant in RL. Ah well. Still learning to photograph minis.

The Water Elemental, which quite frankly, if painted nicely, would have looked better as a fire elemental than the actual Fire Elemental.

The surprisingly nice Air Elemental.

And my favorite, the Earth Elemental


I went with very limited palettes on them. I like the way they turned out. Very pretty.

Also painted one of the monster groups, the firebats. Not much to these.


And the Dwarf Cleric Barrowin. The most cartoonish of the character minis. And a mediocre sculpt, IMHO. I followed the color scheme of the digital render of the mini.

Not sure why the left hand is larger than the right. how do you do that with digital sculpts? I have seen much more interesting female dwarf figures too. The Wrath of Ashardalon has one with a much more interesting face ( and way too much cleavage showing for a fighter too, but that is another story, eh. I'll post a photo of that mini when I've painted it. After of the ToEE stuff.) And Reaper has a few female dwarf minis too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dwarf lady is a bit.. huh. And for the temple of elemental EVIL.. seems like they could have gotten some scarier/evilier elementals

Nice work on them all the same.

I saw this box when it came into the shop, it looks really interesting. Your minis look fantastic - even the fire one!

Although the dwarf sculpt is a little off I quite like her pose with the hammer over the shoulders. I like the paint on the elementals. I have never seen an elemental sculpt that gives much to the painter to work with. But you have turned out some interesting and clean elementals there on some fairly strange looking beasties.

All looks good, but the building designs make me want that such buildings were there to live in!

Nice work, Red. I'm liking the water-thing in particular. Looks proper translucent.

Well Doc, the mini itself was translucent. It is the same material as its base, and the base of the air elemental too. Just a heavy wash with Liquitex Ultramarine Blue ( the soft body acrylic liquitex. Don't use the paints people usually use. ) So not too involved with the painting part, but getting the wash just right ( mixed in some glazing liquid, and some flow-aid and some other stuff) was a bit involved.

 GrimDork wrote:
Dwarf lady is a bit.. huh. And for the temple of elemental EVIL.. seems like they could have gotten some scarier/evilier elementals

Nice work on them all the same.

The elementals are based entirely on the artwork in the Monster Manual. All the monsters included with the game are. Some are very cool too. The Gnolls and bugbears for example. Still, that fire elemental

 shasolenzabi wrote:
All looks good, but the building designs make me want that such buildings were there to live in!

Someday. Someday soon

 Archer wrote:
Although the dwarf sculpt is a little off I quite like her pose with the hammer over the shoulders. I like the paint on the elementals. I have never seen an elemental sculpt that gives much to the painter to work with. But you have turned out some interesting and clean elementals there on some fairly strange looking beasties.

The pose is fine. The proportions are sad. The arms are too long and the hands and feet are enormous. The thing is, the other character minis look fine ( photos below) So I have no idea what went on here. I am quite happy (chuffed) with the end result for the elementals. I remember back in the day painting a fire elemental from Grenadier Miniatures ( late '70's) and it really was not much better. Also, paints back then. I shudder.

 EyeamRai wrote:
I saw this box when it came into the shop, it looks really interesting. Your minis look fantastic - even the fire one!

We will start play this week-end, I hope. It is a nice additions to the series, and an improvement in many ways with the new campaign structure. I like it when new releases demonstrate progress and are improvements. Progress is a good thing.

And an update, finished painting Ratshadow the halfling Rogue ( yeah, Ratshadow. What a name. Derp.. and what a chin )

Nymmestra the elf wizard... and her fireball?

Fireball could be better. Hands were a bit blobby too. the face was interesting enough.
A family shot of the 3 done so far.

Which one does not fit?

A WIP of the remaining two characters, a ranger and a fighter

They are fairly nice sculpts too.

Also WIPS of the two remaininig villains ( the Dragon is the BB, I'll paint that last), a salamander and an Ettin

These are decent sculpts as well.

And made a tray for all the monsters to speed up set up time. Less time spent setting up is more time for playing

And there is paint on pretty much all of them.

I am enjoying the painting too. I think because it is very low pressure given the quality of the miniature's material-- that they are made of the soft plastic and have essentially unremovable mod lines (I say essentially. It is possible but it is a huge PITA to do so). Of course I have the Infinity minis looming. They are an entirely different sort of miniature TBH.

Thanks for stopping by.

Progress is great. I like the idea of the wizard with a spell in progress. The salamander looks great. Probably my favourite so far.

Good stuff! You're doing a wonderful job with these minis!

For mould lines, I found slicing them off with a knife works well enough, but yeah, trying to file them off is a !

Going back a bit, your work on that Dragonborn mage is amazing considering the exceptionally shallow sculpted detail on his lower half! I actually gave up on mine!

By the way, could you just do a quick photo of one of each of the generic monsters if you have a moment? I'm thinking ToEE will be the next set I get, but I'd like to see the minis properly first!

 Red Harvest wrote:
Well Doc, the mini itself was translucent. It is the same material as its base, and the base of the air elemental too. Just a heavy wash with Liquitex Ultramarine Blue ( the soft body acrylic liquitex. Don't use the paints people usually use. ) So not too involved with the painting part, but getting the wash just right ( mixed in some glazing liquid, and some flow-aid and some other stuff) was a bit involved.

I see. Well that would explain it then.
Still, good job with the washes etc. It looks naturally transparent and not like a solid piece of transparent plastic... or whatever, I'll stop digging.
Show complete lack of knowledge of any and all miniature ranges... All the time. Check.
Compliment someone on their shading to be told that it's just the lighting... done previously. Check.
Compliment someone on their transparent painting to be told that it is transparent... Check.
Compliment someone on their freehand work to be told that it's a transfer... Still time yet...

Keep up the good work. I'll just go and hide in shame (not really, I don't feel ashamed easily these days. )

In your defense Doc, it is still painted, technically speaking. The Air Elemental was also that same translucent plastic. It seems to be a growing trend. I am seeing miniatures from Wyrd and From MERCS that use it too. Even the old D&D miniatures (4e versions) had some transparent minis.

Paradigm, yeah the dragonborn needed some special care, but I enjoy a challenge every so often... okay, may 'once in a blue moon' often. Cutting with a sharp blade works but sometimes leave little hangin curls, at least for me. I hear people use jeweler's files ( have a set of those that I do use for metal minis) and something called a sanding needle. I'll check my local craft store for those at some point.

Photos? Well, I haven't photographed all of them yet, but you could check the Wizkids site, here http://wizkidsgames.com/dnd/ and check under the two galleries. It looks like most of them are there-- firebat, troglodyte, the 4 cultist types, the Gnoll. Missing are the Bugbear, the hobgoblin, the doppelganger. I'll see about posting those this week-end. Hopefully properly painted.

Oh, rules PDFs for ToEE are here and if you want the WoA rules in PDF form here

Ah, before I forget, for the LoER contest, I'm going to try to get something done. It will be very minimalist.

My starting pieces.

A start

Where it stands now.

Thanks for stopping by.

It amuses me that your idea of minimalist would be anybody else's idea of epic.

Lol. Actually, I was thinking about the architectural style of minimalism. Give me an D- for communications skills :( But an A for Scissors skills (actually I got a 'needs improvement' on that one, back in my pre-school days. Wonder what I would get now? )

So a bit more work. Had the insomnia last night. Ugh.



I should prime the container tomorrow. It really will not get much else except a few licks of paint. That way the shape remains recognizable.

Now I have to find a second object. The dial I initially chose was too small. SO much for my guesstimation abilities these days :S
Paradigm , a quick photo of the 3 unpictured minis, WIPs of course.


Thanks for stopping by.

Nice work on the building!

Cheers for the shots/list of minis, very helpful!

So much to comment on, so little time...

Love the contour building - plus some Kilroy graffiti going on, which is always a win in my book...

The D&D type figures, for some reason they make me think of Sklander / Disney Infinity, but great painting on them considering the quality (that's a compliment just in case it doesn't come across as one in the interweb...)

LoER comp time ? I need to check that out - great start on your entry though, is that LED lighting inside?

Thanks guys. I did paint the elf wizard to look a bit like a disney princess. At least that was the thinking behind the color choices.

it is a submersible LED for use with glass vases etc. Very convenient to use for terrain projects.

Have had very little time of late (again. Sigh) This is all I have done for the LoER.


I ditched the wide base for the one building. I just have come to dislike large bases in general, on buildings and on miniatures. De gustibus non est disputandum. :S

I cannot work on it for too long either. The primer that one must use for this sort of plastic is nasty, smelly stuff. Gives me a head-ache, and other issues. But it is almost done off-gassing.

I doubt I will have the entire thing finished by the deadline, ore even a day or two after, but I will try to get 'er done. Either way, I will not be adding this to the Table of Shame at Year's End. I will finish this project this month.

Also, minimal miniatures painting time. :( Did get a game of ToEE in though. Fun, tough, but fun.

Thanks for stopping by.

I have faith in the mighty Red! It will be done!

Those are shaping up as very nice future houses!

You need to sell me some of your finished buildings. So, so good.

Neat building.

Thanks guys. Sorry Archer, not for sale.

The plastic in those buildings is rather resistant to glue, so I need to come up with either a work around or a different adhesive. In the meanwhile, the project is on hold.

It has been a while. Not much done. I did have a strange idea for a building,

using a tea box. We'll see where it goes.

Lots of painting, but only for a short while at a time. Where does the time go? Sigh. I sit to paint and have maybe 45 minutes at a given time these days. Anyway, finished all of 2 of the D&D minis, a troglodyte and a doppelganger (or doppelgänger if you're into umlauts. I understand some people are )


The problem these minis these have is that the detail is so very shallow. Something I think is a product of digital sculpting.

And several WIPs in the general painting category...
Reaper 'Bots

A pathfinder mini, lini the druid. Or the lini mini as we say

The cosplay bolt

The Reverend Healer,

And Kirpal Singh

Heaven alone knows when I'll get any of them finished. Mañana, tal vez?

Thanks for stopping by.

Great stuff, Red. The new concept building is interesting, hoping to see more of that.

Those infinity models are looking stupendous. Seriously need to finish them off.

The concept building is good too. Singing out to be turned into a corrugated iron shed in my mind. Perhaps a tad low tech. But it has that shed feel to it.

Yeah, the Bolt, Rev and Singh are looking awesome even as WIPs! Like the troglodyte a lot too!

Can't wait to see the new building take shape. I assume it will be spectacular as always.

Thanks all.

Actually Archer, it'll have more of a modern look, a WIP of some work I did last night-- Instead of painting. Shame on me

lots of glass, or I should write that "glass". I've been toying around with ways to do big windows. Clamshell plastic will adhere to the cardstock I use when I use a simple gluestick-- Elmer's in this case-- so all those blank spaces will have "glass" windows. Naturally it will need to be house-ruled as bulletproof when it is used in game.

Paradigm, the troglodyte, yeah. The head turned out pretty well. The body, ugh, the scales are so shallowly carved... And I still have 2 more to paint. but 12/42 from the ToEE game, so progress.

No worries. I will finish the Infinity figs. I look at the spreadsheet and see I have 2/92 Infinity minis painted. How did that happen? So, I need to get at least half painted before I allow myself any more. ( and there is a wish-list of course) Plus I decided to motivate myself a bit by jumping into a painting contest on another forum-- Kirpal Singh will be the entry.

Oh, I forgot to post one last WIP, a Bugbear berserker

It's coming along nicely. I think I am getting better at painting fur. Still don't like it though.

Ooh, a double post. Will I get banned? Some of you are hoping yes, right

Some more painting o' the D&D figures. Talon, the Ranger

Need to improve my hair painting.

