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You should stack them on top of each other!

Lol reversible terrain. Love it, great job mate.

Nice idea. Good way to double the terrain variations available.

I don't know how I never knew about this before, but I found your blog recently and am enjoying going through it. I'm on page 11 so far, very impressive work back in 2012.

@ Syro, Yeah you see Skalk is an OLD, OLD, master, so inspiring and we have all learnt from his wonderful work.

@ Skalk, Yet again you give me inspiration. Great stuff.

Gits- HA! I took a pic of exactly that but after seeing it I said "it's too dorky" so I didn't post it. It's also a bit blurry, but here it is:


graven / Dr H- I can't take any credit for this one, it's just my old friend serendipity coming to visit again.

Syro_- Thanks you for the compliment. I'm hoping 2018 will have similar shining moments. Once I'm done with these builds I'm going to get back to painting. That's when the real work begins.

Cam-

 Camkierhi wrote:
Yeah you see Skalk is an OLD, OLD, master.

Geez man, I'm only 50. . As far as inspiration goes, thank you for the compliment. The same can easily be said of you. Not only do you have amazing (even bizarre) ideas, you are an absolute machine when it comes to building and painting. If I worked half as fast as you I'd have double the results I have now.



Slow progress on the Mantic buildings this weekend, ran out of clips again. This entire line frustrates me. The look is completely sci-fi but the assembly is unnecessarily complicated and I have little confidence in the longevity of any build because the clips can pop out easily, To get the model to feel sturdy at all I'm using double the number of clips needed. Without the extra clips the model feels loose and wobbly, just waiting for the opportunity to fall apart into pieces. I'm going to go through a lot of super glue on these.








When I wasn't spewing profanities about Mantic terrain I was working on my continuous reorg / space reclamation project and since no one has taken me up on my offer yet, here's some pictures:

Here you on the Mantic stuff, much prefer to build from scratch.

I could put in a request here, though I feel a bit daft, so will you accept trade, anything you are after? Did I read somewhere you are after some Chaos bits?

Anyway, I have a couple projects coming up, and could do with a few small embellishments, they are both Imperial, one is a Forge World Table, and the other is large Admech thingy, so if you have a few bits onm those lines we could arrange a swap!

To be clear, the Mantic stuff is completely my fault because I told my friend to buy it and I would build it for him. He bought it on my recommendation (it was an incredible deal on eBay), and since he's not as active in the modeling side of the hobby I also offered to build / paint it because I love to build and paint terrain. It is poor form on my part to be complaining about it, and the only reason I'm not going to edit my post is because if nothing else it may serve as a PSA for fellow modelers.

Cam- I'm not asking for anything in return except postage. That said, if anyone wanted to send back any of the following I'd be grateful:

- Helmeted heads from the original Imperial Space Marine plastic set (I need 6 total to finish my Ferrum Malleus chapter)

- "Khorne Skull" axe from the original GW Chaos Warriors plastic set (I'll take as many as possible, finishing my Chaos army)

- 40mm and 50mm square bases (I'll take as many as possible)

- Going way, way out here: if anyone has an empty (no foam) old-style GW case.

But again, NOTHING is expected in return, just asking postage be covered if possible. I'm glad to have the opportunity to see my stuff go to modelers that would have a use for it.

Just finished this thread through from the start - got to admit, the first few pages I was pretty "meh" but from about page 20 onwards I've been retrieving my jaw from the floor and taking all the notes I can. Some incredible work here and great to see the progression of skills - I hope I can accomplish the same.

So having seen what you've done here, I've cut myself a big chunk of MDF and am about to go glue a bunch of junk to it to create Research Station Skalk Six Alpha - hats off to your ingenuity and endeavours, sir!

Skinflint Games- Thank you for the compliment. I agree the thread does pick up pace as you go along. I'm surprised at where I am now compared to where I started. I enjoy your work as well. I especially like the basing effects in this photo. I've not been able to accomplish anything close to it:



Research Station Skalk Six Alpha - now that I've seen that name I'm disappointed I didn't think of it first. I'm sure you'll do something excellent with it.







