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As some of you might know, I have been working on a cardboard temple.



The problems I faced with the temple were the lack of detail (although it was very detailed for your standard scenery, and texturing it with sand helped a lot) and the need of a laser cutter and lots of gluing time to duplicate the pieces in order to make such a large building.

So, with the lesson learnt, I want to build a better piece of scenery. The final goal is to build a more detailed, resin based, modular cathedral, of over 1 metres long and about 60 centimeters high.

I want to create one piece of each type with cardboard, then detail them with putty, texture them with sand, and duplicate them. Since the final temple I am going for would involve the use of over 35 different pieces and I am unexperienced with resin, I will start with a much simpler proyect, involving a smaller ammount of pieces, which will still be useful for the cathedral.

Here is a concept design I drawed. The result will have less skulls xD, and less sculpting quality, since I am a better artist than sculptor:



My primary goal will be to build a tower of nearly 1.5 times the size of an imperial bastion. It should be able to contain 25 warhammer fantasy miniatures in a 5x5 formation in each of it's storeys, which I hope is more than enough room for a full warhammer 40k squad. Then, I will be able to give casting with resin a try. If I can make it work, I will be able to duplicate the pieces and continue with the proyect to expand into a bigger building with an increased range of walls, pillars and arches.

Maybe I will divert my attention with some side-proyects in the same style, in order to build other kinds of resin based scenery from time to time.

I will be posting pics of my progress with each piece, if everything goes as expected. Wish me luck!

Looks good so-far.
Subbed!

Good Luck!

This is a wall section, just the cardboard base, no detailing done yet. It's all cut by hand.



The wall will be the same way on both sides, so there will be two different looking options within the same resin piece.

looking good!

You cut all that out by hand! Wow!

Good luck with this project, I will keep an eye out for it,

Cain

Sculpting work has started. I also filled the circular windows, since this will be an opaque wall.

i think i saw that beauty in another thread once...still an epic model and you even make it better! will definatly be following this!

good luck with that mega work and Vik

OMG, please teach me to carve like that?

wow

liking alot

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback!

This is the initial design for the standalone tower. The blue colour marks the piece I have been showing you.



And here I present you one side of the wall which I have already finished. I am worried about the sand+pva glue I want to use to texture the wall will eat too much detail, beyond obscuring most imperfections on the sculpt. I hope it won't be a problem, or all this work will be ruined, just as if I was not able to cast the pieces in resin for some reason. After all, I have never given resin casting a try, so it's a whole new world for me.

DOOD!, sand will add unwanted texture to that, be warned. /sweating here

Wow, the level of detail on that is incredible. Is each section going to be finished in this manner or just the four large panels?

Can't wait to see some additional updates.

What about a textured spray paint? It will not lose as much detail as if you used sand.

I am really not sure that adding texture with PVA glue and sand would give you the result you wanted without obscuring a lot of the detail.

If you wanted a stone texture have you considered using a textured spray primer, like GW's Rough Coat, which will add a textured, sandy finish without obsuring much detail?

If you did want to add sand though my best suggestion would be to use very fine grade coral sand which you can get from aquarium shops, and applying it with either hairspray or spraymount, and then varnishing it.

The only downside I can think of would be warpage on the card when using sprays?

What you have done so far is lovely though, although considering the amount of effort that's gone into the sculpting I might have used plasticard rather than card, but I am not used to working in card and presume it's pretty durable?

Edit: ninja's by Fosker!

You can get 3 cans of any other brand textured spray paint for the price of 1 can of GW roughcoat though.

I also intended to use the "watered down pva glue+sand" layer to make the cardboard resistant to liquids. Maybe that is not necessary. Can anyone with some experience with casting with resing give me advice on the matter? If that protective layer was not necessary, textured spray paint would be an option if I can find it in Spain.

I'd like to get a small degree of texture into the material, in order to make the pieces easy to paint, with just a basecoat and two layers of drybrushing, each one less wet and with a lighter colour than the previous one. Just like the Games-Workshop Imperial Bastion walls have a fine texture on them. This will also absorb some of the small putty "stains" and irregularities that are unavoidable in such a sculpt with my limited skills.