Arkashnic Thunn the salamander


This brings the total painted to 14/42 so Im 1/3 of the way done. For me, this is great progress.

I had an idea for one of these as scatter terrain, a lighted advertising kiosk/lightbox/cylinder

As you can see it is pretty tall.

start with spice bottles. Peel the labels and use the goo gone to get rid of the adhesive residue on the plastic. The goal is to minimize scratching the plastic. Then print some posters and a few other tasks...

Kind of blah. But wait, I did say lighted

Much nicer. I will get around to finishing it soon enough. A frame for the posters. A chrome effect where the white is, and a few greeblies. The trick I found was to put a piece of parchment paper in the bottle to act as a diffuser for the LED. That's why the glow at the top and bottom of the poster looks as it does. This is a useful discovery for me, since I can use it when I use clamshell plastic as windows in other buildings.

Thanks for stopping by.

Huh, that advertising cylinder is pretty sweet

Lot of good stuff lately, keep it up!

Great Idea and execution on the advertising bottle. I was considering something similar using a tic tacs container.

I probably said this already, but....
Those buildings you made are bad ass!

That lighted advertisement kiosk is amazing I'm really enjoying it the faux Elysium poster is cool to.

Quick, effective, and LIGHTED!

Painted minis are great, and are adding up to a nice head-count, keep it going. Sadly, there´s only one Sunday a week...

New building looks promising, I like the glass panelled winter-house? gallery? idea, clear panels and good interior décor, winning combo. Of course, that'd mean you'll have to do the inside too, but I¿m sure you were planing to anyway .

I'm still amazed at how good you get those D&D models looking!

Cool terrain idea too!

Archer looks great.

And that advert thing is very nice, will have to remember that one.

That's really, really clever. Must figure out a way to steal...

I borrowed the idea. I've seen ad cubes made using the dice cubes that chessex dice come in.

@DrH It really is the diffuser that makes it work. Otherwise the light does not look right at all.

@Paradigm Thanks. The minis are great for practice.

 Littletower wrote:
Quick, effective, and LIGHTED!

Painted minis are great, and are adding up to a nice head-count, keep it going. Sadly, there´s only one Sunday a week...

New building looks promising, I like the glass panelled winter-house? gallery? idea, clear panels and good interior décor, winning combo. Of course, that'd mean you'll have to do the inside too, but I¿m sure you were planing to anyway .

The plan is to use printed interiors. And maybe, eventually add some simple furnishings.

 Theophony wrote:
Great Idea and execution on the advertising bottle. I was considering something similar using a tic tacs container.

That would work very well. Now that I am thinking about it, there are several things that can be done with the containers. The tic-tacs themselves can go straight into the trash can.

 StarDrop wrote:
I probably said this already, but....
Those buildings you made are bad ass!

Thanks.

Tank_Dweller wrote:
That lighted advertisement kiosk is amazing I'm really enjoying it the faux Elysium poster is cool to.

Thanks. The Elysium poster fits perfectly. I need to be on the look-out for similar things.

The next step for the kiosk is getting the stainless steel effect. I'm going to use some very heavy duty aluminum foil for it.

Tic tacs are pretty gross, huh? Keep up the good work, eventually I'm gonna have to check back through your blog for ideals to steal

They make great ammunition for pea shooters. That's about it. But I'll probably get a pack the next time I am at the store, just to have the container.

been a minute since i posted, sorry i go on tour in the summer and don't paint, but the new works are looking great red. I'm especially into the lizard man
cheers

bb

Thanks Bebopdrums. I take it, on tour, you play drums?

So I finished the lightboxes. Here are the photos

Another image of the inspiration


And the lightboxes unlit:

The one on the left has the frame around the posters. The one on the right, not. Which looks better to y'all? I am still deciding. both have merit, IMHO.

Here they are with lights:



Yes, that is real aluminum foil. I think it works well here. The denting and scratches add a bit of character to the pieces, which would be outdoor pieces anyway.
The darker posters-- on the left-- look better when backlit than the lighter posters, no? I'll have to play around with those to see if I cannot improve upon them, either by printing on thicker paper, or darkening the images.

A few nuts and bolts photos

I lined the upper cap with foil so it would reflect the light better

I drilled out the top of the containers, so I could align the posters and parchment paper easier. This I did not need to do, but it sure simplified things.

All the bits laid out. Parchment paper is in the lower right. You can see that I used a submersible LED for the lighting.

And a curiousity. I ordered a pair of shoes, and they came in this packaging

Fortunately they came via Fedex and not the US postal Service. Otherwise, who knows what alarm bells the highly addictive warning might have set off.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wow! Those are awesome. I love it when things other than miniatures end up on Dakka. Those don't look too bad judging from your pictures. Would you be against me trying my hand at making one? Also, the darker posters do look better than the lighter ones.

I feel like you and I have already made fun of the postal service a few times in this blog. Seriously though, it's good that went through Fed Ex. Otherwise that package would have been expressed to the feds...

That was an awful pun please forgive me lol.

The feds would have let it be delivered, then BOOM! raid time. I'd rather not have stormtroopers in my house. Bad for property values... and my health.

Go ahead and make one. I borrowed the idea from people using Chessex dice cubes. I'd be curious to see what you could come up with.

The one thing I forgot to mention is to use some blue-tac or an equivalent to hold the submersible LED upright when it is inside the piece.

 Red Harvest wrote:
The feds would have let it be delivered, then BOOM! raid time. I'd rather not have stormtroopers in my house. Bad for property values... and my health.

Go ahead and make one. I borrowed the idea from people using Chessex dice cubes. I'd be curious to see what you could come up with.

The one thing I forgot to mention is to use some blue-tac or an equivalent to hold the submersible LED upright when it is inside the piece.

Tight. Thank you.

Don't worry though, Stormtroopers can't aim.

Both advertisers look great. The one with the dividers is probably better for something more modern or near future, and with just the 'glass' 360 around probably better suits a space-future-ier look. Both work for either, of course. Also, if you're gonna go without the dividers, finding some kind of poster that looks good wrapped withing the 360 may be nice. Rather than having one that ends and another starts but with no obvious demarcation.

I must be REALLY strange as I like tic tacs.....just not enough to buy them myself. I saw the empty container at church in the trash, so I went dumpster diving .

The aluminum foil really makes that pop .

Now the challenge. Make it spin

Very cool. I think without the dividers looks better once lit up.

Agreed. I think the light diffuses better without them.

 GrimDork wrote:
Both advertisers look great. The one with the dividers is probably better for something more modern or near future, and with just the 'glass' 360 around probably better suits a space-future-ier look. Both work for either, of course. Also, if you're gonna go without the dividers, finding some kind of poster that looks good wrapped withing the 360 may be nice. Rather than having one that ends and another starts but with no obvious demarcation.

That is a very good idea. Or at least make a decent transition between the posters somehow, a border of sort. I'll start poking around for images. I figure 4 of these pieces will do as scatter. I'm thinking ads for beer and travel.

 Theophony wrote:
I must be REALLY strange as I like tic tacs.....just not enough to buy them myself. I saw the empty container at church in the trash, so I went dumpster diving .

The aluminum foil really makes that pop .

Now the challenge. Make it spin

I would need to get a music box mechanism, or something like that. But it is do-able. Also, more than what I want to do with these. They were an experiment, just to see "what if". Working with the aluminum foil was educational. It is the thick stuff from a party sized frozen lasagna-- Stouffers-- that is used as a lid/top for it. But I suppose there are other sources for it.

So, anyway, at the store last night and grabbed some... yeah... tic-tacs.

The containers are a slightly fogged plastic though, nothing at all like I remember them. And larger. And have a sell by date stamped into the plastic. Still, I gave it a go.



The 'chrome' is actually the tic-tac packaging from the first photo. I'm not sure about it. I 've always thought heavily chromed stuff was a bit tacky (yeah, a pun. Deal with it. )

I would have liked the old harder clearer plastic that was rectangular, and smaller. But these size up nice enough-- they'll be good cover.. There were four in the pack, so I think I'll try one with a painted base and top, probably a burnt siena or a dark gray, and compare with the chrome. Getting an LED in there... not enough room for the battery and the LED without a lot of fiddling, and ordering some stuff-- battery holders, so these wil stay unlighted for the time being.
Thinking about the top. Sometimes those things have little roofs/overhangs. That might look cool. I 'll try that with the next one. Maybe add a detail like a panel or vent to the base too.But I need to get back to painting. These have proven a pleasant distraction.
Thanks for stopping by.

Advert things look great.

Maybe for the lighter posters add another layer or two of paper behind them to reduce the light intensity through them?

Tic-tacs box also works well.
For the plastic, maybe try a varnish like Klear and see if that clears ( ) them up?

Awesome stuff as always! The cyclinders remind me of the OOZE cannisters in TMNT very cool though

I like the ones with the frames. I think they give more definition to the posters.

Good job with the chroming, spot on. And excellent choice of posters. Nice addittion to the table.

Gracias, but I have to say the chrome effect is a bit overpowering in RL. So I'm thinking of toning it down somehow. The cap on top will becong a mini-roof/ledge/overhang, and I'll add some greeblies on the plinth-- access panels.

 Dr H wrote:
Advert things look great.

Maybe for the lighter posters add another layer or two of paper behind them to reduce the light intensity through them?

Tic-tacs box also works well.
For the plastic, maybe try a varnish like Klear and see if that clears ( ) them up?

It won't. It is inherent to the plastic. I think it is cheaper to use, and easier to recycle than the old hard clear acrylic plastic. I'm goinf to keep an eye out for that sort of container though. It has possibilities. Also, it occurs to me that this one would have been a perfect entry for your contest. Sigh. If only I had thought of it 2 months ago.

For the posters, I'll switch them, with the light ones in the cylinder with the frame. If that doesn't help enough, I'll just add another layer of paper. I think I'll end up with two that are framed, and 2 that are not. And four of the tic tac style ones, because It was a 4 pack of tic tacs.

 ckig wrote:
Awesome stuff as always! The cyclinders remind me of the OOZE cannisters in TMNT very cool though

I have not idea what you are talking about-- a video game? Thanks for the compliment.

 Valhalla130 wrote:
I like the ones with the frames. I think they give more definition to the posters.

Thanks. I'll be making one more of each style. Seems the reasonable thing to do

And finding some interesting potential posters too. Current favorite, a travel poster for Arrakis.

Really like them, they look awesome for your infinity games.

Kind of a shame infinity is so clean, otherwise you could add a bit of weathering and tone it down a bit. A little white washing to the chrome would look great.

And roofs wise, often if you look IRL these things have pitched or domed roofs hidden by an upstand. But that would be awkward if you ever wanted to stand on top!

These would work brilliantly in Necromunda as well.

They would indeed work in Necromunda.

I've removed the chrome though, and am experimenting with something else-- pix to follow eventually. It was too bright, that chrome, and no way to weather it really. But that sort of packaging, now I know it is a useful resource. So a win.

I toyed with overhangs, and decided not to add one because it obscured the view to the poster when it was on the table during a game.

Currently dealing with some back troubles. Seems the water line from my well to my house sprung a leak where it connected to the house, so I dug out the area,so that I could see. Dirt is heavy, saturated mud is something else... Still, the plumbers were grateful, and I saved beaucoup $$$ on the repair bill, since all they had to do was replace the elbow joint which had split. Now I just have to let all that mud dry out before I fill the hole in. By the time it is dry, the back should be fine.

Experiment this time. The windows, specifically, the upper story windows. Do they work?


I'll fill in with either clamshell plastic or the clear acrylic plastic from a few DVD/CD cases. And of course, finish the 'panes' for the other side. It is meant as a half building that goes against the edge of the table. I'm going for something that looks near future-ish.

