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Oh and here is that end piece that I'm still trying to decide on.... vent fans, grating ? not sure

This is wonderful work...


I hate you.

joke

You're not glueing the pannels down?

I would gule the roof all together, put more paneling on the other side of the shark fins, cut the wall along the top brick area, use magnets so that the entire roof can be pulled off. That is what I've done on my cathedral I've been working on.

Fan System, definitely.
It will help break up the general squareness,
and give the eye something to train too.

fans would look good

Looking good! I get what you mean about the good weather and not wanting to stay indoors anymore. What part of Canada are you from, anyway? We are probably practically neighbors, as I live in South Central Alaska. We have been having some awesome sunny days the last week or so, totally making up for last summer's crummy weather. It's hard to stay inside after such a long winter!

On topic: square wooden dowels would be a cheap way to secure that roof a little better, perhaps.

So it's been a long, long while since I last posted, which is good for I have been crazy busy with school, traveling, social/love life and have had scant time to Hobby it up... But something about last remembrance day just got me a wondering. And so I just recently went back to work on some things that have been collecting dust - to this end I have had some success and have encountered some obstacles... but I now ope to share some things that I have picked up on. Trenches - seems it's most every wargamers fantasy to build masterful trench systems lined with uber kool sandbags. Here [below] is my attempt....

Now my projects have been all about DIY as much as possible using the cheapest things either at hand or store bought and I think I have solved some issues [or at least have a suggestions or two] that many trenchers face.

The ever elusive Sandbag: I have searched far and wide looking for a reasonable method and have finally found one- it may not be the easiest, but it sure beats one gentleman’s attempt at filling Kleenex (tissue paper) with real sand etc... Unlike said individual I was not granted the gift of patience. There is also the ‘greenstuff’ method which works just fine but (according to some) can get expensive. There are other products and natural elements I have seen other attempt and many (with much time and effort) have produced wicked kool results. Now I am not the best (by far) modeller – it’s more of a time killer for me. Sorry getting off topic – Ok so what has my search resulted in? Crayola!!! Not the crayons... but the ‘Crayola Air-Dry Clay’ (5lb bucket from Wal-Mart should cost you between $5 -$10 [Canadian] – this is not to be confused with the foam/putty magic stuff). It is clay, that dries overnight (or less) and well... is clay, so imagine the results: hard, dry, not too brittle – but do exercise caution. I found it wonderful (considering the price and amount) to work with... try to work in a semi cool environment for the longer you play with it the softer it gets and the harder it is to keep the details formed. Now for the details, many use things like clothe, burlap, and a myriad of other inventive things to produce that sand bags texture... and one night after tearing through my clothes closet looking for some sort of material... I finally saw the answer staring right back at me – my very own modelling knife (pen knife, scalpel or whatever people call it). I used the grip of the modelling knife to make the texture and it looks great (as per my low expectations). Now I am not taking credit for this for I’m sure many others have come to the same conclusion... however I must caution, the detailing left is very delicate so use finger caution so as not to squish the details our when cutting your seams along the side. To get them to stick together I used a mixture of finger pressure back up with a small dap of generic white glue. So too when adhering to the surface of your board – finger pressure and some generic white glue. They have adhere beautifully... so much so, that I can turn the board upside down and bang the sand off after turning the board and not a one has fallen off. I then used $2 a bottle Wal-mart Acrylic paints to paint em up (and to paint the entire board). Caution: because it is clay you need to be careful when applying the paints.... to much paints and brush for too long can moisten already dry clay and lead to the removal of the texturing work you have done. So for the first X2 under coats of black just be careful. I have produce results I am completely happy with - the only issue I have seems to be the advanced detailing of both the board and the sandbags, but again, I am no master painter... The next task I had (and still have) is water affect; I really want to make the board like one of those haunting WW1 warscapes you see in old photos [see below] but I have yet to really look into water effects... and actually almost melted my board when I tried using some sort of clear hardening top coat nail polish stuff [pictured below] it worked for one creator but messed up others... so stay away from that stuff. I would appreciate any and all suggestions re: detailing, water effects etc.... I want this board looking as a muddy WW1 type landscape which I can then 40k-it-up etc... hope some of these suggestions have helped, for many of yours’ have been as the emperors guiding light through the dark eye of chaos. P.s. I am not completely satisfied with the colouring of the painted sandbags... but this is a painting issue.

More dem piks

Inspiration is key....

More dem piks

More dem piks

Last of dem piks (Remember don't use these products unless you know how to controll their masterful melting ability when in contact with the pink styra)

Sorry I just realized that I never posted this little guy... I was trying to do a hanger type thing and had just finished a can of Allen's apple juice. So I grabbe a pair of shears and got a cutting (careful sharp edges). Make sure to prime with some sort of metal primer - for (as I had to contend with) other primers just don't do it. I then just stuck it into some leftover pink styra, textured, then painted...

(hey how do you delete a single post?) I can't seem to remove this indiviual post at the end without the piks :( yes the one you are reading right now

I'm liking this latest stuff. Trenched landscapes are always just such a look that you really have to make look destroyed and wasteland, which I think you have so far. And for water effects, though it may not be cheap, I've seen the GW stuff actually have a great look to it, when other people have made terrain involving it.
Anyway, just a suggestion, but it's good to see you're back in the game! Stay in it, and that's all I've to say. -Kaesar II

Just found your work , very nice stuff. like your factory ,i a also building a manufactorum , ina similar vain , so i took notes , especially the crate for iron work. trenches are cool! and yours is one of the coolest i have seen. look forward to see what eles pops up on here

sallad101 wrote: ANOTHER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Brought to you by "The Imperium of Man"

(not my pik... but man, if someone could give this guy a lasgun)

Like this?:

Just found this thread tonight, subscribed. Very detailed with an intense focus on doing amazing things with low cost materials. The bread tray was the most stunning. I have to find some sort of access to some broken ones, will start checking around. Runner up was the air-dry clay.

I haven't been making any DIY 40K period terrain lately because I scored some of the GW CoD buildings on eBay for close to nothing and most of what I had been making was lacking that "tie in" to the new stuff I had, but I saw some other work here that tied it DIY and pre-manufactured together in a way that works well. This thread is going to make me revisit how I have been looking at terrain.

seeing all your terrain makes me again wish i had the time to do a trench system...

also never thought about giving sandbags a texture...very good idea.

very good work.

vik