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Thanks a lot, Dr. Both fot the zooming in and the great insight.

I've actually been giving some thought to the subject, picture taking setup, and the picts themselves, to be honest, , can use some improvement. Following your suggestion on the lighting will be the first step, will be getting a couple new day light bulbs and rigging something up for that as soon as possible.

Cheers!

Yeah, photography of models is a tricky thing. It's different in many ways to 1:1 photography.

True, you can take pictures of models with the same methods/settings are 1:1 subjects, and make them realistic / real-world / cinematic photos.

But for the kind of showing off we do on here, for the purposes of showing our work and asking for feedback, there are a few things to change.

Avoid shadows. If you've taking the time to shade your model and/or paint some tiny detail in it's armpit, for example, we want to see it. Shadows hide all of that.

Focus. You want to get as much of the model in focus as possible, all of it if you can. If you can adjust depth-of-field, adjust it to get all the model(s) in focus. You can always narrow it in for detail shots of individual parts.
If anything, if all the model is in focus you can get away with taking less photos to show it all.

Take lots of photos, from lots of angles. Use the best. I take 3 times the number of photos that I actually post. I'll take loads of photos then review them for stuff like focus etc. and then take more to replace those that aren't good enough (and check those...take more...).
Of the best photos, I'll then set about cropping and colour-correcting them if necessary.

Also, experiment with backgrounds for every model. Colour and tone can make a difference to how well a certain model will photograph. I often try 2 or 3 backgrounds for each model from a collection of 10 or so I have (although I need to make more / better ones for certain applications).
The camera can make the best of mismatched subject and background, but I find that light models (white, yellow, etc.) come out best on light backgrounds. A dark background will make the light model wash out and appear to glow, meaning details are hard to see. The opposite if true for dark models: dark backgrounds, good, light backgrounds, look like a black mass.
Colour is also important if you don't just use colour neutral backgrounds.

But for better tips on model photography, don't come to me. I'm still using a phone camera and my photos are not the best. But they have improved a great deal from when I started (just have a look at my earliest photos in my gallery compared to recent ones).

I've rambled on for long enough though.
Look forward to more.

QFT

 Dr H wrote:
Yeah, photography of models is a tricky thing.

And after that, camera died (It was not a very good camera, just an old pocket sized point-and-shoot, but it did have some bare adjustable settings, so there was that. Now, only phone camera pics possible, w/o much fiddling possible, since it doesn't allow - or I haven't found how yet - for exposure, white balance or macro adjustments. Nor I do know much about digital processing either. Time to learn, I guess)

Quality notwithstanding, some snapshots of Squad Setis, with Sgt. Baker leading:



(Those look even more washed out now that on the phone. Will replace with better ones in some far away indeterminate future, )

Thaks for stopping by.

Cheers!

Tidy job. They look good.

Thanks, Doc!

Well, giving in to the usual hobby ADD, I managed to get a hold of some dubious lineage, oddly glued and partially paint-slapped Death Korps of Krieg minis.

After a stripping bath and some scrubbing, I jump started a colour scheme test, in a blue-gray way:





(Helmet and chest - where available - eagles, and coat buttons, will by reddish gold or bronze)

Officers' sashes will be probably red, and Commissars (two in the stripping bucket as I type), dark grey/black instead of light blueish grey and red.

Comments ans suggestions are welcome!

Thanks for stopping by.


PS: New (used, and not the latest model, but better than it's deceased predecessor) camera is on the way, so better pics are planed in some indeterminate future.

I like them! Suitably grimy, but colourful enough to look good...

Nice blue-leather look to him.

Thanks, Slinky, Doc.

More work on them and reinforcements should be on the way soon enough.

In the mean time, and just 'cause, I indulged in some ol' good quick and dirty building, just to scratch the itch among so much (pun intended) painting,

DKK Earthshakers use gun carriages, which the cannons I got did not include. Scratch building them is an option, but time is at a premium, and those demand to be put up to tabletop condition ASAP, so I will permatemporarily try to mount them on some fixed emplacements first, just for the time being...

As Camkierhi says, a shot at a quick an' dirty build job (not to Cam's level, though, but moving on nonetheless).









With some paint on, those might do.

C&C are welcome, as always.

Cheers!

