This is my first post. Yay!
I had friends that were into Warhammer in high school, both WFB and 40k. This would have been right around the 2nd Ed days of 40k. I joined a few games once in a while using other peoples minis or proxied whatever I had on hand (Lego usually!) but found what I really enjoyed was creating scenery for the tabletop to help take things to the next level when it came to getting immersed in the story/battle/whatever.
I was, to put it mildly, not the greatest terrain builder in those days but I've always been the artistic sort - although mostly in the drawing realm - so I wasn't complete rubbish either. Most of it was lack of knowledge, experience and tooling.
Anyway, about a year ago I rediscovered 40k and learned about the Oldhammer movement. For some reason those old minis and those old school 'Eavy Metal paint jobs still speak to me... And I decided to try my hand at building some terrain again.
Without further ado:
Here's some explanations & pictures for my latest build. Would love to hear what you think.
It started with me experimenting with ways to do a chain link style fence. This was actually an experiment for another build but, as that one consists of a mostly intact building, at least conceptually! it's proving to be more time consuming than I'd thought so I got bored and started this in the meantime :-)
Either way, I wanted a simple fence but with enough detail that it's interesting to look at.
This is what I settled on for the base design: styrene tubes and rods, adhesion courtesy of one of Plastruct's brush-on plastic cements. The name escapes me but it's the orange label!
I then added some mosquito/screen door mesh from Home Depot..
And attached the mesh sections to the upright poles with floral wire and superglue
Fence section with models for size/scale comparison
Although, honestly, I don't really worry about true scale as much as I do about things just looking (and feeling) like they are the correct size.....
Phrasing. I know.
Then I started putting my terrible sculpting skills to use by doing up some sidewalk pieces so I could cast them, damage them, cast them, damage them more... etc. etc. to end up with a variety of options I can stockpile in resin.
I've got to admit - there was no pre-planning for this build. I had 9x9 inch MDF for a base and a basic idea in my brain. Everything was fit together/build-to-size as I went. Lol. Probably not the best approach but sometimes the mood strikes and you've just got to see where it takes you!
Next I started piecing it together and figuring out where I wanted things to be. This is the 9x9 inch 6mm MDF base, cast resin sidewalk pieces, 1/2 inch blue foam from Lowe's for the walls, junk regular styrofoam (1/4 inch I think..?) packing for the base and my chain link portions so far.
It seemed like no one would go inside if the gate was the only entry/exit point so I cut out the corner, pulled the last undamaged sidewalk section and put in broken sidewalk slab pieces to simulate an exploded wall. The cuts in the white styrofoam were made with the hot knife from Hot Wire Foam Factory after it was glued down with PVA.
Next I built the other fence pieces and did a test fit for a functioning gate.
The gate area needed something so I decided it should have a slight ramp in the foam to match the sidewalk but it still lacked visual interest so I used some double diamond plate and styrene to (hopefully) improve things a bit...
Obviously some rubble/dirt was added along with some rebar sections in some of the wall pieces. I built a pole intending for it to be some kind of futuristic telephone/comms platform but it turned into a pretty basic security camera-ish ball with an electrical transformer or something like that in the end!
I basecoated everything in black...
And then tried to figure out what color scheme to go for. I definitely wanted the sidewalk and the concrete slab to be noticeably dissimilar, which I think I pulled off but I didn't intend for the wall to be SOOO blue or the fencing, etc. to be so white. Not sure if I'll keep it like this or not yet...
Also, will fingernail polish be good to go to use on the camera/ball to give it a glossy glass-like finish or should I be looking to something else (like a varnish or something?) for that effect?
Anyway, here's some pics of the almost completed build before I grimed it up more. I still want to stencil some lettering/numbers on the wall and add some more detailing with the fence, etc. but it's almost there.
...as long as I don't change up the colors!
And a group shots with some of my previous urban builds:
That's all for now!
I was, to put it mildly, not the greatest terrain builder in those days but I've always been the artistic sort - although mostly in the drawing realm - so I wasn't complete rubbish either. Most of it was lack of knowledge, experience and tooling.
Anyway, about a year ago I rediscovered 40k and learned about the Oldhammer movement. For some reason those old minis and those old school 'Eavy Metal paint jobs still speak to me... And I decided to try my hand at building some terrain again.
Without further ado:
Here's some explanations & pictures for my latest build. Would love to hear what you think.
It started with me experimenting with ways to do a chain link style fence. This was actually an experiment for another build but, as that one consists of a mostly intact building, at least conceptually! it's proving to be more time consuming than I'd thought so I got bored and started this in the meantime :-)
Either way, I wanted a simple fence but with enough detail that it's interesting to look at.
This is what I settled on for the base design: styrene tubes and rods, adhesion courtesy of one of Plastruct's brush-on plastic cements. The name escapes me but it's the orange label!
I then added some mosquito/screen door mesh from Home Depot..
And attached the mesh sections to the upright poles with floral wire and superglue
Fence section with models for size/scale comparison
Although, honestly, I don't really worry about true scale as much as I do about things just looking (and feeling) like they are the correct size.....
Phrasing. I know.
Then I started putting my terrible sculpting skills to use by doing up some sidewalk pieces so I could cast them, damage them, cast them, damage them more... etc. etc. to end up with a variety of options I can stockpile in resin.
I've got to admit - there was no pre-planning for this build. I had 9x9 inch MDF for a base and a basic idea in my brain. Everything was fit together/build-to-size as I went. Lol. Probably not the best approach but sometimes the mood strikes and you've just got to see where it takes you!
Next I started piecing it together and figuring out where I wanted things to be. This is the 9x9 inch 6mm MDF base, cast resin sidewalk pieces, 1/2 inch blue foam from Lowe's for the walls, junk regular styrofoam (1/4 inch I think..?) packing for the base and my chain link portions so far.
It seemed like no one would go inside if the gate was the only entry/exit point so I cut out the corner, pulled the last undamaged sidewalk section and put in broken sidewalk slab pieces to simulate an exploded wall. The cuts in the white styrofoam were made with the hot knife from Hot Wire Foam Factory after it was glued down with PVA.
Next I built the other fence pieces and did a test fit for a functioning gate.
The gate area needed something so I decided it should have a slight ramp in the foam to match the sidewalk but it still lacked visual interest so I used some double diamond plate and styrene to (hopefully) improve things a bit...
Obviously some rubble/dirt was added along with some rebar sections in some of the wall pieces. I built a pole intending for it to be some kind of futuristic telephone/comms platform but it turned into a pretty basic security camera-ish ball with an electrical transformer or something like that in the end!
I basecoated everything in black...
And then tried to figure out what color scheme to go for. I definitely wanted the sidewalk and the concrete slab to be noticeably dissimilar, which I think I pulled off but I didn't intend for the wall to be SOOO blue or the fencing, etc. to be so white. Not sure if I'll keep it like this or not yet...
Also, will fingernail polish be good to go to use on the camera/ball to give it a glossy glass-like finish or should I be looking to something else (like a varnish or something?) for that effect?
Anyway, here's some pics of the almost completed build before I grimed it up more. I still want to stencil some lettering/numbers on the wall and add some more detailing with the fence, etc. but it's almost there.
...as long as I don't change up the colors!
And a group shots with some of my previous urban builds:
That's all for now!
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