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 Skinflint Games wrote:
NICE. I'm going to nick that idea ;-)

Sweet!

As promised here are the sides. I followed the guidelines I drew on earlier.


And then I primed the boxes and glued them in place in the middle of doing this.


Then I got on with the task at hand.


Did the front end, too.


I textured the dowels. One set just with glue...


...and the other with the toilet paper method I tested on the other piece.


And then glued the top to the bottom.


And also, here is the other front end. Except for paint, this piece is done.


Thanks for looking. More very soon. Have an awesome day!

Excellent! I have done the tp corrosion before, it's very effective.

That looks very promising!

Thank you, folks!

Next up is a stairwell for the 3 floor piece I started this project with. I've had this idea of using a dowel to create stability in a single standing column and this was the proof of concept build.


And, well, it worked. I carved out the other walls and a floor, too. There was a third floor glued in, but I tore it out after I realized I wasn't sure how I wanted the stairs to work for that floor.


It was a complex shape that I rushed gluing, so I had to pin a lot of the panels together so it wouldn't fall apart while it dried.


And then I decided maybe stairs wasn't the answer and a ladder was.


We'll see where I go from here. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Alright, so here is my stairwell sketch.


It clearly calls for stairs. Also, the ladder didn't do the one thing I wanted the climby thing to do, which was to allow models to move halfway up it and stay. So I pulled it apart and built a staircase by accidentally cutting two identical angled pieces from my foamcore. Whoops, that worked out well.


After cutting my step guides, I used the former ladder rungs to mock up the stairs and tada, working prototype.


A lot more work and details to do, but I'm on the right track. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, in case it wasn't implied, I always appreciate feedback, ideas, and critiques.

So are these pieces for a smashed Hive city or a space hulk?

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
So are these pieces for a smashed Hive city or a space hulk?

My intent is to use them for a spacehulk in a campaign I wrote and will run for some friends. But they could just as easily be used for the underbelly of a hivecity. All these pieces tackle the problems I have with both settings.

1. Why is there only 1 deck on the space hulk?

2. Why is everything so small in the undercity when it is literally the basement of a titanic superstructure?

And this project addresses my issues with a lot of terrain setups I see on the internet and in battle reports. Because either the terrain is small and functional or it is epic but static. And I want epic and functional, but above all, modular.

And to that end, I simply remove any sense of being able to store this stuff well and instead opt for "does this look cool"? If I must, I'll sleep in the closet.

Thanks for your question, Tommygun1918! I appreciate your feedback.

In both cases, I think of it as one of those cramped, pipe filled, under the building corridors from so many action movies

 inmygravenimage wrote:
In both cases, I think of it as one of those cramped, pipe filled, under the building corridors from so many action movies

I think that's a valid interpretation, too. And I feel like that sense of claustrophobia is also not well achieved by most terrain layouts that show up in my image and video searches. One obstacle to overcome at a time.

I did more work on my stairs, by starting to detail the inside and outside walls.


And the steps themselves.


Once everything was primed, I glued it together into its roughly staircase shape. I don't really want to admit how many times I glued a step in backwards (I had detailed the leading edge of each step to avoid this issue, but my dumb brain went ahead and mucked it up anyway. Thanks brain).


Flaunting his stair climbing capabilities...


More very soon, I am making good progress on this piece. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Okay, massive update. I was running so late for work yesterday, I decided it would be easier to call out. So I spent my day wisely, hobbying.

Most recent details on the lower staircase.


And detailing the first floor (that will be largely hidden behind this staircase).


Even the freaking ceiling.


Testing with the lower staircase where I should place the 2nd floor stairs so that Brother Gustavo sized models will fit at the bottom, too.


Drawing step guides and realizing I need more space to fit Gustavo behind the staircase.


Another first floor test fit after I added some more details.


Before moving on to the second set of steps.... I glued a paper strip on the facing that is meant to be the front. Then cut tinier strips to glue to the center to create small details there. Then detailed the top faces to keep in theme with the first floor steps.


Then I primed the whole thing and glued it together. I set it aside to dry and after a few minutes, used it as a guide to punch holes all the way through the wall from the inside so I can pin it in place from the outside when I'm ready to glue it in.


Next up I sectioned out some pillars and railing shapes to match the giant piece I started this project with. I cut all the long lines first to make this process easier.


On to start detailing the second floor before I install the stairs. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

All feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Exciting! Can I recommend/request plastic straws across ceilings and upper walls as ducting?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Exciting! Can I recommend/request plastic straws across ceilings and upper walls as ducting?

