LoER Terrain Contest: Round 13: What Went Wrong! ... Winner announced [pic heavy]

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**OneManNoodles**

Sorry I'm not really around, I am constantly lurking on this thread.

SW1 & ChrisWhite; I've added you both to the register.

@ChrisWhite: Enter by all means, the more the merrier

, ignore Gawdam's requests for lunch money,.

very nice Tek, you work quickly!

@DrH: coming along nicely.

@El-Torrminator: This looks promising, I am certainly looking forward to seeing how it turns out

@Camkierhi: I'm sorry to hear that, I hope the move goes well, I'm sure you'll get it finished though.

Meanwhile I'll try and catch up with everyone else's progress on their own threads.

Plenty of time anyone who is thinking of entering, I hear making terrain brings health, wealth and happiness.
Still 6-7 weeks remaining (counting is like like walking, do it too slowly and you fall over

... well, I have good balance, but you know what I mean).

Keep up the good work

#Edit: I meant to say "El-Torrminator" not "Anvildude"

**Anvildude**

Hrm? Did I post something?

**OneManNoodles**

Oops, I meant to make a comment to "El-Torrminator", I don't know what caused me to put your name there.

**ChrisWhite**

Reply @Gawdam Sumbish - that's alright (re: the no pre-built stuff), and it makes sense, too. Thanks for the heads-up *paws change in pocket nervously* I've got another idea, and March 17th is still ages away.

@OneManNoodles - Cheers, I'll get going on something else straight away!

AND TO THE LoER in general - thanks for the inspiration! I've finally thought of some way to get rid of that scratch-built Rhino, and I'll build something else for this contest!

**GrimDork**

Still waiting for inspiration to sneak up from below and drag me to my projects completion via a snake-like appendage... May just have to start work in this anyway.

**ChrisWhite**

Ok, so, second building, this one featuring no pre-built elements. Hopefully I've figured out how to hide the images beneath the "SPOILER" thingy...

Spoiler:

**Viktor von Domm**

Welcome to the fold chris, your aproach has a really classic assembly of old school ingredients, straw, lid, cardboard and mesh, I like it already. Will there be spillage from that hole? Hot glue would be your friend here... Good luck!

**Dr H**

Nice start Chris.

There's more explanation/musings in my blog, but here's progress on the actual terrain part of my piece.

I may get this finished in time...

**GrimDork**

Lookin like a crashed space whatsit!

**Camkierhi**

Still alive.

Fantastic work DR and chris

**ChrisWhite**

Thanks, Viktor von Domm - I'm just using what I've got at hand; seems like such a waste to just toss that stuff away, although it does drive my wife nuts to see piles of "rubbish" in the dining room (not that she complains when her 'nids are swarming over all our buildings). I was thinking about the hot glue drips - I'll have to experiment with it today to try and figure out how to do that.

Dr H - Cheers! It's coming along. I love your crashed ship/escape pod/weird alien artefact/space whatsit. I'll have to swing over to your blog to see how you did that.

Camkierhi - Thanks! How big is that water tower? Looks massive!

Also a big thank you to GawdamSumbish for the advice about coating my cardboard with PVA - I'm gonna get on that today!

Just a quick question: Can I use GW bitz for accent? For instance, I'd like to use an aquila on the tank, and maybe the Rhino inner panel for a control board, and maybe a searchlight...

**trollmeat**

2. It should be scratch-built or heavily converted, use of unconventional parts is highly recommended, but obviously the more you scratch build the better. (e.g. you'll get points for using watch parts but you'll get more if you make the gears yourself … and possibly questions of sanity

It is my understanding that you can use any bits from any gaming/collecting/modelling system, as long you put it together in a way that was not intended.

Gubbins/details such as "an aquila on the tank, and maybe the Rhino inner panel for a control board, and maybe a searchlight" would all be fine, just in the same way that a diorama piece featuring a dead space marine wouldn't require you to scratch build the corpse - it's all in how you put it together.

If in doubt, have a flick through some of the old competitions, I think you'll find it all pretty relaxed.

**ChrisWhite**

Coolio, thanks, trollmear!

**Anvildude**

Dr H- don't be afraid to go crazy deep with the crater. Unless you're going for some sort of anti-gravity crash, high-energy impacts would dig deep and throw up a lot of debris.

**Dr H**

Thanks chaps.

Nice woodwork, Cam.

Chris: Yeah, use anything and everything. But obviously, the more work put in the more points are on offer. Sometimes though, it's worth just using something from a kit rather than fiddling about for ages to scratch-build it. These competitions are as much about the journey as they are about the final product... and rivets....

Anvil': I'm seeing it as a very shallow angled crater. Any greater angle and the shape of the crater changes to have the wide part first and then the narrow trough, then they become pretty much circular.
It's also gone through a wall first, so has lost some energy there.
And the crater is pretty much down to the wooden base, so I can't go any deeper without raising the rest of the ground...

**GawdamSumbish**

@Cam - IT LIVES! love the docking station...stictching still looks like a pain to do, but the results are paying off...

@ Dr. H - i for one think the skid-crater looks good.

@ ChrisWhite - helping your fellow dakkanaut: it's what we are here for. i need HELP with some lunch money...

@Vic - any updates on the Lunar Project?

**ChrisWhite**

Anybody got any tips for the rivets? I tried the PVA glue route, but that didn't turn out too well, and the wife said I couldn't use her hole punch on plastic (It is easier to ask forgiveness than to gain permission). I might have to go down my local modelling shop and buy some green stuff...

