27 - Can't See the Forest for the Trees

I got some colour blocking done on White Buffalo...but then my hobby ADD kicked in and I started to work on some new terrain.

I had a bag of pine trees in the basement.  I wanted to made a few stands of trees to use in Wild West Exodus and in some upcoming RPG sessions.  The trees needed to be removable in order to fit models within the area terrain though.  It makes the terrain much more functional in games.

So I found some old tree trunks in my bits box to have the trees stand in.  While I was in there I also found some bits to liven up the bases.

I added the trunks to some old bases and glued the bases to a several discs of scrap wood.  I then used some caulking to make a smooth transition from the bases to the wood.  I also used the caulking to help blend in the bits (barrels, grave, way marker, fence, statue).

I am really happy how these turned out.  I have a fun Through the Breach scenario that I will use these with the old Prospectors shack that I painted last week.

While working on this I also got an idea for another piece of area terrain, a run down frontier graveyard.

Kevin

24 - Old Prospectors Shack and Outhouse

I did not get much painting done over the last week and a half.  I spend most of my hobby time playing through the solo DnD campaign with my Hawkeye character that I painted up last week.

The solo campaign was alot of fun.  It played like the old Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone books I read as a kid.  You get to a section, it tells you the scenario and then lays out some common options that you can do.  You then click on the option your character would do and it takes you to another section.  So not a true DnD experience but still a lot of fun in the meantime. 

I did do some work on a little more Wild West Exodus terrain.  I painted up the old shack and the outhouse.  Again I did this project mainly to practicing my airbrush skills.  This time I did the wood base colours with the airbrush then used some grays to dry-brush a old weathered look.  I then switch back to the airbrush for the metal roof and weathering.  I was quite happy with the result and the amount of time it took to do.  I also got inspired for a fun little Through the Breach scenario to use it in.

I wanted to spruce up the interior a bit too.  I made a quick floor out of some coffee stir sticks.  I then made a quick (very quick fireplace) out of some scrap foam I had laying around.  This was also a bit experimental as I was seeing how well a green-stuff textured rolling pin would work on a piece of foam.  Detail is not deep, but it will work in a pinch.  I then made some picture frames using some more coffee stir sticks.  For the actual pictures I found some nice nature photos in an old hiking magazine and cut them out.

I also painted up the outhouse, which was just fun.  Should also be a laugh to put this on the table for both DnD/Through the Breach and Wild West Exodus. 

I am going to continue work on White Buffalo now and then some random monsters to use in some RPG games I am hoping to play in the future.

Kevin

21 - Laying the Foundations

I pivoted a bit this week after working on those larger busts.  I started work on another larger scale figure and broke out the airbrush for it.  I am not great with my airbrush yet.  I am still getting used to the proper mixing ratios and brush control.  So I figured that since I had the airbrush out I might as well practice on something even larger. 

I had some Wild West Exodus terrain that I had primed up, so I picked out one of the buildings.  I really love the terrain from Warcradle,  It is a great combination of classic western with a modern/sci-fi twist.  I also like that the buildings roofs are removable and the interiors are partially finished. 

I chose the Jail to work on.  I grabbed some random browns (mainly older browns that I don't usually use, so if I mess up I don't mind wasting them), and just started to play around with the airbrush.

I was really happy with how the wood turned out. I then did all the metal and details with a brush.  I was trying out a new set of paints for the metals, namely the Metalsmtih paints.  These paints you have to mix your own metallic's to get a bunch of different results.  They worked well, but in retrospect they would have worked better through the airbrush I think (you can see a lot of the brush strokes).  I will try it out on the next one.

Same went with the interior walls.  I should have painted them with the airbrush to get a smoother transition.  It would have taken longer as I would have to have had to do a lot of taping and blocking to ensure that I don't over spray.

To finish off the piece I added some rust to the metal using some brown and orange paint mixed with baking soda.  I then found some Red Dead Redemption 2 wanted posters, shrunk them down and printed them out for the walls.   

Kevin

35 - Back in Black

I have had another long hobby hiatus.  Part of it was a little burn out from preparation for Adepticon.  Another part was hobby ADD after Adepticon.  Another part was trying out different hobbies (I bought a new saw and had to test it out).