I've decided to join the newest LoER competition. If you're not familiar with it, link is in my sig below. I'm entering the competition to challenge my skills and gain experience. I have never tried creating a 100% scratch built and I've never used my airbrush. I've committed to do both in this contest.

The theme is "For The War Effort". The model should be something that would strengthen a military force and be a target for an opposing force. Examples given were supply cache, fuel/ammo dump, etc. In addition to competition requirements any project I work on must have relevance to my terrain collection, my ongoing gaming interests, and available storage space.

The concept I've chosen is to build an active and functional Imperial missile silo. This is the sketch I made while working out some possible details:



I decided on a square base. I'm unsure if I'm going to flock it like the rest of my models, I'll find out when I get to that phase. I'm building one staircase that will lead from the game table to the top of the launch platform. The platform will have individually cut plates and be heavily riveted. The silo doors will be "folding" doors that yawn open. The missile has challenged me and I have only one idea so far.

I worked on a "proof of concept" last night. I am happy with the results:









I haven't chosen which method (plastic rod or drilled / stamped recesses) I'm using for rivets.

I'm going to make an "emergency launch control" station that is connected into a utility access box. Partly for detail that exceeds my previous scratch build efforts, partly for an atmosphere of mystery to the model.

Because this is an armed and functional Imperial missile silo, it is going to be a clean build. Paint will be weathered for age. I'm going to find purposes for pipes and wires so I can add them for detail.

I'll be doing an extensive WIP here during this competition and I'll be sharing the minutia of my work here and a condensed version of the same update on the competition thread. I expect it will be an interesting project and look forward to seeing what comes of the next 2 months.

Wonderful. Really looking forward to this. Great idea, interesting details, oh boy this is going to be great.

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
Skinflint Games- Thank you for the compliment. I agree the thread does pick up pace as you go along. I'm surprised at where I am now compared to where I started. I enjoy your work as well. I especially like the basing effects in this photo. I've not been able to accomplish anything close to it:

Cheers Skalk, praise from a master is praise indeed! For reference, my flocking technique is stolen almost entirely from Mel The Terrain Tutor's flocking video -
45 minutes, but well worth a watch. He uses a 3 tone system, which I've pimped slightly using Garage Floor Dust - literally, swept up miscellaneous dust and grit from the garage floor, and it actually makes for a great effect when lightly mixed with flock. Give it a go, if I can do it, you can! Good luck with the LoER piece, can't wait to see this

Skinflint Games- Thank you for sharing that. I've bookmarked it for review later. It is something I'd like to try once I start repairing and replacing my fantasy hills and mounds.



This evening I started working in plastic.



WIP tip- scrape cut edges. I always run a steel ruler over the edges of cut plasticard to scrape away the plastic that raises up and away from the cut. Scraping smooths the plastic flat and makes connecting joints easier and more effective.



Basic shapes cut out and arranged:



Temporarily connected plates using painter's tape:



Mockup of building:











I'd like to offer an acknowledgement of past advice that I've used in this project. From dsteingass - change blades frequently on my hobby knife.




If you are following the LoER competition thread you'll see that exact post there. Which means there's no reason for anyone to follow this thread anymore if I'm not providing some additional content.

Maybe a "behind the scenes" blog?

02/21-When I built the balsa PoC I knew I had made a mistake when measuring the wall angles, but instead of figuring out what was wrong I made adjustments to the sides and made it look right but it was an asymmetrical model. I knew I didn't like it but it was good enough to submit the idea.

02/22- This evening when I first pulled out the plastic I actually worked with cardboard for about an hour before I figured out what I was going to do. After that it went along quickly. I very happy with all the clean straight lines, proper angles, and a feeling of accomplishment. I've already taken a flat sheet of plastic and turned it into a 3-dimential structure.

