Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I live in Southern California, so getting Owens Corning Foamular is a huge pain. I finally got a hold a few sheets (Home Depot in Gardena has some in stock), and he's my first project.

It's still WIP, but I think it's coming along well. I plan on adding a couple of broken off column. The "death" heads are from a local $0.99 store. I love halloween. =)


Here's what I've found with working with it so far:
-Cuts fine with a utility knife, but you have to use a clean blade, and be very careful of snags. Use a shallow angle and several passes.
-pulling off the film that covers the foam helps make it more consistent to work with
-a heat gun worked wonders for weathering and rounding the foam. If you don't want hard edged, just hit it lightly with a heat gun.
-an old soldiering iron works great for carving patterns into it. Don't worry if you go a little deep, when you hit it with PVA glue and sand later on, it fills the gaps so they're consistent.

Any tips, or ideas you could give me on how to make this look better, or helping out a novice foam worker would be great. My next foam project will be a home version of the Citadel Battle table, with the 2' squares...

one thing i want to point out is that you should use heat and foam only in a very good ventilated area... you get certain unhealthy foam related fumes....but i am currently also using the foam for different projects... built my steamtanks basic form with it and also made a ruined terrain with leftover bitz of said foam... it is a good material to work with and also i highly recommend using only fresh knifes as a blunt blade makes you fast a very sorry modeler^^

your looks very cool, what will you be adding further to that piece?

looking forward how this develops!

cheers, vik

I'm not 100% sure. I'm thinking of some broken off pillars, at least. It looks very flat and plain right now.

I want to keep it largely flat, though. On some of my other terrain pieces with less flat terrain, the models always seem to fall over. Kinda annoying.

A lectern between the heads could be cool as well. I the cracks in the stone will be filled with either blood or a lava look. Not sure yet...

hmmm lectern sounds good but i guess if you go for such a cerimonial place an altar to offer victims to the chaos gods is never out of place^^ broken pillars sound good too...and i second the need for flat yet not flat looking terrain... once you invested millions of hours on a painted mini you seldom like it to see the paint beeing scrached off when it falls over^^

also i would ratther go for blood as lava...donno if you are any good wih such effects as lava but blood i recon would be a lot simpler and i think the site would be more suitable to bloodshed then cracked open earthen crust^^

Looks very nice! I would have made each of the concentric circles 1/2" - 3/4" higher than the last to provide a little cover and LOS-blocking. Maybe a cracked/broken altar table in the center ala The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Viktor von Domm wrote:hmmm lectern sounds good but i guess if you go for such a cerimonial place an altar to offer victims to the chaos gods is never out of place^^ broken pillars sound good too...and i second the need for flat yet not flat looking terrain... once you invested millions of hours on a painted mini you seldom like it to see the paint beeing scrached off when it falls over^^

also i would ratther go for blood as lava...donno if you are any good wih such effects as lava but blood i recon would be a lot simpler and i think the site would be more suitable to bloodshed then cracked open earthen crust^^

I think I'll go blood. Do a light stone, so there's a good contrast with the dark blood.

Here's some lava type cracks that I've done previous. I like this piece a lot, but everything always falls over on it...



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Gavin Thorne wrote:Looks very nice! I would have made each of the concentric circles 1/2" - 3/4" higher than the last to provide a little cover and LOS-blocking. Maybe a cracked/broken altar table in the center ala The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The stone section is all on piece of foam. I didn't want a variation of level, since it would just make things fall over. =/ But I agree, that I need a few more higher pieces to the piece can justify a 4+ cover save.

I have lots of stuff that blocks LOS, so I was looking for more of just an areas cover piece with this one.

I do like the idea of an alter. That might be better than a lectern. I'll play with that tonight. It'd be easier to model, and more clearly visible. Maybe even up higher, between the heads.

ater seeing that pice of lava i see you can pull off that pretty well^^
is that actual stones built in plaster? well cool looking but with the raised sections to the piece this falling down is bound to happen regularly...sadly... something this cool should be used more often....

Viktor von Domm wrote:ater seeing that pice of lava i see you can pull off that pretty well^^
is that actual stones built in plaster? well cool looking but with the raised sections to the piece this falling down is bound to happen regularly...sadly... something this cool should be used more often....

Heh, thanks. No, the stone are actual stones from my yard, and air dry putty.

When I had originally sculpted it, I had intended to make a nice, peaceful henge. But, I didn't like it at all. The putty cracked, and it just was terrible and never ever got used.

I put off painting it for about a year. But, when I envisioned it as lava and dangerous terrain, I started loving it. And it came out well.

Also, did you know that you don't take a dangerous terrain test if you don't move in the terrain. So, I can deploy a whole grot squad in there, and just wait to be assaulted.

Or, shot to death, which is much more likely. And when that squad finally does break, and has to move, it's /bad/ news...

ouch^^

and

I put off painting it for about a year.

lol i know that feeling quite well...lots of unfinished projects in my drawer...

but a nice henge would also be a site to behold^^

the air dry putty i also used but on a much smaller scale as i used it for my own lava bases i custom made...i know the stuff tends to crack when least wanted... so i only use it when doing smaller stuff...i think foam is for such things the way to go! only downpoint in my opinion to foam is that you can if treated unwise make dents in the foam when playing on it if you press minis to hard down...could leave nasty marks there...

