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That has tons of promise. Great start.

Agreed, lots of potential there, good luck getting all together!

whenever i get my hands on anything interesting looking in the realworld...whenever the number of items is more than three...it is a given system that it has a valid use for our hobby...in terrain even more so! this looks very promising...the riveted piece even more!

dang...now i have another thread to read...and the backlog is ever growing....

Thanks, everybody... I'm ready to get moving on this!

I'll probably finish my layout this weekend, cut the foam, wash and sand the recycled plastic, and maybe go buy some paint to start undercoating the bulk stuff. I also ordered up $50 worth of styrene strips, sheets, and angle stock from Amazon. Working on this nice large scale I'll use straight pins to "rivet" a perimeter of 1/4" angle "iron" around the whole platform. I have a couple of MDF ladders left from another kit and a bunch of random drinking straws and various tubing to add texture.

Onwards!

Okay, I've got all the main pieces laid out and cut. Here's the most current eyeball mockup with what's made in place.


I decided to go for it and cut off the two sets of vertical baby bottle "tanks" on either side. I like this for a few reasons: 1) more ways to play on and around it on the battlefield, 2) it was too big for my desk and cumbersome to work on, and 3) I'm kind of excited to magnetize it back together.

The middle section by itself:


One of two end sections. Any strong feelings on the placement of the 4 valves?


I'm toying with the idea of cutting a sloped vehicle bay into the lower deck. What do ya'll think, either at a straight 90...


or on an angle?


Finally, I got my shipment of styrene in the mail and couldn't resist throwing on a quick layer of card and rivets to explore. Nothing is glued down, but I think I've got the sizing figured out: 1/2" plastic skirt all the way around, 1/4" angled cap, steel straight pin rivets every 1/2". Set up like this I should be able to paint quite a bit during assembly. I'm pretty pleased; it should go on quickly and add a lot of visual interest and texture. It wouldn't be the LoER without rivets.

* Sloped vehicle bay at an angle- provides contrast to everything else which is dress right dress

* Rivets look excellent- that's going to be a great look when installed completely

The whole project looks like great fun; really want to see how your unusual food gubbins fit in.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
* Sloped vehicle bay at an angle- provides contrast to everything else which is dress right dress

* Rivets look excellent- that's going to be a great look when installed completely

The whole project looks like great fun; really want to see how your unusual food gubbins fit in.

Thanks! You're quite right about the angle... good call. That was part of why I left the overhead walkways asymmetrical. It definitely breaks up the lines and gives it something new. The last step here is to build the ramp and I'll move on to the rows of tanks on each side.

Good luck in the contest MacPhail.

Interesting use of baby milk bottles.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks CB and all y'all. I'm liking where this project is headed, and I'm about to have some more time to give it.

Before I go big on finishing that terrain, I wanted to post a selection of things I've recently finished. I haven't had a chance to stage a board for a game at home recently, but a few different terrain pieces of have made it to completion in the last few months. Last summer's big project was to renovate the Realms of Battle boards, and most of the winter was split between painting Sisters models and building terrain for it. Here's a sampling of what's done recently:

I pulled out three sections of RoB board and plopped a few things down... I'm pretty stoked that I was able to be so consistent with the base color.


I'm thinking this is some sort of long-forgotten refueling depot with a small pre-fab building serving as a machine shop or tool locker. I had so much fun building those two sections of fencing I may need to do some more.


Given the scarcity of fuel on whatever post-Imperium waste-world this is, an elevated lookout post commands the approach to the depot.


And the hills themselves, the trees, and the pool were done some time ago... but it's still fun to set them up.

Looking very nice MacPhail.

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
Looking very nice MacPhail.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks! It was nice to have all that stuff out for a look, but it's all back in storage now to make room for the big LoER project.

So I realized that I wasn't going to need the lids to the milk bottles in my build, so I mounted them on an old garden stake to serve as a jig of sorts while I paint the bottles.


I washed, dried, and sanded the bottles just to give some texture more than to remove logos. The jig worked well enough and I put down a few coats of Rustoleum 2X Primer for a nice rusty red-brown. I think I'll add some Ryza Rust before I start in on trying to figure out salt chipping technique... I've watched a few videos and it doesn't look too technical.


I also finished cutting the mounting holes in the deck, so I set everything up to eyeball the spacing. I think I can get the height to align pretty closely; since the milk bottles are threaded and the insulation foam holds the threads I can just screw them into the base until the tops are level with the adjacent platform.


Next up: building the ramp, prepping the deck and platform for paint, and starting to fabricate all the riveted trim and railings. Tedious and time-consuming, but also repetitive, so there will be an assembly line aspect to it. I also need to figure out whether and how to magnetize the sections together.

Wow, I can’t believe I just threw away all of my baby bottles after my kids outgrew them! What was I thinking? I could have had awesome tanks and valves...

Great idea.

-Rids

Thanks, Rids... the kids were already using them as toys and I thought, "Heck, I should use them as toys!"

The tanks got their layer of Ryza Rust. Next step: salt weathering sometime next week.


I cleaned and glued the halves of the upper platform. My theory is that a little air helps the wood glue cure, thus the Frankenstein approach.


And, because gluing things to sticks is what I do, I mounted up another 40+ bases for mass production. That'll be enough to finish off the Sisters and start some Inquisition-themed Guard.

Spring finally came to Colorado, so it's good weather for rattle cans. Yesterday I built 40+ bases with cork, ballast, and ModPodge mounted on paint sticks. Today I got them based in flat gray primer, ready to ink, drybrush, and detail. I also put a coat of matte clearcoat on the rusted tanks.

