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@ monkeytroll- Thank you for the compliment. It's all in the details. And I'll look up weathering powders tuts online. I want to do better jobs on my stuff, the 'next level' so to speak.

@ dsteingass- Yup. That's th3e goal. Just need to see it done. Will show results when i have some, good and / or bad.

@ Viktor von Domm- The color is WYSIWYG, it was already dry when I took those pics. Different shades of brown / rust.

@ Rogue Wolves- Yes they are. I wish I had an inside line to get a few more of these. They look great, paint up moderately easy, and the build is about as simple as it can be.

@ weetyskemian44- Nice to see you again. You know, I really need to check out your thread again. It's so overwhelming sometimes.

MOLTAR!!!! Dude it's good to see you on Dakka again! Hope you can hang out a bit more when you have the time. Anyway, thank you for the compliments and rest assured that Hello Kitty is all about kvlt grimdark bitterness. It's wrapped up in a cute kitten face in a pink box... but trust me... Hello Kitty is pure death.

re: Hogan's Heroes- I used to really enjoy that show a lot. Interesting note- Sgt. Schultz was a toymaker before he was pressed into military service. I'll bet he did historical wargames as a hobby.



Ok, decent update coming today. First up is the continuation of the Epicast walls Dave sent me. The floor is made from Pegasus Hobbies treadplate panels I picked up from Hoard O Bits and glued to my usual piece of hardboard (best thing every for terrain bases). I based the... uh... base... with black (then gray) rattle can spray. It's not finished, it's just there to give me some perspective while I work on the model. Note that I painted the gaps the same rust color as everything else, but used a lighter color on the edging of the tread plate. It's a subtle difference but it shows up nicely and gives that 'degrees of decay' look.



Walls are done but I didn't take any new pics before gluing them to the base. So, here's everything glued and ready to move on to the next stages:







Closeup shots of the smaller walls:






It'll might be a while before this is done because of a bunch of things, most specific is the flocking and finish work. But rest assured this is huge on my list because it's very close to being done and it looks really cool. C&C welcomed becasue it's not quite finished and if anyone has an awesome idea I'll give it a try. Yes, rust powder will be attempted.

But wait, there's more!!!

These are pieces that I don't want to put on my table at all, but I know they will. I decided to FINALLY make my 'destroyed vehicle' markers. I made 4 Rhino markers as I usually run at least 2 Rhinos and generally have a variant (Predator, Vindicator, etc).

Hardboard bases cut to size:



Getting some texture. I used Elmer's Wood Glue.



Flock complete. It is sparse on purpose.



Based black,and first shot of parts I'm using. All of the bitz are from my massive collection of Rhino parts. I only used items that I have a lot of, or are so messed up I'll never use them, even on a Nurgle Rhino.



Mock-up of how I'll lay out the parts. Nothing is glued yet.



Supporting evidence that I genuinely belong to the LoER. I had to trim these rivets and was thinking "man, what a waste of good rivets".



Complete. Stood them up on their side to show that yes, they do have glue.








I put a lot more consideration into these than it may look. My primary goal was to make a marker that looked decent enough and clearly showed the 'difficult terrain' created by a destroyed vehicle. I avoided using a huge wrecked / burnt out shell of a vehicle because I wanted two more things from my markers- practical application (having miniatures stand on it after the wreck for armor save / pin test) and storage / transport considerations.





Nothing I'd enter into a contest, but 100% awesome for my personal use.

C&C always welcomed and encouraged. Thanks for looking and I'll be back as soon as I have something more to share.

had to look back of your recent post as to what these parts on bases should stand for... ruined tanks... ok... then the bitz fit the purpose... tho i am not sure to the rhino gunners torso... that looks wrong...

but a nice idea!

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:These are pieces that I don't want to put on my table at all, but I know they will. I decided to FINALLY make my 'destroyed vehicle' markers. I made 4 Rhino markers as I usually run at least 2 Rhinos and generally have a variant (Predator, Vindicator, etc).