I switched around the ads for the lightboxes, and added a 'frame' to the dark posters. I think the exterior frame works much better with the lighter posters.

Also, found an interesting substance that may work as 'brushed steel' for the tic tac boxes. More to come with that.

An interesting floor pattern for a future 'objective room' ( a 8"x8" room with 1" wide doors centered on each wall)

The room will get a treatment something like the half-building above, with the columns and with clerestory windows...

Finally, a blonde, works for this?

Still very much a WIP.

Hope your back gets better soon, never any fun being laid up or even just being slowed down.

The blonde works for me , don't tell my wife

Still blown away by the poster displayers

Also I like how the windows turned out.

The blonde works spot on. (any chance she's available??)

That flooring design looks cracking, I am not sure if I would want wider doors on the ends, make it look like sonething bigger goes through there sometimes.

Ads look fab, that idea just rocks bud, everytime I see it I think got to do that.

That building is fantastic, I kinda get a "Metropolis" vibe off it, which is excellent. The windows look perfect. I know I have mentioned this else where, so you probably have heard me say it before, for the glass use an empty laminated pouch, nice, thin, clear and relatively ridged.

Hope the back gets better soon, at least you saved some money, always a good move.

Available? Well, I'm not sure ... The figure in question is supposed to be a warrior nun sort of character.

So it'll stay blonde. Thanks guys.

The doors for the objective room are mandated at that size-- sadly. It is an "official" terrain piece, one that is used for a variety of Infinity Scenarios. I think the point was to keep the larger pieces out. Like the Giant Robots (TAGs we call 'em)

Metropolis vibe. I like the sound of that.

Now this laminated pouch? I'm not sure that you mean these http://www.staples.com/Scotch-Laminating-Pouch-3-mil-9-H-x-11-W-50-Pack/product_MMMTP385450 Seems a bit expensive for windows? I was thinking clamshell, or the clear plastic used for presentation covers. Or just use the frosted 'glass' that I've been using. I think I need to experiment with this one. The building is going to be a light beige/khaki like fresh concrete, maybe with some siena colored accents. So, even a colored glass might work. Something that looks like smoked glass... now that would be cool. I'll have to poke around for that.

Yeah thats kinda what I meant, but here I can get them much cheaper, and the machine cost next to nothing, but totally agree, not free.

So chuck me your address again, i'll pop some in the post.

Old X-rays? Grey or blue tinted film, bleach (chlorine) washes away the print.

A bit tacky to glue, but sticks with universal glue (the ones that used to have toluene in them, if that helps).

Building looks great, and so do the windows.

Adverts still looking great.

An 8x8 room with 1" doors is what it says on the tin.

And blonde works for me. Although she should consider a different eye shadow to go with her red clothing.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Yeah thats kinda what I meant, but here I can get them much cheaper, and the machine cost next to nothing, but totally agree, not free.

So chuck me your address again, i'll pop some in the post.

Thank you for the offer, but the postage would negate any savings :( so I feel obliged to decline. I'm pretty sure it is the same sort of plastic as the presentation folders, and I can get that stuff inexpensively. So I'll try that, but really, I am now fixated on the idea of smoked glass windows. I think I know where to get the stuff too. A quick trip to the office supply store... it is back to school time around here so lots of stuff is on sale.

 Littletower wrote:
Old X-rays? Grey or blue tinted film, bleach (chlorine) washes away the print.

A bit tacky to glue, but sticks with universal glue (the ones that used to have toluene in them, if that helps).

Universal Adhesives or whatever they are called around here. I have a tube of it, but I've found that Liquid Nails silicone glue works a charm for this sort of stuff, and without the smell. Takes a while longer to cure though. An old X-ray sheet would work indeed. I'm going scavenging tomorrow or Tuesday and see what I can scare up.

 Dr H wrote:
Building looks great, and so do the windows.

Adverts still looking great.

An 8x8 room with 1" doors is what it says on the tin.

And blonde works for me. Although she should consider a different eye shadow to go with her red clothing.

Red clothing, almost as if she had a little red riding... naw That's just a quick wash to the eyes so I can see things better. I would feel a bit strange painting actual eye shadow or any sort of cosmetics on a warrior nun. It is an interesting face on the mini too. Digital sculpting is a game changer for things like faces, it seems.

 Red Harvest wrote:

An interesting floor pattern for a future 'objective room' ( a 8"x8" room with 1" wide doors centered on each wall)

The room will get a treatment something like the half-building above, with the columns and with clerestory windows...

I actually recognize that floor. I think it was originally created by some group for DIY Star Wars Minis maps. One of their Death Star floor tiles, I think.

Stuff has been looking good, nice work. Reverend Healer looks great, excellent start

Thanks Grim. It is a very nice mini, and given I intend to use it as a scale model in my photos, since I don't play Nomads, and have no other use for it, I want to paint it up as well as I can. But I don't mind having a few minis just for 'collection' purposes. They don't all need to be in an army list.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

Spoiler:

 Red Harvest wrote:

An interesting floor pattern for a future 'objective room' ( a 8"x8" room with 1" wide doors centered on each wall)

The room will get a treatment something like the half-building above, with the columns and with clerestory windows...

I actually recognize that floor. I think it was originally created by some group for DIY Star Wars Minis maps. One of their Death Star floor tiles, I think.

Good catch. It was in a bundle of papercraft files from a generous benefactor, part of something called a diorama pack for the old Star Wars Miniatures Game-- the one from WoTC. (It was free, so no piracy here.) The email addresses in the files are defunct though (and 10 years old or more), so I cannot contact the creator and say "good work". :S I have to say the whole pack is well done. It would work perfectly for Infinity spaceship/space-station/orbital station tables with very little change. I may use more from it, eventually. Maybe to make a backdrop for photographing minis

No painting last night. The back is feeling a bit better, but not up to sitting for long and painting. But I did get these... (cheaply, of course)

As you can see, they might make interesting 'glass', and well, they do...

This is a piece from the index dividers, and...

This is from the poly envelope.

Both look the part, but I have to say, the poly envelope material really looks the part of modern glass, while the index divider material has a frosted effect to it. I'll paint the window frames some sort of brown, perhaps a bronze metallic, which is pretty a common look for these things. Or a black or dark brown matte color? The poly envelope material is adhesive resistant, but I've worked with it before so I anticipate no difficulties. My eyes tell me it works best here. But they have been known to lie to me.

Took Cam's suggestion about door size, even though he was referring to the objective room. The larger (and doubled) recessed door is much better, and seems more fitting too. Now to get everything painted so I can permanently affix the 'glass'. Then detail the roof, and do something about the interior, and call it done. Not too bad, considering the piece started life as a k-cup box like this,
that I was using as a space holder when trying to figure out interesting table layouts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Finally my wife's coffee addiction will pay off . Nice idea with the index dividers. That black works great as a shaded window.

Ha, Buys pack of coloured plastic pieces to use in modelling, finds that the packaging works better.

Looks good.
How do you think the matt dividers would look with a gloss coat?

I was only joking about the eye shadow.

Not quite Doc. They are separate products. But y'know, there are those times when the packaging is of more use. Sorry I was not clear about that.

They have a textured finish, so I think the gloss would not look so good, but, best way to find out is to experiment. So I shall.

How could I pass up the opportunity to make a red riding hood reference?

Coffee is not an addiction. It is the dividing line between Civilization and Barbarity. Same can be said of Tea. or Beer. But certainly not cola. Phfft! nasssty stuff. Sarsaparilla, OTOH...

Now that I am looking at the stuff, I see potential as material for solar panels too. And stained glass. Always wanted to try that on a building.

Found a useful metallic... the inner seal of peanut jars

Works out very well on the tic tac containers.

Finished all the windows, and will be able to paint the building, then affix the windows permanently.


Here's to hoping I can sit long enough to do some painting in the next few days. Of course whent hat happens, it'll be back to minis.

Thanks for stopping by.

That building is really taking shape!

Job's a good 'un on the building.

Yep, advert thing looks good.
I want to go to Arrakis now. Oh it's ok, I'm reading Mentats of Dune at the moment.

Man, I wish I could look at Tic-Tac containers or spice bottles an be like "these would make perfect adverts!" Or look at a K-cup box and be like "this would make a great apartment building!" If I'm ever feeling really creative, I'm going to have to steal these ideas.

I wish I had this level of skills to make my wild imagination come true.

Buildings and signs are spectacular.

Your random use of random materials continues to impress!

Thanks Paradigm, Barzam and Archer. All it takes is practice, really. Set your 'mind in motion' and see where it goes.

Well, not that random Graven. There is a plan, and as soon as I figure out what it is, I'll share

Doc, Mentats of Dune? Hmm. I enjoyed Dune, but never had any interest in the sequels. Dune, magnificent read that it is, seemed complete to me. Travel to Arrakis would be bad, ah, here's why, even though the article is about Tatooine. Arrakis would be even nastier. Science was not Herbert's strong suit.

Set your 'mind in motion'

I see what you did there.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Doc, Mentats of Dune? Hmm. I enjoyed Dune, but never had any interest in the sequels. Dune, magnificent read that it is, seemed complete to me.

Mentats of Dune is the 2nd in a trilogy that are the sequels to the legend of Dune trilogy (that explains about the robot domination and the Butletian Jihad, hence why thinking machines are banned in Dune. It also sets up where the technology comes from; suspensors, body shields, folding space, etc...) and prequels to the prequels of Dune trilogy (that explains the history of the 3 important houses that are involved in Dune; Atreides, Harkonnen and Corrino, up to the events in Dune). This trilogy involves the history of Mentats, the Sisterhood and the Suk school.

However, the Legends of Dune, Preludes of Dune and this trilogy are written by Frank's son, Brian, in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson. The books that they have written are not looked upon as favourably as Frank's books. But I do enjoy them.
They also wrote a direct sequel to Dune, Paul of Dune, that slots in before the series of sequels that Frank wrote:
Dune Messiah,
Children of Dune,
God Emperor of Dune,
Heretics of Dune, and
Chapter house Dune...

Here is where Frank got to before he died, but there was more notes to finish off the story and Brian and Kevin wrote the final two books; Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. I haven't read these last two yet, having only just got hold of Hunters'. Reviews are not good, but I needed to complete the set.

To be fair, Dune is the only book that is a must read for everybody.
Frank Herbert's sequels are worth a look if you want to know where things go from there.
Whether you bother with Brian Herbert's books is up to you. I personally would recommend the Legends and Prequels trilogies if you want to learn about the history of Dune (Were the thinking machines really that bad? Why the bad blood between the Harkonnens and Atreides? Although that is being expanded upon in the current trilogy I'm reading, who invented the Holtzmann engines that fold space? etc...).

Also, certain parts of my Armies fluff would make more sense.

The whole series of books extend thousands of years in both directions from the time of Dune. Long enough that even names of places change slightly from book to book (e.g. Arrakis becoming Rakis is the only one I remember... I think...), which is a nice touch.

Travel to Arrakis would be bad, ah, here's why, even though the article is about Tatooine. Arrakis would be even nastier. Science was not Herbert's strong suit.

At least on Arrakis people did complain about the lack of water, wore stillsuits and rendered down the dead to extract the moisture. On Tatooine, they walk about in loose-fitting clothing breathing out all their bodily moisture.
I'm not really one to travel much anyway. *shrugs*

Ah, the Fridge Logic

I hope you enjoy the book Decent books are harder to find these days. Recently read the John Scalzi book, 'Old Man's War', based on some positive reviews. Personally, not impressed. My local library actually has a copy of a book by one of the authors Littletower mentioned ( Casares) so I'm going to get a hold of that. I also have the Long Earth series to finish. So I'm set for some end of summer reading.

