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Anvildude wrote:Harbour Freight has sets of teeny tiny drillbits for cheap- you could use those in a pinvise or something for tiny holes.

I'll have to look into it, the trick will be finding lights small enough!

stonned_astartes wrote:This has got to be one of the coolest and detailed 3d maps iv'e seen! Always loved the pyramids theme, what a build.

Thanks! Hopefully it'll look even better with some paint

CommissarKhaine wrote:Updates are looking nice; and NMM on that scale? You're even crazier then I thought

I never like to make things easy for myself! NMM also helps me to better define small details though so it does also have a practical purpose besides my mild insanity...

Dr H wrote:Nice work. All looking great.

Thanks!

The first pyramid is all done. The Great Library is the odd one out as it has more white sections than gold so I painted in some tiny doors/archways around the structure and also added some smaller details in blue at the bottom. I think my gold is still a little too dark but I'm sure I can nail down the perfect recipe on the next 15

That's looking great. Nothing wrong with a bit of variation in the golds....

Holes and lights by themselves won't do it.....I was after the actual flow of traffic - so sequenced LEDs are going to be in order

I'll see what I can whip up, just gotta find my microscope first!

The Raptora Cult now have their completed base of operations, fortunately I found a sword pommel with claws on that looks very much like their cult symbol so that got stuck on top. I also added some very thin grey stripes to represent windows along the sides of the pyramid. Progress is good!

Wow those pics of Tizca as a whole you too.. truely a work of art that you can get lost in while staring at it. Amazing work!

Cheers Syro! Hopefully my paint skills will do it justice

The two smallest pyramids are now done. The temples of the Pavoni and Athanaean Cults were a nice way to see how my scratch-built pyramids held up next to the plastic ones and I think they blend right in. I used the little moon symbol to represent the Pavoni as they were renowned shapeshifters and no symbol represents that better than a moon! The Athanaean temple just has a pretty looking top as their cult is one of the more confusing ones related to mind control.



The NMM looks a little rough this close up but my eyes started to hurt from squinting so much and they look fine at a normal size!


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Well it seems that I am having a very productive evening as I got another three pyramids done in no time! I am definitely getting the hang of painting things this small now though I am not looking forward to painting 1700 little houses at this scale...



When on the board they really come to life, I am very excited to see how this all turns out!

Bless your eyesight! The pyramids look brilliant and seeing the whole city is really a testament to the work you've put into the project.

1700 good lucks on those houses!

I'm loving the scale of it all, you've made excellent use of bits to convey that.

Tyranid Horde wrote:Bless your eyesight! The pyramids look brilliant and seeing the whole city is really a testament to the work you've put into the project.

1700 good lucks on those houses!

Thanks I'll need all the luck I can get!

CommissarKhaine wrote:I'm loving the scale of it all, you've made excellent use of bits to convey that.

Cheers! It's amazing what useless bits can be transformed into at this scale, everything comes in handy...


The last of the pyramids (save the biggest one) are now all finished, the big ones were really fun to do!


I might have to add some more intermediary colours on the smallest pyramid now I look at it a bit closer but it looks fine when surrounded by all its brothers. Next up is some spray paint over the whole thing. I might start with a grey as that way I can make it work with both the houses and mountains.

I'm wondering about the brick patterns on those guys. The scale is such that I'm thinking it might be better to do a solid color, and then just try to texture it via clean brush while tacky, or precision drybrushing. 'cause with the scale, and the size of the temples, those individual blocks would be.... 50+ feet tall, each?

I thought those were representing windows and levels rather than actual blocks.

I keep being awed at the sense of scale you've managed to convey. Nice work!

Anvildude wrote:I'm wondering about the brick patterns on those guys. The scale is such that I'm thinking it might be better to do a solid color, and then just try to texture it via clean brush while tacky, or precision drybrushing. 'cause with the scale, and the size of the temples, those individual blocks would be.... 50+ feet tall, each?

monkeytroll wrote:I thought those were representing windows and levels rather than actual blocks.

