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New version of the bell tower is excellent, and those double butress supports are awesome

GrimDork wrote:Heh, it was a quote from a Baldur's gate character in the second game.

More or less, i don't have the skills or inclinations to make use of your detailed explanations, however i can still like, very much, what i see

ah... I'm afraid I don't partake of such electronic forms of entertainment, hence the confusion . As for not having the skills - rubbish - anyone can do what I'm doing - just needs time and patience ( something which I am sorely testing of myself ATM....). As for inclination, well, people can make use of my 'handy how-to' guides if they want or not - I'm not precious, otherwise I wouldn't post 'em!

monkeytroll wrote:New version of the bell tower is excellent, and those double butress supports are awesome

Thanks MT. I like them too, just wish I'd settled on something a bit simpler!

Right, having bought yet another Administratum kit (honest, I tell myself, the last one. Really.. Lol) I need some help. I've been trying to find some diamond pattern tread plate to match (or at least as closely as possible) that of the Shrine of the Aquila floor plates, but from what I've seen on various forums (fora?) there's no consensus over which of O, H or HO scale is the best fit. So, anyone got Amy views? My local model centre doesn't appear to carry any (unless I've missed it somewhere) so without a visual I can't really judge...

Ok, so haven't updated in a while, partly because I've been busy with RL, mostly because what I have been doing has been dull behind the scenes stuff - mostly cleaning up mould lines (the bane of my life) and gluing wall panels together - all necessary stuff but hardly blog worthy. Mind you, I'm going to have to clean up soon or else I'm in danger of losing things in the plastic dust and detritus:



That aside, picked up from eBay some 1:50 scale plastic tread plate, which turns out to be slightly bigger than the GW stuff, but you know what, on the basis that the bits I need it for are quite small and can't be seen that easily, I'll run with it. So here's my rough test version of the corner plate needed for the walk way round the Chapter House exterior:



Once everything is painted up and the walls are on, I figure no one will notice the difference in scale - personally I think it looks quite nifty. C&C's always welcome.

Heading into the madness that is August in uni admissions, which means Clearing - so probably a while till the next posting. Hopefully that will cover the fun ideas I've got in mind for joining the two boards together - while still allowing for then to be displayed separately as well....

Yeah that looks pretty solid, good choice.

I love it when this thread pops back up to the top of the page

master of asgard wrote:
I love it when this thread pops back up to the top of the page

Glad your enjoying things

Well, I know from the views that there are still some of you out there following progress, so thanks for keeping with me: I know this project is dragging it's feet and there hasn't been much by way of interesting progress of late, but trust me, there IS progress going on behind the scenes...

So over the last couple of days I've been working out the logistics of how to have two Independant boards (should I ever actually decide to enter two in Armies on Parade in two stores - I don't think there's any rule that says you can't ) while also being able to join them together into one bigger display as well. Well, here's the solution - at least the work in progress solution at any rate:

Figure 1: Two boards joined together with linking Cloister:

Note, in order to get things lined up I had to dismantle the whole bloody Cathedral again in order to move it 2.5mm nearer the edge of the board. Yes, I am that sad...

Figure 2: boards separated to show linking pieces:

These pieces will, obviously, NOT be glued in place, as they will need to be removable...

Figure 3: insertable wall sections to close off Cathedral:

These will allow the Cathedral to be "sealed" back up - no point leaving dirty great holes in the walls! Also, means I now have a couple off access points should I decide to put any models into that part of the building...

Figure 4: separated Chapter House board:

By adding additional wall sections in I can complete the Cloister (all be it they are pretty ruined - partly aesthetically to help tell a story of a bombed out board, but mostly on the basis I simply don't have enough treadplate tiles to do a complete walkway!). Also with internal crater which I'm not sure I'd use on the combined boards - will need to ensure this can be added/removed as needs be..

As ever, still a HUGE amount to do, even on just this - lots still to consider, such as how exactly to carve up the base plates/movement trays so that I can paint internal/external floors as required (after all, will look odd on the separated Cathedral board if the internal flooring extends out under the wall... Also need to finalise how the top of the walls will work with the "crenalations", what roofing pieces need to be fixed and which removable, lining everything up etc etc etc.... But working these things out is half the fun of this project (these projects??)