Sorry Vik, but had to point out that I made sure to include that info in the post. As for the gunner torso, I added it because I needed somehting from the hatch and that was a bit I have about a dozen of. I suppose I could chop it up a bit to make it look less like what it is, but aside from your keen eye I doubt anyone will notice either way.

well... how about adding a dead head? some rotten zomie one?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
tho that would probably ruin storability...

Armorcast ruin is looking pretty cool. Like the practicality of your destroyed vehicle bases I was also wondering about the rheen's torso, maybe some wires hanging out of the neck? I know it can be disguised with paint (I've used them as part of trukk suspension) but in that position with the neck hole it looks a bit obvious/weird to me.

Then again, I may be thinking too much about a destroyed vehicle marker

Hey Skalk my chaotic friend! it's been a while, I am loving your terrain pieces you built for your gaming table. He'll you got a good variety of pieces to make your battlefield interesting.

Armorcast piece is coming along really well. The functionality of the wrecked rhino templates is very smart thinking. Glad to be back in the Dakka-scene. Unfortunately, as soon as I'm back, I get sucked into the warp again. I leave for China tomorrow, but managed to move houses and keep my nerd goods in tact. Excited though, upon my return I'm actually going to begin building small forces to actually play 40k with. Yay for months of getting creamed on the tabletop by 14 yr olds.
Good to see you still cranking away. Don't think I'll have many chances to pop on dakka while overseas, but once I'm back I'll have some fun stuff to post.... Chimp Fists, perhaps.

@ Vik- I've decided to take a blowtorch and melt the torso down a bit so it looks like slag instead of a torso. Will show pics when I'm done.

@ monkeytroll- Thank for the compliment. Hope you like the pics below. And agreed w/ the torso thing. It's going to change.

@ GreyDeathOne- GD1!!! Man it's like an 'old school' homecoming party! Were have you been? Off doing somehting cool no doubt. I thought you forgot all about your Dakka buds. I stand happily corrected. Appreciate the compliment, and rest assured that more good stuff is on the way.

@ Moltar- Wait. You are moving to China or just visiting? I didn't quite get that. But in either case, glad to see you around Dakka when you can visit. Cool to hear you're going to start playing. Looking forward to seeing more Imperial Chimps. Always a good laugh, and the artistry of it is excellent.



So yesterday I took the day off. It was planned out about 2 weeks ago so no I didn't just ditch work. It's nice to have a random day off to look forward to now and then.

I sat at my table from about 8:15 am to 5:15 PM. It was awesome. Got a bunch of fiddly things done (like clean off my desk) and also 'finished' my Epicast / Pegasus Hobbies ruin.

I said 'finished' instead of FINISHED because there's a bit of work I could do, but I'm waiting to get some practice / skill w/ powders first. I don't feel like practicing on something I like this much.

Anyway, here's the pics. C&C welcomed, but be kind re: powder etc. It will happen becasue I want to continue my quest for continuous improvement.

Here I'm flocking w/ the standard little crushed rocks I use for everything. The base is covered w/ Elmer's Wood Glue. I like it better than regular because it makes in iron-strong bond. The only way that stuff comes off after it's dry is w/ dynamite.





I use a newspaper when I flock so I can recover the stuff that falls off. I pour so much on it because I press down hard on the pile to get as much texture into the glue as possible. And yes, it has occurred to me how very cool it looks with the huge pile of scree around it. Maybe I'll make one like that out of foamboard someday.

And here it is, 'finished' and ready for the tabletop!







And some detail shots. I really like how the smaller walls came out. Comparison pics provided. But first the floor. Note the 2nd shot for wear. How did that come out?





There's more I could have done, but I'm holding off until I know what I'm doing.

Here's the detail closeups of the smaller walls:

Before:





After:





I'm not terribly happy w/ the obvious line between wall and base, may go back over that to grade it down a bit. But overall I'm pleased withe the outcome and I learned a couple things doing this so I'll have them in my 'tool box' for the next piece I'll be working on.

To finish things up, the obligatory 'action shot':



They are obviously hunting Mutants. Or Chaos Cultists. Or anyone that isn't a Redemptionist... that is part of THEIR group. Or maybe they'll just shoot each other if they don't find anyone else. Had telling with psychotic Imperial Cultist fundamentalists.

