Think Pink

As I continue to work on my chapel I have discovered the joys of pink foam insulation. This stuff, which you can find at any DIY hardware store, is an indispensable scenery material. You can make pretty well anything with it. In my last post I showed how I used it to make the chimney and supports. This past week I tackled the stone work around the base of the structure.

My first thought was to cut out individual bricks and attach them. I used this method on the back wall but I was not satisfied with the results. Cutting out the "bricks" was also tedious and messy. The I hit upon the idea of making panels of styrofoam, attaching them the the walls and textured with an xacto knife. I cut a piece of styrofoam about 100mm x 30 mm then carefully sliced off a 3-5 mm section. I continued making panels until I had what I needed to go around the chapel. The panels were glued to the lower part of the wall, clamped and left to dry overnight.

When the glue was set I took my xacto and carved the stones. An old paint brush was used to clean up any loose bits of foam that stuck into the crevasses. For the door I fashioned an arch with left over bits of foam. The door was scored and the wood effect will be brought out in the painting phase. Some tiny nails and craft sticks were added for details.

GB

Foamcore is Your Friend

One of the things that attracts me about WH40K and WHFB are those wonderful pictures of beautifully painted miniatures against backdrops of marvellous terrain features. So I thought I'd try something different and build some terrain of my own. My first attempt was a small house. I borrowed heavily from the techniques presented in this article by Gary James http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/infopages/page191.html. Instead of doubling the wall thickness, I only used a single thinkness of foamcore and drew the windows on. Likewise the stone chimney is painted with a "stone" cap made from pink foam insultation topped off with drinking straws. Since I was making a single story building and didn't need to remove the roof, the gabels and end walls were cut as one piece. The house diminsions are 110mm x 145mm x 145mm. The wall height is 45mm to the eaves. This encouraged me to tackle something a bit more elaborate. Taking inspiration from the GW chapel model I've started to build my own chapel. The dimensions of this project are 110mm x 160mm x 200mm with the same roof slope as the house. For the second story I added another layer of foamcare measuring 35mm high at the sides and 110mm at the gables. I've cut niches in each gable that I plan the decorate with either statues or stained glass. Pink foam insulation is also used on this project for the the stonework supports, the chimney and various other bits of stonework. As you can see on one wall here I am experimenting with a technique the create the look of stonework foundations. I'm not sure how I feel about the results so far. The chimney came out pretty well I think. I've topped it off with a bit of bendy straw and a push pin (I only had clear ones on hand).

GB

Finished Alien Plant Terrain

As promised here are some shots of the alien plants I was working on. I started off by spraying them with black primer. Once that was dry I gave them a second coat with Model Master Medium Green (spray can). Below are some of the progress pics.

For the most part the look was achieved by dry brushing lighter shades of green for the plants or brown for the base.

Plants

• Orkhide Shade
• Goblin Green
• Camo Green
• Bilous Green

Base

• Graveyard Earth
• Orc Brown (Desert Tan?)
• Vomit Brown
• Bleached Bone

Spikes

• Scab Red
• Blood Red
• Fiery Orange

Roots

• Liche Purple
• Liche Purple + Imperial Purple
• Imperial Purple
• Imperial Purple + Skull White

The spikes and roots where done with a bit more care - layering with thin coats. Some of the details on the base where picked out with Scorched Earth, Codex Grey and Ash Waste Grey.

Another view of the finished piece.

Detail

GB

Dangerous Terrain!

Literally! I remember seeing these 'death-world' cacti in a White Dwarf a long time ago and have been meaning to put some together myself. They are very easy to make and inexpensive to boot.

Tools + Supplies

• 1 pkg 2.5"/6.5 cm styrofoam balls
• 1 pkg 1.5"/4 cm styrofoam balls
• toothpics (the kind that's pointy on both ends)
• ready to use wall filler (I used LePage Polyfix)
• art board, stiff card board or masonite (I used art board)
• assortment of small stones, pebbles, sand and other debris
• sandpaper
• hobby knife
• scissors
• hot glue gun

The first three items on the list came from a dollar store and you end up with enough for several projects. The biggest expenses on the list are the filler and art board but again the materials will last you many, many projects. I figure this particular project costs less than a buck.

Start by cutting some board to the appropriate shape. Bevel the the edges with a hobby knife and sand smooth. With a hobby knife shave one side of the ball flat. Attach the ball to the base using liberal amounts of hot glue. Add a smaller ball in a similar way by cutting one side flat and making a corresponding flat cut on the larger ball. Stick together using the hot glue gun. Next coat the entire piece (base and all) with a thinned layer of filler. I used an old wash brush. If there are any gaps between the balls or the base pack in some filler. While the filler is still wet add some rocks, pebbles, sand and debris. Let the filler dry a bit then using an old brush stipple (jab with the brush) the surface of the balls to add some texture.

Next use a toothpick to poke some guide holes into the balls. Break the ends off the tooth picks and insert into the guide holes. The length of the spike depends on the size of the ball for the half ball I used just the tip of the toothpick to represent an immature plant, while the spikes on the large ball stick out a lot farther representing a mature specimine. One note though, I really should have blunted the ends of the toothpicks by running them on some sandpaper but I was on a roll and didn't think of it.

I played around with the glue gun and came up with a couple of effects that I thought were cool. By carefully applying a blob of glue and then slowly teasing it out I created a root. By adding some smaller blobs the effect is pretty convincing. Also just applying simple blobs of glue creates another form of plant life or perhaps seedlings of the bigger ones. Once I get these painted up I'' post some pictures of the finished product.

GB

Quick Dreadnought Base

I see a lot of cool bases on people's miniatures so I thought I'd give it a go. For my first attempt I am using the dreadnought base from the Black Reach set. I want to keep it pretty basic - just a simple textured base. The materials and tools are:

• plastic card
• sand (from Dollerama)
• xacto knife
• model glue
• white glue
• skull accessory (from Black Reach)
• scissors
• circle template (optional)
• scibing tool (optional)

Using the template, I found the appropriate size and drew this on my plastic card sheet. The template is handy but you could also trace around the base to draw a circle. I then cut the circle out using a pair of scissors. I wasn't too concerned about cutting a perfect circle. In fact I cut a bit inside the line to make the card slightly smaller than the base. Using the base from the Eldar war walker as reference I made rough, irregular cuts around the outer edge of the card.

Using the scribing tool (the back of an old #11 blade work well too) I gauged various cracks and fissures across the surface until I was happy with the look. To give the base a more 3-D effect I removed one large and several smaller sections and repositioned them so that they overlapped at the edges. I made sure to add nicks and cracks to these smaller pieces as well. Once I was happy with the arrangement I glued the card to the base with model glue. I added some debris using bits of left over plastic and some fine sand tacked down with white glue. I also added a skull from the Black Reach set and disguised the join with sand.

Once the glue had set I sprayed the whole thing with black primer. Painting consisted of a couple of thin coats of Codex Grey, followed by Kommando Khaki and highlighted with a mix of Kommando Khaki and Skull White. Where the original base is visible was painted Scorched Earth and highlighted with Graveyard Earth and Kommando Khaki. The skull was Scorched Earth, Graveyard Earth, Bleach Bone and Skull White.

Not including drying time, I must have spent less than an hour putting this together. Quick, easy and cheap.

GB