A quick update. All I had time to do last night was make the permanent floor for the building. The one in the previous photos is just a place holder and slides right out, so that it is easier to get at the interior to work on it.

The final floor will slide into place, and out too. I don't think I'll permanently affix it.

and look like this. The slot is for the stairwell, or a suggestion of a stairwell.

I'm just going to use printed inserts for the interior.

hopefully I can get back to painting soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Looking fantastic, nice solid look to the floor. Whole build is spot on.

Only really silly thing bugging me, internal framing to the windows! How arsey am I?!! Maybe just some white stickers, trimming it up!

Sorry.

That is one well-designed and well-constructed building! Very jealous of your precise construction skills

Tack så mycket, Mymearan.

Cam, the outer frames are only temporarily in place, since it is much easier to paint them then glue them into place. And You're not being arsey at all. I had a comment about the windows already, from a fellow scratch-builder on another forum. His quote:

A small issue with the window dividers:

They seem to be a bit flimsy looking and not really straight and true the way the rest of the building is.

Also, the second floor seems a bit warped. I'm not sure if that is an element of the picture taking process or something that is actually a problem. If it is a problem you should definitely fix it. Your overall level of quality makes errors like that really stand out.

An example of his work is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC4Ua6nlC1U

Interior framing will be much simpler. There will be no muntins. It is a PITA to line them up, and something to be done after the outer muntins are in place. But, using something like vinyl tape-- white or brown-- would work. That's what we were taught to use when I was in school.
That's the thing with WIPs. :S But thanks for the C&C. Better safe than sorry.

As I mentioned, the half-building was an experiment, because I wanted to play around with some ideas. Well, first of all, I needed to refine the whole windows thing. ( Not a fan of the Windows. Especially the new spyware edition. ) So, here is my solution: make them modular.

added a frame around the window frame to keep it straight.

It slots in nicely, and no curving. And as a bonus

I was able to add a frame to the inside as well. Something that was on the "get around to it" list. And I probably would not have got around to it for a while, except Cam mentioned it, prompting me to think about it now-- and probably saved me some time and effort down the road. Thanks, Cam The interior needs much work, but mañana.

Here is why I was experimenting, for the objective room. Early WIP shots.



Although I am thinking about removing the 'feet' from those columns. I'll decide after I finish the roof and maybe a second story of some sort-- since it won't always be an 'objective' room. I'll worry about the interior, well, mañana otra vez.

Other thing, other experiment.

The planter, how believable is it as granite? I ask because I was thinking of facing the half-building in it, and the objective room too.


Quick progress report. The Tic-Tac container displays,

Added panels to all of them, and vents to 2 of them. Now to worry about the narrow sides. a narrow poster, or something else?

Found this foam at the craft store, thought it might make for quick roads.

Add on some cracks, and othe signs of wear, tear and use and I think it will work well. And maybe paint the lines a bit neater. Or not. Road lines tend to be a bit fuzzy around here.

Thanks for stopping by.

For a moment there, I thought you were redecorating your house. Your actual house.

Looks great Red.

Love the windows. Apologies if you've said this before but what are use using to glue the clear "material" with?

They are just pressure fit. If I sandwich the 'glass' between layers of paper and glue the paper, it keeps the 'glass' in place-- sort of a frame and panel construction. Alternatively, a drop of PVA at each of the corners will hold them in place on the frame. If I had to glue them I would probably use a silicone adhesive, similar to what is used for glass aquarium tanks.

To take advantage of the AAA...

I am going to migrate everything from my thread in the Infinity forum to here. Now that the Infinity forums have been re-organized, it seems a better arrangement to have all the terrain stuff here. First off, the photos of all the fence pieces, 24 of them, I did last year for the LoER.



And a simple arrangement


A larger arrangement


A still larger arrangement


And the largest arrangement

Plenty of room for a garden-- a few planters. maybe a building? A fountain? Palm trees? Endless possibilities.

A few detail shots,

Shoot-out at the OK Corral, or maybe the QK corral

and how it may look against the guesthouse

Nice match, eh?

A top view


The garden shed-- need to put a vent on the roof at some point, to serve as a handle... and oh, a leaf and a garden trowel inside it. Y'know why. But it is fine for now.



Thanks for stopping by.

Beautiful walls man! How did you make them?

Start hereabouts and work your way forward http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/330/583487.page#7321531

But a quick overview would look like this:

Fit layers of cardstock to a form and laminate the layers together so they hold the shape. Remember the paper curves easily on one axis, but not on another. Try it sometime. Same reason paper tears nicely on one axis, but is a ragged mess on the perpendicular axis.

And another AAA... the migration continues...

Here comes the Comfort Station Zebra, another LoER entry from 2014...





The HVAC unit¹ and the stairs make for nice partial cover positions, and so does the roof vent and window section.
The interior is playable too, with the space large enough for a 25 mm base in much of the area, and one can place the mini or something else atop the walls for those areas which are too tight.





And here it is with a few of the Hab module pieces. (This is not part of the entry, BTW)


This was much fun to build.
¹ note that it has 4 of something to hold the nameplate to the case

I forgot about the buildings with realistic HVAC and toilets

If only I could have made the toilets flush.

Anyway, the migration is almost over. Only one more after this.

Here are the Hab modules, from the first LoER I entered, in early 2014. Lots of photos, so spoilered.

The planters first. We need them for the low visibility zones, and the planter portions can provide some partial cover. Planters make excellent scatter.
All views under the spoiler:

The back of the chevron shaped planter is meant to go against a wall of the hab module, so it is not painted, just primed, and hence, not shown.

Power, always a need. So here is a generator, which serves as another nice piece of scatter.
Top views:

You can see the LED inside the generator. Yes, we like to light up the terrain in Infinity. It is the cheerful brightness of the near future

Front Views:

More under the spoiler


I did not have time to print any sort of warning signs or anything else that would have added additional character to the generator. Maybe if everything else is done in time, I can go back and try. It's hard to photograph something that is internally lit too :(

Here are the HVAC pieces. All good Hab modules need air conditioning eh?

More under the spoiler

And here is the Commications Array, so folks can phone home, or something

More under the spoiler


Here is the Comfort station. It is large enough to house a shower, a few sinks and of course, the toilets. The last photo shows the LED inside. No I was not going to do the interior on this


More under the spoiler


And finally the Habitat modules themselves


More under the spoiler


Here is the interior. I ran out of time and could not add the interior stuff to it. The plan was for a few bunks, a table and some benches, and a few cabinets and foot lockers to be used as interior scatter. I did not add LEDs here, because they would get in the way of play. The windows are removable, if it becomes needed, as are the doors. I chose blue doors because when I researched my big building, I noted that a large number of doors in that part of the world were painted blue. So, I paint my Bourak building doors blue.


And here are a bunch of group shots showing the whole thing in action-- as a listening post, or outpost or FOB or research station etc. As you can see, it will be quite playable, and actually looks like a nice enough place for our little metal meeples to lay down their weary heads after a hard day of fighting, or exploring, or whatever... watching cable pirated via the Comm Array

More under the spoiler


Thanks for stopping by.

Dat toilet, holy crap at the detail!

 Red Harvest wrote:

I've been watching blog about this and below mentioned buldings...
I bow down with words: "I'm not worthy".


Awesome terrain pieces.

Your work makes me cry with joy. Seriously. The level of precision you have accomplished, consistently, is amazing.

Yes the granite is believable. The windows look great too.

I noticed the E6000 adhesive in the background of one of your photos. Does that work well?

Such awesome stuff I may have to steal the glowey generator bit

It is a subtle effect because the slits for the light are rather narrow, but it works. I used red plastic inserts for the them. ( cut up one of those cheap binders for it.) I see I should have a photo or two of it in dim light, so the lighting shows better.

Cleatus, it is rather messy to use, and I have yet to try it for the purpose which I bought it, which is for those plastic lids I was using as roofs. I'll post something when I do give it a try. If it does not work, I'll be giving the Liquid Nails silicone adhesive a try.

The Final bit of the migration.

The National Museum of the American Indian, a 1/200 version of which I built for the NOVA Open 2012 Narrative Tournament, shown in the following photos.


For the first building on the Bourak Table I am still working on after 2 1/2 years, I built this. Someone suggested calling it a sand castle


A close-up of the rooftop details


I am still in the process of finishing several of the smaller buildings for the board. They need paint. The half building is meant to be placed along a table edge. I'm not so sure I'll keep the rooftop garden.


For scatter terrain, I built this. I call it an Urban Oasis.


I also built several more pieces to accompany it. All will be painted to match, and two of them will get water effects.


I also made these in lieu of trees, Communication Arrays ( I think that's what they could be). The effect is supposed to be red marble. It doesn't photograph so well ( Or I don't take photographs so well.) I have a few more ideas for them, and the basic design.


Here is the tabletop I built for it, using floor tiles. It is a heavy tabletop. I like the lip around the sides. Keeps things on the table (like dice...)


I have a few different ideas now. Evolution happens, eh?

Thanks for stopping by.

That's just so beautiful. I'm lost for words.

Yeah fantastic stuff.

 Red Harvest wrote:

By the power of Gray Skull!

Gray? Skulls? Oh dear. ( You'd have to read through this blog to understand.) (A He-Man reference?)

That was the last post from the Infinity forum thread, so it'll be all new material from now on, and I'll let that thread sink to the bottom.

I recently had the idea that for an urban board, instead of the ubiquitous shipping containers that one sees on an Infinity table-- well many of them-- I would go with, well, shipping containers on wheels, that is to say public transportation buses. I did some calculations and estimated that for a 1/55 scale bus, I would end up with a block 47mm wide, 199mm long and 61 mm high. But good luck finding anything in that scale. I did find some interesting papercraft buses, and re-scaled one from 1/64 to 1/55. It turned out 48.5mm wide ( so close) 64mm high (Not bad) and 249mm long. ( a bit too long) But still, I think the dimensions work. Photos with minis for scale:


Shown with a papercraft car scaled to 1/55

and shown with the Icestorm shipping containers


My eyes tell me that the idea of 'shipping containers with wheels' will work just fine. Now I just need to come up with a bus design that looks sufficiently futuristic-- there are a few out there. And make a bus stop of the future.

Completely off topic, but look at what I won. It just came in the mail yesterday. Nice way to start the week-end, eh?

Some sort of enter a code contest on a cookie package ( Keebler cookies) They are rather nice headphones. A bit "bass-y" though.

And they are red. Red ones sound better. Truth.

Thanks for stopping by.

hey red!
the word "bus" shocked me so much that i had to take a look...
i know i have become sort of a stranger...i am so behind many of my subsribed blogs... sorry mate...

but since you made the recent rewind^^ it kept me quite good in touch of the past works... that new building you´re working on looks frightenly realistic...and i too thought you showed RL construction sites more than once^^

back to the bus...i still get the feeling it is not wide enough... but scale might get betrayed due to the angle of the pics...for a suitable fitting look...maybe you could use these ultra fast trains as a body to work from... like the German ICE or the French TGV or the Japanese shinkansen?

also...just remembering it due to the picture overflow...the tic tac displays is an absolute awesome idea... i have collected quite a few over the years of my kids...there are varying in size also... so this is a splendid idea i need to nick^^

cheers, vik


also...again...on a totally unrelated side note...read the zombie survival guide...and er...well...how to put it...it was not my favourite read...

That's cool, definitely something to work from! And the desert board, just wow!

Would you mind sharing where you found the bus/car templates, my Batman board could do with a few!

Oh, I love the bus! Want one!