That's it for now. I'm looking for a break in terrain as soon as the new CSM Codex comes out. I've seen pics of the new rules, looks like I have a *lot* of things to learn. Looking forward to it.

Life is good.

I've decided to take a blowtorch and melt the torso down a bit so it looks like slag instead of a torso. Will show pics when I'm done.

that sounds like s splendid idea!!!

and so manyl as you used fire

and the redemtionists are looking damn fine... makes me want to get them yet again too... always thought i would use these as priests for my IG...

Dood! Looks nice!
(btw, it's Armorcast, Epicast was a different company )

@ Vik- There's so much awesome packe dinto the Redemptionist models. They fit in IG and Necromunda and would make great Cultists. I really like them a lot.

@ Dave- Thanks for the compliment. I'm psyched that I could take your old stuff and turn it into something awesome for my table. I'll tell you, it was a huge motivator for me. It is a project I enjoyed a lot. Nice to know I did it some justice.

 dsteingass wrote:
The Resin walls are old Armorcast, OOP for several years

Epic, Armor... both were put down by GW. I think they were just R&D for Forgeworld. But I'll make the connection from now on.

Came out looking great Skalk, especially with the redempionists in place

Nice bit of wear on the floors

Haha I'm visiting China. On my way there now. I was moving just across Charleston. New terrain pics are still looking great, bud! Keep it going!

Colour contrasts are excellent. Nice job chief.

@ monkeytroll- Nothing like a few Redemptionists to bring some color (colour?) to any 'action shot'. Thanks for the comment on the floors. The technique came from me having Bolt Gun paint on my thumb. Ran it over the plates, instant roughshod wear. Weird, but it worked.

@ Moltar- Phew. Ok. But you know... since all of GW's stuff is made in China, maybe you could score the 'bulk rate discount' by bribing one of the homeless orphans they force to work there with $20. Or go dumpster diving for the miscasts. Yes, I know they just dump the miscast plastic back into the vat and recycle them, I just thought it was funny to tell you to go dumpster diving in China.

@ graven- Thanks man, I really appreciate that. I was so tempted to just leave it all rust, but I knew that would get really boring really fast and look lame on the tabletop. I like this way better.



Not an update per se, it kind of is, but I'm looking at it more as a glimpse of the madness that races through my mind every time I try to do anything.

So last night I decided to keep the momentum going and work on some more terrain. I immediately went for the Pegasus Hobbies stuff I have and tried to figure out what to do w/ them. I grabbed some of the 'mock up' buildings I test painting techniques on, thought I would used them as a frame for the PH panels.



That wasn't working so I dumped out a few things so they could all stare at me while I was waiting for that burst of inspiration to hit me. That was my first sign of trouble- wandering ideas that go nowhere. Here are a few things I tried before figuring out what I wanted to do. The next pics posted represent a few hours.



Thought this base was a good idea. Scrapped that idea quickly, just wasn't feeling it.



Grabbed another base off the shelf (I have a few of these done up in case I need them for area terrain on the table) and put together some of the PH pipe flanges. Put this together, didn't like it, scrapped it.



Put together some whatever those things in the back are, tried to use them w/ the pipe flanges, didn't fit, idea scrapped.



Then I realized those whatever they are things are *exactly* 3 inches, the magic number for Necromunda terrain. I started envisioning platform risers and walkways and towers and all sorts of awesome stuff, realized how much work that would be, idea scrapped for now but absolutely will revisit later.



Here's the idea I had. I hate this building. It just isn't functional or practical on my tabletop. it's bland, boring, doesn't serve a purpose, and doesn't have a base.



...so I tore it apart and started to put it back together...



...which got the gears turning all the faster and I decided to make a genuine building with a real base and distinct features. I took another smaller piece I had been using as a spray test a while back. And since it also had little use on my table in the past I wasn't bummed to tear it apart.



A quick mock-up. It's going to work.