I have a lot of challenges ahead. Biggest of all is I have only 1 idea on how to make a symmetrical nosecone for the missile I'm going to make, and that is to use a wood lathe. I may have one available to me and I think it would be awesome if that's what I did because I know it will be perfect. But if i do not... what do I do? It has to look clean, I cant have this looking like grain silo. I'm not using any prefab on this, even things like soda bottles etc. Everything I put on this model will have been made from sheet or rod.

Another challenge is long nights. I will start doing "next day" updates after this weekend. And on that note, goodnight. I'll pick this up again tomorrow.









I a

Was wondering why you started all over to come up with the same product...now it's clear to me...

The clean line tip...will try that for sure...sanding usually solved it, but new tricks I will never be sneezing at...

Also...nice personal challenge there...youll hate yourself for that eventually


And there is always something that should drag oneself to the original thread, not just the mere comp thread

Excellent start.

Couple points.

You want a plastic finish. But you can always make a "frame" and line it in plastic. This gives strength and enables you to make adjustment.

For your nosecone. By extension, the above can be applied to this. Make a former. This can be from anything, a block of polystyrene, balsa wood, foam. Shape it and sand it into perfect shape. Then using either thin styrene. Or thicker material and applying heat. Skin the former. You could use fibreglass, you could also use putty, milliput would work. Then you can sand it down to perfection after.
Alternative to a former would be to build a framework.
Daft alternative would be to make a solid lump of laminated plastic and sand it down.
Providing you do not have anything too heavy going on. You can use a drill to rotate the item and sand it into shape. Similar to a lathe, but less hassle.

For the nosecone, I would get a large plastic easter egg, like a giant kinder egg toy or something (not an actual kinder toy, because as we know they're really dangerous in America... unlike some things). And I'm commenting on this here, rather than LOER, because I have different things to say

Vic- Having wasted reams of plasticard in the past and only having 5 sheets left in my collection it has to be perfect the first time I cut. The balsa wood and cardboard was a great experiment. It proved the idea, and also allowed me to make my hack and slash mistakes on something cheap. And speaking of cheap, other than glue this is a 100% "not buying anything" project. I'm using materials I already have. Also, glad the WIP tip was of use to you. I'll be trying to offer something every time I update my progress

Cam- Thank you for the foam idea. The balsa block is a possibility as well, I have some large pieces of it. I have thought about making a "lathe" with a drill and a bench vice. I also considered the skinning idea. The only option I'm not going to pursue is building it with strips of card. It is not a skill I would master in time to use in this competition. I have a vision of the finished model and I'm not settling for anything less than "mostly perfect". Mistakes will happen and compromises are inevitable but no matter what challenges arise the end result will be clean, straight, and appear intentional.

Graven- That is an awesome idea and under different circumstances I'd be on it (was actually thinking Leggs stocking egg) but my personal challenge for this competition is to do everything scratch build. The only things I'll be using on this model that I didn't create from sheet plastic or rods will be things unquestionably beyond my ability to replicate, such as jewelry chains and transfer decals.

Graven & Cam-



My next task is one that I've done before- cutting a circle from the center of sheet plastic. Here's how it went the first time I tried it. This post is from October 17, 2011:

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
No pics in this "update" because I'm at work, but I got a lot of work done last night. I am working on this currently:



...and let me tell you, there's nothing that has made me hate doing this project quite as much as that piece. It drives me mad to think I'm going to cut 2 more of them. If you're curious why I hate it so much, try cutting a perfect circle out of the middle of .060 plasticard. Yup. That's why I am hating it. But I am sure the result will be completely worth it in the end and I'll forget all about the process involved to build it.

:

I did not forget all about it.

