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Cleatus, that's some quality rust

You guys are really knocking it out of the park here.

Hey Cleatus- those hex boxes were exactly what I was looking for when I started my project! I won't swipe the idea now (really, too far along with the unfortunate round astro-barrels) but I'll be using it in my next build- great work! The rust is excellent, too.

Ooh, that is some nice rust there.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Small progress on the flesh-vats



Interestingly, I did these slightly different to my previous methods. I have previously glued the end of the strip down with pva, then pinned it, to hold it in place and create rivets, then covered it all in pva.
This tme I glued and covered in pva first then pinned.

And this time:



May be something other than the order I did these in, but not seen that compression around the pins before...




And attaching them to the vats, with attachment method shown.

Looking good MT! And I don't even play that disgusting faction!


Tonight, more about barrels, and getting things jump-started towards getting finished and not buried in fun sidebars. Looking at the calendar, I have maybe seven working days, with at most an hour or so each to work, to get this wrapped up.


I think I've come up with a variation for the bottle cap astro-barrel, using these components:



Clip the ring off the milk carton pull, and start gluing pieces together (I'm using dollar store gel superglue- cyanacrolite- and it seems to be holding for now):



If you invert the bottom cap so that some are flat bottomed and some are hollow:



Then you have some barrels that can be laid over on their sides or- you can stack them:



I'll be stacking a row of various barrels as I want a parapet. Here's what they look like painted with a spray on base coat of tan or grey and then a top coat of cheap 'chalk' hobby paint. I love this stuff, it has a bit of a gritty texture and the colors are imo perfect for battered shipping barrels. In the foreground you see barrels that have been opened/sawn in half, to show that they all are filled with rubble for weight to repel boarders and to act as a bullet dump. These form 'space gabions' for defense and the cap is filled with sand, then has all the loose bits and bobs on my desk dropped on and is then flooded with dilute white glue to set up hard:



I'll apply some of what I learned during my 'Study in Rust' project to paint them up.

Finally, tonight I've applied some number decals to the upper deck- just couldn't get the stencil to work the way I wanted- maybe with a gentle airbrush instead of spray cans or brushes. And before I crash for the evening I'm going to hit it with rust and 'industrial weathering solution':




The smudges at the far end are from trying to use hobby pens to fill in the stencil, but should be all good once the other goop hits it.

And that's it for tonight- I'll be happy when the barrel phase is complete (hopefully tomorrow) and I can start the cracking tower getting in place and working on the gate and gun towers.

More follows soonest!

Meer_Cat, nice containers. You're getting a lot of mileage out of those bottle caps.

monkeytroll, I love those spheres. Very clever.

Thanks for the compliments on the rust guys! Very much appreciated. Nothing new, just paint applied with a sponge. But thanks all the same!

Made some more progress on my LoER terrain comp entry:

1st highlight. Drybrush with a 2:1 mix of gray and black.


2nd highlight. This time, just a drybrushing of gray.






I went a little too heavy on the gray in that middle section, will need to clean that up later. Probably stipple in some black or something.

Oh yeah, and I finished the scatter terrain containers:


For the yellow and green containers on the right I applied burnt umber with a sponge to get the rust effect. I tried the same thing for the red and blue containers on the left but it came out too dark. So I decided to drybrush them with a mix of orange and white to highlight the edges. I also tried applying some Vallejo rust effects wash to all of the containers, but honestly it just came out a little orange. You can kind of see it on the larger yellow container in the back. It's OK, serves as a nice compliment to the burnt umber sponge effect, but not really what I was expecting. For contrast I added a dark black ink wash to the gaps between the body of the containers and the lids. It ran in a few places, but eh... we'll call that oil or something.

Also cranked out a few more pieces of scatter terrain while watching TV. I really need to stop. But it feels so good!


I'm cooking now. One more pass of drybrushing on the main terrain piece, add some color and shading, maybe a few wires and tubes. Then I'll paint up the rest of the scatter terrain. Promise. No more building. For now.

Great scatter, and like the idea of using burnt umber in the mix.

OK, this might be the last update I post until final pictures, or perhaps one more as I get the cracking tower done, so the pics are sort of all over the place. I'm really humping to make the deadline next week, and I believe I will make it (no extensions Cam- us procrastinators need some guidelines in the real world!).

