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Really cool project, grats on victory! I'll be watching the next round of the contest, I'll participate if I can.

Edit: For a typo. I mispelled 'perfect' Ironic?

ironic?...Freudian perspective...

Roads sounds interesting.... I am switching over to the new thread then^^...

Everybody body should participate. Good Roads make Good Neighbors

From my other thread, but the answer belongs here, since it is WIP stuff...

 keltikhoa wrote:
Just curious. What do you use on the outside of the Bourak buildings for that "stucco" look?

So, here is a montage of the process of texturing the big building shown in my other thread


Use sand -- tend to use sand from those water filters, Brita filters, or just regular sand you buy at the DIY store-- but... screen it through, well, screens, to filter out the larger grains. Then use a screen with smaller openings, etc. Repeat until you have grains of uniform size, and size that you want. Then apply a thick coat of latex acrylic interior house paint, and pour the sand onto it. As seen. it is best done in sections. And I write lots of reminders to myself.

Hope this helps.

One more thing, yay, progress.

Primer coat on my building. Next up will be some texturing, but I think it will be a lighter texturing than that which is shown in the montage above.

And the terrace too

I tried to play around with the hexes to 'break' the pattern as suggested, but was not satified with anything that I did, so I'm just going to leave them as is and think about doing something along those lines for a later project.

Weirdest stairs which I have ever built.

Thanks for stopping by.

Note to self: domes are next...

Stairs look cool, as do finished buildings, as do the more recent buildings.

Those weird stairs look great though.

Hey, could you use cardboard to tile a floor, then pour water effects over it? Or would the water effects affect the cardboard and ruin it? I igure if the cardboard didn't come loose or curl, then it would be very well protected under it's layer of flood water, so could be used for a ruined, sunken temple or something.

Thanks Grim and Warboss.

Not sure what you're saying Val. You would seal any paper product before pouring water effects on it. I had an, erm, incident when I did not seal something completely (see below). However, yes,I believe that it would work.

Here are a few photos of something like what I think you describe:

I glued in the tiles, printed on 110# (220 gsm?) paper which I have sealed with a water based polyurethane-- airbrushed on. Using a bristle brush will mess up the printing. Then I poured the water effects (A 2 part epoxy called Super-Glaze)

Note that I did not seal the paper as well as I thought. You can see where the super glaze bled through and left dark spots on the tiles.
Here is where I add ripples to the water

The products I used are visible in the background.
The final piece


So a thinner layer of water effects, or several coats of gloss polyurethane over the tiles may work.

Nice water work there

wow thats a pretty cool little bit of terrain

How did you get the fountain spray to stay in that shape while it dried?

If you look carefully at this photo you can see the fishing line I used. You could also use transparent thread. The line weight (IIRC this is 100# test) depends upon how thick the water spout is.

Basically, I embedded the line in the fountain spout and the epoxy water effect then used the gloss super heavy gel to get the effect. The stuff is quite sticky. It will dry clear. The white blobs adhered to the fishing line are super heavy gel. See photo above for what the container looks like.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Found a few hours tonight. Did a little more work on the guest house. The bathroom and interior walls are dis-assembled. I'm re-thinking how to go about making them playable.

Now to figure out how to surface that patio.

And on the waterfall I started for LoER 10 but got nowhere fast due to RL interference.

I may adjust it to be a waterfall with hanging gardens in place of the braziers I was going to add.

And finally, some bases for the Infinity figs. I've been meaning to do this for a while. This is about 1/4 of what I'll eventually need by the time the armies are all fleshed out ( or pewtered out). Still, progess.


Thanks for stopping by.

I have to say whenever I look into your thread it is a bit like a summer holiday... your stuff really reminds me of these all inclusive hotel complexes...they ooze an air of richness... I needed to tell you this... as so often we say awesome...but I wanted to describe my feelings when looking at your works...!

also... even while I knew that fishing line and so on could create and guide thin watereffects... this looks absulutly brilliant... my only fear always would be that it wouldn´t dry out clear completely... this would probably make me sit by and watch everything dry out...as if looking at the work would speed up any drying process and would insure quality

The dark spots on the paper from where the water effect bled through actually makes it more realistic, as if there were air bubbles that the light is passing through in the water. I see this effect in the pools at my condo all the time.

Yeah, some folks commented that it was mold/mildew on the tile, or a bad tile job... rather than be upset, I decided it was serendipitous. Sometimes you just have to embrace the unexpected results.