Again, thanks for sticking with me. More to come - at some point....

Nifty looking solution to the two boards/one board problem

Could you not have cut 2.5mm off the board?


For the cathedral section, could you have doors to 'seal' it off, with a dirtier version of the internal floor acting as a path? Probably not, thinking about it, but hey-ho I guess a separate piece that fits over the floor with ground cover on is the only real way to go, perhaps attached to the wall sections that fill the gaps? Then again, considering the flagstones around the cathedral, maybe not.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with.....

Could you not have cut 2.5mm off the board?

Armies on Parade boards have to be a certain size. (2.5mm would probably go unnoticed though, let's be honest )

The removable wall sections is a really good idea!

@monkeytroll - I did chuckle when I saw your suggestion about cutting down the board.. Problem however wasn't the size of the board, just where the cathedral was positioned on it - originally dead centre, so there was a 2.5mm gap all the way round - in order to marry up, I needed to shift it (and more importantly the base plates it sits on) to fit flush with the side of the board, otherwise it just doesn't work with the adjacent board. Sigh...

As for the gaps - I did consider doors, but felt that would spoil the aesthetic somehow, hence the removable walls. Just been to my local GW (Cribbs, Bristol - hi guys if you're following ) for some MORE movement trays - hopefully if I get a chance tomorrow I'll be carving these up as I think I'll need to do some interesting 'slotting' in order to have the right painted floor/paving slab arrangements depending on the connected-ness of the boards. (The logistics of this project give me headaches... )

@ Brother Payne - well, they are a good idea - practically, as you can see, they're a pain in the bum!!

Right, must off to the gym now - between that, work (stupidly busy ATM), real life family issues and the need to occasionally sleep, I'm amazed I EVER get any time for this...

I'm a regular at the GW in Bristol city centre...

That angled hallway in the second piece I'm guessing is way WIP yet? It looks a little wonky as it. That's my only criticism on once again just an absurdly impressive build. Your patience is profound. I would have glued all of this together by now and then regretted it when I realized I needed to go back in to modify something.

This Cathedral project would be great to do an Ascension of Balthasar diorama. Though I suspect it'd take a while to fill the cathedral with dead bodies like it is in the audio book lol.

I love this project!!!

Just found it today and spent literally my entire work shift reading this blog. I felt your pain about the house move, as my wife and I are about to embark on that adventure in the next month or so and I am dreading packing up all of my Dark Angels and the terrain I have currently. Certainly what I have done doesn't even begin to hold a flame to this testament of gaming love that you have decided to build.

Keep up the amazing work, I know I will continue to follow this and hopefully be able to pull my jaw off the floor soon.

@YourIntestines - I do drop in every so often to the Bristol store, but as I'm up in Stoke Gifford Cribbs is way more convenient when you just have to buy one more COD kit.. Still, if you see a middle aged bloke with stupid beard and moustache in there eying up a landing pad or imperial bastion (or three) it's probably me mulling over yet another terrain idea....

@ Warboss_Waaazag - the angled hallway is soooooo a work in progress that I'm still in the changing-my-mind-constantly phase of pre(ish) construction - the build on both boards has definitely been a case of try things and then change them until I'm finally happy - and them change them again.... So yes, still VERY wonky ATM. But I just love how when things finally get glued it all seems to come together and the obsessive planning and detailing becomes all worth it but don't get me wrong, there are bits I've glued that I've now had to rip apart and start all over - which can be painful both physically and on the wallet....

@ angelofvengeance - I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the source quoted - but the length of time it's all taking me it's entirely possible MY corpse will end up slumped over the damned thing!

