50. Streets Awash With... Wash... Building a Gaming Board part 12.

Half a Century? Big E! wept.
Also 14th post of the year so far!
Commitment and progress? I think so!

Considering it has been so long since this project got updated I'll point you to my previous posts to refresh your memory...

Back? Did you check?
No?

Well....

First off is my tests scheme for the paving slabs (The set on the right).

Pretty simple.

- Undercoat black (Chaos black/ Any acyrlic paint),

- Paint dark grey (Any will do. I used Black acrylic and white crylic. But the GW base dark grey would be fine),

- Paint light grey (may require 2 coats; My mix was somewhere between codex and fortress grey/ Mianly white with a hint of black = Pavement grey),

- Wash with watered down black, making sure it goes into the crevices. The while still wet use some tissue paper to 'dab' off most of the paint.
This will leave the paint in the crevices and give the slab a darker tone, with a dappled effect on it.

- Drybrsuh light grey (Might have to do it twice; pavement grey),

- Very light Drybrush light-er grey (pavement grey with more white).

Done!

Better?

Well I did Stage 1, 2 and 3.




So.

Step 4.
Apply black wash.



The black wash is just Chaos Black watered done a lot.
Yes you could use a wash alternative...

But this is cheaper.
Apply this liberally to the slabs



Do not let it dry, but use a bit of scrunched up kitchen towel to dab it off.




One side done to show the difference in shade.



Continue until all your pavements are done.

And that's all the update I have on that.

It is a bit laborious/back breaking.
I suggest doing it while sitting at something almost chest height.
It is that or suffer


That will do for today.
I have more to share, but I'll save it for tomorrow!

As always, thanks for reading.
All feedback welcome and such.

Over and out.

-DH-

49. Fire in the Hole! 40k Urban Terrain - Gun Emplacement part 1.

Whilst designing  terrain I've been thinking of generic terrain types (buildings and craters and such), and themed terrain.
The generic one takes care of itself(ish).
The themed on the other hand, requires a bit more forethought.

The one question I've been focusing on is; 'What armies are going to fight here?'
It is an Imperial World. Couple that with the armies I collect/intend to collect, and you have a starting point.

So far we have the Space Marines Land Speeder. I also have some Sisters themed terrain in the works.
In terms of 'generic theme,' these both don't necessarily fit.
These are both situational; Space marines may, or may not be present.

So what will?

Imperial focres of some variety no doubt. More than likely the planetary defence force.
For all intents and purposes the Imperial Guard.
So I tried to make something bassed around the material they would employ, without being to flash.

I decided to start with a fortified gun emplacement.
First step was to Create the base.
This was just some cork tile stapled to some hardboard and cut to shape using a jewellers saw.



Then it was time to play around with some fortifications.

I didn't want to buy another Aegis defence line, also I didn't want anything drastically detailed like the modifications I'd made to mine.
I wanted something that looked like it could be mass produced quickly, and put up in a hurry.
Something prefabricated and modular (that word again!).



Some wall pieces from the cities of death sprue and some high density foam/ Styrofoam/ insulation foam.
That'll do!


Next I wanted something to add a bit of variety and bite.
I thought I'd take something that time forgot out of my bitz box.



I wasn't too happy with these as they were.
They obviously are not made to stand alone, and together they look...well...



Odd?
A bit too uniform, but at the same time, not symmetrical enough (they sort of 'bend' in the middle).
Good old third edition terrain ¬_¬.

A quick google search gave me this...



So, I set to work modifying mine to better reflect reality.











As the pictures show, I just cut off the offending bits, drilled a hole in the middle, stuck a kebab skewer through and cut it to size.
I think it looks much better.
I could have attached a girder instead, but this was simpler,cheaper and just as effective.


Here's a mock up of the wall sections and the tank traps, with the gun I'm using.



The next step was to attach the fortifications to the board and add some basic details to the base.



+ bonus action shot.



I just used a knife and a screw driver to dig out some small blast craters.
A fortification in a war zone is bound to attract fire.
The green rings around the ridge are just green stuff to represent the displaced earth.
When I base it later these will be left open so I can augment them with filler and other materials to make them more pronounced.
Can't have a completely flat board now can we? :P

That is all I managed on that day.

I picked up the project again a day later and set about pepping the base with some more details so it was ready for texturing later on.



And a close up.




This is the same as the Land Speeder in terms of materials used;
Filler, bits of small and large slate.

I had to put filler on the walls to stop them from melting when I undercoat it (if I use spray...I'm undecided).
It needs sanding down to even it out, and then I can put the first layer of sand on the base.I also want to flesh out the entrenched gun. I don't think it looks Imperial enough.
Needs some tech gubbins and iconography.

Anyways.

As usual, all feedback welcome.
Hit me up here, on the B&C of @DarKHaZZl3 on twitter.

Thank you for continuing to read!

Peace!

-DH-

47. Get Out, Get Out Now! 40k Urban Terrain - Crashed Land Speeder part 1.

Never have I seen such a wretched hive of scum and villainy...

Oh wait, it's the UnderHive. Of course I have!

Welcome back!
Guess what? I finally managed to get my phone working again.
You know what that means?! ACTUAL UPDATES!