Here's the upper deck with its first layer of grunge added:



Things in various stages of basecoating (yes, we have repurposed a pair of decommissioned spacecraft blast doors as part of the barricade):



These are castings from the Hirst Arts Trench and Sandbag set- I'll be using them as firing steps at certain spots along the barricades. Basecoat of spray Rustoleum grey, heavy top coat of brown, wash of ersatz Agrax Earthshade and still to come a light top drybrushing of peach:



Here's the control station I modified from a rhino or land raider bit (couldn't resist the whimsy):



This tank is from the Matchbox set, with a tank of some kind; settled on Pavement Black for the main color because I spilled some (on my blotter) earlier and hated to waste it, so used it. The hazard stripe came on the original toy and the combustible placard is from the set of signs Sveamore graciously provided. All signage everywhere will get weathered a bit- and this placard particularly- once the white glue has set- will get soaked in solvaset/decal fix and then the tips glued down flat:



These rusted bits of corrugated iron are made from the liner of a cookie box (cheap ones), base coated spray Rustoleum grey and then hit with a lavish coat of Micromark rust and black. They'll get hung on the railings of the heavy and special weapons platforms to act as additional armor:



These next shots are of the (almost) finished ground floor of the chem plant- everything needs dirtying up, of course:









So, what's left? Very thin wash of black ink/ersatz Nuln Oil over everything, more signage, the cracking tower, the upper deck armor, the sniper's roost, seal it all with matt varnish and then dust it with every color weathering powder I own (I have a set with something like 15 shades for doing model railroad cars, so lots) and a ladder for troops to get from ground to upper deck. If time permits, hazard striping in the usual places and some sort of mechanical apparatus in the corner where the gears are laying, to give them a reason for being there.

Thank you for looking in, I welcome your suggestions and critiques. Almost there! More follows soonest.

So much great work, all looking good.

How are we for the deadline folks, do we need a little breathing space?

I won't lie, that is going to be a close one, but still doable ^^.

The base colors are applied on the bunker. Still need some detailing/grotesquification !

I should finish, if I don't it'll be my own fault.

Passed over the model with the airbrush a few times, needs a cleanup in parts. Then I need to go in with a brush to add a few details, like maybe some hazard stripes on the floor at the entrance.



Good luck finishing all.

Cam': I'm nearly there, should finish in time, myself. No problems with an extension if other's require it.

M'Cat: I tend to stipple with a dry-brushing brush over my stencils (that I make from paper as one-use things). I find the rough finish, as with any bleed/smudging/smears, helps it look more like a stencil. If I wanted it neat, I'd use a transfer.

Good scatter pieces, Cleatus. Main piece looks good too.

Looking good, KernelTerror

Good work OMN.

Forgot to show this update here, so you get a two'fr
Candles (red for the Imperium) and OSL


and more details:


Still to finish the flag, add some grass, and then weathering...
Even I can't make that last a week.

Thanks for the tip Doc- I may still get a chance to employ it on this build!

ALCON: Lot of _really_ good looking projects here- lots for me to make notes on to try on my next one! Thanks all for the knowledge, examples and inspiration

Looking good everyone!

@Cam: I've started working on my trenches again for the last two days, I've very close to finishing. The deadline is fine for me as it is.

Final additions to the bunker, some giant heads statues. Once dry, just need more paint and the whole thing should be done...

Great work all.

Meer_Cat - lovely use of bits and pieces there.

Kernel - Looks good mate, and +1 for giant heads

OMN - Great build, love the interior.

Doc - As always, your detailing brings it all to life. Nice subtle osl.


I'm good with time Cam - the walls are done, the flesh-vats are my bonus additions, but I should see them done too.






Detailing added (excuse the wonk)
Control panel, couple of panels to break up areas - probably needed more, but hey-ho - the ever-important rivets, and realised it needed some skulls, so that became the outlet...the flesh is 'vomited' from the skull jaws.




And base colours down. Switched out from an all-metallic scheme at the last second, going from contrast with the flesh walls to blending in. Still deciding on how much weathering will take place, somewhere between medium and heavy is my guess.