Yeah the lines are the closest I could get to painting windows and openings on the pyramids rather than brickwork although now I look at it, the vertical lines do give that impression. I might add some yellow patches on them to help identify them a little better.

This is basically what I was going for but the things are so dang small!

CommissarKhaine wrote:I keep being awed at the sense of scale you've managed to convey. Nice work!

Thanks! I continue to impress myself as well



It is raining like crazy outside so I cannot do any spraying atm. However I managed to keep myself busy by working on my terrain competition hosted by the Riveters. I recently uncovered a box of offcuts from some laser printed terrain I got many years ago. It contained so many interesting shapes that I decided to make it the base of the entire project.



I am going to be constructing a post apocalyptic ice cream shack on a pier inspired by Fallout 4 so I am very excited to see what I can create! I started by making the floor of the pier, some long straight pieces were the perfect size for me already.



I then found some equally perfect bits to make a nice bench



Another couple of bits and some popsicle sticks made some excellent chairs to go along with it.



The theme of the challenge is to transform candy containers or sweet things into terrain and I was fortunate enough to find a knock-off Tic Tac container in the shape of an ice cream that will serve as the base for the shack. I will have to chop off the bottom section and widen it to make room for some windows and hatches but the top is already perfect. I might just cut a few holes in it and maybe give it a birds nest and some battle damage.




I must say it feels weird making something so comparatively large compared to Tizca!

Any other things the little terrain piece could look good with? I am thinking it needs a parasol for the table and an overhang section on the shack. Maybe a glimpse of a monster hiding out in the water as well...

Those pyramids look so good that it's mind blowing! Great work! I'm also enjoying your ice cream shack, the table has a real nice look to it.

Great work again on the pyramids!

Excited to see what you do with the ice cream shack, will you be going for any water effects if it's a pier?

Nice use of those leftover bits!

You should perhaps do something with old motherboards...

Syro_ wrote:Those pyramids look so good that it's mind blowing! Great work! I'm also enjoying your ice cream shack, the table has a real nice look to it.

Thanks! It's worth buying lasercut terrain just for the extra pieces sometimes!

Tyranid Horde wrote:Great work again on the pyramids!

Excited to see what you do with the ice cream shack, will you be going for any water effects if it's a pier?

Oh yes lots of water effects on the way, it is actually going to be my practice run for when I start on the water around Tizca.

CommissarKhaine wrote:Nice use of those leftover bits!

Malika2 wrote:You should perhaps do something with old motherboards...

Wow that looks awesome! I actually have a bit of circuitry lying around but none of it looks as good as that. I'd rip my laptop apart in search of bits if I didn't need it to post updates!



I left the province for a few days and when I returned 13cm of snow had landed so I still haven't had the chance to get any spraying done... The ice cream shack is progressing nicely though, I added some more details and quickly sculpted a little monster lurking in the water. Thinking I might call this little piece finished once it is painted up. I don't want to add much more in case it gets too cluttered.





Any additions it looks like it needs? I am going to put a birds nest in the top of the cone at some point and maybe had a tool box on the table but I am open to suggestions

Are you planning on putting some bird poop streaks on the ice cream below the nest?

Try to get your hands on e-waste, so old phones, computers, radios, etc.

Syro_ wrote:Are you planning on putting some bird poop streaks on the ice cream below the nest?

Ooh I am now! Great idea

Malika2 wrote:Try to get your hands on e-waste, so old phones, computers, radios, etc.

Pretty sure I have an old PC lurking around the house somewhere that might be perfect for that kind of stuff, could be a treasure trove of bits!


After quite a long break from the city I have finally had a day that wasn't minus 15 degrees outside so I got the whole thing a nice basecoat and it has really tied the whole thing together. Now the tricky part of actually painting everything starts.






While the artwork shows snowcapped grey mountains, I am tempted to change that for dusty brown ones as you would find in Egypt. Might do a couple of test ones in each scheme to see which works best. I like the idea of the city seeming to be pushing away an expansive desert with a fertile green area spanning from the river that will be flowing through the center.

Looking good with the base coat down.

Looking great! I can't imagine how hard it will be to paint details on this piece. How small do your paint brushes go?

