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This may help, or it may not...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=jcb+crane

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JCB-Crane-and-Construction-Set-/190599313885?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item2c609ab9dd

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jcb-Giant-Tower-Crane-Remote-Control-Ideal-Xmas-Gift-Boys-Girls-Kids-/380390634190?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item58910c72ce

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/bundle-toys-construction-jcb-remote-crane-city-set-tools-puzzle-/180774193514?pt=UK_Toys_Creative_Educational_RL&hash=item2a16fb496a

I have two of the 1m tall versions. I'll probably get some of the short ones too. I wasplanning an Imperial construction yard, but now I want to use them for an Orky construction yard. I ought to finish some Imperial and Eldar scenery first though...

The Good Green wrote:For the cranes... do you have large magnets? You could build the cranes like some of these: http://www.igg.org.uk/gansg/12-linind/dock-ch.htm
Then attach them with two magnets in the rotating base. The magnets would have to be fairly powerful, I suppose, but I haven't worked with magnets much so... i dunno. Even without the magnets, a good solid pin would keep them in place and maintain mobility.

As for the scaffold, I think you should make two scaffolds that are physically separate but fit into the scaffolds like they are connected. Build a solid base for the two new scaffolds with the scaffolds on wheels that are glued to the solid base. That's my idea for those, then you could move them where ever you wanted them. I think the gargant should be what connects the two sides, though.

PS: It looks awesome. I would like to 3rd that face on the top.

The smaller cranes will be no problem, its the big ones at the top that are gonna be a hoot to build. The Gargant will connect the two sides for sure. The heavy plates will not be on when it's terrain, so the scaffolding will use the hanging hooks that are on the gargant so I can really get it secure and make the gargant interactive. I will make the face on top, have no worries.

dsteingass wrote:It's funny, model railroaders have no idea how much we wargamers get ideas from them.

They're awesome in real life, but I've learned you gotta be coy about what you're making tilll they get to know you. They look at me funny when I tell them I'm making a giant robot factory, haha.

Mutley wrote:Wow....just wow. Cannot wait to see more!

soon, gotta finish the Gargant first! I'm hoping to be back working on the terrain mid-January.

Moltar wrote:

Mutley wrote:Wow....just wow. Cannot wait to see more!

Totally agree. Glad I stumbled across this thread. Subbed.

Thanks! I'm glad you like it!

2500kgm3 wrote:I usually don't follow ork conversions, but yours are AMAZING. Keep up the good work.

I appreciate it, this entire project has been a lot of fun so far.

Fifty wrote:This may help, or it may not...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=jcb+crane

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JCB-Crane-and-Construction-Set-/190599313885?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item2c609ab9dd

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jcb-Giant-Tower-Crane-Remote-Control-Ideal-Xmas-Gift-Boys-Girls-Kids-/380390634190?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item58910c72ce

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/bundle-toys-construction-jcb-remote-crane-city-set-tools-puzzle-/180774193514?pt=UK_Toys_Creative_Educational_RL&hash=item2a16fb496a

I have two of the 1m tall versions. I'll probably get some of the short ones too. I wasplanning an Imperial construction yard, but now I want to use them for an Orky construction yard. I ought to finish some Imperial and Eldar scenery first though...

These are good finds, thats for sure. They sell a lot of these kits around christmas, I've been keeping an eye out for them.

Alrighty, I'm gonna go and update the Great Gargant thread, so we can keep the circus moving along. I'm holding off on this thread until the Gargant is finished, which as I said should be just after the new year. The good news is, when I take just the removable Gargant pieces and lay them out, I easily can cover a 4x6 foot table, so I should be able to squeeze out an entire factory from just the one model! also, all the cranes will run smoothly into my wrecker yard, which is my next terrain project, unless the voices tell me different.

Thanks for looking, see y'all in January!

May i just say, this is some of the most amazing terrain I have ever seen. I might have to steal your toxic sludge for bases.

