Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

After a 20 year break from the hobby I've dove back into modelling...

First on the list is some scratch built tank traps. I cast the first dragons tooth (made with plasticard and plaster) in both resin and hydrocal to treat and break down. Then a mixture of plaster, sand, and bits of hydrocal/styrene were applied. These are 6 inches wide which was a bit of luck when I read of the new tank trap rules. More on the blog... http://revisitingthewarp.blogspot.com/

Welcome back to the hobby!!

The traps look fantastic, and the whole piece of terrain itself is very good looking.

Welcome back sir!

Good looking stuff.

Can't wait to see more.

Happy new year.
Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.

Below is an update, a quick fine primer avoiding the dragon's teeth so as not to hide any detail and a few thin coats of watered PVA to deal with any small holes and undercuts in the rubble.
Out of interest are there any Forgeworld sculptors on these forums? I'd love to pick their brains regarding some of the techniques. I'm pretty much self taught but have dabbled in the specialFX industry a while ago.

Thats a lot of space for the silicon.

I would maybe consider building a matrix to fill in the empty areas of the cast, to reduce the amount of silicon needed, or go with brush on silicon to get the negative, then fill in the rest around that with plaster.

(I forget the specific casting term for this, but its a common application).

best of luck!

Cheers Dave. I have a decent amount of PinkSil lying around from another project so it's not a major drama for something this size.

In the meantime, here is a scratchbuilt tank turret emplacement that I am gradually working through... (waiting on my styrene hex rod for the bolts and rivets)

I really like that turret!

Here is the first pull from the Pinkysil mould in Procast. I am pretty happy with the results- A few bubbles but that's what you get when you don't degas and pressure cast. For my Gaurd and Wolves these should work well...




A fun little project- it's inspired me to try my hand at more complex terrain pieces.
The turret is on the back burner as I managed to pick up a couple of second hand Forge World turret emplacements.

Looks great!

Awesome!

Before paint, it looks like the base is very bent, but in the final shot, it looks quite good. How did you flatten it? (blunt trauma? heat? )

Awesome work!

Thanks Guys.

Nixie, the mat is quite warped, the base was crafted from 1mm styrene and built up with foam card so it was pretty flat- The casts required a bit of wet sanding back though...



The process was...
For the master tank trap, I started with a carved florist foam pyramid. It was coated with plaster and the form-work striations were modeled with a blade. Additional bits were from styrene and then primed.
This was cast in a Pinkysil mold in both Easycast and Hydrocal. The Hydrocal version was for chipping down and breaking up.
Then the three were mounted on some foam card and styrene for a base and dressed with all the bits- a plaster/white glue/water/flock/sand/small rock mix. The proportions are pretty arbitrary- It needs to be a nice slurry consistency. I just started using this combination on other pieces like the Krieg Lascannon above.
A couple of light coats of watered down white glue and primer set everything down with minimal undercuts.
The the whole piece was cast again for multiples for my army and durability in Procast resin.

I'm pretty happy with the results, it sits well with some Forge world pieces I recently purchased and am planning a whole bunch of different terrain.

I have been working on this Krieg heavy mortar for a little while but shelved it to work out how I was going to make a base. Most heavy mortars are unbased with their crew on regular bases. I liked what Forge World had done on their site but had a hard time trying to find an appropriate GW sized base. Yesterday I came across Secret Weapon's hollowed bevel bases- perfect for a support for what I had wanted to do and allowed me some extra space to play with scenery/terrain.
The ground plates were created with plasticard and once a master was cleaned up and primed, cast in resin (for another terrain project I have on the backburner).

The plasticard metal plates under the mortar look great

The mortar is almost complete, I'm pretty happy with the results. The icing on the cake will be some Forge World decals when they arrive for the round casings and pauldrons. This has been weathered with acrylic washes- then sealed, then AK Interactive enamels with pigments/ground chalk pastels and fixative. I'm loving the artillery pieces by Forge World- the attention to detail and the WW1 influence makes for a very nice little piece.

Happy with the results of the Krieg mortar and my custom tank traps I put together some shots with a quickly painted Photoshop battle in the background...







Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm moving the finished shots over to a P & M Blog.

Stunning!

Both the basing and the brushwork on the minis is just fantastic.

Delightful work here buddy!

Really atmospheric feeling going on!

Real stand out detail is the way the dragons teeth show the layering of the concrete..... really nice! I will have to go back through and read again how you did that!

I love the DKoK and really enjoy the WW1 style bases and mad scenes! Really looking forward to seeing more!

Thank you Rorschach9 and MagosBiff90. I've moved the Krieg finished work over to my new P & M Blog... http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/657435.page[/url]

I'll keep an any terrain updates here though.
The concrete effect was done with plaster mixed with some fine sand and troweled with a palette knife across a shaped piece of florists foam. The idea was to create something that looked like 'formwork'. Ive cast up a number of these and they look great painted together.

Oooooooh! I like it ALL!

DominusLimum wrote:
Thank you Rorschach9 and MagosBiff90. I've moved the Krieg finished work over to my new P & M Blog... http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/657435.page[/url]

I'll keep an any terrain updates here though.
The concrete effect was done with plaster mixed with some fine sand and troweled with a palette knife across a shaped piece of florists foam. The idea was to create something that looked like 'formwork'. Ive cast up a number of these and they look great painted together.

ahh cool... that's a really clever idea to get the shuttered effect of the formwork.... hope you don't mind but I will certainly be attempting this effect on my next terrain piece whenever that might be!

Top work mate! I look forward to following your P&M Blog!