Terrain Mega-Project: Tower continued!

I have begun work on the monster! I cut out some floors for the quadrants. I am 70% sure I shall be going with the external lift-shaft suggested by Porky, but for now I am just omitting one of the quadrants, so I retain the option of having an internal one. The floors are made from a layer of 5mm-thick foamcard. I then cut a layer of 0.5mm-thick plasticard, and scored half-inch squares in it to give the impression of a tiled floor. I cut through some squares, suggesting that whatever has happened to the building, some of the tiles have been broken and dislodged. I cut a few doors from 0.5mm-thick plasticard: 2" by 1.5". I laminated two pieces, cutting a hole in the middle of one, giving the impression of a door-frame around a sliding door. I have glued several of the upper floors in place. I was a little worried, having done so, that it could prove difficult to move models around when they are close to the middle, but this proved not to be the case.

Recently I have been trying out this idea of inserting pictures into the text, but it hasn't been going so well. Everything looks fine when I type the post up, but once it's published, I realise the system just hates me. So in future tutorials I shall be going back to labelling things with numbers. For now I'm just going to throw a load of pictures at you. They're pretty self-explanatory, and this isn't a tutorial, so no need to worry. Keep your eyes peeled for a tutorial in a few months!

Terrain Mega-Project: Giant Ruined Building

Porky, this is your fault! The other day I put up a tutorial on making a ruined apartment building, which reminded Porky of an old Necromunda demonstration building. He found a picture here, and my deranged mind began to work its mad magic. First, I am not making a ruin with that many storeys, although this plan calls for 3" storeys, whereas the ones in the picture look to be about 2" with pretty thick floors. Anyway, I went up to the attic and peered at things. I knew I would have to get something pretty sturdy. I had bought some wood the other week, and was considering using that when I had a Eureka! moment. In short, I had found the perfect thing: an old table. It's sturdy, so I don't need to worry about it falling apart. It has no legs, but instead some bits of chipboard which go to the floor in an X-shape.

I have a vague conception of how the building will look, but for once I am going to make some proper plans before plunging ahead. This is not because I am getting sensible, but because I don't have enough hot glue to put the floors in place, and will not acquire any until Tuesday afternoon. So until then there will be lots of scribbling and preparation. If anyone has any handy suggestions, by all means send them in! For the time being I present a few shots for you of this planned insanity. The playing space here will be pretty sizeable. My back of the envelope calculation suggests it will be a little over six square feet, if one includes the base. Though I freely admit it won't be much use for tanks (except the base). Take a gander at the sheer size of this bonkers idea. This is going to be a hell of a project, so don't expect it to be finished any time soon.

Until next time, folks, happy 'gaming!

Shadowdagger

What else could I call a baby Shadowsword? Yesterday I spoke of a wee baby human and baby ducks. Today I speak of something more appealing to many wargamers: a baby Shadowsword. I had a spare main gun left over from some mostly forgotten construction project, and I had some sides left over from making tank road-wheels from Lego heads. So what I joined together let no man put asunder! I am divided between finishing it off as a Valdor tank hunter ( http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Imperial_Guard_Super_Heavy_Tanks/VALDOR-TANK-HUNTER.html ) or coming up with some rather better rules that marry a Malcador hull to a Volcano Cannon. I believe I correctly recall that the Valdor rules were the cause of much lamentation at the time of their release. Anyway, here is where I am up to so far with the Valdor. Any thoughts appreciated - well, within reason: do not say that Audrey Hepburn was not gorgeous or I shall have to write you off as some wretched lunatic!

Urban Habitation Unit: Recycling Rubbish!

I think this was a salad drawer from a fridge. It's either that or it is some sort of plastic planter. Whatever it's from, it's just the right size for a nice little residential unit. If I played Infinity, I'd be rubbing my hands with glee, I suspect. Anyway, I cleaned it out, as it had accumulated a mass of dirt when I found it out back. What next? Well, I want to detail it, and for that I need a nice surface, so I cut some 0.5mm plasticard into large flat pieces, and layer it all over the flat areas, avoiding the curves. I am now trying to decide precisely how to decorate it. I have some ideas, and in my next update, I shall expound one or two! Until then, folks!

