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Cool stuff. And I'm learning!

You are a lucky bastard Skalk! I am supposed to care about fattening our already lopsided $13 million/year contract with the customer, adding more services, doing more work, putting in more time without a dime being offered to me. I don't care, nor will I until they throw me a crumb. I don't understand why Corporations expect employees to accept a business deal that the company would deem an "operating loss".

@ ENOZONE- Me too! Stick around, a lot more is coming and if you're the kind of person that learns from other people's mistakes you have a wealth of information here.

@ Dave- The only thing I have going for me right now is OT. I'm not liking work at all right now. Everyone is stressed, management is riding people because they are getting ridden by other people, customers are freaking out... the bonus at the end of this will be sweet but the 'right now' it seems not worth it.



This is a HUGE update. Even if you're just looking at pictures, you'll be busy. I'm sharing 40 of them in this update.

First up is me bragging and showing off my passion. I just got new pipes, high flow air breather, and a chip upgrade.

http://www.withstrengthweburn.com/terrain/48_01.jpg

http://www.withstrengthweburn.com/terrain/48_02.jpg

*pics are links instead of displayed here because they are HUGE*

I didn't wind up working Saturday so I went riding during the late afternoon. The only reason I turned around and came home is because I have my kids. Someday I'm going to saddle up and leave. I'll warn you guys before I go.

Anyway, on to the modeling!

I got to take a massive chunk of time over the last couple of days and got some genuine work done. I'm really happy with the stuff I was able to do and I'm that much closer to having an absolutely awesome table. There are limitations I'm working within (skill, storage, general functionality of a game table) but overall I'm really pleased with the progress I'm making and I truly feel I'm a better modeler than I was when all of this started.

The first thing I did was sort out the madness. Nothing junks up my table (and surrounding area) like a terrain project in full swing. While I was cleaning things up I decided that it is a bit early for the Pegasus Gothic buildings to be out on the 'on deck' shelf so I disassembled them all. But before I tore them apart and put them away I decided to take pictures of them because it took a lot of thinking to figure this much out. You'll see these again someday.

Large building:







Small building:



Both will have more doors and will have roofs. More on that later.

While I was packing up the Pegasus stuff I stopped and took a hard look at my Gothic Ruins and an idea struck me. If I put them together as they are made I have a small box with a weird gap of ruin in between.



I had an idea and got to work; Basically all i did was take out a clamp and my saw:



A bit of fiddly stuff later and I had this:





I was really impressed with myself until I noticed this:



Oops. But no worries, I figured it out.



...and for that awesome 'ruined blown up building' look, I'll be doing this when I'm ready to get to work on this piece:



Moving on to other things, I got a bit more work done on Imperial Sector building #1 again. Glued the floor to the base:



I started looking at this piece and wondered why I wasn't working on it anymore, it was going along great and then stopped dead. usually when something like that happens there's a reason above and beyond IRL. So I put some thought into it and realized that I completely hated the piece and wanted to throw it against the wall to make it go away.

Since that wasn't an option, I tried to figure out what would make me happy w/ the piece and realized it wasn't the piece I hated, it was the color. It had to go. So I did this:





and here's how it came out:



And with a bit of metallic paint:




For those that are disappointed that I painted it blah and generic, consider this- rather a piece that fits my table than a piece that eventually finds itself on the Shelf of Shame. And I'll get some cool detail on it later. For now I am liking it WAY better and this project will be finished in the next few weeks.

Speaking of SoS, here's a project that has been on my 'on deck' shelf for MONTHS, and I know I made this over a year ago, just never finished it. Now that I have the Pegasus Gothic buildings / ruins on deck, this now has a place on the table and with a little more work will look right at home on my table:









Everything is from the old GW ruins set, long time ago, can't remember when it came out, and the door arch is from the old Warhammer Quest set. I did a lot of hacking and cutting to make this, and you'll see this done over the next couple months.

More hobby ADD! I got to work on Imperial Sector building #2 again, and was really in the mood to get some work done on it. First thing I did was draw out the 'blast' area bit more.



