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 Dr H wrote:
And I've made progress on the bricks that I'm happy to show:

I re-did the mortar lines with a pin-wash of light stone, and I've just finished adding the light wear pattern to the bricks.

Next is the dark deposits on the bricks.

Looks amazing bud, beautiful stone work.

Was going to suggest a Dave method of "pointing" but looks like you got it sussed.

inmygravenimage wrote:Damn, but that looks amazing. I am a very happy customer indeed!

Good to hear, Graven. Hopefully it looks even more amazing now I've added the dark and a little dry-brushing. Also, I've done the broken edges to show a mixture of sandstone and mortar.

Now I can move on to the lower section before some final weathering over the lot.
Things should move quicker now this is "done".

Camkierhi wrote:Looks amazing bud, beautiful stone work.

Was going to suggest a Dave method of "pointing" but looks like you got it sussed.

Thanks Cam'.
Ah yes, I would have had to buy the paint he used first though. The main problem with this was the grooves were only shallow and are relatively narrow; getting them to show up was just a matter of building up the colour... and then not covering it up when I painted the bricks... and I have to remember it when I consider black washes

Magos, I have started the mud, but it's not much to look at at the moment. Soon.

wow... i... OMG AMAZING

Thanks, hanshot'. That's the kind of reaction anyone likes to receive.

Progress and much to explain this time. We'll start with mud...

The trench has got the bulk of it's mud added (there may be some splashes later).
Outside the trench I've done my "usual" mud recipe, but inside I've used a wash of light brown (instead of a dry-brush) and lots of gloss varnish to make it look waterlogged. Rocks have yet to be done, and they will break up the brown a bit.
You can also see the broken plank is dipping into the wet mud and has become darker and wetter (gloss again).


As for the tower, the dark sections (lower portion and top, fiddly bits) have been made dark.
There is a very slight greenness to these parts. This is to make them not-black but still black. It's only really noticeable if you put something pure black next to it, but to paint it pure black wouldn't look right. More natural if you will.
You can also see why I picked this particular card for these parts; texture.


And this is what it now looks like overall:

Mud 'n' rocks, vents, rubble, bell and plants to do... and final details...

Inside, much thinking has happened and resulted in the below:
From top to bottom;
The bulk of the interior has been painted dark with shades of blue, again to make it not-black but also to give it that comic look where night is always blue .
It's not as blue as it seems in the photos, I had to up the brightness on most of them so you can see the details.
Which brings us to the top photo. This is probably closest to reality in terms of colour.

Being the most open, the top floor has most of the colours of the bricks showing. But is still darker than the outside so that the shading on the wooden floor makes sense.
Under this (picture to right) you can see the light creeping in under the stairs.

Next floor down you can see the walls being lighter about the windows and that I've recreated the pattern of the bricks in dark blue, and is darker in the corners to match the wooden floor.

The ground floor has the light about the windows and you can see the light effect from the working light in the shadow of the platform's leg, how dark it is under the platform (I may add some streaks of "light" where it goes though the stairs), and around the corner (where the light is)... which I think is working quite well even though it's not finished yet.


As I said, mud, rubble, bell, etc... left to do.

Next up is the rusty metal on both pieces...

Thoughts?

Wasn't sure of the colors on the stone initially, but since you did the mortar lines it looks stunning.

Stone looks fabulous, I love it. Gloss varnish worked a treat too

 Dr H wrote:
The ground floor has the light about the windows and you can see the light effect from the working light in the shadow of the platform's leg, how dark it is under the platform (I may add some streaks of "light" where it goes though the stairs), and around the corner (where the light is)... which I think is working quite well even though it's not finished yet.


Thoughts?

If you don't have a girlfriend, you should find one asap. You have too much spare time to paint this scenery ridiculously good!

Now that's just a low blow.

"Stop painting miniatures? Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn what you think."

Theophony wrote:Wasn't sure of the colors on the stone initially, but since you did the mortar lines it looks stunning.

I wasn't sure about the stone until I'd finished it. I knew what the aim was, but had no idea about how to get there. Just kept plugging away and it came together in the end. Thanks.

inmygravenimage wrote:Stone looks fabulous, I love it. Gloss varnish worked a treat too

And you're the man that counts. Glad you are still liking it. Do let me know if there is something you don't like though.

