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Thanks both to monkeytroll and Warboss - checkered it is.

Have made a horrible realisation today, after spending 4 hours painting. I knew I painted slowly anyway - presently I have only ever finished 2 models, and they were only due to entering them in competitions and had a fixed amount of time in which to finish them. But now I am realising the sheer scale of the task ahead with the Cathedral and Chapter house boards, let alone any minis to display on them, on the rate it's taking me to do the Manufactorum... And this is a small build...

Anyway, for anyone interested, here's the floor board - inner floor completed, need to do the grey exterior flagstones:

(Un painted square will have the exterior pipe/vent glued to it - eventually)

Have also done a quick and dirty exterior wall test piece - have decided that rather than doing a full on Red colour scheme, to continue the white/cream walls of the Cathedral, but to have red spot colour parts:


This is going to take a while.....

Floor tiles look great, and I like the idea of being able to blend the manufactorum in with the cathedral and any future manufactorum builds

I feel your pain on the painting speed thing - I always find I've gone into a reverse bullet-time effect when I paint

I second monkeytroll's lamentations. In the end, however, it will look brilliant. Just start in the middle of the project instead of wasting time trying to figure out where the beginning is. That's my method at least. Keep it up, you're making great progress.

How many times monkeytroll, how many times....

A big more progress from tonight, but boy, why do I always choose complicated schemes to paint?!


While it doesn't look like much at the moment, I think it'll (eventually) turn out ok. I'm particularly liking the red 'flashes' on the supporting eagle buttresses - I'll be doing these green for the ChapterHouse me thinks....

Hey, eventually the cathedral will get finished...and then....

It is all coming together, good work

I do like the look of it, all technically and artistically very well done.
But it is a manufactorium... floor space seems a bit wee.
Add an elevator with the label 20 floors so it is a top access?

Stop goading me MT!! But thanks anyway.

Thanks too Talizvar, and while I agreed that a bigger building would be more "logical" this project was never about that - I'll just pretend that it's a minor building that's part of a bigger complex - DOWN MT, DOWN!

(And anyway, time, cost and sanity prevent me from doing ANOTHER big build. Check out my other blog if you haven't already....)

Okay, checked the blog... Cathedral... yep she be big.
Can see for a change in pace, to make something a bit more manageable would be good.

I was thinking making a building of that size with a bunch of hoppers outside and another side looking vaguely like a forge (with mechanical arms and conveyors).
So a "town" would have an STC Auto-Forge(tm) that would make the necessary items for a settlement (or the equivalent of the local hardware store?)
A bit like a Mechanicus local blacksmith. Lasguns can pop out of the thing as readily as a stylus or field rations.

Anyway, still looks good and the floors being removable opens up all kinds of options.

Have fun!

I like your thinking Tailzvar - I might have to nick that idea for the eventual Macanicum board - in about 5 years time. Have set myself a deadline of 2017 to finish the Cathedral and Chapter House boards, including minis - just under three years before I turn 40....

Anyway, rumours of my demise are greatly exaggerated etc etc - been a hellishly busy few weeks with work, with extremely long days and consequently little or no time to spend on my projects... Anyway, have finally made a small amount of progress on the Manufactorum, with a test floor plate:

Photo doesn't do it justice really, having spent ages doing edge highlights to each individual tile, but I'm quite pleased with the overall effect. Just need to get back into the swing of things and try and make so real purgers before I die of old age!

Well, I'll be updating the blog properly once I've figured out why iOS8 is giving me a hard time...

Third time lucky??

Here's the water/fuel pipe nearly finished, all bar some detailing/weathering, and the kerbstone base:


Also been working on the exterior section of the roof/floor. The actual painting process is relatively simple to achieve, it's just that there so much detail on the tiles, it takes ages to complete - heaven forbid I should have taken the easy route and just dry rushed everything. Oh no... So here a WIP pic, with explanatory notes:


Starting on the top left, base coat is the old foundation malachite red
Bottom left and middle - a heavy wash of Agrax Earthshade - letting the puddling occur wherever it wanted
Top middle - a thin coat of red gore - brings out the red but still allows the shade underneath to show through
Bottom right - edge highlights on all the mini-tiles of blazing orange
Top right - thin coat of gloss varnish to enhance the colour

Sadly my camera and lighting don't really do the pic justice

And here's how it's coming along after all five tiles are done, with the metallics to finish. That over 140 tiny little bloody tiles to paint individually by hand - no wonder this is taking so long!


And in situ:

The balustrade has also been finished in red in a similar way to the roof tiles - it really is a nice glossy deep red, which I really like... Must get some better pics!

I know this is some weeks old, but I just wanted to say, Phutarf, that the color scheme on the floor/roof tiles is just beautiful. Keep at it.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
I know this is some weeks old, but I just wanted to say, Phutarf, that the color scheme on the floor/roof tiles is just beautiful. Keep at it.

Thanks Warboss

Well, I realise it's been ages since I last posted an update.. Sadly, the death of my partners father over the August Bank Holiday, and then pressures of work over the last few months have meant precious little time to dedicate to my projects.

I hate ios8. Just typed loads and it got nuked..



So, the short version - been working on this piece, but not sure what to do with the mechanicum symbol - black and white would be standard, but the White would merge into the background and I can't do black. So, any thoughts anyone??

Red and gold to tie in with the overall scheme? Might be a bit samey....

How about swapping the white and black for metallics...bright silver and a dark iron? Keeps the same basic feel, but avoids the issues W/B would give you....

Or you could just go with a brass/bronze effect over the whole cog....maybe with just a touch of verdigris.

Or perhaps some green to tie it back with the cathedral.....

A bit late in the say responding, but thanks for the suggestions monkey troll. Have provisionally decided to go for copper/gold, although still not 100% sure, as the number of different metallics is killing me on this project... Anyway, latest wip pic below:


Have spent a lot of the day today 'whitewashing' walls - while in theory this is a simple process, the sheer amount of detail on these kits means it's a bigger to get into all the nooks and crannies, and then tidying up the detail behind... Sigh... (Not to mention that the 'technique' I'm employing, which I've dubbed "wetbrushing" - like drybrushing but using more paint - destroys brushes!)

Have also decided to do away with the third level - partly as I've now painted the second level roof I felt it looked better without it, partly in an effort to save time! I think (ha!) that I might get this finished by the new year. Maybe....