Not going to get the master-vat done, so shelved that for now, I suspect it may become a tool of the Nurgle forces....

Good progress, people.
Keep it up, last hurdles to overcome.

I'm done. With days to spare, I'm getting better.
Cam', expect a lengthy PM soon.

So quick update on the vats.













Need to do the control panels and a few more drips/stains.....but calling them done otherwise.

Don't know why but didn't enjoy painting these after base coat at all. Felt like a chore, and didn't like the results. Obviously a few years off has not improved my techniques Heavy sponge of greys and browns, then silver over the red - which looked terrible, so pulled it back with a sponge of the red, but it's not what I was after at all. Lining and highlighting metals all seemed messy and painful too, by the time I got to the verdigris I was really not happy, and it shows. Normally that's my cue to shelve it for a while, but I did want to get these done to add to the walls.

Maybe I'll come back and redo them at some future point, if only to practice my weathering.

For now, finish those details then hope I get a good evening this week to take photos, and prepare them for Cam. Guess I should use my real camera and actually process the pics this time around too (probably won't though)

I thought the weathering was really good, MT- and want to ask you how you did the verdigris? I've got these whopping great copper tanks that are entirely too clean compared to everything else!

Lots done tonight, but no pics- I'm nearly done. I'll use all the time left to the deadline to embellish, but the basic project is nearly complete, with weathering applied, 'gunkification', the cracking tower nearly complete, lots of signage added and the movable barrier that acts as a gate done. Had to build another ladder for the lookout/sniper's roost as well. Making tiny barbed wire is right b***h, I may use some store bought stuff instead.

This has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to receiving your constructive criticism when I'm able to post final pics probably Wednesday.

More follows soonest!

Cheers M_C. Just the fact that I wasn't enjoying it, and I know I could have done better.

The verdigris is just a couple of dilute washes made from various greens and blues, applied in an entirley too haphazard fashion this time around, then use a light drybrush of copper to bring it back a bit.

I just sent Cam my final pics. Good luck everyone.
@Meer_Cat, keep pushing to the end, I'm glad you're close. Keep up the good work.
@KernelTerror: I know you're close to finishing, if you haven't yet, good luck!

Thanks MonkeyTroll ! Nice weathering on your heretical machines, not sure why you are unhappy with them, as pics look good !

Cheers Syro_, looking forward to seeing the final result of your build ! Not much left to do on my end indeed, I am on my way to apply one of the final washes !

Ok got a couple entries in my inbox, how we doing folks. All looking brilliant.

Wow, so much progress by everyone! After I finish my piece I'll need to come back and give all of this another look. I'm closing in on the finish but I probably need 1-2 more painting sessions to wrap up. No newer picts to show unfortunately, been a little busy.

Cam, I might need an extension... between work and school having just started up again it's chaos around here. Any objections to extending the deadline through the weekend?

That's mine in, Good luck all!

@Cam: Congrats on running what (fingers crossed), is looking like another successful round, I've seen some really great work from so many people this round.
Practice makes perfect as they say.

Really enjoyed seeing what people have come up with in this round. Great work everyone, still some time for those who haven't finished, so hurry up make Cam's choice harder!

I'm in- selected pics going to Cam now and everything I took with my cheap little camera over on my Thread. My thanks are many and heartfelt:

* briancj for telling me about the contest
* Cam for running it and the tip about how to make washes
* Insaniak for the tip about the hazard striping tape- SOOOOO much easier!
* Sveamore for all the minefield and industrial signs and posters
* Monkeytroll for advice on how to tone down the chem leaks- make 'em look less cartoonish
* Doc H for advice on taking photos (I'm getting alittle better, I think)
* All y'all for the encouragement, guidance, inspiration and presence; it's nice to be part of a gang again

Last couple of WIP pics and done:

@ Cleatus, no objections at all, You have until I get up on Monday and look at Dakka.

Good work all

PM sent Cam, many thanks for running this one, and cheers to all involved

Final entry submitted, outstanding work everyone, and good luck to Camhierki formatting and studying all the entries !

Is there an award for heaviest entry ? I still need to weigh the final product, but I may stand a chance on that one !

Good job monkeytroll and KernelTerror! I'm glad you finished in time