Here it is a bit more bulked up and soaked w/ a 50/50 black paint / water mix:



Also got working on the lower walls. notice how I bulked them up w/ the crushed stone stuff I use. Hides imperfections and looks great. Used Elmer's wood glue and that was it. Should have taken 2 pics for details, but this is what i have to share:



Also got to work on the debris for the crater. Notice the curled edges and bits sticking out from the crater:





I decided that I had enough work done that I could glue the building to the base. From experience I know that it'll be grabbed from the top many times and it's quite heavy. Perfect recipe for broken terrain and hurt feelings. To avoid unnecessary tragedy I used a 2-part epoxy for the building and walls. It came out really well (look at right side of model in next pic, you can see some of it). After I had it bonded to the base for all of eternity I decided it was time to try my water effect stuff.

...

I tried to open the jar w/ my hands. Fail. Tried a piece of rubber that I use to open really difficult jars. Fail. Tried almost everything else I could think of. Fail. Finally invoking the names of Odin, Thor, and Magni I grabbed my favorite pliers and CRANKED on that lid. It's stripped and ground down but it finally came off. The entire time I was worried it was going to shatter in my hands and it would be another ER trip to ruin my day of modeling. My efforts were worth it.



Take a look at the entire piece, not just the water effect stuff. it's not that blue, it's just how it looks when it is still wet. Check the start of my rust effects, the torn up floor, the tight fit for the lower walls, etc. I've put a lot of work into this.





And.... SUPPLY DROP! BAM!



I picked up a LOT of these. They were on sale and I decided to give them a try. I'm sure I'll find something awesome to do w/ them. Look at all the rivets!





I also picked up two doors. I'll be needing 2 more of them, but that will be later as I get closer to doing the Pegasus part of this project:



Of all the cool stuff that came in, here's the biggest score of all:



... because I can do this with them:





Hmm. There's a wicked storm heading this way, so with any luck I'll get a call that work is closed tomorrow. A full day of glorious modeling!

Great stuff will be coming soon. I can't remember the last time I was so motivated on a project. I know I'm just taking a lot of pre-fab stuff and putting it together, but I'm putting it together with an overall vision and I'm not just throwing random projects onto the table.

Thanks for looking. I really appreciate the feedback you folks leave because I'm always looking to improve so your C&C is welcomed and considered.

I'll be back when I have something to share.

First, stop downgrading your fine work repeatedly as "using prefab parts" There is no shame at all with that. Scratchbuilding something that is already easily and cheaply available is a waste of time and effort IMHO. No need to re-invent the wheel, your ideas are awesome, your troubleshooting skills and resource management skills are showing with these latest photos. Fear not dood, you are doing it right!

I wanna second Dave, here. You're mashing and bashing parts, making great-looking (and, more importantly PLAYABLE) terrain.

Don't be down on yourself!

Echoing the others. Your stuff is looking better and better with each new project and each new post. Imperial Sector looks awesome. It's pretty obvious you put a lot of work into it and that's what counts. It's playable, it looks good, and it is a labor of love. All things show and you should be more than happy with it.
Stay safe with all the wind and nasty weather.

Looking good buddy!

Reminds of me of Diablo 2 a good bit! I really like this. Consider me subbed!

obviously this thread has been going for awhile now....but its the first time ive seen it. First, I want to start by saying that I have nothing but admiration for hobbyists who try their hand at scratch building terrain. The roots of tabletop gaming come from terrain like this....anyone can buy a bastion and paint it. Your terrain is great and judging by what your using, relatively inexpensive (which is always nice). I love the detail you have included in your pieces, the signs, the wires and mesh....its all great. The paint jobs are also real good, you definitely gave the terrain a sense of age with your weathering techniques. Great looking pieces!

@ Dave / Brian / Moltar- Thank you for the compliments. Text is a poor form of communication, and I assure you I'm not beating myself up for what I'm using or what I'm doing w/ it. madmarty is a great example of of taking pre-fab and making into something totally unique and completely amazing. And you (Dave) are working on stuff now that I can only hope to achieve. Bruticus is another great example as well, and he's a huge inspiration for me.

I mentioned pre-fab because I've seen two other threads where people have given the OP some flak for using all pre-fab (mostly money spent and how 'anyone. I was merely acknowledging that yes it's pre-fab but it's not at all 'stock' and I'm doing some unique things with it that is not something you'd get straight out of the box. I am very happy w/ how my skills have improved, my vision has narrowed to focus on a specific theme, and I'm making use of long-forgotten bitz and pieces that could have been done a long time ago but through the intervention of fate I've come to them when my skills are rising. I'm going to put some great stuff on my table and I will be the envy of my local gaming group (all 3 of them).