**monkeytroll**

The PVA method takes a bit of practice, but does work - it can depend a lot on what you're using to place the PVA spots.
Slicing a thin roll of GS works well, as does the same with plastic rod.
There are several makes of tiny craft beads or gems that can work.
The plastic beads inside of an old water filter.
If you've the patience you could cut and shave down sprue to form the rods you then slice to create rivets.
Something like the metal nozzle of a used revel glue dispenser can be heated (carefully) and used to indent plastic.
The heads of pins can be clipped and utilised.

There'll be more.......some people around here are quite keen on rivets

**ChrisWhite**

I was just using the end of a paint brush to apply them, they came out uniform - it was more that the cardboard drank up the PVA. I might go down the craft store and have a sticky beak, sounds easier than the green stuff or sprue method.

**OneManNoodles**

Rotary punches / rivet tools that you can find in some craft stores might help, the size iirc is 1-3.5 mm at 0.5 mm increments.

I usually use the plastic rod method, but I really want some of those hemispherical plastic beads I've seen someone using around here...

**monkeytroll**

Yeah, if you're applying it straight to cardboard that'll probably happen. Try giving the card a uniform coat of slightly thinned PVA and let that dry before applying the rivets - that should give you a non-porous surface to work on.

Rotary punches are great - mine gets a lot of use, and as plastic sometimes get jammed in the punches something like a rotary punch where the holes all line up means you can push out any caught bits with a knitting needle. That's much harder on some of the solid handled punch presses I've seen.

**Dr H**

Copying over from earlier thread on rivets...

Dr H wrote:
In addition to chopping polystyrene rods (effective, you can choose the size you want, a little tedious)

and using water-filter beads and drilling pits for them (effective, very tedious and sometimes hit and miss, expensive if you don't actually use the filters)
You do also get some nice scale gravel too... with more effort...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

You can also use small drops of glue (CA or PVA), applied with a small point like a cocktail stick.

Spoiler:

On the backpack on the left. I used an old scalpel (that gets used for all kinds of odd jobs) and 3 or 4 applications of PVA to build up the shape.

I have also used left over milliput (GS would also work), that I've rolled into a thin sausage and left to almost fully set (otherwise you'll squash the rivets), then cut into rivets. This also lets you choose the size of your rivets and uses up that bit of putty that you always have left over.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I've also seen a tutorial of using an automatic pencil to press recessed rivets (little rings) into putty (for when you are sculpting). You could lay down a thin strip of putty and then do this for a change.

I think that's all the methods I've seen...

Also: Camkierhi has championed the use of a small soldering iron with a hollowed tip to melt in recessed rivets in plastic.
and there's the beads that have also been mentioned.
and people will also sell you nice looking cast rivets.

**GawdamSumbish**

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=330856747955&view=all&tid=1096117641014

1mm nail beads. fairly cheap, although i would recommend getting 2,000 or more because you'll blow through 1,000 in no time.these are the best thing, i've found, because there is no work to use them aside from gluing them on, and they have a rounded head, the way rivets do in real life. they make smaller .5mm beads, which would be good for figure size models, but the 1mm look great on vehicles, and i imagine would look great on terrain....just make a small puddle of super glue, get a pin, stab the bead, dip it in the glue, and apply. repeat ad nauseum.

another method, if you use plastic card, is to push the head of a pin or tack through the back side of the plastic until it ***almost*** goes through. it's how i started when my hobby fund was dictated by on how much i wanted to eat that week. it's time consuming, but a fairly effective, free, and pretty much useable by everyone who owes something small and pointy.

**OneManNoodles**

Do you know if it's possible to get Styrene half beads?

All the ones I've seen are all acrylic, and whilst my glue says it will work on acrylic I'm not convinced I'll get a good bond with anything but superglue.

**Viktor von Domm**

Trust me on this, for my bridge troll I used these fingernail beads as rivets with just plastic glue (revell) and it works splendidly! Strong bond!

P.s. soon I will work some more on my entry...

Cheers vik

**OneManNoodles**

Really looking forward to seeing more Vik.

Thanks for the tip!

**Viktor von Domm**

My pleasure

And you might be interested in my update tomorrow, which justifies the lack of updates on this entry...

**ChrisWhite**

Thanks for the advice guys, I managed to get my hands on some assorted-size beads (why don't they put the smallest ones in their own packets? Wwwwhhhhyyy?)

Also, some snaps of the nubbins I'm putting on - a control panel and power pack, so far, maybe an aquila and a searchlight.

Today: Rivets and painting!

RIVETS:

Spoiler:

And the assembled building, with nubbin attached:

Spoiler:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Rivets glued (not yet painted), rust formula made up, and chain-link fence suitably propaganda'd!

Spoiler:

**Camkierhi**

Looking great there Chris.

Dr yours looking great too.

Starting to heat up around here. Good stuff.

Oh and OMN, for a rounded finish , I use styrene rod rivets and quickly run a blowtorch over them, rounds them nicely.

**Dr H**

Good to see someone making use of their sprue, Chris. (for those that don't know, I'm quite into the use of, and encouragement in the use of, sprue)

Good luck with the rust work. Check many reference pictures to get the look right.

I said that I was going to make a wall for this competition as I missed out on the last competition and here's how I made the long section. There will be another span of wall (that the UFO will have crashed through), but this one could be make in one piece and so I started here.

I had only read about the sandpaper/vice technique, and thought I'd give it a go. Works ok.