I am not really worried about the cardboard warping, since most of goes from 2 mm thick to 17 mm thick, which I am quite confident won't warp easily. The surface texture is what worries me the most. Maybe a coat of pva glue, without sand, would also absorb many irregularities. But then, does the wall have enough detail to be just drybrushed without a texture and look good? In my mind, it's bastion style versus citadel ruins style, which if I'm right, are not textured. And I am quite sure the wall detail is not crisp enough to leave it untextured and still look good.


¿Anyone can lend me a hand regarding that?

Umm, I would assume that the waterproof would be necessary but, having never casted Im not sure. The fine texture could be achived by sanding down on the cardboard lightly.

I might give the pieces a coat of watered-down pva glue in order to make them waterproof. Then, I will look for textured spray paint, although I have no Idea of where to find something like that in Valencia (Spain).

I have completed the other side of the previous wall segment:



And although the next piece was not necessary in the initial design of the cathedral, I thought the tower needed gates, so I built this variation on that previous wall segment.



The doors themselves should not get textured, of course.

Be careful of the PVA glue and cardboard. The PVA glue really shrinks a lot when it dries. My buddy made all his terrain and coated it with PVA, all of the cardboard bases warped alot.

Maybe, try giving it a spray sealant? or making sure it will not warp by securing it in a vise or something? But I just don't want to see your great work get ruined because of PVA glue.

Me, I would jsut prime, maybe with 2-3 thin coats.

Yes, I agree. If that is made with the pasteboard type of cardboard that I think it is made of, PVA will probably warp it. Priming could even warp it if it isnt first fixed to something un-warpable. Maybe glue a thin piece of plastic card to the back first for stability? Your master is amazingly detailed, ruining it would make both of us cry! Be careful!

Maybe I could cast the pieces first with the waterproof layer only, and then give a try at texturing them? If you were to get these pieces, would you want them just as they are, with no sand-like texture? or would you preffer them textured?

To be honest, I am quite confident about the masters not warping. Both sides of the wall sections are glued back to back, and each one is composed of several layers of 1mm thick cardboard, glued using PVA glue. The thinnest part of the master is always of no less than 2mm thick, with most of it being 4-6mm thick, and some arches being up to 20mm thick.
The fact that I already used plenty of pva glue to glue each cardboard layer and was able to prevent warping to a degree, and having such a thick piece in general makes me less worried about warping, and more worried about being able to give it the right texture. Not too thick so it obscures most of the detail, but not too light so it leaves any mistakes in sculpting and rough edges clearly visible.

if you ask me, i would skip the sand too...sealing it pva and then varnishing it for the mouldcasting i think would be as you described the former works on the piece be ok in my book...
i would leave the surfaces as be and if there are some smaller errors in the details i would look at them in the same kind as someone would deliberatly add weathering chips and such things... the risk to loose such fine deatails as you did is too great as to make extra texture to flatter surfaces would be gained...if this fails i guess i have to start begging^^

I agree with Vik, cast them first, then you can experiment with texture on the casted pieces. Personally, I don't think they need texturing. I would buy casts of these from you untextured, exactly like these masters!

wouldnßt be curretnly able to buy them but would love to^^ and as dsteingass said, cast first and then you are free to do as you please... and the loose then is somehwat irrelevant as you can always redo from start^^

as a personal opinion... i think thse pieces would have great potential to be sold...if i was you i would send then the first casted versions to someone like chapterhouse or scibor... this is there style of work so would be a good addition of their current ranges...and i guess there is definite money in those pieces to be wrung out...

That detailing looks amazing, keep going, I will be checking back for updates.



The only problem I can see with selling them is the sheer size of the pieces. Casting them in resin is going to be quite expensive, i would say probably a pound of resin or more per building. I would say retail price for the piece would have to be at least $50 USD, to make it even worth the time and effort, probably more likely around $70-$80 USD.

Wow that is amazing, it must of taken you forever to do. It took me nearly 2 hours! just to do a banner lol.

Here you have the other side of the gate piece:



And here is the floor, upper and lower view





Finally, I have given the piece a very very watered-down layer of PVA glue. No bending whatsoever, YAY! And the pieces are now much harder.

I am worried about the ammount of resin involved on cloning the pieces, however.

If you have a dchance to do something you love my friend, don't save for it, don't plan for it, don't wait for it....you need to just go do it! Life is too short.

could you please show us some times a WIP pic of this work of yours? this would be so helpfu to understand how you are able to come up with some artful stuff like that from scratch... the floor looks awsome and how many modlers care for the underside of a floor anyway? truly exceptional!!!