Return to Ebay Mountain 2: The Revengening

Yes, I've put a few more things up on Ebay. Frankly, I'd rather have finished off a lot of these, but we can't always do what we want when finances are tight, eh? The pictures below are larger versions of the ones on Ebay. If you're interested by anything, please have a look. Some are scratchbuilt/kit-bashed and others are original bits that I've managed to finish - the pictures should clue you in! I'm selling the following:
1) Forgeworld Bombard Artillery Piece
2) A pair of Exterminators
3) A pair of Hellhounds
4) A pair of Griffons
5) A trio of Laser Destroyers
6) A Leman Russ Punisher
7) A Thunderer
8) Two Leman Russ hulls without turrets

Hills, a frozen pond, crates and more bits and bobs!

Yesterday I did my general burble about relationships. Over on the exquisite Roundwood's World I saw a grand link to Wordle, a site which analyses everything you've put up in the last however-long and makes a "word cloud" of it all. You might see one for here soon, you lucky, lucky people! I'm currently waiting for Dad's PC to be free so I can print off a set of plans for a nifty little faux-hill from the excellent Confessions of a 40k addict blog. I am avoiding idleness, mind you! Don't you go about deducing from me faffing about online that I'm doing nowt, you villain! :-p I could be doing more, of course, if I weren't wasting precious minutes doing nothing, working the whole day through!

No, really, I have not been remiss (good word that - use it more, reader!) in my non-duties. I have hot-glued a faux-hill together. I am not quite sure where to go with it, but my current inclination is to slap some paper towels on it, then a ladder, and pretend it's a weird-looking cargo container. When I was driving down to Wales the other week I saw a great little train. The engine was quite humdrum, but the wagons had sides that slanted up from the sides and the back just so: / \ - and this little hill is in part inspired by them. Second, I decided to make some ponds, and first of all a frozen one. I bought a great little book some years ago, an Osprey Masterclass in making scenery, and I recalled it had a section on making frozen rivers or ponds. The book, which I highly recommend, is of more use to makers of dioramas than people who want to make rough, tough stuff that will withstand kids chucking it into a box every week. I don't believe it cost that much when I bought it, but I used to be more profligate than I am these days.

As well as the pond, I finished the pile of crates, which I placed beside my Wild West stuff earlier. I think it fits in nicely. Next I have that vertically-raised fuel tower and a blockhouse-kinda-thing together with half a dozen Sallies (2 Salamander Command vehicles, 4 regular Salamanders). As well as that, I have dragged that huge hill I made aeons ago out of the Pool Room, and am set to glue bits to it to break up its horribly regular form. The trench and ruins are also looking well. So, yeah, lots of stuff on my plate. Let's see what I first consume.

Tall things! A silo and a defensive structure!

Yonks ago I bought m'self a water pistol thingy. Well, there's no word for it, is there? Y'can't say, "I bought myself a water carbine." People look at you and ask what a carbine is. Hm. So this big ol' water pistol had a few big canisters for holding ammunition, er, water. The kerjigger died, as is their wont, and I ended up with leftover canisters. One got turned into a fuel storage doodah ages back, and two more are near me now. The one that ended up as a fuel silo was glued in place horizontally, so I messed with that a (really, really tiny) bit this time, and here's a vertical version. "Inspirational, Pete! You switched something from horizontal to vertical! You're a lion among men!" Well, thank you, Imaginary Audrey Hepburn. ;-) The first was in temperate terrain, so this new one will be in snow. Yeah, so I pondered doing something similar with number three, and then decided against it.

Instead, I grabbed a big ol' tub of protein powder, stripped off the enveloping paper and glued it to a bit of wood. I guess this will be a tall bunker or HQ or something along those lines. Er, with a fuel tank or water tank or whatever outside. I also grabbed some spare bits of polystyrene I had lying about for aeons. I recall asking for suggestions about what to do with them months ago, so to those of you who did not speak I say this: "Tut-tut!" So, anyway, this'll be a great tall kerjigger that blocks line of sight to a whole lot of stuff. The small fuel tank (and the roof of the lower floor) is about the right height to obscure GW AFVs. Er, and superheavies, I guess. But not more than titans' shins. On which tedious, hair-splitting note, I shall leave you to these pic-a-chaws what I done took. I think this is going well this week. Yesterday I recounted my adventures this last weekend, and today I'm babbling about how I'm making stuff from stuff. Mm, stuff from stuff - what a great line. Enjoy these pictures, Futurama fans! If you're no fan of Futurama, how the Hell did you end up here?