@ madmarty- Thanks! You probably already know that you are my #1 inspiration w/ the Pegasus Gothic buildings. You make them look like aerial photographs of WWII. You are the standard I'm hoping to reach (or at least come very close w/ 'best effort')

@ eldartau1987- Thanks for checking this out, and welcome to the club! There will be a lot more coming as time allows.

@ Element206- Thank you for the in-depth post, it's obvious you spent some time going through my past work and that's really appreciated. I dig through this blog every now and then to re-discover old ideas that never got used and lost in the mad rush. There's some bits I did that I really do not like anymore (like this):



But even in 'failed' projects there is always something worth keeping and expanding on, like this:



Idea came from dsteingass and my attempt at replicating what he did was a good effort but was limited to my skill at the time. I am absolutely certain that if I tried this again it would look a lot better. I may have to test that theory. . Again, I appreciate the compliments and the time you took to catch up on this blog. A lot more great stuff is on the way. Once I finish the things I'm posting now I have 3 other pre-built eBay rescues that need to based and brought up to the standard of the rest of my work, and then I have a NIB Imperial Sector to play with. And if that isn't enough, I have enough Necromunda bulkheads to choke a 4x4 table. There are many great things coming, I just need the time to do it.

If you add rivets to that, it can be salvaged you know
Keep up the great work bud!

 dsteingass wrote:
If you add rivets to that, it can be salvaged you know

No.




Ok, got home and did this tonight- rust effect TEST on Imperial Sector building #1. I put test in caps because this is not 'final product', it's WIP and I am directly asking the 'rust' guys here what they think. What works? What doesn't? What am I doing right or wrong. I seek your council, oh wise ones.

Started w/ bright orange-






Followed up while orange was still wet with light brown-



Next was my regular rust paint-





Additional drybrushing-







Pics didn't come out as well as I had hoped. It looks much dryer IRL than it does in the pics, but I think it's example enough of where I am and what I should / should not do next.



I also got some work done on this, and I think I might be close to being finished.

*side note- the epoxy worked awesome. It'll take dynamite or a really drunk friend to mess this one up*

The obvious stuff to finish is flock the base, drybrush a bit on the crater, etc. But overall I think I've nailed this one. Again, C&C would be really appreciated.













Thanks for looking, thanks for opinions. I'll be back as soon as I can with more stuff to share.

Looking awesome Skalk!

for the Rust WIP hit it with a wash of thinned up choas black with a VERY light boltgun drybrush follow up and I'd call it GTG.

It looks good, but try those weathering powders before you call it quits

That's some potent rusting, mate. Very cool. My favourite in the recetn updates though is the wall that's wall horizontally in on itself. Simple, elegant and most effective.

I agree with Dave. If you have weathering pigments you should definitely play with them before calling it, "done." That being said, it still looks pretty solid.

@ GD1- Thanks man! I really wish I would just bite the $$$ bullet and get an airbrush. You and Dave make it look like the best thing to happen in the modeling world since Super Glue (I don't know which came first, I'm just using that for comparative purposes)

@ Galorn- It needs to be tones down a bit, yes. I'll be putting my 3/1 black wash mix on it, it's what I have all over Imperial Sector #2 and it looks pretty decent.

@ Dave- Ok. I'll do it. There's no point in having them if I'm not using them. I need to watch some tuts online first, I have no idea how to do this.

@ Graven- I really like that you noticed (and mentioned) the one flat wall. It just gave up, fell inward, and there it is. I thought about chopping it up a bit to give it that 'landed flat and then shattered' look, but I went for the more subtle approach of 'just fell over'. The interior of that building needs a lot of rubble, but not so much that it turns it into a diaorama instead of a functional game piece.

@ Moltar- I'm going to. Also, have been thinking about this lately- your first post (that I saw) on dakka was that NDD (Not Damage Damage) you did on that Space Marine Scout. I'm wondering if that would work for larger terrain pieces?



Bad news- I'm on day ... I forget... of 14 hr days (that's 14 straight, no lunch, just two 10 min breaks). Add my 1/2 hrs to get up / ready, 45 min commute commute each way, obligatory 'chill' period when I get home... we're up to 16 hrs. Wind up w/ eat somehting, chill out, shower, get ready for tomorrow, etc... 5-6 hrs sleep if I am lucky. I'm starting to feel a bit disconnected and a little woozy.

Good news- Got to leave early for Halloween w/ my kids last night. We all dress up and go Trick and Treating. It's Trick 'and' Treating becasue we trick them every time. I'm 45 years old and still filling my candy bag. Muauhhahaaha!!!