Wow... Love the sandcastle. That's going to be a great looking table.

Thanks Insaniak.

Paradigm and Graven, I found that bus template here http://paper-replika.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5864:new-york-city-bus-911-memorial-livery-papercraft&catid=124:transportation&Itemid=207689 The wheels are a bit tricky. But I sort of cheated on them. Lesson learned from assembling the fornt end loader last year. ( And sadly Canon seems to have taken down those papercraft files :( Good thing I downloaded all the ones I wanted already.) They are on A4 paper (?) and at 1/64 scale, so you may need to do some re-scaling and some image editing for use in Batman ( 150% size increase to get 1/43 or 35mm scale)

There are more here http://paper-replika.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=48:bus-truck&layout=blog&Itemid=200765

Paper-replika.com is a pretty cool site in general.

No worries Vik. I've been more or less absent all last month. Now bus width. it is indeed wide enough for scale, but that enormous base always distorts one's perception. I think for things like vehicles some sort of base-- something unobtrusive like the clear litko acrylic bases-- for them would be the way to go. Hmm, I have some scraps of clear acrylic...

Theo gets credit for suggesting the tic tac container. Getting things to fit inside them is a bit fiddly. But once assembled, The do look nice. That metallic paper works really well. Too bad the only source I know of for it are peanut jars, and peanut butter jars.

Papercraft trains Vik? Here they are http://pc-maker.net and the Shinkasen here http://pc-maker.net/pt/800.html and I'll poke around for the ICE and TGV. Ah found one, http://www.railfaneurope.net/tgv/papermodels.html for the TGV. The one ICE I found looks not so nice.

Hmmm, A table that is a bus/rail station? That might look really cool. perhaps a future project.

I liked the Zombie Survival Guide book because it reminded meof those old US Army Field Manuals that we used to get when I was a kid in Boy Scouts. As a parody, Brooks nailed it. There is one about Robots somewhere, but I have not read it yet. Ah here http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Robot-Uprising-Defending/dp/1582345929

My mother saw this is passing and loved the fountain and the big building next to it. She asked my why I couldn't do that. le sigh...

 Red Harvest wrote:

Looking at the bus and knowing different viewing angles (don't ask why, just take it for granted)... It is a bit short (height wise). Length is good, width is acceptable. At least comparing with the miniature.

You are an epic chap - exalted!

Nice work on the buss. Looks very good. I've also noticed that busses (and Semi Trailers) in real proportions often seem too long when put on a battlefield. I think we gamers are just so used to compressed length in buildings and containers that when a long vehicle is portrayed in scale it seems too long.

StarDrop wrote:
Looking at the bus and knowing different viewing angles (don't ask why, just take it for granted)... It is a bit short (height wise). Length is good, width is acceptable. At least comparing with the miniature.

I think it looks a bit short because of the extra thick basses under the mini. If the feet were level with the bottom of the wheels it would still technically be a bit short (1:55 being a bit small for most "28mm" gaming figs") but it would look just about perfect alongside of the miniature.

 Valhalla130 wrote:
My mother saw this is passing and loved the fountain and the big building next to it. She asked my why I couldn't do that. le sigh...

Mothers can be so cruel.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
You are an epic chap - exalted!

Thanks.

StarDrop and Eilif, To my eyes the bus looked a bit short (height) and a bit too long, and I can account for the base when I look at these things. Incidentally, the base that mini is on is 3.5mm high, and most bases are 3-3.5mm high ( although weirdly enough the new bases that ship with Infinity minis are onyl 2.5mm high.

1/54 is about right for 28mm minis, assuming they are in fact 28mm scale. The mini in the photo is 32mm to the eyes. Those are some high combat heels she is wearing, eh? Anyway, the bus is about 2-3mm too short in height. The wheels need to be 1mm more in diameter. And the bus can be shorter by about 30mm. So, I have a baseline for designing/building my own, when I get around to it. There is some interesting concept art out there for buses of the future. I think I'll block out something in the dimensions I think will work, just to be safe.

The back is much better, so I managed to get a mini painted. This one is Alaeros the Fighter.

I hope that I am not the only one who thinks that left arm is a bit short. Here is a group shot of all the character minis frm the Temple of Elemental Evil box

The ranger is normal enough. The rest are freakish in some manner or the other. Digital sculpting at its... adequate-ness? Well, the monsters are a bit better. And with this one finished I am 1/4 of the way through the D&D minis. Progress. Not much, but I'll take it.

Thanks for stopping by.

As I progress further with the miniature painting, and hopefully, improving both my painting and photography skills, I find that I want some sort of unique photo backdrop for the minis, especially the Infinity minis. So I decided to build one. More or less a Space Station sort of backdrop.

Here's the start.

It has to have lights, naturally.


A back view


And a view with out all the stuff in the way


I am leaving some slots in the side walls, so that if I want, I can use the piece as actual tabletop terrain simply by adding more wall.

Still much work to go. C&C welcomed, as always.

Thanks for stopping by.

Yep that looks like a great start to a backdrop.

It looks very clean at the moment. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but depending on the mood you want... could use some pipes or something. I mean presumably they're behind those rectangular sticky-out bits you've done so probably not needed.

Looking good.

Glad to hear you feel a bit better.

Sorry not been around, been lurking occasionally.

Backdrop is excellent work as always, Always amazing how crisp your card work is. I do like the shapes you have going and the lighting will make for great shots.

I have found through personal experience, you might want to make one "side" a bit longer. Create more of a corner. The number of times I end up taking shots slightly squiff and get a lovely backdrop and a coffee mug, or half the living room in is no odds.

Will this be a slightly grubby off white, or more your nice clean colours, similar to your "Hab" work? Since it will be mostly for Infinity I guess relatively clean.

It's going to stay clean, Grimdork. I was going to make some sort of piping though...

Cam, I left mortises, for lack of a better term, in the side walls, so if need be I can easily extend them. Since it is a photo backdrop, it'll be gray, a lighter gray than the floor. That way it won't mess with the color balance. I have trouble with straight up white backgrounds for some reason, and yes, I have tried all the white balance settings on the camera. I think it is the color temperature of the lightbulbs-- I use 5000k daylight bulbs, since I can't abide the strong yellowish light of the usual lightbulbs--

It looks great.

Thanks Warboss.

There is a new Terrain contest, "Got Wood" Here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/665211.page

Check it out. All are welcome. I hope to find some time to try and get something entered this time. I've been having a dry spell when it comes to inspiration and time these past months.

Love the look of the backdrop. Do I see sliding doors? Very cool.

Ooh, shiny! I just come here for the inspiration. Although I leave feeling inadequate

 Cleatus wrote:
Love the look of the backdrop. Do I see sliding doors? Very cool.

Knowing Mr. Red Harvest, the doors are most likely spring loaded.

back drop looks spectacular! i am really a fan of your modern style housebuilding abilities! but what is my favourite part is the floor...how was that achieved?

and thanks for the free advertising of the comp

Vik, the floor is courtesy of my printer. The less painting I have to do, the better

Thanks Graven. But no feelings of inadequacy, please. You do just fine with your work. The Batman stuff is really cool.

Thanks Cleatus, They do indeed slide.

Stardrop, that is a great idea. But alas, no, these are not spring loaded. But now I am tempted to jury rig something just to see how to do it.

More work maybe tonight. Hectic week-end so no hobby time.

 StarDrop wrote:

 Cleatus wrote:
Love the look of the backdrop. Do I see sliding doors? Very cool.

Knowing Mr. Red Harvest, the doors are most likely spring loaded.

He probably has them on a motion sensor and will open automatically.

No, no, no. He has built an extra dimensional "pocket" in which he keeps a pair of rats trained to open the door at someone's approach.

Seriously nice back drop you have there. Will make photographing a lot more fun i think.

Vik, the floor is courtesy of my printer. The less painting I have to do, the better

sounds reasonable, but it looks so convincingly 3D that you fooled me^^

It is a well done graphic. It is from that Star Wars Diorama pack.

Thanks guys. I hope it does Archer. I am, erm, 'challenged' when it comes to taking decent photos of minis.

A quick question.

Since I still need more of that metallic material, I thought maybe some of the TicTac kiosks could have little posters on the sides in lieu of the metal. Thoughts?

More work on the backdrop. Couldn't find a motion sensor small enough. But adding a motion sensor detail above the door would look pretty good, eh? Anyways, Pix...

And a front view


A few shots with some minis, and lights-- not fully painted minis, FYI.



Naturally I would crop things closer to have the mini fill most of the picture, were I show-casing the mini.

Yes, I see it, the warping on the one pilaster. It will be fixed. And the painting is preliminary. The next step will be to add a layer of panels-- in a lighter gray-- and maybe some framing, to the walls. Then some signage, but not much. the door needs more detail, and I am still wondering what to do about the niches that run along the bottom of the walls. Any ideas about what could be there, if anything?

And I will build a wall extension with a big door, so that when I photograph the minis that are on 55mm bases, it won't look so silly, like it would with just that small door in the background.

Thanks for stopping by.

Edit: don't you just hate it when you notice a type right after you hit the submit button.

I think a grill over the niches at the bottom of the walls. It just makes sense as an air conditioning duct.

I think maybe some sort of grill could work on the tic tac containers as well OR would could put some graffiti or posters randomly stuck on advertising coming attractions?

The lights are fantastic. My ego keeps getting taken down a notch every time I look at the level of attention you pay to your work. It's ok though, I could do with more of an ego check....

Looks awesome.

Screens came out really good, and the light work is great.

Not much to add to it as a scenery piece, but maybe needing a bit less for using it as a backdrop? Some of the detailed work on the walls can make for a too noisy background when trying to show a model.

(For example, the red stripes on the sides of the door and on the centre column: a great addition from the pure modelling perspective of the building, but may be a bit counter productive for a photo session, as the in the first picture, where the vertical line shoots up behind the Reverend Healer, messing up the composition)

Something alike might happen when/if adding more signage.

Again, that goes for the backdrop role, when the set remains secondary to the subject. As a "proper" build, though, it's coming along great.

And yes for the added posters on the sides of the TicTac kiosks!

I can always turn off some of the backlighting if the red lights are too much. And pay more attention to composition

I think I'll have 2 with side ads and two without-- simply because it is a PITA to find stuff that would look nice at that size, and would not clash with the main posters. I'm going to need to order some regular LEDs at some point, and try lighting them.

Archer, a grill would be a fantastic idea for the niches on the side walls. I'll see what I can come up with.

Thanks Guys.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
'Tis done. Except maybe some touch up on the paint. Looking at the photos, definitely some touch up. But it does look like a sci fi facility to me.

Added grates, per Archer's suggestion, and...

A few more screens. I followed Littletower's suggestion to refrain from overdoing the backdrop so that did not distract from the mini. So I did not add anything else like additional panelling, etc. I also covered the side lights to the door. They were going to be a problem, as Littletower noted. Anyway, a few test shots, with the models that are closest to being finished. Anyat is actually finished.

Kirpal has been so close to being done. I would have finished him in time for the contest deadline-- a contest on Data-Sphere-- if it were not for my back troubles. Grrrr.


Now I have to figure out lighting. These photos are a bit over-lit. But at least I have a sci fi backdrop for my soon ( well "soon") to be painted minis. I'm going to call this one done, at least until I need to build the wall with the big door. I am rather pleased with it too.

Now, back to the objective room, and painting. And waiting for the hurricane.

Thanks for stopping by

That looks so utterly amazing. Really great job and helps your models pop even more.

