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happy New Year

Looking great.

I feel like all my scenery efforts are sooooo inadequate. LOL

That was a lot of work. But looks cool.

@ Gits / Galorn- Thank you for the support on the idea. I think I have found the solution.

@ Camkierhi- I said the same thing when I first got to Dakka. My best advice is to find threads where someone is building things you like, as questions how they did it, and then have a go at it yourself. Each failure brings you another step closer to success (so long as you learn from your mistakes).



I said I'd be back today, and I am. Here's what I did to solve the issue I had w/ the tiles.

First instinct was "RRRAAAGGGHHH DESTROY!!!" and replace w/ more tiles:



But after I thought about it for a moment I decided to be a bit more selective and dug out each tile 1 at a time and replaced it with another tiles I chopped into bitz:



Remember last post where I said the glue turned the plastic squishy? Here's a great example of that:



I dug more out until I had the trench I wanted. I also learned from a mistake I made last time- base the trench black and then glue pieces. This isn't glossy paint, it was just wet when I took the pic.



Fast forward a bit and this is what happened in the trench:



Here's a concrete

patch that got driven over while it was juts a bit soft. Used GS for the patch:



Overall views:





Scale perspective shot:



Shot of the entire model:



Is it finished? Maybe. Still subject to change? Depending on the advice / suggestion, absolutely.

I've taken the recommendations and ideas people have offered and made them come to life. I can't properly explain how much this project has been for me and how very much I have learned. This was a crash course in getting a *lot* better at this craft. Thanks one and all for participating and if anyone has a 'last minute' great idea, speak soon as I'm about ready to give this a blast of flat sealer and call it done.

Thanks for looking! I'll be back soon, and will probably be on a new project to share.

"Good enough is better than best." -- Lynn Wescott.

Call it done, Skalk.

--B.

Wow.

That piece is amazing! I love the attention to detail, and the wear and tear effects help make the piece even better. I especially like the /
3D aspect of the piece, with the cabling and ramp to the next level. i notice you never replaced the stairs though, did you decide they didn't fit?

I can't wait to see your next project, I'll be following keenly.

I like it skalk... stick the fork in it... it's done.

I think you need to call it a day. It looks bloody amazing and the level of detail is incredible. If you fiddle now you will just never stop.

BTW the tiles look perfect.

Amazing work, Can't wait to see whats next.

dam, thats a good looking broken floor

Dude, that looks like crap. In a really, really, really good way

Skalk it looks absolutely terrific. You have gone way above and beyond with this project and I wish that I could play a game with it!!!

Absolutely amazing work.

When I was in college, many of my instructors told us to avoid "sprinkling", just adding more and more stuff without any real rhyme or reason for it.

If it feels finished, or you are at that "I don't know what else to do with it" moment, its time to move on. Anything more and you risk ruining the piece altogether by overdoing it.

Absolutely incredible, Skalk! Haven't had much time to comment (same old, same old ), but watching this progress from its first iteration to this final piece has been wonderful. So much thought has gone into it, and it's clear that you're really trying more and more techniques - it really shows.
Kudos on being adventurous enough to try things I've never seen anywhere else too - that peeling paint on the tank is a great technique, and I might have to try it out myself, if you don't mind.
Love that you kept going, too. Lots of points where you could have said 'good enough' and stopped with a kickass piece, but you took it further anyway, even if it meant risking things you'd already finished.
This is one of my favourite blogs on Dakka - you're always doing something interesting and new, and it never fails to inspire.

Apologies for that embarrassing gush, but it's been building up for a while when I check your page out on my phone on the bus in to work

p.s. Do you mind if I pm you a few questions about your airbrush? There's a badger one that's been making eyes at me from the shelf of my local hobbyshop, and now that I'm actually getting paid, it might be time to make the leap!

What can I say... I'm truly impressed and humbled by your mastery of the scratchbuilding art and the dedication and patience you put into each element. The tiles are amazingly done. After I posted the picture I fretted that it could be too much, but you've done just enough to make it look spot on... My hat is off to you good sir...

Looks awesome. One niggle - the damaged tiles seem to shift slightly to the right with each tile, resulting in a very noticeable misalignment with the undamaged tiles by the time you get to the far right. At first I thought the undamaged tiles were too perfect, but I think it is this uniform shift to the right of the damaged tiles that is the problem. I'd completely understand it being too much effort to fix at this stage though...

I tip my hat to you sir. Get out the clear coat sealer and call it a day. It's definitely martini-time now!

Happy new year!!