SUCK news / AWESOME news- I'm on call this weekend and will likely be doing a straight shift from home via VPN. That's the suck. The awesome is I'll be getting paid so much I should be embarrassed, and I get to model ALL WEEKEND!

I am so beat tired. ANd I'm bummed wicked bad becasue I sooooooooooooo want to be working on my projects that are >...< this close to being done, but just SIT THERE waiting for my return.

Gah.

So anyway, no update at all, just rambling a bit before I get back to work.

Thanks to everyone that posted. I will be back on Dakka soon and I'll catch up with all your threads. I know good working is going on right now, and I don't like missing out on it.

I will be back.

Just mix a couple drops of water with some powder and make a wash. It'll change everything. Then try a brush and some of the white dry, best highlight ever.

 dsteingass wrote:
Just mix a couple drops of water with some powder and make a wash. It'll change everything. Then try a brush and some of the white dry, best highlight ever.

an alternative to water is 90% iso propyl alcohol. (it dries faster, but to move pigments around just moisten the brush with more alcohol.)

@ both- you guys rock. Thank you. I'll still try a tut vid, but at least I have an idea now.

He's right, you can then overspray it with alcohol or thinner after the initial has evaporated to dull it down a bit. When you are happy wit it, spray it with clear. A gloss coat before hand really helps it flow into crevasses and pool around rivets too.

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:


@ Moltar- I'm going to. Also, have been thinking about this lately- your first post (that I saw) on dakka was that NDD (Not Damage Damage) you did on that Space Marine Scout. I'm wondering if that would work for larger terrain pieces?

It would... the bigger the area the more time consuming it would obviously be. I also did that on the grey panels of this base (Pic is Zoomable):



I think if you wanted that effect, you would definitely want to sponge it on with an actual sponge. It would essentially be the same effect and take way less time.

WOW!

Just to let you know Skalk I'm almost completely free on the weekends this month to come over and play on this most awesome and bodacious terrian!

PM me to give me a heads up on when is good for you and we'll do the swap...

@ Moltar- Hey, I remember that base! I have some hobby sponges, maybe I need to pick up some regular ones? I'm open to suggestions.

@ deffskulla- Man, talk about timing. We're doing a platform conversion at work and it has failed miserably. See below.



So... yeah. That whole 'stay home and model all weekend' thing I was mentioning a while ago? That status has been changed to 'working all weekend at work at my desk doing the same job I've been doing all week' to be closely followed up with 'another full week of 12-14 hr days M-F' and possibly 'work again all weekend'.

I refrain for even alluding to profanity on Dakka because it is (for myself) bad form, but man... I gotta tell you this is about as tempted as I've ever been. Upside is the pay. Downside is my family has put out 'MISSING" posters all over town.

I need a break.

Thanks for sticking w/ this. I'll be back.

I think the more porous the sponge, the better, to an extent, for terrain. A lot of fine sponges are going to create a lot of smaller scuffs and scrapes, where a more porous one would give you more variety in the markings. They make those sea sponges that are just dehydrated (they kind of looks like a block of khaki-colored swiss cheese). I think that is taking it too far, but a typical yellow sink sponge should do the trick just right for your needs. I could be wrong, though, but that is I think a better bet. Doing them by hand like I did, will work, but it will take a long, long time.

 Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
@ Moltar- Hey, I remember that base! I have some hobby sponges, maybe I need to pick up some regular ones? I'm open to suggestions.

@ deffskulla- Man, talk about timing. We're doing a platform conversion at work and it has failed miserably. See below.



So... yeah. That whole 'stay home and model all weekend' thing I was mentioning a while ago? That status has been changed to 'working all weekend at work at my desk doing the same job I've been doing all week' to be closely followed up with 'another full week of 12-14 hr days M-F' and possibly 'work again all weekend'.

I refrain for even alluding to profanity on Dakka because it is (for myself) bad form, but man... I gotta tell you this is about as tempted as I've ever been. Upside is the pay. Downside is my family has put out 'MISSING" posters all over town.

I need a break.

Thanks for sticking w/ this. I'll be back.

Dude that SUCKS... Hope things ease up a titch soon...

^ agreed , being that Im too young to have experienced that all I can say is good luck to you sir

Just focus on the hobby stuff you plan on buying, it's good motivation

Looking good, and Pegasus makes nice terrain eh?