Hey there,

Love all off the work in this thread, keep it up

may i ask, what did you paint onto the polerstyrine base for it? i know you covered most of it with stuff , im attempting to make some terrain , similar to yours using the same idea ( mines the polystyrine used in packaging, youknow the bits that Tv's etc have in the box to hold them still) , but on some little text scraps the polystyrine melts ways using GW chaos black spray. i think it has something to do with the things mixed into it im covering most of it anyway, but id like to know what can be used as a substitute

thanks for your time

I use the same type of styrofoam to build with.

You can't spray expanded styrene with any spray paint that has CFC's in it, so you either need to apply paint by hand, or use a floral spray paint. (you can get floral spray paint at most hobby stores, and well, large florist shops!)

I personally like to give the foam a bit more protection. The mixture I use is cheap gesso, black acrylic paint, and a little lightweight spackling compound. I mix a huge amount of the stuff and goop it on.

The H2O and other water-based spray paints work on styrofoam too, especially when covering over the floral paint as texture like pox is talking about. But sometimes a big brush and a bottle of craft paint does the job too

Dang.

I know I haven't updated this in a while, I took a little time off after the Great Gargant was finished and then had to go to work for a month.

Now that all that's out of the way, I can get back to working on terrain!

I keep trying to put the horse in front of the cart with this project, but the horse is nearly at the right spot to keep moving forward! I built the factory wall, then realized I needed the actual Gargant shell to make the scaffolding so I built the Gargant. Now that I have it, I realize I need to know how the factory floor and the factory wall will go together. For this update, I've started the actual game board. After that I'll make a stand for the factory wall and then get back to cranes and scaffolding!

My terrain board can't take up a lot of room, so I had to make it collapsable. I started with three sections of 1/8 inch thick MDF, each section 2 feet by four feet. I then framed it up with strips of 1x2 and finishing brads. I wanted to have some texture on it, so I figured I'd use some styrofoam to give it some character. Alas, the Home Depot was out, so I used acoustic ceiling tile. It's very different to work with, time will tell if it was a good idea or not!

I drew out a basic six-point modular pattern for each section, and used some liquid nails to tack down the tile. here it is drying.



While that was drying, I turned to assembling the third coffee table for the board. I had two of the rough frames with tables for a while, but now that my son has 1,500 hundred points, I added one more table and section to make a standard game board. I needed the table to be a low rider, due to the height of the factory wall. (plus you get a cool birds eye view while playing!)



once that was assembled, I took the dried sections and made sure my measurements weren't wrong. (I had issue with the pre-cut pieces, they turned out to be 49" long, making the middle sections wonky when I turned them sideways. My measurements were good, yay!





Next was gluing down the bigger rocks and rubble. The ceiling tile was really crumbly, so I figured I could save it by sealing it really, really well. All of the edges would need to be covered. I also wanted to make the cracks as slight as possible, the idea of the broken factory floor was to add texture and character, not cover saves! I added large rocks and bits of sand and gravel glued down with light liquid nails.





Once I had that done on all three sections, I switched to trash on the ground. I glued most of the wrecked scaffold and catwalk sections down with hot glue.







Once that was done, it was time to get messy. For big projects like this, invest in some sheet plastic. It's pretty cheap, and you don't have to worry about your floors!



To make the mud I was going to coat the table with, I used kraft glue, clay kitty litter, lightweight spackling compound, and some slightly larger pebbles.



Mix all that crap together till you get a workable consistency. I actually went through about three tubs, I made them in different thicknesses depending on where I was putting it. (Thinnest on top of the tile, thickest on the sides of the tile, medium to fill the gaps.)

Here's the board after I covered it all. It took way more time then I thought!









It's had all night to dry, so today I'll be hitting it with the final layer of primer/protective layer. Hopefully I can paint it by the afternoon, and be finished by tonight!

Pics aren't showing up for me, pox.

Looking pretty cool

Wow! What is that stuff you are using with the pre-drilled holes?

SilverMK2 wrote:Looking pretty cool

Thanks!

dsteingass wrote:Wow! What is that stuff you are using with the pre-drilled holes?

The cool stuff with the holes is two different types of drywall vinyl beading. Look in any DIY store by their drywall stuff, instant bridges and catwalks!

UPDATE TIME!