StarDrop wrote:If you don't have a girlfriend, you should find one asap. You have too much spare time to paint this scenery ridiculously good!

Stormwall wrote:Now that's just a low blow.

"Stop painting miniatures? Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn what you think."

Ha. No, and I have no job either currently. Hence, the existence of this particular blog and trying to make money with modelling and painting...

Rocks and rusty metal in progress...

I just love that DrH. Congratulations on a job beautifully done!

The contrast between the weathered façade stone and the exposed internal stone of the wall is lovely!

LOVE the mud on the trench too..... Really giving it a wonderfully atmospheric feel!!

Thanks Gits'. Good to hear that people like it so much.

MagosBiff90 wrote:The contrast between the weathered façade stone and the exposed internal stone of the wall is lovely!

Thanks. Contrast is what I was going for. It emphasises just how broken it is; if it was all the same colour then it wouldn't look at broken as it does.

LOVE the mud on the trench too..... Really giving it a wonderfully atmospheric feel!!

Good good. Here's a bit more atmosphere for you...

As these get closer to completion the smaller the things that I'm painting become:
The trench has had rusty metals, non-rusty metals, other materials (there's bits of wood that need some touching up, and some bits that I'm calling ceramic), rocks and sandbags painted. The skull is yet to be painted and the gun is in progress:


The tower has had it's ladder (rusty metal), the rocks and rubble about the base and on the floors painted.
And I've started on the few other details; sleeping area etc.
Rusty ladder (I'm sure that's safe to climb up... )


Base:


Floors:


There's some black washing needed to be done and then the vents of the tower (the bell will get a bit of verdigris at the same time), and smaller details on both...

Took a while to get the right shade of verdigris and the vents are looking good, but need some more weathering.

Other bits have had some attention but I had to share this photo, just for the photo's sake:

Looking amazing. Love the verdigris and the Ivy up the side is excellent!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The scattered bric-a-brac is fab, also, and adds a splash of colour too

MagosBiff90 wrote:

StarDrop wrote:

OneManNoodles wrote:

QFT

Thanks chaps for all the thumbs.

inmygravenimage wrote:Looking amazing. Love the verdigris and the Ivy up the side is excellent!

Wait until you see it painted...

The scattered bric-a-brac is fab, also, and adds a splash of colour too

More splashes of colour added below...

Speaking of which, these are not the final photos but just to check if either of you, Graven or Magos, want any final additions or changes. Let me know if you want any other photos.

Graven, you wanted graffiti. Something to do with the Odessa gang?
I could do with a bit more information about them, if you know anything, I can't find much:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Odessa_Mob
Ukrainian gangsters... and that's about it.
Do you know of any symbols or mascots that they have used?
Currently I'm thinking of a piece of graffiti with them claiming responsibility for the tower's demise: Odessa Mob woz 'ere (possibly in Ukrainian; Odessa Mob був тут apparently... maybe not). I do know someone that could give me a better translation though.

I may also add a few other random tags about the base of the tower (possibly a sneaky "Dr H woz 'ere" too, by way of a signature).

So, apart from the graffiti, this is what the tower looks like:


and closer...


And this is what the trench looks like:


and closer details:


Have a close look and let me know.

I like the blue coffee mug in the diorama. Always good for a soldier to keep awake while guarding the line.

Also the Cardboard box makeshift bed on the top of Graven's piece is a piece of genius , most people would have just laid out a single piece and not put the detail into it, but you crushed it with all the writing for box weight in metric and parts per pack

the only thing I don't see is a rope to get to the top, but the person hiding out up there probably has that on them......or climbing claws.

Those are imposing... impressive and down-right brilliant. I stand in awe.

Those are impressive pieces, you have done amazing work!

Looks amazing. Coke bottle especially neat touch! Just Odessa in cyrillic or similar would be fine and dandy mate. Plus your own inimitable touches

Wow. That's really good that is. I especially like the little packaging details on the cardboard bed!

All looks really good, really well done on all the little details, I'm very impressed by the way you painted the bottles and the illuminated areas from the lights on the tower.

For the trench, aside from the duckboards and the mud the little notepad and pencil is really cool, great work on the cup IRL not everything is brown & grey

Theophony wrote:I like the blue coffee mug in the diorama. Always good for a soldier to keep awake while guarding the line.