Wow! That turned out really well! Love the top tiles on the bunker!

That's a good use for that type of foam. I've always rejected it as a building material in the past. Mind changed It gives a pumice effect. Cool.

@Gits: Thanks! Idea is to make it look metal, some king of a steel reinforcement of the concrete (or pumice, as Red says, although I do not think that'd be strong enough for an artillery emplacement, would it?)

It does look like tiling, though... Pool like, even... Maybe I missed the mark a bit,

Hopefully paint will help change that!

@Red H: It works, for some things. I covered with a mix of wall filler and PVA (and some paint, partly to get a head start in the undercoat, and part to better "see" if there were any uncovered patches; when eyes start to fall short all help is welcome, !). Hard to get straight cuts on the thicker pieces (at least, without a bench hot wire cutter), and it just eats trough blades as if it actually were stone, so I try to only use disposable cheap retractable hobby knife blades for this.

Previous test:



Works for some quick cover/LoS blocking terrain, IMHO. It could also probably gain with some rebar showing through to add detail and a contrasting colour chance.

Give it a shot, you'd probably wind up turning some discarded packing into a display-grade sample of Brutalism,

Thanks for stopping by!!

Wow, as the others have said that foam really works for that thrown together concrete look. I shall be stealing that for my Shadow Wars Terrain! For the wall filler + PVA mix, what ratio did you use?

The artillery position puts me in mind of the coast defense gun revetments in Panama at both ends of the Canal. Maybe here they're spaceport defense, with reach into the exosphere? Great looking work!

Interesting stuff, that foam. I always wondered how it could be used. A suitable plascrete construction!

First time using an airbrush for other than a basecoat, not much, but maybe I'll get the hang of it some day...





Left the seams rough to try to make them look like weld (Riveting heresy!) lines.

Needs some weathering, and painting the ground, of course. And some grass or vines, in scratchbuilding, as in architecture, plants are great for covering up little imperfections,

@boundless08: As for the mix, around 3:1 and 4:1 filler to PVA. Nothing too precise, mind you, just enough to "dilute" the filler a bit, make it less prone to chipping (adding paint to the mix helps hiding the chipping if when it happens as well).

@Meer_Cat: Didn't think of it at the time, but you are right, those do look like coastal defence emplacements. maybe subconsciously thinking about some vacations already?

@Dave: And recycled, too!

C&C are welcome.

Cheers!

Good foam work, LT. Looks nice.

That looks amazing bud, really great work. Definitely a emplacement look to it, the foam has a great poured concrete look, if anything I would be tempted to accentuate the joints. Often they pour the concrete in several batches and the joints are full of "flash". The plating on the top is great and the airbrush work is wonderful. dependant on how much you are weathering it and the environment for your basing, I would look at adding some real wear in certain areas. But you know all this, watching some of your previous amazing work taught me a great deal about all this.

Oh and nothing wrong with down and dirty to get your rocks off bud!

Done for now.

Wear and tear, some rust, and a little gardening:



Lone trooper for scale:



And with an Earthshaker in place (temporarily, awaiting gap filing and paint, eventually), for looks:



C&C are welcome, as always.

Thanks for stopping by!

I just love the way the gun fits into that bunker. Really well done Lt.

Thanks, Gits! Cannons are on the bench now, waiting for their turn.

Serial painting sucks, but is a good way to clear up the queue...

Some short-range heavy-punch reinforcements on the making:





More proof of life than something to actually show, but progress is progress, is it not?

Cheers!

[Disclaimer:]

Possible ravings ahead, and no pics. Proper warning has been given.

[/Disclaimer:]

For quite some time now, a couple projects have been slowly growing and evolving in my head, keeping me up until late at night and waking up with the sudden rush of new ideas...

Plan One, simply and unoriginal, is to take over the world. Unfortunately, for the time being said plan has not gone much over the naming stage, and some unexpected difficulties regarding insufficient frequent traveller miles to put it into action.

Plan One Prime is hitting enough jackpots to buy my own island, but since I’ve never even bought a lottery ticket in my life, this is actually more farfetched than the alpha version.

Plan Zeroth, almost as ambitious, and nearly as unconquerable (or so it seemed till recently), on the other hand, is now a go.