I was hoping to have it all painted by now, but I got distracted by actually playing Warhammer, haha. Here's what I got painted so far.

I started with another candy-coated shell, a mixture of cheap Gesso and lightweight spackling compound.



Next I gave the rocks a pretty heavy wash of dark gray.





After that, I painted all the pieces that are going to be rusted black, and then hit the entire board with some gray primer to even out the wash a little. (I also hit the black pieces with a little black rattle-can, I'll clean it up in later steps. I was tired of the brown peeking out!)





Next up is going to be painting all the black rusted, cleaning up the overspray, then followed by adding some green. Thanks for looking!

EDIT: I just noticed my images are TINY! I'm not sure what happened, somehow my image size got reduced while uploading it to Imgur. I'm working on it!

Looking really good! I am eagerly waiting to see how you do the rust! Painting Rust scares me.

Absolutely Great! Thanks I'll have to check out the drywall stuff!

RSJake wrote:Looking really good! I am eagerly waiting to see how you do the rust! Painting Rust scares me.

It's all about the cheap paint and the dabbing effect. Water helps too! All I do is use two shades of cheap acrylic paint over black primer.

dsteingass wrote:Absolutely Great! Thanks I'll have to check out the drywall stuff!

I love it. There are a ton on little plastic doo-hickeys at the hardware store, but drywall stuff is my favorite.

I got the boards finished, and I think my photo issues figured out.











I think it works. I wish I had more green on the board, or less on the terrain pieces. I don't want to add a bunch to the board, so I'll just be wary for future pieces.

Up next will be back to the factory wall!

That board looks great! Really freaking awesome!

My ONLY critique would be it's a bit on the light side. a little darker and grimier would fit with 40k better, but it's amazing, and if you don't make it darker, I won't complain! Just my $0.02

The board looks great! - But I think there should still be snow on some of the metal bitz.

The board looks great, but I think you might want to break up the green flock with some different static grasses and flocks etc.

Maybe also some orange splotches on the rust as well.

The board looks great, but I think you could do with some more hight variants- built in hills and the like.

RSJake wrote:That board looks great! Really freaking awesome!

My ONLY critique would be it's a bit on the light side. a little darker and grimier would fit with 40k better, but it's amazing, and if you don't make it darker, I won't complain! Just my $0.02

Upon looking at it while the boy and his friend played on it the first time (those are the boy's Space Marines and his friends Chaos Space Marines,) I fully agree. not only is it too light for the game in general, but it's too light for the stuff I already finished! I'll darken it up for sure.

dsteingass wrote:The board looks great! - But I think there should still be snow on some of the metal bitz.

This is what I mean! It's not supposed to be a winter board! (It's a good sign your palette is too light if people are asking for more snow!)

SilverMK2 wrote:The board looks great, but I think you might want to break up the green flock with some different static grasses and flocks etc.

Maybe also some orange splotches on the rust as well.

Also done and done. I'll pick up some different colored flock, add some weeds, and hit the rust with another layer of highlights.

I should be able to work on this some more at the beginning of the week. I'll set the boards out and hit them with layers of work in between getting the next bit of the wall done. I think I'm going to get rid of the huge overhang on the wall. I'm not sure that's the way to go, so I'm going to finish out the detailing on the lower sections, build the table it sits on, and play a game on it. I'll get a lot of pictures, and see what you guys think.

pox wrote:

This is what I mean! It's not supposed to be a winter board! (It's a good sign your palette is too light if people are asking for more snow!)

I'm so sorry man!

WOW! Just WOW! I LOVE your terrain, its friggin amazing. The complexity and detail...... wow!

Subd and exalted!

Loving the board AND the Gargant

The ceiling tile is amazing alternative to non-spray friendly foam.good job!

Wow! you have an amazing amount of talent!

I learned piles of things just browsing in here!

Thanks for the edification!

*exalted*

really nice complex orky terrain and i like it

MIND OFFICIALLY BLOWN

that is one sweet table. cant wait to see more of it done. i hope my sdludge pond comes out half as good as your stuff.

This is some amazing stuff, keep up the awesome work

that board! nice work mate!!!!