Great work Red. Really great.

the painted walls have a strong kirk star trek vibe to them...

also... i thought for the sides of the display a ribbed surface could be helpful... if you like i could take some pics from the infamous berlin u-bahn... there we have these moving displays...the change the pics every soso moment...


also... that cowled femme fatal looks really beautiful...looks almost like how i would picture the SoB if i would have had a say at GW^^

Very cool. I agree with Vik, and Anyat is staggering - and I don't particularly like infinity miniatures.

Thanks guys. Yeah, I see an original Star Trek influence. I'm going to say it is a good thing. Although I was going for Sci-Fi building interior rather than spaceship interior.

Berlin U-Bahn trains are banana yellow?

I can try a ribbed surface. There is sort of one starting around the door, where I covered over the light panels.

The cowled mini is a Reverend-Healer which came in the starter box ( Operation:Icestorm). But I don't play that faction, the nomads, so I'm just painting it as a scale model. Same story with Anyat. I find that it is a different kind of fun to just paint a mini for no other reason than to paint it, rather than to paint it for game-play. Of course, I could always try learning how to paint for the showcase rather than the tabletop.

Oh Vik, for cowled femme fatales...

Good stuff

Very, very nice, both minis and backdrop!

As for lighting, if your camera allows for it, you might keeping the lights as are, and lowering the exposure value as an alternative.

Will be waiting for this weekend's painted mini!

Thanks, Grimdork

Littletower: Actually I found a solution. A "lightbox" of sorts.

It is a drawer from one of these Sterilite Drawer sets

But any sort of container with the cloudy translucent plastivc would do.

To compare:

The lighting is more interesting in the far left photo, to my eyes.

And I finally finished the troglodytes from the ToEE box. Man, I hate painting the same mini more than once.

And I painted, sloppily, the Wolf from the Tyranny of Goblins box for a game called Dungeon Command.

The mini looks nothing like a wolf. I painted it to just get it done. Can't say I was inspired in the least. How hard can it be to sculpt a decent looking wolf. This brings the total to 31/108 D&D minis painted. I hope to be halfway done by the end of the year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mucho mejor! Crisp contrast, and no glare. Good find.

Green guys look nice, and alternative back drop for the fantasy setting is great too!

Wolf-hyena? looks... hairy? Lol. Maybe you are being a bit too hard on it, it looks good too.

Great progress so far!

I might have to steal that plastic drawer idea. Seems to work pretty well. Good stuff, thanks for sharing

That wolf is... something...alright. The troglodytes look ok though, pretty cool even if they're the same guy.

The drawer diffuses the light really effectively, thats a fantastic find.

The backdrop works great! Also, I love your "lightbox" solution.

There's more. I can use the drawer to store the backdrop and other photo stuff too.

Now to get my painting skills up to snuff.

Everything is looking great, the terrain and the minis!

You used a Sterilite drawer to diffuse the light. That's... genius.

Naw, just something any scratch builder would do. We're always repurposing things, eh?

Finished the Bugbear Berserker from Dungeon Command


I like this mini. The thing does look menacing enough. That makes 32/108. Next milestone is 36, which will put me 1/4 way done. I hope to be halfway done (54) by year's end.

Yeah that's a solid bugbear. And great paintwork too!

Thanks GrimDork. I have 3 regular bugbears to paint for the ToEE set. They are decent minis too.

WIPs of Sunday's painting, a Bulleteer-- the robot, and the lady fusilier. (and her rage-fist ) The colors are blocked in and it'll be onto the real painting this week.

And a back view

Because I know y'all want to see the back of the robot. I've gone and entered the Bulleteer in a painting contest, not so much to win, but just to motivate myself to paint to completion something Infinity related.

And I need to get some supplies this week to work on this idea. Spoilered because Huge.
.
It is hexagonal

Oh my... Is that for the "Got Wood" challenge? Wait.. did I just type the 'got wood challenge', that... just... just...gah.

Models are very nice, even if only blocked in. Good color choices and very smooth.

I totally identify with the idea of having to paint a model before I start painting it. Are you going to plate the whole tower in craft sticks?

Robot's back view looks good.

About the new project idea, should we start worrying about your sanity yet?

Just love how you say the colours are just blocked in. That's about as far as I have been going with a lot of my models recently I feel. They look good and will look amazing once you do whatever it is you are going to do next.

That building will be epic.

Mmmm-MMmmmm... look at that badonkadonk.

That robot's got it going on.

Indeed, nice ro-butt. Looking awesome, as always. My idea for Got Wood seems paltry in comparison!

Those two should be a treat when painted up! Do you have any finished Infinity minis in this blog anywhere? (if you have I've quite possibly seen them before, but equally possibly forgotten).

I always figured that Fusilier was doing a celebratory fist-pump after pulling off a particularly tricky shot or something. But yeah, rage works too. "Give me a gun half the size of the men's ones, will they? We'll see about that! Grrr!"

Just the one Anyat, I think at the top of this page or on the previous. I have been quite negligent in painting the Infinity minis. I wanted to try and improve my atrophied skills a but before doing so. The D&D minis are proving good practice.

 GrimDork wrote:
Oh my... Is that for the "Got Wood" challenge? Wait.. did I just type the 'got wood challenge', that... just... just...gah.

Models are very nice, even if only blocked in. Good color choices and very smooth.

Yeah, Vik is having a giggle at our expense. Got Wood? Indeed.

The paint, the lighter blue is actually a Martha Stewart paint. It really does have some interesting properties. It thins nicely too. I like it.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
I totally identify with the idea of having to paint a model before I start painting it. Are you going to plate the whole tower in craft sticks?

Plate it, good sir? I'm going to build it entirely out of the things. Which means I need to get a whole lot more than the piddling few I have. Apparently, when you buy a bag of Kraft caramels, the bag no longer has craft sticks in it They used to for making caramel apples. So it'll be off to the local Michaels or JoAnns for me this week.

 Littletower wrote:
Robot's back view looks good.

About the new project idea, should we start worrying about your sanity yet?

Mens sana in corpore sano for me It is actually a really simple thing, just a bit repetitious. Here is the start

One cuts the joints at the same time by clamping the pieces together and treating it as one piece. So, at 12 sticks at a time, the thing is manageable. I'll need 20 courses of those sticks-- 2 are shown, at 6 sticks per course and 4 joints per stick, doing them-- 480 joints-- individually would be silly. I realize that some of the ends might chip too, but that is just 'character' to the piece.

 Archer wrote:
Just love how you say the colours are just blocked in. That's about as far as I have been going with a lot of my models recently I feel. They look good and will look amazing once you do whatever it is you are going to do next.

That building will be epic.

Thanks. Blocking in colors gets the mini to the point that I don't feel odd about playing it. It's better than fielding the white horde o' primed minis, or worse, the gray horde of bare metal minis.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Indeed, nice ro-butt. Looking awesome, as always. My idea for Got Wood seems paltry in comparison!

Ro-Butt. Going to use that in the future, because I actually have a mini...

 Valhalla130 wrote:
Mmmm-MMmmmm... look at that badonkadonk.

That robot's got it going on.

There's a poster out there somewhere that features the badonkadonks of a fair number of Infinity Minis. It's a thing.

Yeah, Vik is having a giggle at our expense. Got Wood? Indeed...

Indeed... my secret plan is revealed...

Your work was something I looked forward to. True carpenters work there...

It was never really a secret Vik.

So here it is, with a foundation...

And the foundation will end up looking like this

A test piece. Nice thing about that XPS is that you can just 'draw' the rocks on it with a ball point pen. I'm going to go with a round river stone sort of look rather than a flat stone look.

To lengthen the craft sticks on the upper levels, I'm going to use a real woodworking joint.

It is called a scarf joint. This style is often called a lightning bolt joint.

I'll be building up the first 2 levels, 6 courses each, then cutting the doorway into the 2nd level. It is a watchtower after all. No point in putting the door in the ground floor. Unless you want unexpected visitors to have easy access.

I need to figure out how I want to do the interior floors though. I'm thinking catwalks, with a removable center. That way all the levels will be accessible.

More paint on the robot

Slowly building up the highlights. I'd rather they not be too 'dramatic', which is something very easy to do with blues.

well....if i would have to decide at gunpoint what is more impressive...your painting or your construction work...i´d be a dead man...

that bolt joint looks amazing....what on earth did you do to having learned about such methods?...are ye some kind of renaissance man?

Nice woodwork and yeah, good paintwork too.

Danke. I've done a lot of woodworking Vik. So, learning about joints pretty much comes with the territory.

Thanks Doc.

A littlebit o' painting Sunday. WIP of another robot

Yes, inspired by Maria that robot from Metropolis.

A few more progress shots of the watchtower



As can be seen, it is a large piece, 20cm across.

Thanks for stopping by.

Looking good. How solid is it?

Robot is great.

Have you tried using the wooden coffee stirrer sticks from Starbucks? You can usually grab a handful for free.

You scratch built that stuff!!!!! DAYUM!!! thats slick!

That's a good suggestion Warboss. I don't go into Starbucks, so I'll need to ask a few of my friends who to to snag me some. Thanks.

Well Archer, the wood part is quite solid. The foam part, I do not trust to bear much weight at all. I suppose I can subject it to a weight test.

Thanks Plains. Or should I say, Merci, Plaines de Guerre, given votre nouveau premier ministre.

Anyway, painted the foundation. It'll be all wood, or at least cellulose based products henceforth... except for the windows.

Good stuff keep it up

It looks tremendous already. Any plans to expand to a full castle with ramparts and internal keep?

Wow. That wooden tower is gonna be awesome!

D

Nice work, Red'.
"Maria" looks good.

Good progress on tower. Shaping up nicely.

Thanks all.

Archer, No plans to expand it. It'll be a stand alone watchtower. Working with craft sticks is proving to be a test of my patience. To answer your previous question, solid enough...

Only 19 kilos. Maybe it can take more, but I really don't want to have to start over again, so I won't be testing it anymore.

A bit more progress:



Hey, what's that in the floor?

It's about 110mm high right now, and will grow another 100-110mm before I add on the roof. Still debating how to finish the interior. The cantilevering is to support the exterior walkway on the next level...

A little more painting. Two WIPS, although Maria is a very late WIP.

Maria just needs to get the arms painted, and then will be done. The Goblin, well, sometimes to get a break from the "serious painting" A fella needs something fun, so I fished this lad out of hiding. I think it is an old Blood Bowl mini. He was buried in a box with a bunch of RT orcs that I forgot even existed. I really need to inventory the content of some of the boxes gathering dust in the basement. A goblin seems fitting for this time of year, and goblins are always fun to paint

For the serious painting, a bit of progress on the armbot

Newspaper shown for the date. And yes, as mentioned, I know that it is Halloween soon, but I don't think Wicked Witch of the West-- well, Midwest, anyway-- jokes would be appropriate

Thanks for stopping by.

Really like that fanatic. Refreshing to see something other than black.

Ok I take it its strong. Now put those weights on a bar and give me 25 reps. Since it's a light weight and all......

It may be trying your patience. But it looks fantastic. I think a weapons rack would go nicely on the interior.

Nice work, Red'. All looking nice.

Edit: Nice!

Looking fantastic bud, the tower is looking great, though I personally would maybe add for realism some internal beams and supports, those walls look thin, but thats the GW in me coming out probably, scale wise they are probably 4-6" thick. Close to serious wood.

Maria has a C3PO thing going on!

And lastly my fave, goblin fanatic from fantasy, those were the days!

There will be interior walls, no worries Cam. You can see the supports for it in the top down photo. Scale wise, the silly craft sticks are about 55cm wide (~21") and about 3" thick. Not sure what sort of interior though. A weapons rack sound like a good start. But, finish the exterior first, then the interior then the decorations.