I did end up doing a good amount of projects done in August.  We had Sword and Brush at the beginning of September.  The month leading up to an event is always busy.  I wanted to get a new table worth of terrain done for the Batman Tournament.  I started with upgrading the card buildings that come in the Dark Knight Rises set.  I did this roughly the same way as the old Suicide Squad buildings that I did a while ago.

I then painted up some scatter terrain I bought at Adepticon from TTC combat.  Namely the "Junk" pack (old couch, broken TV, sleeping bags etc) and a pack of Porto-potties.  (one of my favorite moments from the tournament at SaB was seeing Batman and Lex Luther fighting over a Porto-potty objective). 

The week before the tournament I had all the terrain ready but then I had an idea to make some table numbers for the tournament.  I built up 5 billboards from some scrap balsa, plastic card and stir sticks.  I then found some Batman themed billboard advertisements and edited a number into them.  A little paint and glue, and I had 5 unique table numbers that also act as functional terrain on the tables.

The tournament was a blast.  We had 8 players come out.  It was really good to see some old friends and some new ones.  Games where close and everyone appeared to have enjoyed themselves.  Of course Brandon won Best Overall with his Teen Titans.  Best General went to Stephen and his Brave and the Bold crew.  Best Appearance went to Alex and his Gordon lead Brave and the Bold crew.  The Best Sportsman award went to our youngest (and one of the most enthusiastic players) Jack.  I am hoping that next year I have the ask the TO for more tables!

After Adepticon I was really pumped to try and improve my painting skills.  I had several cool models to work on, but I had a hard time getting anything started.  I dont know if it was pour time-management or not knowing were to start.  I think it was a little but of intimidation and spiral thinking that stayed my brush.  So I did not get anything painted up specifically for the Sword and Brush.

I still wanted to enter something into the painting contest though.  I decided to enter my Court of Owls into the Unit Category.  I also entered my King Shark and Clayface into the Fantasy Single Category.  Since all the terrain was ready to go for the tournament I thought that I would then spend the last few days before the event to make a diorama base for two of my existing models.

I have had an idea of doing a small display box featuring some of my Discworld Characters to sit on my bookshelf with the series. I had a Tiffany Aching model and a Granny Weatherwax done.  I used some material I had lying around (old cork, reused wire tree, and some flowers).   There is a few things I would improve on next time.  The base was built out of layers of thin cork, which is easily seen.  If I had had more time I would have used plaster or wood chips (or a combo of both).  The grass the was attached to the flowers was also a different shade then the separate grass, which did really hurt the colour unity.  I was happy how it did turn out and it looks great on the shelf.   It however did fail to make the podium (but that was not entirely surprising based on the other outstanding entries).  I did walk away with a Silver for my Owls and a Bronze for Clayface.

Kevin

140/100 - A Pile of Garbage

Man...what a week.  I had this great idea for some scatter terrain for my Batman tables at The Sword and Brush.  I was really pumped about it, planned it thoroughly, felt it was coming together...and I end up with a pile of garbage...which was exactly what I was going for!

Awhile back I made some test mini-garbage bags out of pieces of real garbage bags.  I found them again as I was packing up the terrain.  I had some extra time before the event (thanks to my wife for helping burn through the buildings and trees!).  I "assembly-lined" a whole heap of mini garbage bags (I never did a total but I am confident it is somewhere between 100-120).

I also had some extra wooden stir sticks that I had painted up to cover the windows on the buildings.  So I put them to use by splitting them and buildings some wooden pallets.

The real trick was trying to figure out how to attach the garbage bags to a base.  I had originally tried PVA glue and super glue.  Neither of which worked.  I then tried plastic cement.  No effect.  I then tried a hot glue gun, and it worked very well (except all the spider web-like-strands I had to pull off).  

I tried putting them on some old square monster bases from GW (I have so many I am just trying to find a project for them now!).  It did not look quite right, too uniformed for a pile of trash I think.  In the end I used some randomly cut shapes out of a sheet of plastic card.  

I took some of the terrain I made and put together a test table that will be used at the tournament, it doesn't look too bad.  

 

For the amount of work and the cost of the material, this was a very effective terrain project.  But I am now done for terrain for awhile.  I am already for the BMG tournament at the Sword and Brush this Saturday!

Kevin