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I like the colours in your plants especially

Thank you very much, inmygravenimage! I always appreciate feedback!

Here's the beginnings of a new project I'm working on for a 40k campaign I'm running at a local gaming store. The background is that it is an abandoned planet from the Golden Age of Technology at the edge of the Ultima Segmentum. It's continent-cities are crumbling as winds laden with abrasive particulate dust erode every surface unchecked. This is the first ruin I'm building and it is barely the foundation before the heaps of rumble, mounds of black dust, and other details get added. Let me know what you think so far.



The walls have been coated with a thin layer of very watered down air-dry clay from Crayola, followed by a layer of 50/50 water and white glue for strength and to resist cracking. Here it is with Barry Ork for scale:


Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Looks good. In some ways, though, might some cracking not be a good thing?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Looks good. In some ways, though, might some cracking not be a good thing?

Yes, that's bound to happen and will definitely add to the effect. What I'm trying to avoid is the clay flaking off the model entirely, which it has a tendency to when applied so thin. Excellent observation and feedback, though.

Here's another building I'm working on. This way actually the first building I made with the clay exterior and you can see from the first few pictures that it is wet from the glue and water. I made this at a craft night while the missus and our other friends knit and crocheted in the background.



Here are some more detailed shots from that same night of building:


I used the humble coffee stirrer stick for floor boards.


And here is the piece dry to illustrate it being dry. Also, a few Barry Ork shots for scale comparison:


As inmygravenimage says, a little cracking is inevitable and actually lends a quality to the finished product. Not that this piece is by any means finished. Not by a long shot.

Anyway, thanks for looking. C&C always welcome. Have an awesome day!

Looks awesome. Craft night? I love your life!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Looks awesome. Craft night? I love your life!

lol Thanks

Really nice!

Thanks, mars2024.

Here's yet another building, first from what I had - a basic hill glued to a piece of masonite, which I cut apart to accommodate a corner of walls:


And then with some scrap foam:


I built some walls:


Here we see where the wall has been "reinforced" with paper clips:


And then, after making a few floors and floor boards, I coated it with clay and paste:


More of this ongoing project to be revealed. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Very nice so far! I wish I had the time/patience to make custom terrain!

Good work.

Do you always cover your foamboard with clay/plaster? Does it last well, is it resilient for gaming?
Just considering options for when I start to play with foamboard.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

@Dr H: I just started using clay to cover the foam board, but I've always used it on my hills and amongst the rubble. If you coat it with thinned PVA glue, in any stage of drying it's in, it adds resilience to the piece overall. The hills have lasted for a year without damage, although they weigh significantly more than hills without the clay. I think, though, that the added weight adds to their longevity as players are less likely to knock them off the table. The buildings have been sitting dry, with one coat of watered down PVA, for about a week and haven't cracked. When I layer the first base coat it will be a 30/40/30 mix water/pigment/glue. Every layer adds strength.

A semi-quick road tutorial. I bought a sheet of 18"x12" foam from a craft store for less than a $1 USD.


It's about 1mm thick:


I aligned it on a sheet of masonite (MDF board):


Flush with the edge to make using a T square to draw lines easier:


At 9" I drew a line across the sheet (marking it literally in half):


And cut it with a scissor to make a half-sized sheet:


Then measured and drew lines at 4" intervals:


And scissored it into 3 pieces:


Then, using this:


I glued "stiffeners" to one side of the road section to give it some rigidity:


And covered them with something heavy to let them dry:


Once dry, I sloppily applied some grey paint (here we see the painted road on the left vs the unpainted one on the right):


Then some off-white (the highlighted on the left, the grey only in the middle, and the unpainted on the right):


And then used an obnoxious orange for road markings:


I got six 9"x4" road sections out of each piece and my costs were maybe $1.25 in total (including paint and glue).

Thanks for looking. C&C always welcome. Have an awesome day!

Great Minds think alike. I did the same thing-- a few pix are in my blog, but I am still debating how to keep them flat. I was planning to use 1/8" MDF ( or tempered hardboard)

I've found the coffee stirrer sticks work just fine to keep them flat. They've seen active use at a gaming club for 3 weeks already with no discernible damage.

Here is yet another building I am working on. Front, back, and two sides:


And then some shots of the roof before I glue it on:


I cut a channel all around so it would fit over the walls. Hopefully this will work:


More photos as I get stuff done. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Some details in the making:


More to come.

More, show me more...!

You have to be one of the most prolific builders on Dakka.

Keep it going.

Thanks very much for the kind words, gents. Here's another preview (the one on the bottom of the stack is the building with the overhang I was working on a few posts back - the roof worked) :

As a T.O I am always looking for new ideas for terrain. Your blog is inspiering and has given me a few new ideas

 Plains of War wrote:
As a T.O I am always looking for new ideas for terrain. Your blog is inspiering and has given me a few new ideas

Wow, thank you, Plains of War. Your comment humbles me. I'm very glad I can give back to this community, especially considering how much I love building terrain. I hope I can continue to inspire you and many others. Have an awesome day!

Where to begin, I wonder? I will start I guess with this building that I spent a lot of time working on its staircase:
This is the front wall interior:


And then here is the beginning of the front stoop in foamcore:


And here the interior of the rear wall:


And with stairs in place:


And the front stoop with stairs in place:


Test fitting the door:


And detailing the stoop with a low wall and detailing that wall with wooden coffee stirrer sticks:


With Barry for scale:


And final details all around:


And of course by "final" what I mean is for now...

Thanks for looking! C&C always welcome. Have an awesome day!

That's fantastic stuff mate! Love it! What's going above the door?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
That's fantastic stuff mate! Love it! What's going above the door?

Thanks, 'graven! Probably some sort of signage. I haven't really decided yet.

Nice and tidy job, 'boss. Looks great.

Good use of craft sticks ( or Starbuck's coffee stirrers ) for the window and door framing. I'll certainly borrow that idea.

The MDF bases, don't you round off the edges and corners, or at least 'break' them, before attaching the building?

'Break' means to simply round the edge ever so slightly in this context.

No, Red, I leave them straight and flush so that what I'm gluing to them sticks better and they align better once done. The project is enormous. I'm making enough buildings and roads to completely cover a 4 foot by 6 foot table.


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As I get further along in the project it will make more sense as to why I'm not beveling the edges.

Love the look of the building so far, great use of materials, I bought a pack of a thousand stirerers at costco, cost me £10, thats a lot of building material for a tenner. Is this going to be orky? The shape of the signage and some of the design is hinting, but not absolute. And will the windows be boarded up or glazed?