Maria does, although I painted her gold (or my idea of gold) because of Maria the robot from Metropolis. Excellent movie, BTW, as long as you don't watch the version with the Philip Glass score. Bleah.

Merci Doc. Thanks Archer.

As for the Night Goblins colors... a bit of history. Back in the day when I painted night goblins for a friend's WHFB army, I told him that purple was the way to go. So I painted up a sample, and he agreed. Long story short, he won some stuff-- best general or something-- at a GT here in the states-- Baltimore I think-- and ended up selling the army. Next thing I know, photos of it showed up in White Dwarf. This was 2002 or 2003. I had painted the front ranks and characters in the army, and he simply followed my painting schemes to fill in the rank and file.

Edit: Fungus the Loon, that is the Night Goblin Fanatic's name.

Tower is progressing nicely.

Really glad you didn't test to destruction, that would've been a bit silly to say the least.

D

Yeah, but it would have been perfect for a previous LoER contest

Second story done.


The cantilevering is to support the exterior catwalk. One more level to go, but it is the one with doors and windows. Then the roof...

Also, a bit more paint on the armbot. WIP shots

I hope to finish it this week-end, along with Maria and Fungus the Loon. I must paint 33 more minis this year to reach my goal. I've taken to reducing the exposure setting on my camera, and the colors look better in the photos now. I know someone suggested it, and to that person, Thank you kindly.

And I went ahead and took advantage of a sale at the Miniature Market. <sigh> 17 more minis. In my defense, I was going to order them during the Black Friday sale, but some of my Reward Points were going to expire before then.

Thanks for stopping by.

He takes small bits of wood, he makes fantastic buildings! And then he goes and paints like that as well! You're too talented, dammit!

Thanks Paradigm.

And I'm using Martha Stewart craft paints too. Well, the 2 blues and the green at any rate. The paints are working out pretty well.

Been damn busy, haven't you? Most impressive. Vibrant colours too.

Good progress on the tower.

Bot looks great.

Love the application of real world techniques on this. Can tell it's gonna be awesome!

Thanks all. Just a quick update.

Maria is finished:
Robot


Ro-bootie!


With apologies to immygravenimage. Looking at the poster, I'm thinking I should have used more burnt siena and less raw siena. Ah well.

And why I never lick brushes.

It is such a nice yellow too.

A bit more work on the watchtower

Final level is half-done, and the catwalk is getting there too. The roof is next, then I'll worry about the interior. And some sort of stairs or ladder to the door.

Thanks for stopping by.

RO-BOOOOOOOTIE! Yup, made my day

The robot is great. Not sure I can cope with your choice of paint ingredients though. The poster and robot together is spectacular.

Straight acrylics for me, don't need more carcinogens in my life lol.

I like the robit, but the way you've painted her she kind of looks like a dark skinned woman wearing a C-3PO costume, a slutty one, with her butt, hips, and hands showing. Probably just a combination of the pictures and my monitor though

I think she looks fine compared to the photo, she's just obviously in brighter light in mini form whereas the poster has less implied lighting and more shadows.

Thanks Grimdork. That's the way the mini is sculpted, so I just decided to, hmm, accentuate things by painting them in a contrasting color.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
RO-BOOOOOOOTIE! Yup, made my day

Can you recall the Simpsons episode when Smithers uttered the famous line about the Richard Simmons bot? "Look out sir! His ass is going to blow!" It is a juicy booty for a bot. Reaper Minis, tsk, tsk.

 Archer wrote:
The robot is great. Not sure I can cope with your choice of paint ingredients though. The poster and robot together is spectacular.

Thanks. Always been a fan of that movie, so when I saw the Reaper version of the robot, I had to get it.

Now the paint. It is perfectly safe as long as you do not ingest it, inhale it, or paint yourself with it. When I studied oil painting, I used cadmium yellows and cadmium reds, and cobalt blues and titanium whites all the time. I'm actually more comfortable with these paints than the 'made for miniatures' paints with the proprietary names. Now if you see something like cadmium red (hue) on the label, it will not contain cadmium.

So close to finishing the Armbot.

Although I need to fix that one yellow tail light. I scraped a white highlight off of it, and now I need to smooth it a bit. Then paint the other half of the rear.

The guns are the only thing that needs paint here. I am debating, do I keep them the same as the arm mechanisms, or make them darker or lighter, or go with a different color? ANd maybe tidy up some of the highlights on the fuselage.

Finally

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

Great work bud, bots all looking booty-ful!

Nice work on that lens, it is spot on.

The armbot has come up an absolute treat. Really like the colours. What did you use for the base paving? Is that a printed sheet or something more elaborate?

That bot looks great. The lens is really sharp. Great progress on the tower, too. Does it get wider towards the top?

Beautiful work, Red. Maria is lovely (ro-bootie hehe), the tower is coming along nicely, and geeze that blue and green robot is looking sweet. I'm very impressed you detail your base before finishing painting your minis. I'm a sloppy painter, so I do my bases last.

Thanks Cleatus. The hex pattern is just a print out on 110# cardstock and then sealed with a water based polyurethane-- the sort one uses for furniture-- but sprayed on, not brushed on. Brushing it on would make a mess. Nice thing about being so heavily sealed, any paint that gets on it is easily wiped off.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
That bot looks great. The lens is really sharp. Great progress on the tower, too. Does it get wider towards the top?

Thanks Warboss. Just the area where the catwalk goes-- which is where the craft sticks cantilever out-- will be wider.

 Archer wrote:
The armbot has come up an absolute treat. Really like the colours. What did you use for the base paving? Is that a printed sheet or something more elaborate?

Thanks Archer. It's printed, as I told Cleatus. That green is called Spring Pasture and it is a Martha Stewart Craft Paint. So is the blue but I forget the name. Surprisingly nice paints. And not crazy expensive.

 Camkierhi wrote:
Great work bud, bots all looking booty-ful!

Nice work on that lens, it is spot on.

Thanks Cam. It did turn out nice. Red was the obvious color choice for it too

Almost done. Just the 2 guns to do, and one ammo magazine. I want to finish this week, so I can then focus on the LoER entry.
Heres the back. A lot of detail packed into it too.

And a side view with the magazine done.

These photos are extreme close-ups too. That's a 55mm base the armbot is on. I'm wondering If I should take photos that are so close up for the contest submission.

Finished. Yay. Here are the photos I'll be posting in the contest thread, barring the unforeseen, like finding a hair sticking off the mini or somesuch in one of the photos, soon. I figure wait a day or two and see if there is anything I can do better.
Front

Side

and of course, Rear.


Edit to add the photos I submitted to the contest


That it is finished is the good news. The bad news is they 2 to a box. I have another one to paint now. But first, I have a watchtower to finish.

Thanks for stopping by.

Beautiful work bud. Stunning.

That watch tower just gets better and better.

Insect drone bot looks cool too, nice colouring.

EDC

Excellent paintwork!

Good job, Red'. Little robot looks great.

Thanks guys. We'll see how well it does in the contest. Honestly though, I don't give a tiny rat's ass about winning. I just needed something to motivate me to finish an Infinity miniature.

And on the subject of contests


The thing is now 340mm tall, and will get even taller once I add the crow's nest. Exterior work includes the handrails for the walkway, the shingles, the crow's nest and a ladder or stairs for the door. Then details for the door and the other openings. That'll finish the major exterior work.

Thanks for stopping by

It is spectacular! That is all.

That Remote is gorgeous! I can't believe the meticulous nature of your painting, painting each element separately. Of course, looking at your results, I may try it myself! Looking at your buildings I totally see how your mindset lends to painting this way though.

I'm not feeling the watchtower though. Obvious popsicle sticks are obvious. lol Of course there may be something to it in your text (which I tend to not read because of the "OOOOh pretty!" pictures).

Tower is spectacular bud, coming on nicely.

When you going to hit it with something heavy, you know, to make it 40k it needs to be a ruin....

What do you mean there are other games and models than 40k? Heresy!!!!

Anytime now, Cam. I reallly have grown to dislike the craft sticks.

Thanks guys. We'll see in 30 days or so how well the armbot is received. At least I enjoyed painting it.

Needs shingles, but roof and crow's nest done.

And yeah, I slapped some paint on it. I got tired of looking at the craft sticks. I'll need to use some of them for the door and window trim, and the guardrails and the ladder/steps whatever I decided to do for front door access, and then done with 'em. I am not using them to finish the interior. I am not even certain how I am going to finish the interior.

Thanks for stopping by.

Could use cocktail sticks to do up the interior?

Nice scale shots. It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. Awesome stuff!

You're doing the interior too? I'm in awe.

Naw, done with the sticks, Cam. Had enough of them. Going to make simulated wood for the inside. If I get to the inside. There will be something, just not sure what, yet.

Maybe Cleatus, time permitting. Or just placeholders.

Yeah Ckig, it is 375mm tall (more or less) and about 200mm wide at the widest point. It's a big'un, but not really too far off scale, ~65' tall and ~35' wide.

I've been slowly shingling the roofs. Tedious work. Pix coming as soon as I've finished.

That dovecote is coming on nicely Red, just not sure it's big enough for actual doves to fit in?

Nice work on the roof, Red'. Looking good.

 Ruglud wrote:
That dovecote is coming on nicely Red, just not sure it's big enough for actual doves to fit in?

But it looks nothing like the last dovecoat-- and the first and only dovecoat-- that I built. Of course that was 20 years ago, so my memory may be a bit foggy. Long story shortened; It was a commissioned piece for someone who wanted one in the garden of their early 18th century house.

Thanks, Doc.

Not much work at all. RL stuff. Not sure that I'll finish in time for the contest deadline. Honestly, I'm kind of burned out on this one too. Anyhow, the roof has shingles now.

I'm thinking some inserts for the doors and windows, a simple guardrail and something simple for the stairs or ladder-stairs to the door, and done. If the time is there. And the energy.

So I was assembling some of the new Malifaux minis, and wow, these things make all the tiny fiddly bits from Infinity minis seem like nothing.

Those plastic slivers are supposed to glue to the knuckles. Yeah. The way the minis are sectioned on the sprues (yes, I saved the sprue, Doc. No te preocupes.) Ugh. And all the fiddly pieces... What are the nice folks at Wyrd thinking?

Once assembled, they are fairly nice, even if some of the details are a bit shallow-- something I've seen from some of the very early digital sculpts of Infinity minis where the sculptor is still learning the digital way of sculpting-- which means really thin primer coats and thin, thin paints.

The bases will look like this, boards like from an old stage. Perhaps I should add something for stagelights?


Thanks for stopping by.

Looking very good, great roof works!

Nice chorus line, really interesting looks, sad they were a chore to put together.

What do you mean adding for stage lights? A scenery piece / objective marker modelled after a stage light? That'd be a nice addittion.

Or effect-painting to look like shone upon by a spot light? That'd be even better!

Apparently I meant footlights, not stage lights. Whoops, that's what I get for not being "Theater People". OSL with them would be cool, but I think I'll have enough trouble trying to make the fabric appear to be satin or something similar, without adding to the complexity. Learn one technique at a time; seems a wise motto.

Smashing shingles.

That's one way to get good at painting skin; in at the deep end. Nice start.

That roof looks brilliant. You going for wooden. Or might look fab with a nice slate!

The ladies lòok amazing. Interested to see how you go. Been looking at the Mal stuff.

Well Cam, Slate or something green. Depends upon the time I have to paint it.

The ladies will be fun to paint, a nice change of pace from the D&D and Infinity minis. The details could be deeper on these minis, and they could be better sectioned for assembly, IMHO, and not so delicate, but I fully expect them to paint up quite nicely. I'd be afraid to actually play them though, for fear of breaking one of those tiny spiky bits-- or stabbing myself with them.