I'm sharing this bit of history to show that I'm not backing down from a challenge. I'm making this project my modeling thesis. I will draw from every experience good and bad, every lesson taught and learned, and push myself to master new processes. Everything I can control at this stage of the project is being managed as efficiently as possible. I've made sketches of all the different features I'll have on the finished model, created a step-by-step process to ensure nothing is skipped or done in an order that makes other tasks difficult, have listed necessary parts and tools for each task, and have a timeline of where I feel my progress should be at the end of each week. Some weeks I will surge ahead, other weeks I'll fall short. In the end I expect to have a finished product ready for display by the deadline.






I conquered a nemesis this evening.

WIP tip- circle cutters are excellent at exactly that- cutting circles. Worth considering if your builds involve portals and covers.

Mine is a drywall circle cutter and I used it on a scrap piece of pine (in this case my entire bench is scrap pine). I've pressed the center pin through a hole in the plastic and into the wood. The hole was pre-drilled in the center of the circle.



It took approximately 10 minutes of pressing and turning the cutter. I did most of my cutting on one side, flipped the plastic, easily finished. As perfect a circle as I've ever made. I bought this circle cutter at a yard sale with this specific purpose in mind. I'm happy with the results.







The "10 minutes of pressing and turning" part seems long but I was being cautious. I used moderate pressure and went around the circle dozens of times. Likely the same results could be made in less than half that time.

This evening was a combination of something I hadn't ever done and something I hadn't done in a long time, which was math. It seems my brainy parts still work. Figuring out how to do this was fun, and seeing the results validating.

While I was doing thinky stuff I also determined the circumference and converted into liner inches to start work on the interior of the missile silo. I'm using a thin plastic sheet that will easily roll into a tube. I'm using the circle plug I cut out of the platform as the base of the tube. It will add stability and camouflage the true depth. I'll also be starting my first detail work of the project in the tube.

I am very happy with this. It was an excellent evening.

Good work, nice start to the silo.

For the missile nosecone: I'd either find something in one of my junk boxes that fits "close enough" or cover a "something" in putty and shape and sand it to perfection.

The "something" would be a piece of junk that is not quite "close enough" or a lump of foil / card / scraps of plaster etc.

Dr H- Thank you. More options = higher probability of success.



No progress on my entry and the Mantic clips just showed up today so nothing new to share. Sharing some old stuff instead. Here's a series of shots from different Shadow War- Armageddon games. Almost everything in the photos has either already had more work done or work pending once I get back into painting mode. Much of this was done just to get it on the table for a game. The mat is from Frontier.

That's very impressive. Mats and scenery don't always gel well together; these look like they're part of the same set, especially the bottom right pic.

thats looking great, don't really like mats but looks ok ,i would add some rubble, accessories etc to blend it in a bit

graven & bob- I agree that many mats don't work for such things, thank you for noticing my effort to make it as cool as I could. I have embraced the age of mats for quite a few reasons:

1- Storage. You've seen me mention this before. Storage space a premium and it's far easier to store a 4' x 4" tube than a 4'x6' table. I still have my original 4x4 Necromunda board that that I refused to let go of and that is property flocked with ash waste gribbly dirt. I also have three 4'x2' plexiglass sheets that fit on my kitchen table. I roll the mat over that.

2- Variety. I play a number of different games that have different settings. I prefer to have my table match the settings. Having a grass-flocked table would be great for AoS but not so much for Necromunda. And again, storage. Even if I had the inclination to build tables for different games I'd have no place to store them.

3- Accidents. Drop a miniature from 12" onto my Necromunda board and it's broken bits and scratched paint. Drop same miniature onto the mat and it's a bounce. Super glued bits might pop but the damage is always less than same incident on a hard table.

4- Presents. Someone won't buy a new 4x6 sheet of plywood and flock it for me, but they will buy me a mat.

5- Portability. My game group is playing an AoS campaign and to mix things up people bring different mats to play. It's a quick way to totally change the landscape from game to game.

6- I can't think of a 6th reason but I'm sure there is one.

7- See #6

Of course I'd rather a permanent war-torn Hive World ash waste tabletop (quoting myself from the very beginning of this thread- " I wanted my terrain to look like the Grimdark had partied in my game room and passed out on the table." My circumstances do not include a permanent game room that can stay set up 24/7 like I used to have. This is my best case scenario and I'm fortunate that it's as good as it is.