Holy Crap Skalk!! Amazing work!! I have to agree with Dr. H!

Looking good. I'll ping you somtinme in the next week or so to schedule that game.

Echoing all the others, that looks awesome, bud. It turned out sweet as hell. All the little details are what bring terrain to life and this little piece is packed full of them.

@ Briancj- Done.

@ Mr Wolfie- Stairs are an oversight that may be added in the far future if I find a bit that will satisfy the design there, but for now I've had enough scratch build for now and in game terms it's less than 3" tall so models will hop up / down w/o issue. Thank you for the compliment, this is w/o question the best piece I've ever done and the standard I've set here won't be revisited for a while. I won't be 'slacking' on my Imperial Sector ruins, but those will rely on paint and a few converted bits to achieve a quality look.

@ Gits- Consider it completely and utterly forked. Thank you again for the idea you offered, it really made a difference.

@ Camkierhi- It's a day. I agree that if I keep going it will a descent into madness and there's already enough detail to put it on most tables with a degree of pride. I know I did a great job on this one.

@ bigfish- Thanks. It was a lot more fun once I figured it out and got going on it. I'll be doing this again on my Imperial Sector floors, but a different design.

@ Graven- Yes, it does. And I'm very happy for that.

@ rust- if you can make your way up here, you're invited. 1,750 pts, standard rules.

@ magless- I really tried to avoid the 'sprinkle' effect and made sure there was a reason and place for everything. I could have added more trash around the base but decided against it. I could have drilled rivet holes in the diamond plate on top of the platform, but again decided against it. No doubt I could have been lost in minutia. There's still a lot of room for my skill to improve, but I think this is an excellent display of where I am. My real challenge is paint, and I'll figure that out before long. I have an airbrush to start using.

@ Scarper- No worries. I know it's absolutely genuine, and I've done the same about your work. Your words honor my work and it is appreciated. As far as the airbrush goes, I haven't firred it up yet because I had to finish the project I was working on first or it wouldn't have been finished for a long, long time, if ever. Now that it is done I can focus on the airbrush. I'll be firing it up Friday night. Expect to see all sorts of pictures here. Once again, thanks to dsteingass for his advice and recommendations. I am hoping to avoid some n00b mistakes thanks to his excellent tutelage.

@ Ruglud- It turned out much better than I expected. Thank you for calling me on task, it looks much better now because of your recommendation.

@ Arakasi- another critical eye catching an error. This one is not getting fixed, bit I'll keep it in mind for next time. It's likely becasue I worked from left to right laying the tiles and did it from only one side as the tank limited access to apply on both sides.

@ hdbbstephen- It's a day, and the sealer is on the list! I'm finding the sealer I have right now is a bit too shiny for what I want. I'm going to look through my FLCS to see if they have a FLAT (like FLAT flat) sealer.

@ Dave- Thank you. You've been a huge inspiration for me, and your advice has been incredibly helpful. This weekend I'll be starting up the Badger. I'm pretty excited all around!

@ Galorn- That would be awesome. Father Nurgle vs. everyone else!

@ Moltar- Thanks man, you know I appreciate the compliments. I had a lot of fun with this, which is different than other projects. Usually I got sick of them 1/2 way through and call them 'done' when I hit 80%ish truly finished. I'm looking forward to cranking up the airbrush this weekend and embrace the next level of terrain modeling! Whoo!



Wow. I really appreciate the feedback. This is w/o doubt the best piece I have ever done and I'm looking forward to somehting similar in the future but for now I'm going to slip back to the more comfortable / less insanely detailed Imperial Sector pieces. Mind you, I am NOT slacking, I'm just not going to spread empty bottles and trash all over the place. I will make craters though, and have bits of IG equipment scattered around randomly, may even call some up of my WFB Skeletons to active duty in the Imperial Guard... as dead Guardsmen. Ha.

MUCH more coming. Here are my pending projects (may have missed something as I am at work and doing this from memory)

1 large Shrine of The Aquila (2 sets combined)
1 large (2 sets combined) and 1 small (one set) Manufactorum
1 small (1 set) and one large (2 sets combined) Basilica Administratum
1 large Sanctum Imperialis (2 sets combined)
1 Aegis Defense Line w/ Quad Gun
2 Pegasus Hobbies buildings
2 Pegasus Hobbies ruins
1 Pegasus Hobbies Chemical Plant
1 Pegasus Hobbies Large Platformer
Scratch build recreations of the old Necromunda cardboard terrain (aka the original project I was working on when I first started this thread)
Other misc Necromunda stuff
Many smaller 40K / Necromunda things like crate piles, fuel drums, etc.
And of course, a few random surprises here and there to keep you guessing.