I cannot yet fully disclose all what is being done, but I guess it is safe enough to safely discuss some of the preliminaries, which involve a rather eclectic assemblage of materials and preparations.

Aluminium tubing, off-cuts from a fulfilled contract, since long ago sitting in a corner in the Company’s warehouse. Since the Company is me and not much else, writing off the leftovers was easily done, and raised no suspicions. Finding somebody able and ready to weld said tubing in a certain, predetermined way, with little or no explanation as to why, was not easy, until I recently found out a friend had access to a full metalworks shop with aluminium welding capabilities (I can, in dire need and if thick enough, stick two pieces of iron together – welding would be too gentle a word for my handicraft on the matter, but fine, non ferrous welding is definitively out of my reach).

(Very importantly, he is a gamer friend, hence the only minor explanations required: only another gamer would be willing to face the task without asking for reasons, and much more important, for free)

For the next step, I was almost ready to by a full MDF board, having admitted to myself that such a large piece as was required was naught to impossible to scrounge. Thus, I had started to strengthen myself against the potential anger of She-Who-Watches (a full board MDF board would be even harder to sneak into the workshop unnoticed than a teen elephant)...

And luck hit, because audaces fortuna iuvat and all that jazz, and I did pick one board for nothing.

To make a long boring story into a short boring one: another contract, working on site, lots of other people working too, somebody found out there was one plaque left over from some drywalling and panelling that had been done, piece was scratched – very, very minor scratch, to be honest – so it could not be returned or reused, better/cheaper – I’m guessing just easier, since it must have been paid for already – to throw it away. Volunteered to help, and got out of there as fast as I could (which was actually quite slowly, since the darned thing is heavy), tied it up on top of the car (that was quite a sight), and done.

Cut it up to required (and slightly more concealable) size(s) as soon as I got home, but I think I might have been spoted...

Step two completed.

Moving on, I did procure (and did finally pay for something at last, not to be an absolute tightwad about this) a few high density Styrofoam boards, a new pack of hobby-knife blades, a pro-sized bucket of PVA and a couple kilos of filler.

I am just about to send the cubs out on a quest around the neighbourhood looking for some construction sand to liberate for cause

Next phase(s) might involve or not cutting and gluing, and some aggressive, non-standard, use of a hot air gun and/or a portable blowtorch (outside, of course, because safety, and keeping She-Who-Watches appeased, though not necessarily in that order, always come first.


It wouldn’t be a proper secret plan if at some time I didn’t ramble about it, now, would it?

Further developments will be better, and hopefully, less deliriously, recorded. Even with pictures, maybe.

Thanks for stopping by, and putting up with this so far!

Cheers

No that was quite a fun read LT...my own workings in a small e matter where not required to be that secret...i did it for the kids...giant table...thus I came through smelling of roses...

Looking forward to see all these hard work in pictures!

Long time no see, Vik! Yes, I also say it is for the kids, though I have seem to have lost some credibility as of late...

The sanctioned and time-proven rituals and sacrifices of fire and flesh to appease She-Who-Watches were made ¹, and some more work was allowed to be done.

Not a single Bothan died to bring us this information, but spy pics anyway, 'cause secret project: ²









Thanks for stopping by!



¹ Actually, I made a barbecue. But sacrifices of flesh and fire did sound more melodramatic, did it not?

² OK, I'll stop now. Decent pics and less nonsense in the next update, period.

This looks exciting and crazy. Sacrifice more to the bloody altar, i say...

Eeeeehhhhhcelent!

No more sacrifices (yet), but (slightly) better pics.

Two separate halves, if everything works as planned, those will be mounted on the aluminium frame to be foldable and a bit more portable/storable (landscaping goes on the inside, and relief is -should be, have not tried it- mirrored on each half to allow for folding)

Thing is big, lonely guardsman for scale. Very WIP yet:





And first close-ups:



Current colours are just from paint mixed into the filler, mostrly, to avoid future white spots from chipping

Nest steps:

White areas, too sparse filler, recoat.
Some visible straight lines (foam boards joints too noticeable), recoat.
Cracks at the base of the hills and on top of the big corner mesa, fill and recoat.

Obviously, I'll need more wall filler, and basing paint.