No photo update, just some info- almost finished w/ the Mantic build which means I'm about to transition to painting and detailing. I'll still be working on my LoER entry but I'm really trying to push to Mantic models out of my hobby room.

And on completely unrelated note, happy anniversary to me! I joined Dakka 8 years ago today.

Game Mats UK really has some nice designs... but I've not contacted them because of what I assume would be crazy shipping costs. I should probably see if they have a US distributor...

I solved the perfect circle problem by using very thin MDF instead of plastic for the actual floor. The MDF will be the sturdiest part, so you just trace, cut and sand all the copies together


That was the ONLY way I could make the removable top roof also out of MDF, the MDF kept everything else true. All the bulkheads do is keep the layers level.

Oh, and I made my shape more hexagonal, got rid of the longer side.

Your table is STILL the absolute best-looking table I've seen! and you Keep improving it!

Yep, great looking table of terrain.

Gits- Thank you for that company name. It's $76 for a 4x4 mat with 5 day shipping. It's comparable with other mat prices I've seen. Really cool designs. I almost bought this when I was on that site.

Dave- How did you cut the MDF? And thank you for the compliment.

Dr H- Thank you.



In case anyone is curious, here's the mat I use for Shadow War (and soon Necromunda)










I'm happy to say the main build of the Mantic project is complete. Last night was supposed to be game night for my regular group but with poor weather and other considerations I stayed home and used that time for hobby work.


First thing I did was tear this ridiculous thing apart:



and rebuilt it as this:







I am much happier with this result. The intent of this was to make it look more Shadow War / Necromunda than the other pieces I've build.


I also tore apart this ridiculous thing:



and reused everything from that model and spread it out over the next few builds that I like much better. Intent of these is to block LoS for "Hiding" and offer cover. The cubes were built because I was short on flat clips and suitable floor / roof panels.










I really like this one so I took a few extra pics of it:







Next is the largest piece in the collection. I will be reinforcing the interior of this model with some rod.







And finally, barricades. I could have used these in the buildings but I made one of these to satisfy my curiosity and decided to keep it this way:





You know I'm faily organized and do not like "bomb blast" clutter, so no surprise that I cleaned up my desk after I was done. While I was moving things around I stacked the completed builds on one side of my desk to clean the other and I suddenly realized that completely by accident I had built the pieces for awesome modular terrain that can change every game:









Here it is all together. Plenty of W40K terrain for sure, and with his other terrain this is a great setup for Shadow War and Necromunda.





And because I enjoy doing this, a few "live action" shots:







So that's that- build phase really is complete. This was not a great build but I am sure the result will be completely worth it in the end and I'll forget all about the process involved to build it.

I still have all the gribbly bits like crates, barrels, and random junk piles (anything that didn't get used in the build is becoming scrap). Once I have those sanded I'll post a pic and then get to work painting.

I have cleared off a shelf where I'm storing these until they are done. Exciting news of this is I got rid of enough stuff to open up this much space (an entire shelf) so once the Mantic project is done and dropped off for my friend I'll have an entire shelf to fill up. I'm not done with terrain quite yet it seems.



And a full shot of this shelf:



Usually I prefer to keep my completed and WIP projects separate but in this case it was necessary to make sure everything had a home before it was built. It does lend some motivation to finish projects. The more I finish the better my display shelves look. I'll take pics of the other shelves at some point.

Firing up the airbrush today. Not excited about it but it's time to start practicing. I have a lot of catching up to do for the LoER contest. I'll update with pics later.

That set of shelves is a beautiful sight! Fine work as always

Nice work on the Deadzone gear. Those shelves need a label. Some have the shelf of shame, Skalk has the shelf of Envy.

All shelf, no shame

Lots of great ideas here! excellent buildings and great finishes too,