Request? Hmm, never had one of those before. I'll see what I can do. Here are some sketches on that idea that I made while being bored at work.

Some cool ideas there. Glad I helped Something else to consider is bendy straws - easy to curve and natural ridging.

Now I am working on detailing the second floor. Starting with broad strokes and big panels I work my way through to the smallest details. I cut this piece from a pad of colored paper I have and left the pre-poked hole in it because it's a free perfect circle. I distressed the paper, traced where the distress shows through to the wall, and then distressed the wall where it will be glued on to.


I also made columns with paper coverings that I distressed in the same way as the wall paneling. I took the extra step to paint the inside and outside of the paper where the distress cuts are and also painted the wall and column before the paper got glued over it.


Then I did a whole bunch more detailing and priming before I took more progress shots.


Incidentally, I filled in the floor line with scrap foamcore strips because I took an interlude step and cut the 3rd floor. I also drove my brain crazy because, for reasons unknown, I decided to draw all guides for the cuts I had to make on the BOTTOM of this piece. Which means everything important was inverted. I'm sure I can still feel the extra fold in my brain this twisted puzzle made.


I test fitted the floor before I was ready to glue it in place and then panicked slightly as I struggled to remove it. But it came out without breaking the whole build so far. Whew!


Next was on to the floor tiles (which were such a pain to make I decided against duplicating the effect for the 3rd floor).


Then came the "railing" and perhaps noticeable in the background I added some details to the stairs for durability and stability.


Here's where the stairs will go (testing to make sure it all still fits).


And a side by side with the piece it's meant to pair with.


More very soon. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

New day, new progress.

I glued the stairs, making sure Gustavo still fits. And also starting to detail the railing and overhang area.


I cut holes into the two walls and glued in clusters of toothpicks to facilitate the next level.


And then started detailing the 3rd floor before gluing it in place and priming it.


Then the walls up there:


It's nearly complete.


Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

That final shot

I also started gluing on the back plating.

I can see the rivets and the like now. I assume that a dry brush of grey will follow to make them pop a little?

CB

 Captain Brown wrote:
I can see the rivets and the like now. I assume that a dry brush of grey will follow to make them pop a little?

CB

Yes, a drybrush of some sort will come at some point. I want to try to finish all these pieces before I put paint to any, so that I can get a consistent look.

I finished up the back plating and textured it with glue. I also decided to keep the staircase on the 1st floor separate.


I also glued the railing on the 3rd floor.


And added a few small, extra details to that rail and the 3rd floor walls.


I also added details to the edges and pillar facings and used glue to blur them into the surface of the walls.


So, except for paint, I'm calling this one done and moving on to the next one.

Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Speaking of, I started a topper for the stairwell, perfectly fitted to the pegs I made.


Here's a mock up of what I have planned.

Alright, starting small with details. Structural pillars made of foamcore scraps require rasping and trimming into shape.


And then shaping the paper facia and tracing where the underlying damage will be. I find tracing the fold lines with a ballpoint pen helps make the folds easier and more uniform. I squiggle on some rough ideas of where I want my rust holes to go and then cut them out vaguely following their pattern. For some reason it looks better when I start with the squiggle instead of trying to do it freehand with the xacto. Colored pencils or crayons are great for filling in the holes on the foamcore where they peek through the paper.


I hand painted black on the inside and outside of where the damage is before gluing it all together. There's also a nub of a back wall glued in place, too.

I went kinda bonkers with the structure on the opposite end, making a custom paper shape to wrap it. Then I discovered it didn't cover completely so I basically just detailed the whole thing before I glued it to the floor.


Here, too, I added a back wall bit and pinned the whole thing in place.


This wall gap was intentional, as I did much the same with the angled section of the ceiling, too. I also built a little cap for this doorway that juts out the back. Gustavo illustrates.


And then showing off where it sits on top of the stairwell.


Progress, progress, progress. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Feedback always welcome and appreciated.

My goal for this December is to finish all the terrain for this first set (I intend to build a whole bunch of layout sets). So, with that, here is the preliminary work for the largest and most wonky piece in the set. The original idea was for a thing roughly 15" by 15" by 5", but it evolved over time. It has both top and under playable elements. The idea is that the Mission deployment will be on top of this piece and that play can (and probably will) continue beneath it. I always prefer to start players on top of things to climb down rather than the bottom, because they are unlikely to go up. This means that the initial play area is 18" off the surface of the table.