This is how it fit together after breaking apart the appropriate pieces:



Following my last bit of terrain, this one has a floor as well.



Cut to size and ready to go:



After looking at it a bit I felt it was too "blah". Just wasn't liking those huge gaping holes in the front and the one huge undamaged wall panel in the back (surrounded by everything else blown up) and misc etc bitz. Here's a series of photos showing the evolution of the piece as I made changes to it.

















Almost 4am by the time I got all this done and I was nodding off at the workbench. It was time for bed. But before I went to get a few hrs of sleep, I made sure to pick up the chaos that I had created earlier. A clean desk is a happy desk.



Fast forward 5 hours (yep, I got up at 9) and I've tried a blue spray on the ruin. C & C greatly encouraged. Yes, I know the rust spray is lame and needs to be fixed. It's far from done, it was just a color test to see if I was going to like it or not. I'm thinking 'yes' but still not completely sure, especially since all my other buildings are a gray steel color. Maybe I need to repaint them as well?





Decided I didn't like the gaping hole where the door used to be and started to make a new door.



Gluing first support, found a spur that needed to be trimmed off:



...and that's not all I trimmed. Amazingly I didn't feel it, I just saw this after I had been holding the bitz together so the glue would bond faster:.


It takes more than that to take down the mighty Skalk Bloodaxe. I kept going and made 2 different doors. Looking for opinions. Do you prefer.....

Door #1...



Or Door #2?



That's it for this one, but be assured that more is coming very soon. I'm taking a break from working on this so I could come post here. I've already cut out the permanent base and I'm thinking about respraying the entire model black and just drybrush some gray steel on it like the others I have. Or I could repaint all the other ones I have to match the table. Hard tellin' not knowin', and I ain't knowin' just yet.

I'm off to do all sorts of fun modeling things. Will check back now and then tonight.

Thanks for your time, and extra thanks to people who leave some C&C on the doors and the colors.

"Yes, I know they just dump the miscast plastic back into the vat and recycle them, I just thought it was funny to tell you to go dumpster diving in China."
I thought they passed those on to us as Finecast


That looks pretty sweet so far Skalk. Great to see the 'evolution' shots, it's always interesting to see how others work. Staring at random bits is one of my favourite inspiration moves

For the door I think #2 has it, it's just a shame that #1 has the added grimdark of the builder's blood blessing the butress bit

Colour-wise I don't see a problem with the blue sitting amongst the gray steel, although more rust is needed, like your earlier tests where you sprayed rust then dusted with blue.

Door 1

cool stuff, like the terrain bits man and im going to have to say door 1, I like door 2 especialy since you can walk between it, but I like the look of the doors you made too much!

Door 1 is boss! The whole thing is really excellent. You are the emperor's own demented architect.

Thanks for showing your brainstorming process! He is right, Door#1 is now sanctified, you have no choice

i vote for door two... but do give it a treatment with a heat blower... to make it bended looking...

and i concur...

A clean desk is a happy desk.

... i know for a fact it is the other way round

door one!
that is a sweet looking uilding, i like the way you filled in the gaps with rubble and damaged bits rather then just leaving it. very cool keep it up

@ monkeytroll- The 'evolution' shots were fun because I was so completely scattered. I did a lot of work, but for a few hours none of it was actually connected. Up side of that is I have a *lot* of PH bitz built and ready to go as soon as I have a need for them.

@ Galorn- Thanks for voting.

@ Rogue- Thanks for the compliment. I really like both doors. The one that I pass up will see use soon enough on a different model.

@ Graven- If I were truly the Emperor's demented architect I'd have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more Basilica / Manufactorum / etc bitz.

@ Dave- You are welcome. I know I don't have to explain it in much detail, I imagine most people (like us) model that way. A distraction every time you look for something, ideas that change so many times that eventually you wind up back doing what you started with originally, etc.

@ Vik- I should make an addendum- "My clean desk is my happy desk". Organization and space to work isn't for everyone.

@ bigfish- Thanks for that. I really like the 'damaged' look. A lot of my earlier terrain was too 'clean' around damaged walls etc. I'm going to work on trying different things here and there to give my terrain a more realistic look.