Praise the Omnissiah I guess?

Speaking of Omnissiah...



Got my hands of this bad boy.
I've got to say, overall I'm impressed.
I'm not a fan of big models in games, but I love these guys.
They seem a bit under costed, but time will tell I guess.

My one gripe with the book is that it cost £25. The rules only take up 7 sides of A4 of the 60 something in the book.
Yes it is pretty. but it simply isn't worth the price tag. DO yourself a favour, and buy the eBook version. It is £5 cheaper.


Anyway, moving on.
I promised some actual models and such, so I shall deliver.

As I said before, I'm currently working on several projects (while I wait for my appetite for painting to return).
At the forefront of these are my terrain projects.
There is no point making a board if you have nothing to put on it right?

Considering I have a few projects, with pictures at several stages, I will be posting them individually, over the course of a few days.

So I present to you the (several) stages of one of my terrain wip's; The downed land speeder.
A few (well, more like eight I guess) months back I was given a fair amount of models by a friend whom no longer wished to play.
Some of this stuff was salvageable, although not a great deal; they were from a long time ago, a time when patience was the anti-christ.

One such object was a Land Speeder Typhoon.



So I took it apart. I put the missile bits to one side (Most of these were missing), and had at it!









The general idea is that the Marines took a major hit to one of the rear engines (I have yet to sort the engine block out), and were forced to disembark before crash landing. Will they have survived? Who knows?!





Positioning. Done.

I kind of wanted a little bit of a 'crashed and skidded along the floor' look about the piece.

So after some tearing chunks out and green stuffing I had this;





The main skid track belongs to the Land Speeder, the second its left wing.
They'll be suitably damaged accordingly. I need to get some gun parts from the depths of my Bitz box and/or ebay.

In the meantime (otherwise known as Today), I wanted to press on with what I could do; Adding debris.
While I liked the current pose, that green stuff mound just irked me.

So I soon saw to that!



The debris is made up of a mix of materials.
The White stuff on the floor is my old friend polyfiller. It gives a bit more variety to the ground and makes it less perfectly flat.
The big white chunks are a plaster cast of cities of death floor, tiles smashed up and placed around the crash site; I'll be posting more about plaster casting in another post... so stay tuned for that one.
The rock/stone/slate pieces are a mix of large gardening slate and the smaller slate bits from the GW urban basing kit.

There is plenty more left to be done;
More rocks, bitz, buildings and other generic debris,
I need to sculpt the seats back in,
I need to suitably damage the engine block and custom build the inside,
and once all that is done it needs to be based in line with my board.

So there you have it. A real update, and the first of many.
Hopefully I can finish 5 terrain pieces by this weekend (unpainted, obviously).


Any feedback welcome!
Also, suggestions on other urban terrain ideas.

Thanks for reading.

-DH-

39. Lights, Camera, Lamppost! Building a Gaming Board part 11.

Game Grumps sapped all my painting time last night.

  I mean, I did do 'some'

painting...
 So here it is;



Just the light done basically.

Recipe is fairly simple.
Paint the area you want to be light a light grey (I used Astronomican, because I'm still living in the past),
Next paint most of the section you just painted in a 1:1 mix of that Grey and White,
Then paint another smaller square inside that square of almost pure white (judge for yourself on this one).

After than apply a glaze of Vallejo transparent yellow (It is the same yellow I used on my Space Marine a while back),
Once this is dry add a wash of Sepia (I used Gryphone/ however the hell you spell it).




Once it dries you're done.

Since this picture I've blended the colours in together a bit more, gloss varnished it and added some 'glass' highlights.

The blended colours are made using Vomit brown and Golden Yellow (using Scorched Brown and White for darkening and lightening respectively).
Gloss varnish and add some 'reflection' type white highlights, and you're done.

You know what? Seeing as I'm feeling so goddamn generous, I'll take a quick picture
*Snap*



You can just make out the white lines... but the light kinda washes out the rust effect.
Either way, it looks good from a distance.

Just need to finish that cable and I'm done...
well, done with one of the 5 total.

Progress!

-DH-

38. Urban Rust. Building a Gaming Board part 10.

  Between Christmas, laziness and my phone herping and derping Updates have been sparse.

I finally managed to fix my phone today, so I can finally upload pictures again.

Less offensive introduction than usual? Must try harder...

So yes, updates.
Gaming board again.

I decided that I wanted a bit of ware and tear on my board.
This will mainly be on the paving slabs...but it will be done after I've painted them to their 'peak' condition.

So in the meantime I thought I'd start my lampposts.

How does one wear and tear a lamppost?
Aside from physical damage (light not working, smahsed glass, missing panels...) from what I've seen lmapposts tend to be painted.
So the obvious basic damage is worn and chipped paint... which leads to rust



I tried to emulate this for my own (albeit a bit more severe/ different colours)





They've all been rusted up, but this one is my test subject for futher detailing.
Right now it just needs the light/ glass section finishing off, and a bit more brown/ rust stains.

Any opinions on rust welcome, weather they are about mine here, or about painting weathering in general.
Personally I'm not fond of it in most cases.
Done right/ thematically and it can add great character to a project.
Done wrong and it just makes something look way too busy.