Thanks Theo. The mug was the first thing I thought of when planning the trench. It's just a piece of plastic tube, two drilled holes and a piece of wire bent from one to the other. I did also sand the bottom edge of the tube to give the rounded edge of the bottom of the mug.
You should be able to see that it gets plenty of use with all the coffee rings there.

Also the Cardboard box makeshift bed on the top of Graven's piece is a piece of genius , most people would have just laid out a single piece and not put the detail into it, but you crushed it with all the writing for box weight in metric and parts per pack

It was quite fun to make the cardboard box. Thinking about how a real box is constructed. I folded this up to make a box to check that it worked, was a sensible size and to give it the fold lines. Crushing it had to be done as in this setting it wouldn't be a new box and undamaged it didn't look right in-scale.
Part-way though painting it I didn't think it was going to come out well as it looked like a piece of leather; luckily I managed to lighten it and make it cardboard-like.
The markings were a must, and I wonder if anyone has looked closely enough to see the company that this box came from?

the only thing I don't see is a rope to get to the top, but the person hiding out up there probably has that on them......or climbing claws.

Methods of getting to the top floor were intentionally left off as Graven wanted one of the floors difficult to get to in-game (climbing, ropes and batamarangs are important parts of the game, I'm led to believe).
As to the original occupant and how he/she goes to bed, that's anyone's guess. Maybe they were lucky enough to survive the collapse (or be out when it happened), or really wanted their privacy. That's all open to interpretation.

Thanks muchly Gits'.

Thanks Shas.

inmygravenimage wrote:Looks amazing. Coke bottle especially neat touch! Just Odessa in cyrillic or similar would be fine and dandy mate. Plus your own inimitable touches

I probably had a slight lack of imagination when it came to the bottles (and can) as they all ended up as red and white "coke", but you can't beat the recognisability.
Also witness my first attempt at painting transparent glass on an opaque bottle. There is actually some coke left in the spilled bottle if you can see it from the right angle (same on the trench )

Cool. I've sent an email to my friend with the Ukrainian wife to see if I can get something typically Ukrainian to write, so will see how that goes.

Thanks Weety. Again, the marking just had to be done.

OneManNoodles wrote:All looks really good, really well done on all the little details, I'm very impressed by the way you painted the bottles and the illuminated areas from the lights on the tower.

Thanks OMN. Both the bottles and lighting effects were experiments, so I'm glad they have worked out well.

For the trench, aside from the duckboards and the mud the little notepad and pencil is really cool, great work on the cup IRL not everything is brown & grey

Thanks. As a diorama it needs all those little details to tell the story (which could be written in a notepad ).
Yes it needed some little splashes of colour to bring the whole thing to life, and to contrast with the dirt and rust.

Jesus man... Your scenery painting skills are insane! Subscribed!

ACME box FTW!
Yeah, jumping, leaping and climbing are integral parts of the game. It's good to have variety
Also, I realised I haven't really commented on how fab the trench is looking, and that pesudo-Brenn gun (or is it a pseudo-Vickers?) is fab.

Mymearan wrote:Jesus man... Your scenery painting skills are insane! Subscribed!

Thanks very much. Mostly a mixture of washes and dry-brushing for the bulk of the work. Welcome.

inmygravenimage wrote:ACME box FTW!
Yeah, jumping, leaping and climbing are integral parts of the game. It's good to have variety

He he, couldn't resist. I thought about LexCorp, or something else Batman-related, but... ACME...

Also, I realised I haven't really commented on how fab the trench is looking, and that pesudo-Brenn gun (or is it a pseudo-Vickers?) is fab.

Thanks. I looked at Vickers for inspiration, so Pseudo-Vickers. And that's mostly Ork Boy gun parts on a base.

I have varnished the important parts.
Had to use my brush-on varnish as my spray cans have clogged up. Not just the nozzle, no, that would be too simple, the valve inside the can is clogged. I have found a (potentially dangerous) method for unclogging them, but need to wait for good weather to try it outside in case using a compressor to force the blockage back into the can results in a mess (of varnish, shrapnel and blood... It shouldn't, in theory, but safety first...).

Graffiti and final photos soon...ish.

Yes, make sure to blow yourself up OUTSIDE, your parents will be so greatful that they can just hose you out into the garden instead of having to air out the house .

I think our sleeper awakened from a really bad dream where he blew up inside a tower realize only the tower blew up. That's what happens when you order your ACME alarm clock from a discount online dealer.