Another update with a lot of pictures and a bit of work. ha.

First and foremost, Door #1 wins by a landslide!



Lots of work needs to be done still, but it's a start.

Ok, on w/ the rest of this. Cutting out the base:



Making the floor. I was 4 squares short to cover the entire floor, so I had to cut one square in 1/2 and leave 2 spots blank. I just bought 40 more of them on eBay for future projects.



This is what I did to make the floor look less weird. Again, Elmer's Wood Glue. Love that stuff.



Didn't want to use my regular scree for texture in the ruined part, so I used the sawdust from the base I cut out earlier and added some broken stuff to simulate a rubble pile while still maintaining serviceability for gaming.



Here is it based black. Looks pretty good if I do saw so myself.



Spraying the bottom edge of the building again w/ rust. Alas, this was the last spray for this can. I'm completely out. That's the second thing that project has run me out of.



Drybrush of Tin Bitz. It shows up better IRL, and maybe somewhere in the next pics. Not sure. let's find out!



Mockup of building and floor after I made an adjustment to the walls so the floor fit better. No more gaps.



Starting detail work on the building.



Side shot after some more detail work and a major repair I had to make after breaking off most of the front of the building. Opps.



Rust effect on edges of floor where it meets the base of the walls. It looks cooler in the building, but (duh) I didn't take a pic of that apparently. It'll come in the next updates.

Thanks for the feedback, thanks for looking, more coming as soon as I have something to share.

Looking Really good so far Skalk.

THat's great man! I like the fact that you are painting the little detail Bitz, even GW gets lazy when painting their CoD panels for their publications, same color drybrush over everything.

i gotta ask... this is all pre wash, right?

the base is looking really cool tho...

@ Galorn- Thank you. I'm hoping for more awesomeness soon.

@ Dave- Painting the fiddly bitz is really slowing me down, but the end result will be totally worth it. Going back through my old terrain I'm really starting to see how far I've progressed. I'm pretty psyched to keep the learning curve steep.

@ Vik- Yes, pre-wash. Once the entire bit is done I'll give it a couple washes. Badab Black and Griffon Sepia to be specific.



Well, here's the pic that I was supposed to post in the last update, but somehow missed it.

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
Rust effect on edges of floor where it meets the base of the walls. It looks cooler in the building, but (duh) I didn't take a pic of that apparently. It'll come in the next update.

It matches up w/ the rust on the interior walls really well. I'm trying to avoid slathering the entire piece in rust, and yes I'm going to back to my LoER entry #1 to 'blue it up' a bit. Sometimes a little goes a long way, and I know I way overdid it on that piece.

On to other things. I ordered 40 more treadplates from Horde O Bits on eBay, and my aunt got me a box of Orks from GW that I've already sent back and I'm going to roll the credit into a Imperial Sector box set. I was thinking about the DV box but eh, I have more miniatures than I'll paint in 2 lifetimes and I know w/o doubt I'd get to those IS buildings WAY quicker than I would anything else.

This is what I want:



I could do a lot with that kit.

More coming later. I'm really stuck in w/ terrain right now and I expect it'll be that way even after the CSM Codex comes out. I have enough miniatures to play with. Right now my focus is to build a better battlefield for them to play on.

i have a very good feeling for that piece skalk... the way the base already looks is speaking volumes!!!

It will soon be time for another "Drive the heck up to Vermont" 40K weekend, methinks.

@ Vik- I really appreciate that. Good things are coming.

@ Brian- Yes, please do. PM me for date / details.




So a short update of something that just occurred to me...

FACE

PALM

!!!!!

I just remembered, just now, that I have literally DOZENS of Pegasus Hobbies Gothic building plates that I've had for over 2 years, plus a Chemical plant and a Platformer set I've had sinc emy birthday last year.



What the hell is wrong w/ me? I've been digging through garbage cans looking for new terrain bitz and I have ALL THAT sitting in a box???

Man, my head is not working right these days.

Feh.

So yeah, anyway... after I finish this piece expect to see some work on my Gothic stuff.