Thanks fellas! The small details shouldn't be too hard I don't think, while they are tiny I only need to add a couple of colours to make them look good I hope. And yeah, fine detail brushes will be my best friend with this project


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I tried out the brown mountains using a selection of ever darker weathering powders and I am quite happy with the end result. Nothing replicates the look of rock than very finely ground rocks! (even if half of the stuff does just go straight into your lungs) Given that it is a large part of the diorama it had to look quite realistic and also not stand out too much or else it would distract from everything else and I thing the brown pulls that off nicely.

It was hard to get a decent shot of it without distorting the colours but it is accurate enough!

This is my favourite angle to view the board btw, really happy with how this factory turned out. I might add some smoke clouds to the chimney stacks when the time comes..



I also did the same technique on other spots of the board, I really like the encroaching desert vibe it gives off..





I also wanted to try out a couple of ways to place some trees and am considering some old flock I found in a cupboard that has been neglected for at least 10 years. Thoughts on how it looks? The scale is a little off but the added realism is a good payoff in my opinion. I also popped Canis Vertex next to them so you get a sense of scale.



Obviously when I get around to sticking it down I will flatten it out a little and add in some different coloured patches. It seems to work best in larger clumps as individual pieces just turn into little strands and lose the appearance of foliage.

This new step of coloring is turning out great! I'm very impressed with how the mountains and desert turned out. And that factory is a thing of beauty. I think the flock for trees is a really good idea, but I'm personally not a fan of such a bright green. Along with adding the different colored patches when sticking it down, do you think most of it will stay that bright? Keep up the great work!

Yep, that's all looking good. Mountains work well as desert - could still add a frosting of snow on the highest peak if desired though. Flock looks perfect, just needs a bit of colour variation.

The scale on the flock isn't so far off that it ruins the effect, I quite like it. Just needs some colour variation, especially with darker greens.

Syro_ wrote:This new step of coloring is turning out great! I'm very impressed with how the mountains and desert turned out. And that factory is a thing of beauty. I think the flock for trees is a really good idea, but I'm personally not a fan of such a bright green. Along with adding the different colored patches when sticking it down, do you think most of it will stay that bright? Keep up the great work!

Thanks! Yeah I am going to add some pale brown trees to the mix for some variety. The green ones are actually a lot darker than the pictures suggest, my google pixel likes to take very pretty pictures but often exaggerates bright colours...

monkeytroll wrote:Yep, that's all looking good. Mountains work well as desert - could still add a frosting of snow on the highest peak if desired though. Flock looks perfect, just needs a bit of colour variation.

Thank you sir, definitely still going to see how a bit of snow looks on the peaks I think. I just have to pick up some white chalk and grind it down as paint would just mix with the powders and go a nasty pale brown! I am also going to have to pick up some ard coat or something similar to seal all the colours in place. Unfortunately the postal service is on their annual Christmas strike and I don't feel like the four hour drive to my nearest GW


I think I have the majority of the ground all painted now. It has everything from white sandy beaches to fertile grasslands at the mouth of the river. The large green square in the bottom right is the only bit left but it needs painting much more carefully as I am going to try for a farmland checkered pattern. The colour transitions are a lot more subtle than the image may suggest




I think the green bits on the hill could do with some refining but since it will be covered in trees much of the hill will be obscured anyway. Turns out that grass is a little hard to paint at this scale!

Wow, awesome colors, this is getting really gorgeous !

Thanks mate! I am really enjoying adding some colour to the whole thing


I think I may have just painted my new favourite part of the board, the simple little farmyard. After carefully cutting up some masking tape into small strips I detailed all the little sections with a variety of greens and browns and I am so happy with the end result. It is really just a few simple patterns but they all seem to blend together really well and are really eye catching. Still have to add some trees in between the fields but I will probably leave that till later as I suspect my massive hands will just destroy them if I do it now!






I realise now that I forgot to take a closeup of the farm itself but I have almost got a small section of the city done as well so I shall post it in the morning. Thanks for stopping by!

Looking great, and looks like you're back to progressing at a really fast rate. How are your eyes and back feeling after all this work?