More important, is the question of the (grey for now) outcrop that runs across the table, near the centre edge of one of the panels.

Initial idea was to create a raise to then carve a trench in the middle, and have it running across the board. I changed my mind halfway, and left it to be something like a ridge crossing the table. Problem is, ines might be too straight to look like a natural formation.

Maybe it's only the colour, too contrasting now,, and if toned down or changed to earth tones would look OK.

Corner mesa is also unconvincing: too step, too rugged on top, and did not leave any easy access to it from the rest of the board either. Besides, it might (with big chances, actually) hinder the board from folding unto itself neatly, should probably have been shorter. Can't be sure since I don't have the actual frame, but...

In short, I'm liking one of the halves so far, not sold on the other one. Let it be, try to make it work, or scrape and redo? Ahh, questions.

(Scraping is ahead hereabouts, but that'd be a serious setback on progress...)

Thoughts?

C&C will be seriously considered and eternally thanked.

Cheers!

I wouldn't scrape it back. More tumbling rubble, loose boulders, scree etc will give it the variety it is arguably missing
Epic work all in all though.

Cool project. Looking good.

As to straight rock formation.
Depends on the theme you are planning.
Could have been worked by hands unknown in the past and now is the only remaining sign of previous life.

Nature does have a habit of occasionally producing very regular shapes for no apparent reason.

You had me at Barbecue. Tell me that you have one of these...
http://www.norcalovenworks.com/Argentine-Grill-Kit-with-Side-Brasero-p/3-16-ss-argentine-grill-sb.htm
...Lying is permitted.

Ah. C&C. When you say mounted, now there's the rub. Those pieces look like they could be arranged to make several configurations, at least after a few alterations. Mounting them would eliminate that. Maybe think about some sort of clamping for them to the table frame, and a few changes to the terrain so that the pieces could be aligned in more than one configuration?

I just couldn't make myself to love it. And lacking that, it was the hammer.

Well, not quite. Chopped down the corner mesa to half height, and gave it some better access points, and removed the linear mound that ran across one of the panels, leaving only a small hillock next to the edge.

Best of the removed parts are in the process being recycled/converted into separate (and thus repositionable) hills (two smaller ones and a still rather linear long one). Those, plus some more "tumbling rubble, loose boulders, scree, etc" (Thanks, Graven!) both affixed and as free-standing scatter, will IMO make look better that it's first sketch.

(Pics coming soonish)

@Graven: Already quoted, thanks again for chipping in!

@Doc: The are some strange and rare straight natural formations, but strange and rare are the key words there. I tried, but it wasn't doing it. Point of making a full board was to add looks to a game, and it was not going to work if I couldn't believe in the hills over it.

@Red: Regarding mounted:idea is to fix the two half boards to the aluminium hinged frame for: a) added structure/prevent warping (a bit less needed now since the MDF sheet is thicker than originally planed, but always helpful. Also, a 5.5 centimetres surrounding edge for nicer finish, protection and keeping things from falling over; and b) by folding unto themselves, the "terrain" side of the boards face in when folded, for ease (relative, it is still big) of storage and eventual transport.

Alternative alignments would have been best, indeed, will try to make do for it with the free standing terrain pieces instead.

And, unto the really important question: http://www.norcalovenworks.com/Argentine-Grill-Kit-with-Side-Brasero-p/3-16-ss-argentine-grill-sb.htm ?

Lol, Gork forbid, no, That thing is tin-made! And what's with the wheels? I mean, why would you want to be carting a barbecue around?

No, we have a good and proppa parrilla (grill place/pit? though it is not a pit!), solid brick and mortar, firebrick-lined, high chimney (or is it smoke-stack), and well over a square meter of grilling space. It does have a brasero (ember maker) integrated on one side (very helpful, actually), but no hoist, just two alternate heights for the grill (hereabouts, the hoist is more of a regional thing, as is the argument of coal versus wood. Not a piece of charcoal has ever touched MY parrilla, ever, BTW!)

Actually, we (as in Ms. LT and yours truly) did have one of those (not as good looking nor as shiny, have to admit) when we were younger, and fewer, and lived in an (two actually, it moved with us a couple times) apartment. Good memories...

If interested, door is always open and grill ready for a good asado and some great wines too!

Cheers!