Looks good

Update from last night. I added broken pillars, an altar and some rubble. Also base coated.

holy c....,that brown frightend the s... out of me^^

Viktor von Domm wrote:holy c....,that brown frightend the s... out of me^^

lol, that coat went on heavy cause it was ~1 part paint to 1 part glue.

ah... that makes sense...is it dry yet? if you use pva to mix in the paint then sometimes it is rather surprising how things turn out....also if you want a rather cheap watereffect you can use clear windowcolor... dunno if you know of that stuff...you paint the window panes with it...kind of acrylic but somehow softer and i use it to make muddy bases...

Viktor von Domm wrote:ah... that makes sense...is it dry yet? if you use pva to mix in the paint then sometimes it is rather surprising how things turn out.

Yeah, should be dry by now. The dark brown was last night, and was thick and wet. Grey was this morning. I think I'll hit the whole thing with a thin black wash, and then highlights.

The PVA in there does make it act differently.

Viktor von Domm wrote:...also if you want a rather cheap watereffect you can use clear windowcolor... dunno if you know of that stuff...you paint the window panes with it...kind of acrylic but somehow softer and i use it to make muddy bases...

Is it this?
http://www.plaidonline.com/gallery-glass-window-color-crystal-clear-2-oz/84/16001/product.htm

That from an art store kinda place? Michaels? I am looking for a good, cheap water alternative for a river project.


Here's it after the coat this morning. A bit heavy, and you can still see it's a bit wet, but not the brown goop.

well the window color works for me as i can aply it in real small measures... dunno if it would actually be cheap for such a scale project tho...might be a bit of a pricey thing in such large amounts...or are the packages at micheals bigger and thus cheaper? but your research was spot on!

could be the pic and the angle but i think due to the brown and then the grey painting you lost much detail? will be solved of course after a wash... i cross fingers for you that the wash solves that!

by the way... to some extent one could also experiment with PVA glue as a substitute of water effects... but thickness is something you then have to exclude...


vik

That looks pretty cool. Foam seems like a lot of fun to work with. Looking forward to seeing the piece all finished.

You should look into getting a hot wire foam cutter. They sell a battery powered version at craft stores.

snurl wrote:You should look into getting a hot wire foam cutter. They sell a battery powered version at craft stores.

Yeah, I do need to pick one up. Seems like you can DIY a cutter with just a DC converter (which I have) and a ~$5 special wire. So, I might go that route. Sharp knife is working fine for now...

After a couple coats of drybrush, it now looks like this:



Tonight, since it's lost that great definition between the stones, I'll paint those back in with a dark wash. Also going to put away the kiddy acrylics and get out my Reaper/Vallajos and paint up the altar. Lots and lots of blood... =)

I think I put too much glue/sand into the recesses between the stones. If I could have gone a bit lighter, it would have retained it's natural texture better.

darn i feared it would be the case of lost detail... it wasn´t the color alone that made me startled ...it looked too thick in my opinion...well sometimes you get really good results with pva and sometimes it stays thick... one can never know for sure...but if you can regain the detail via a good paintjob you can be doubly proud^^

nevertheless it looks really good, the craftsmans work you have done with the knife is a skill you can easyly redo on another project... we live and we learn!

I think the thick paint was only part of the problem. Main problem was when I covered it in the sand, I didn't brush enough out of the cracks. It'll look fine. I just know that I need to go in more lightly with sand+glue next time.

I've painted tons of models, but really don't do any work on the bases. So, working with basing materials is still a little new to me.

by the way... if you like you could have a look at my gallery... i did custom made lava bases out of air dry clay...maybe you could do something with that stuff... also you could geive me a hint or two about the lava effect i did... i just know i have done something wrong as it does not really pop as intended!

would apreciate your insights...^^

Viktor von Domm wrote:by the way... if you like you could have a look at my gallery... i did custom made lava bases out of air dry clay...maybe you could do something with that stuff... also you could geive me a hint or two about the lava effect i did... i just know i have done something wrong as it does not really pop as intended!

would apreciate your insights...^^

These, right?
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/151918-.html?m=2

Two things I'd say.

First, the texture. For lava, you can just go flat, and paint that. Real lava is a very thick and smooth flowing material. Looks at youtubes of it moving. It's not choppy, as you've depicted it.

Second, it's about the ration of red to yellow. You want to first paint a broad area of very dark red. And then paint lighter, and narrower sections as you layer up. Finally, use very small amount of pure yellow. Or even yellow+white.

so no raised details...hmmm...then i have done it the wrong all along...hmmm... well they are the bases ofr some SM... new batches will be then done after your tips...i had drybrushed the bases i think if i layer then the paints would be much brighter... ok back to the painting board! by the way thanks for the constructive criticism...a reare feat here... mostly we all tend to be sirupy sweet to each other but if a teacher does not teach but is all sweet whats school for, eh?^^

so thanks again^^ and i could have added a link... would have been more consumer friendly^^