Doc, already getting practice painting skin with the Infinity stuff-- so many bare midriffs, sheesh. These will be more about interesting fabrics, I think. They are respectable showgirls after all, not harlots.... well, maybe a brazen strumpet is in the mix, or perhaps an expensive doxy... or a haughty courtesan, or a common trull, or a cheap trollop...
(It's a D&D reference.)

More work



Drawbridge style, FTW! Sadly, All I could do for tonight. Won't be able to do more 'til Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sweet steps.

I thought a trollop was a female troll?!

Stairs are amazing. Brilliant touches like that definately seperate the men from the boys. Great work.

And i was originally going to suggest verdigrea'd roof but thinking of time restraints. It would be beautiful if you can!

Amazing steps and roof.

How you going to paint the roof? Slate?

EDC

I don’t know why, but the demonstration of how your drawstairs work reminds me of a biology textbook illustration of an erection. Aside from that the tower overall looks great.

Really nice work on the stairs.

Thanks guys.

Everything is a phallic symbol, Warboss. Has Freud taught us nothing?

No time for much chit-chat. Sorry. And just one photo

I finish the upper windows/doors whatever they are, and paint. It's going to be close, but I'll submit it, even if the paint job is a rushed one. I've missed too many contests this year. Gotta get into at least one.

Close to done. I need to do some drybrushing/highlighting on the roof. Then nice photos and all done. And It'll be time to paint some showgirls Or something interesting.


I'll post nice photos of the finished piece Sunday.

Edit: Nyah-Nyah, double-posted

That is an amazing build. I hope you are happy with it. I am truly in awe. Good luck with the comp.

Totally wicked build. I struggle to even fathom that you made that from scratch.

EDC

Truly a work of art my friend, only part to make it any better would be a beautiful scenic base - I'm imagining it either on a small hillock with a ditch full of sharp stakes, or surrounded by a moat, with the retractable steps spanning this...

Wow, great job on the watchtower! The staircase is awesome.

Happy I found this blog again, gotta exalt now so I can follow it!

Actually Da Boss, by posting in a thread, you automagically subscribe to it. Easiest way to follow along

Ruglud, I don't base buildings anymore. I find that they detract from playability and storage-ability. Plus it is more of a challenge to make a building free-standing.

Archer and Evildrcheese, thanks. I am happy with it now that it is DONE! It is not the best work I've done, but it is the best work I could do under the circumstances.

And as promised, I present my entry for the League of Extraordinary Riveters Terrain Contest Round 16 "Got Wood"
(you may have to right click and select view image to see the entire photo fit within the screen.)

All Along the Watchtower


The remaining photos under the spoiler because they are large images

And to give you all an idea about size

The tale of the tape measure is 405mm tall, 200mm wide at the widest at the base and 260mm wide at the widest along the catwalk. La Torre de Vigilancia, she is a big one.

I did not finish the interior, but it is there for when I wish to complete it. I'm still not sure if or when this piece will ever see use in a game, but it will make a nice photo backdrop.

Thanks for stopping by. For the record Jimi Hendrix's version of the song was much better than Bob Dylan's, even though Dylan wrote the song.

It is a truly magnificent piece bud. Striking and functional all at once. Brilliant work.

Beautiful work Red. The green roof is really striking. Your attention to detail continues to inspire and amaze. Thanks for sharing!

No base = no problem... Looks stunning on your games table and will make a perfect centre piece for many games

That is sweet. I thought that roof was from a kit!

Naw, it's from scratch. PITA to make too.

Anyway, Table of Shame, groaning and moaning under the mass of unfinished projects, a fair number of which are hold-overs-- mostly in need of painting to be finished-- from 2014.

But, I'm calling 2015 a "learning" year. That, and I spent most of it painting minis. The learning: Smoked glass windows. Working with those strange plastic containers. Tic-tac containers and spice bottle make for fun scatter pieces. Using the printer to "Paint" works for many things. Useful knowledge. Also, I hate working with craft sticks.

Table of Fame, puny thing that it is

It would be even sadder if not for the papercraft. I opted to not put the painted minis on it...'cuz I would have to show all the unpainted ones on the Table of Shame. And there was no room for them.

That's a 4'x4' tabletop, BTW. So for 2016, clear the table, and the painting queue, before starting anything new. This means no terrain contests, but allows for mini painting contests. (My little armbot took 3rd, BTW. First was to this. How could my humble spider bot compete with dat ass Front view here Painter is a Polish fellow with the screen name Plexus. Congrats to him on a mini well-painted.)

Thanks for stopping by.

Congrats on 3rd place. Maybe next time your spider bot needs to show more flesh?

That's a great goal for this year. I like the visual between the shame and fame.

Red, your Table of Fame is just , and your "Table of Shame" is full of fantastic stuff in its own right. Even unpainted, they look amazing. Don't be too hard on yourself. I'm pushing myself just to get up to that level of quality. Seriously. Best of luck in 2016!

Whoa, it has been a while. RL stuff. Y'all understand.

Yes, I think so Archer. More flesh. For this season's contest I've chosen this mini, shown with the basic color scheme blocked in.

The Bootleg Penthesilea. Not that winning is important, I just wanted to paint one of the bikers that I have, and it fits the contest theme. Plus it has been awaiting paint since Sept.2014. Sigh

Thanks Cleatus. For 2016 I will be emptying the Table of Shame rather than adding to it. To that end, I've started with the building on the lower right of the ToS photo...





My attempt at homebrew foam-core. It did not work out so well, since the foam I used is not particularly glue friendly. But I am past that point, and now I can finish the painting, then go through and add in the details-- doors, windows, vigas, flooring for the porches (tiles of some sort?) and some interesting roof details like skylights. That is what the slots in the roof are for. Bear in mind that under that texturing is the pseudo foam-core for the top level, and the styrofoam packing for the ground floor. I have no intention of using either again. Even though some of those styrofoam shapes are so tempting.

The mini-- the Reverend-Healer-- is 37mm tall on a 3mm tall base, so you can see that this is not a wee structure by any means.

It felt pretty good to get back in the saddle too. I will finish this, then, and only then, I will get to work on finishing the building next to it on the table of shame, which was my experiment in tiling. I hope I can find all the inserts I made for it.

Painted all of 1 mini in January, a D&D mini, the cultist. There are 2 more to paint.

And it had to have skulls. So tired of those on minis...


One final bit, from the Showgirls box... no not the showgirls... yet. A WIP of one of the Mechanical Doves

I'm hoping to make it look like brass, since Malifaux does have a steampunk vibe to it.

Thanks for stopping by.

That cultist has turned out quite nicely. And that's a pretty cool building. I keep wanting to make some buildings like that but I don't really have any appropriate models to go with them (unless I make the location exclusively for Pulp Alley, meh).

Really nice to see you getting back to your leftovers!
I have to agree with the others that those are already great pieces and I would love to see you finish this project and make your board shine in all its completed glory!

I like that "ToS" now stands for Table of Shame. The bird thing looks really cool.

The mechanical dove is amazing. Such an amazing effect.

That dove is beautiful! Simply stunning stuff!

Nice to see you back at it, Red! I really like that adobe structure.

Also, more flesh. I approve.

Yeah, clear that table, you can do it.

Nice work on the cultist.

Bird looks great, although more gold at the moment rather than brass. But very good gold.

The building looks cracking red.

You Need to get some table pics up when you get through the Adobe buildings that are WIP

Thanks guys.

Yes Doc, The Dove is a bit more gold than brass, but that'll change ( One hopes anyways) It is such a delicate bit too. All the Wyrd stuff has these tiny bits. They'll look nice when painted, but I cannot see putting them on the table to play. Assuming that I ever play another game of Malifaux-- it has been 5 years since I last played. Still, steampunk showgirls, who can resist trying to paint those?

Joe Rugby, no worries, I will.

Cleatus, It'll be a slow one though. But I aim to clear the table.

Thanks Paradigm. It is a nice mini, but as I said, so very delicate. I'll get a scale comparison shot at some point. Just removing the pieces from the sprue was a nerve wracking experience.

Thanks Archer, just a burnt siena wash over a raw siena base.. (yeah, I use artists colors alot. That way I never need to learn new names for the same colors. I'm clever that way...or lazy... probably the latter.)

Warboss, it's just lazy typing. And thank you.

Hello Sleek, and thank you. Someday the entire table will be done. The project has been a long one, but I'm enjoying the journey. But it is time to start moving again.

GrimDork, thanks. The cultist was less a PITA than some of the other D&D minis. I still have two more to paint, as noted. I don't much enjoy painting the same mini more than once either. Had enough of that painting WHFB minis back in the day... The buildings will work for any desert table, really. Part of it is in the colors used to paint them. IMHO.

Since all the adobe buildings will have the same paint, I went ahead and did them all. (ambitious, I know)



I will concentrate on the rectilinear building-- the one in the foreground. Next, it gets a roof, I think. The roof will be like the one on the building in the back left of the middle photo, including the skylights and roof vents-- they make for nice partial cover. Still undecided about the floors for the porch. Tiles of some sort, probable like the background building, but of a simpler shape. I'll do some research.

Thanks for stopping by.

Looks like they're coming along nicely!

That terrain looks freaking awesome. Great work.

EDC

Thanks guys. Quick progress report. A little painting and a little building. A pleasant evening. For a change around here.
Penthesilea WIP...

I do like how that red ochre/cadmium yellow combo works with the blues and turquoises. If nothing else I think I have the color temperatures balanced well enough.

Using rectangular 'tiles' for the porches

Needs more painting, but you get the idea.

I do hope to finish one or both of these pieces this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Awesome work. Go, Red, go!

That tiliing is looking perfect.

Nice to see some action bud. Loooking great.


Agree biker has a nice balance to it. Is the bike staying that dark?

I just love that floor, it looks just perfect.

Looking really good as usual Red

Thanks all.

Cam, it is staying dark, midnight blue for a midnight rider. (Yes, an Allman Brothers Band reference. )

Penny's pants painted, more or less. I'll touch things up when the mini is affixed to the bike, like that holster and the under armor that shows around the knees. And the one foot. I kept bumping against it ant the hair as I painted. That's why the primer is worn off. Pix are all WIPs.



Some work on the bike also shown. I am going to like the dark blue contrasted with the whatever that color is... false chrome maybe? I may need to do some freehand on the bike though. Customize it a bit. Time permitting. I will get this one done in time. Deadline is 31 March. I need to finish early enough to practice photography again.

Did a bit of work on my other Reaper Miniatures 'bot, called Alf-24. It's WIP.

I intend him to be a proxy for a 'palbot' in Infinity, since I really don't want to buy the box with the regular palbot in it. Several of the minis in the box are rumored to get a re-sculpt soon-ish.

The building

Finished the porch flooring/tiling and now working on the roof. The other adobe building is there to show how the roof will turn out.
Another view of the floor

Does it remind you of an ear of maize? (type 'ear of multi colored maize' into the search box and check the images. I thought it was a neat idea. )

Thanks for stopping by.

The models are looking sharp and spectacular as I have come to expect. The floor on the porch looks excellent. Really does look like a real floor.

I love the habs you built! The shape is spectacular, perfect for futuristic, while still maintaining the pueblo style. I love the details, like the exposed timber frame and the floor! Nice work Red

WIP shots are looking great, Red. Keep it up!

That stick looks mighty large for her

 Desubot wrote:
That stick looks mighty large for her

errr...

Those porch tiles look brilliant!

EDC

Penny is turning out great.

Glad I'm not the only person that had that reaction to her stick too

Your minis are coming along nicely, fancy stuff. The building looks just right too, really like it.