Thanks again one and all. I'll be back!

Look forward to seeing what you come up with. Your refueling station is really impressive and I must say I am very happy to see how far you've come.

Keep up the great work!

wow skalk this one is littered with details nice job!

The guys at my FLGS were commenting on how nice my scratch-built cardboard ADL looked on the table yesterday, and all I could think of was that I needed to go back to them and bump'em up a level in detail...

Thanks for the inspiration!

That is pure magic! it went from awesome terain to full detail diorama

Needs oily track marks and bubble gum spots... and cig. butts lol
oh I almost forgot the wall needs a nudie calendar!

looking good so far man!! The smashed tiles are greate!!!

20 Days and no airbrushing?

Well done! I really like the indented crushed tile!

Skalk where can I find this khorne lord on jugger you have hiding somewhere?

@ madmartykmf- You know how I feel about your work / skill and I take the compliment as high praise. Thank you.

@ Rogue- It was a lot of fun to do. I probably won't throw this much detail onto my next piece, but at least I know I could pull it off it I did.

@ hdbbstephen- Glad I could be an inspiration. I have to credit most of the other guys on Dakka for where I am now, and where I'm going next. Dare to experiment. if nothing else you can always put it back the way it was. Sort of.

@ Styrofoam04- Man, you're killing me. No. Just no. I'm done. That's it. Thank you for the compliment though.

@ HAZZER- So far? Dude it's done. Like really. Done.

@ Dave- A few days ago I was on vacation and (of course) was wearing a Harley t-shirt as we walked around the outlet stores (had to take the women shopping... ugh... ) and eventually my shirt attracted the attention of an old graybeard (yay!) that came up to me and we started talking about bikes and the lifestyle that surrounds riding, and of course we asked each other what we rode. He told me he had a Wide Glide (I forget what year) and I told him I had a 2010 Sportster 48 with a few extra tricks on it. He told me he really liked the look of that model and if he was still into the 'stretched out' riding style he'd be seriously thinking about one. As we talked more he told me that he started riding when he got back from 'Nam and had hardly missed a day since. I told him I rode from age 9 to 21 (Basic Training) and as soon as I got my my first duty station I started riding again, but then gave it up in '91 and didn't get back on until '11. He understood the whole family / house / responsibility thing, but when I told him I waited 3 months to ride it after I bought it he was a bit more perplexed. I told him the truth- I was afraid to ride it. it was brand new, it was awesome, it was expensive, I had no skill, and it was too intimidating. But I finally did get on, and in my first year riding I logged over 6500 miles and I have 10's of thousands more miles ahead of me.

That's what is happening w/ the airbrush right now. I've been looking for excuses to not use it. Everyone here is asking me why I'm avoiding it, especially since I was *so* excited to get it. I am going to get to it, but it's not going to be for a while more. I haven't even read the manual yet. Once I get going I'll probably airbrush anything that is nailed down in the house. Until then... I'm getting ready to go. I promise.

@ eldartau1987- Glad you like it! The tile is what really 'sold' this I think. Really brought it to life and put a perspective on it I could not have achieved w/o it.

@ GiraffeX- PM sent



Taking a SHORT break from terrain for a couple reasons-

1- I'm entering a Khornate Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut in this contest- http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/498307.page

This is where it is at so far:



2- I have no idea how to follow my last piece of work so I'm putting some distance between what I just did and what I'm doing next. I'll post a couple pics of the upcoming project in a few days.

Thanks one and all for checking this out and staying interested. I'll be back soon with actual progress on a new piece soon! I'm taking a minor break but the Terrain Thread rules all and will be back into full swing as soon as I finish this Chaos Lord.

Looks very promising!

All you have to do is hook it up and start spraying, it's not like a motorcycle at all. You're just afraid of it, but you are the only one that can do anything about that.

@ Gits- It's been fun so far. Need to step it up a bit though, just rec'd a request to play Friday night so I have tonight and tomorrow night to p... hmm... going to skip this game w/ him and just hide it instead. I played a Daemon Prince of Khorne last time so he's probably geared up to defend against a fast-moving death dealer. I'll play something else instead. Muahha.

@ Dave- Just offered that as an example. I know I'm the only one that can change it, and want to, I just can't get past the 'block' right now. Once I do I'll feel as stupid for waiting as I did w/ my bike.