I started by anticipating a staircase at the "back" and pinned together this elbow to start it. I also thought the interior wall was a little too plain so I build a small indentation into the wall.


Then I worked on a balcony to fit onto the back of the stairwell's topper. There's a shelf to help it fit over that piece.


I hammered out the basic shape and test fitted it to the rest of the already build pieces. Here Gustavo models the underneath play area. (Disregard my sink full of dishes)


I originally thought the balcony would be strong enough to stand on its own, but as I built I realized it's not anchored to enough of the rest of the piece for that. So I will have to build a structural support piece to fit beneath it.

Here is Gustavo to illustrate the enormity of this whole set up. Don't mind the coffee maker; that's not part of the set.


Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Feedback always welcome and appreciated.

Wow. Breathtaking.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Wow. Breathtaking.

Wow. Thank you very much!

I trimmed the big thing down. Here it is in progress from various angles.


Plenty more to come.

So, I paused the big piece for the moment and started work on the structural support for its balcony. I have all these mdf letters that I've been collecting for decades and decided to put them to good use. The stairwell is actually mounted on 2 capital "L"s glued into a rectangle. For this base I glued an I and a D together, strengthening the bond with a piece of paper on the bottom.


I only had a vague idea about what I wanted to do with this one, so I just started gluing shapes on, modifying as I went. Pinning as needed.


And then of course, about halfway through this project, I started another one.


I like to create strong bonds by trimming the edge off one sheet, roughly the thickness of another sheet, so that when glued, the corner is bonded on 2 sides. Here's an illustration of how I score the leftover material on the cuts to make scraping it out easier and faster.


I then started doing some bulking out of the piece, again deciding where details would be as I went. Yet even still this was just building a base shape to build upon later.


I'm starting to ramp up production to build a lot of base pieces and leaving the detailing for later.

This is looking amazing. Great deal of work put in. Love the structures. I can really imagine playing on this.

 Camkierhi wrote:
This is looking amazing. Great deal of work put in. Love the structures. I can really imagine playing on this.

Thanks, Cam! It's great to have you here.

I built the simplest of base piece cores. And then struggled to adequately photograph this tiny alcove on the top floor.


With any luck it will become more comprehensible as I add detail to it.

But in the meanwhile, I had the ambition to construct a working gigantic door. All kinds of stories circulate in my head about why it exists, but I don't want to spoil the Mission details in case my potential players peruse this site and blog.

I started with a very basic shape, at the total height of most of my other pieces (roughly 9 and three quarter inches tall) and carved out a hole roughly the size and shape of the archway on the other piece. Then I built up some interior spacers in the form of another layer of foamcore and a 1mm thick cardstock layer. I added in a runner on the bottom which is literally just one of the cast off strips I have dozens of from trimming previous walls and things. Then I cut a grove in the outermost wall and used it as a guide for the size and mechanism of the door.


That groove ended up being too short to let the door open as much as I wanted it to, so I cut it (probably too much) and then was forced to awkwardly pin the stopper back in place.


I'll post up more progress on one or more of these projects as I make headway. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

looking great! I love the black foamcore more than the white foamcore - it definitely just feels more substantial for some reason (and painting it is easier!)

 blockade23 wrote:
looking great! I love the black foamcore more than the white foamcore - it definitely just feels more substantial for some reason (and painting it is easier!)

Thanks, blockade23! Yes, I agree. Also the black foamcore has a denser styrofoam layer, which means it holds its shape better than the white stuff. Although that might just be the brand I keep buying.

I started to distress the archway using my exacto blade, some snapped toothpicks, and tons of white glue.


And then added surface details to the door. I wanted one side to grant clues about what was beyond ut and the other to just be a basic door. I added about 2 layers of paper to the "clue side" and used a ballpoint pen to scour plate lines into the other side. I also nicked the edges of those "plates" with a very sharp knife and pulled the paper away from the foam. Then distressed the foam with a less sharp knife until I came out with my desired level of corroded.


Here is my attempt at showing the gradations of the cold blue I layered onto my black base coat. I leave it to you all to tell me if it comes across as layers or just duplicate pictures. This is just craft matte midnight blue with gradual additive light grey mixed in.


I wanted the door to look like the action of closing it created friction beyond what it is used to and tried to portray that with a reddening in two lines. I don't know if I achieved the desired affect. You all tell me if you think it works.

I started with a brick red and then softened it with a medium brown, before adding a smidge of yellow to the original red. I feel like this should have been more yellow, but I ran out of steam.


Thanks for looking and have an awesome day! Feedback always appreciated.