Lots of progress in little ways:

Cut window screen to fit upper deck and sprayed it silver:


Too sparkly for my taste, but I think this is maybe an okay use for it. Needs some grimdark.


I weathered it a bit with Rhinox Hide, Ryze Rust, and Nuln Oil.


I also prepped some sheet styrene with gray primer and Leadbelcher, then cut it into strips:


I mounted them on the upper deck with wood glue:


I basecoated some beams and trusses to have on hand for detail work later:


And, I started on the ramp in the vehicle bay (now that the diamond-plate styrene has arrived!):


Progress! All comments, insights, and suggestions welcome as always.

MacPhail,

What are you using to cut the styrene with? A knife or a foam cutter?

Cheers,

CB

The sheet styrene cuts easily enough with a sharp blade, using a stainless ruler and the guide on my cutting mat to get it roughly straight. Of course, it's pretty thin... I think I'm using .015 for this project. I do have a foam cutter, but I mostly use it for 1" foam and for big, rough cut projects like hills and rock faces. I've mostly switched to 1/2" foam, which cuts nicely with a sharp blade and a straightedge. These ramp pieces didn't have to be exact, I just don't want the styrene to sag when I park a tank on it.

More progress photos on parallel projects: Moving along on the LoER contest entry, and racing to paint and base every infantry model before my next game.

I moved 45 bases through Drybrushing with White Scar and washing with Nuln Oil. Next step: Agrellan Mud on the bottom row.




I cut and primed the ramp for the vehicle bay, but I need to detail the base before I glue it in place.


I got two sides of the upper deck trimmed with styrene angle stock, "riveted" it in place with straight pins (and glue), and immediately started think about wether it needs a little green stuff "welding" on the corner.

Yes. With that look, a line of welding down the seem is mandatory.

I wonder if you could put a blob of liquid GS in a ziplock/other bag, prick a hole in the corner, and use it like a piping bag for frosting and run a bead down the line to get the right effect?

Could be completely off, just a random thought.

MacPhail,

I am of a different mind, I would not bother with greenstuff, as I assume you are going to weather the edges like the mesh and that will hide any weld lines in any case...or provide an area for extra rust.

My two cents,

CB

Thanks, guys... I'll have to figure it out as I go. The squeezy bag is a wild idea, and might be crazy enough to work. I think the ones of the lower deck will get weathered into compliance as CB says, but I might go the extra mile for detail on the upper deck. The riveting is super tedious and hard on the fingers, so I may even make that a level of detail that only the upper platform gets, and just glue down the angle stock and weather the heck out of it on the lower pieces.

The bases are done, even though the Agrellan Earth didn't adhere properly to the primer and lots of the little flakes came off when I was washing them with Agrax. A disappointment, but there's nothing to be done. I guess the danger of working on a large scale is larger-scale mistakes.




Time to finish off the Sisters infantry. 32 models to go...

I'm finally closing in on the bottom of the collection. I got the 15 (or 3x5) in reversed color scheme (white robes, green armor) to run as an alternate Order... they're finished to a reasonable standard, but the robes could use a little more work to brighten them up. I also went through the boxes and found everyone without a base... flamers, melta guns, and heavy flamers in excess of what I typically field. They got based as well. All that's left are 9 Seraphim and one random Celestian who got left out of a painting batch. I should be able to wrap this up by my game on the 29th, and hopefully get three Rhinos half-built to hand off to out resident airbrush expert for some basecoating help.

Nice looking progress. Remember, once you finish you need to get some showcase glamor shots of everyone and a big army pic!

Oh, that's definitely happening. It'll be a fun photo to stage.

Rattle can day! I had the time, the paint, and the good weather, so I took care of a lot of bulk work. I did three unbuilt Rhinos, with tracks and upgrades separately, to be handed off to a generous friend for color airbrushing (for my Sisters); one Rhino recovery project in black with doors and turrets (for my Inquisition), three remnant sprues worth of Ogryn leftovers and five new Ork Nobz (to be hybridized as Inquisitorial Ogryns on the cheap), and a bunch of additional styrene angle stock (for my LoER entry chasing a deadline in a few weeks).

I may try taking the on-sprue work further on some items... a Zandri base for Ogryn flesh, Leadbealcher + Nuln on Ripper Guns, Agrax as an all-over wash on the bodies... I'm at least going to Nuln-wash the tank treads.

Sprue work is a noble profession- "he who cuts least, builds most" (Master Shi-fu, from Kung Fu Panda)

Thanks... noble or otherwise, I just hope it isn't less efficient. I like that I can pull pre-based bits to experiment with.

I did a quick BluTac mockup just to see if I was wasting my time. The proportions are definitely off, but not unbearably so. The head is too big and the arms too lean, and I'm not sure about those linebacker shoulder pads... but it works well enough at 1/3 the price that I'm going to build and paint what I can.

Your pace and scale are impressive! So much progress here. I love the effect of the window screen sprayed metallic and then weathered with browns, reds and rust. Good stuff!

-Rids

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
Your pace and scale are impressive! So much progress here. I love the effect of the window screen sprayed metallic and then weathered with browns, reds and rust. Good stuff!

-Rids

Thanks! I'm a teacher on summer break, so I balance this stuff against home maintenance projects, family budgets, vacations, etc. It all grinds to a halt in September. I try to hit the big projects that take a lot of space or make a big mess during the summer and then paint on a TV tray during the school year. Every little bit helps, though!