@ Lucazi - thanks! Good to have you along for the ride, just be prepared to be in it for the long haul at the current rate of progression. Not sure I can condone the reading of the blog while at work, but I'll not tell if you don't re the house move - urge, horrible experience, but I'm sure you'll get up to speed in no time - just make sure you've put your foot down about dedicated hobby space in the new house! now go put your jaw back on and do some work

Well, after a 2 1/2 hour work out, I undid all the hard work by following it up with a take out Indian, crisps and chocolate binge while slumped in front of the TV all evening... So much for dedication, both to reducing my waistline and the build...hopefully I'll have some more progress to share tomorrow... (About the build that is, not my efforts to get thin!)

Have a listen to it sometime Phutarf. It's a pretty good audiobook

All that said, I really like the hallways surrounding the atrium on the "new" board.

@angelof vengeance - ok, I'll try and get hold of a copy and give it a go
@Warboss - haha thanks - I wish I liked them - anything that isn't a standard right angle on this build is a right pain in the arse....

Anyway, onto today's promised progress, namely how to get the boards to marry up, or not, as the situation dictates. And, if I do say so myself, I'm pretty chuffed with the results

So here goes:

Step 1: cut some seemingly weird shaped pieces out of a couple of movement trays:

And add them to the bottom of the cathedral, along the edge facing the second board:


Step 2: add the wall 'plugs' to the removed pieces:


Step 3: for a separate, single board Cathedral, slide said pieces into the gaps:

Et voila! Once all the surrounding bits of the cathedral are glued solid (and ok, with a small amount of white tak to the base of each piece ) the walls will be sealed and you shouldn't really be able to see that they are separate pieces at all...

Step 4: for a combined board, repeating the cut movement tray pieces, add the 'bridging' piece wall sections (just the one photographed but you get the idea):


Step 5: slide the piece in place, along with board no.2 and voila! One integrated cloister!

(yes, I know, I've got to sort out the ceilings and holes etc etc but one step at a time please - there are only so many hours in the day )

Step 6: for a separated second board, simply add additional wall pieces to the side of the board as required:


So there you have it, loyal followers, my solution to my insanely stupid idea of having a two-in-one idea for the boards. Now both floors can be painted appropriately as internal floors or external flagstones without ruining the general affect of each separate board or the double board

I'm off now to have a lie down - hope you've enjoyed the latest instalment of a middle aged mans descent into total OCD madness

Yeah you so crazy. In a good way though, keep it goin.

Haha thanks Grim. One problem down, several hundred more to go...

Hugely impressive as always. No plans on finishing off one piece before starting the next?

Nice looking solution...looking forward to further descents......

Looking amazing - would be the game of a lifetime to play on that!

SilverMK2 wrote:Hugely impressive as always. No plans on finishing off one piece before starting the next?

Hahaha - sadly not SilverMK2 - check out my new blog... :p

monkeytroll wrote:Nice looking solution...looking forward to further descents......

Thanks MT - See above... Wibble...

Pekel wrote:Looking amazing - would be the game of a lifetime to play on that!

Thanks Pekel - who knows, maybe one day it'll be finished and used. Maybe

Phutarf wrote:

Pekel wrote:Looking amazing - would be the game of a lifetime to play on that!

Thanks Pekel - who knows, maybe one day it'll be finished and used. Maybe

Ork cathedral siege!

Just realised that it's been over two months since I last updated this blog.. And bloody ios8 has killed my update, once agin! Grrrrr

Anyway, this project isn't dead - just resting while I concentrate on my side project, from which I'm learning a lot about how to - or rather how not to - paint buildings. This will be invaluable once I actually tackle painting the cathedral!

Have set myself a deadline of 2017 to get both boards and armies completed, on the basis that if I don't have them done by the time I'm 40 I'll never finish the dratted things...

Hah. Good luck good to see you're still kicking around

Enthusiasm is creeping back in again... Had fun this evening doing another test panel for the Cathedral incorporating some of the 'techniques' employed on the Manufactorum project - have decided that I quite like the idea and look of 'enameled' sections:


(Only the bottom left panel is finished)
Not sure I've got the process totally correct yet but I'm getting there with it...

Luverly Jubberly mate

That is a very nicely painted piece, don't be surprised if i start asking you for painting tips some time next year .

Looks great, good to see you getting back to it