Bright colors and clean lines, Vik, that's all it is. Now, as far as watching the stuff dry... One thing to do is let the gel get a bit drier and tackier, then gently pluck and pick at it (with tweezers and a dental pick, as seen in the photo) to make it look more turbulent. But it does dry clear. Then you need a very light white drybrushing to give it a foaming/whitewater effect. The Urban Oasis is one of my favorite pieces actually. Plus, it lights up, as seen in this WIP


Water effects are a lot of fun to make. Everyone should try it sometime.

Nice work! Water effects look phenomenal.

I have to agree that the water is outstanding.

I am not yet there to test watereffects yet... but your work here provides me with lots of good ways to see it through one day...

and lighted terrain is always a cool addition to each table!!!

And the modernistic approach to the houses and buildings, I see stackable components? Apartment building?

The hab modules can stack. The rest not so much. But some sort of apartment building might be cool to build at some point. It's on the list now

Vik, Everybody should try some sort of water effect, even if it is just multiple layers of a gloss finish on something.

The water effect is just perfect. I actually think the tone variations on the bottom add to the overall effect, and the spot-on ripples close the deal.

Tuts and steps-by-steps are great, and will have to give a try to some of those ideas sooner or later, I'll look around into product availability any time soon and follow your advice.

Thanks. The two part epoxy is available at any DIY. The other stuff is from a craft store or art supply store.

Anyway, belated, but as promised, my little dome tutorial.
Here is a quick tutorial on how to build stepped domes. Since I am not so articulate, I'll let the photos say it all.


Once stacked together, I fill the gaps (that's the yellowish stuff) smooth it with a nail file, and done


Thanks for stopping by.

Very impressive dude.

First time I've gone into this thread and I've only looked at this page so far.....now I need to read it all

Brilliant tut's Red, great work all round.

I love your water, I have got to have a go soon.

Seriously, how talented are you chief? Great.tut!

 Red Harvest wrote:


Anyway, belated, but as promised, my little dome tutorial.
Here is a quick tutorial on how to build stepped domes. Since I am not so articulate, I'll let the photos say it all.


Thanks for stopping by.

I take it what you really did was calculate the diameter of each layer of the dome using Pythagoras (blue line AB being the diameter of the disc (chord), image below) incrementally for each layer, like so:



no doubt it's quicker and more accurate than doing it graphically.

That building is looking insanely cool. The fountains and steps are excellent.

Thanks guys.

Noodles: Well, no. Graphically is quicker, and more accurate, since there is no rounding off of numbers etc. I drew the levels (the horizontal lines in photo#1) Then the arc of the dome with a compass. I already knew the height and diameter of the dome, a bit of trial and error gave me the radius of the circle. However, using the Pythagorean would eliminate the need for the trial and error to find the radius for the dome in the vertical plane. I'll try it next time. Thanks.

Where the arc intersected the horizontal, I dropped a vertical line down to the next horizontal. Repeat until all steps are drawn. Photo #2 shows me taking measurements directly from the drawing for the radius of each level. If you look you can see a cross below the dome. That is the center point of the circle. The nice thing about a measured drawing like that is you can take measurements directly from it.

Then I just make the discs for each level, stack them on a spindle, tidy up the thing and boom. Dome. And then cut the oculus for it.

Photos of the completed building are here Scroll down a bit.


A little work on the patio. Based on previous C&C, I decided to go with something other than a regular hex pattern.

That's just a quick base coat to give an idea of final color.

Thanks for stopping by.

Brilliant pattern on the patio. love the colour too.

Nice patio. Great work on that building.

I like how you did the ripples on the water's surface. Will remember that for when I ever get around to making terrain.

Interesting to see how the domes are built up too.

why didn't I get in the talent line you were in. No instead I got in the line where they taught you how to pull lint out of your belly button. Seriously awesome work on the water effects and patios.

Really? Protip: use a Q-tip dipped in isopropanol to clean your navel. Another protip: don't use it to clean your ears afterwards.

 Dr H wrote:
Nice patio. Great work on that building.

I like how you did the ripples on the water's surface. Will remember that for when I ever get around to making terrain.

Interesting to see how the domes are built up too.

For the ripples, you may need several applications to build up the effect, and a day or so between layers for drying. Water effects will require patience.

Thanks Cam and Theo and Doc.

The pattern is a result of suggestions from several sources, including MagosBiff90's (Hah, you thought I didn't see that?) to do something other than very regular hex patterns.

Minimal hobby time, but there is this,


The questions. How does the window with the panes look compared to the open ones? (never mind the crappy quaity of the mock-up.) Is the texture/color believable for adobe or stucco?

If the texture is good, I'll be able to finish the exterior of this thing quickly.

Thanks for stopping by.