Anyways,
PEACE

-DH-

36. Follow the Grey Slab Road. Building a Gaming Board part 9.

So... much....grey...

Dies.Yup, I've been painting my board some.
It doesn't really look like I've done much (When in reality I've spent about 5-8 hours on it... I've lost count. I hate life).

So I thought Id share some bits and bobs with you.

First off is my tests cheme for the paveing slabs (The set on the right).



Pretty simple.

- Undercoat black (Chaos black/ Any acyrlic paint),

- Paint dark grey (Any will do. I used Black acrylic and white crylic. But the GW base dark grey would be fine),

- Paint light grey (may require 2 coats; My mix was somewhere between codex and fortress grey/ Mianly white with a hint of black = Pavement grey),

- Wash with watered down black, making sure it goes into the crevices. The while still wet use some tissue paper to 'dab' off most of the paint.
This will leave the paint in the crevices and give the slab a darker tone, with a dappled effect on it.

- Drybrsuh light grey (Might have to do it twice; pavement grey),

- Very light Drybrush light-er grey (pavement grey with more white).

Done!

  Yeah, it is not a masterpeice of paintwork, but I think it looks a'ight. Especially when they'll be a shed load of them.
Adds a bit of texture prior to any detailing that might get done.

I've already done the base grey on all the pavements;



Looks a bit shitty at the moment. But it does end up like the first picture, so I'm okay with it.
Glad they're out of the way.

Things left to do;
- Finish slabs (Wash black, Dab, Drybrush x 3),
- Finish road (Very light blue-grey drybrush),
- Paint details (Drains, man-holes),
- Paint lampposts,
- Clean up edges (Black boarder).

And that should do it.

SO GODDAMN CLOSE!!
-DH-

34. I Could Have Used a 50 Shades of Grey Pun, but I Didn't Want to. Building a Gaming Board part 8.

Waheeeyyy. I'm back

    I had some minor problem with my internet.
That is what happens when you let a hive ganger set it up for you.

Or in this case, Virgin. My modem died in short.
Got a new 'hub.'

So on with the show!

Here is the whole board, under coated.



And here it is after 2 coats of grey



A bit patchy, but subsequent layers and potentially washes should sort it out.
Nothing else to say...

BUT SOON!

-DH-

32. A Sticky White Mess. Building a Gaming Board part 7.

HUR HUR.

Excuse the terrible joke. Filler does make quite the mess mind you.

So, as promised, updates on the board.





As you can see they are pretty much done.
As with my other board tiles I'll probably add another layer of sand on top of the filler+sand combination just for good measure.
Then it is just a matter of neatening up some bits here and there and boom!

...to painting...
(The running joke of my hobby life).

-DH-

31. A Strong Learning Curve. Building a Gaming Board part 6.

Following in my rich vein of form (and terrible puns)...

This update is about the board.
So. If you want to follow along;

You will need:

• PO210 00/H0 Self Adhesive Paving - found here: http://www.metcalfem...adhesive-paving
• PVA glue - While the tiles are self adhesive, the adhesive quality is poor. Glue them down.
• Tea Stirrers (See previous post about making the curb)
• Curved curb pieces (See previous post about curved curb pieces; I made a press mould of mine)
• A LOT OF TIME!

Lets do this!

So the first thing I wanted to do was figure out how exactly to build the bit where the two straight pavements meet.

This involved a lot of terrible prototypes, this was the best (before the one I was eventually to use).



The main problem here is that the pavement slabs don't match the same pattern as the pavement pattern I have previously used.
So I came up with a better idea;



These are the two slab patterns used to make my pavement. I've glued them to a piece of paper, and cut them out.
this way I can check the width of my pavement at any time.

Using this, I came up with this, which incidentally is...

Step 1;



Attach the above to the board. DO NOT GLUE ANYTHING DOWN (This is just in case you find something doesn't fit/ does fit better when you personally attempt this).

That weird curved bit? That is the 'frame' the tiles come with. The width is the same as a narrow slab.
This makes your template/boundary for the curved part of the pavement.

Step 2;

Using these boundaries, build the pavement as normal until you reach the apex of the corner.



Step 3;

This is where it starts to get complicated. You can no longer lay down equal length of tile.
Jostling the slabs until they fit can be quit tricky, and they will never fit exactly right, so you kinda just have to man up and deal with it not being perfect (this made me a very sad panda).

If you follow my pictures bellow you should be reasonably okay.



Step 4;



Step 5;



Step 6;

Glue it all down, except for the 'weird curved bit.'

As previously stated, when I did this I found some tiles didn't fit exactly right, and I managed to tweak my original design a little to make it fit better.
You should be able to replace the 'weird curved bit' with the relevant slabs, as per the slab pattern that has been used throughout.
The only exception to this is the apex of the curve.

This should be made from the apex of the 'weird curved bit.' It may have to cut into a tile a little to fit snugly.

See bellow.




Step 7;

Glue inside curb down and carry on with pavement.





Inisde curve done!

The outside curve should be roughly the same.

However, if the above seemed way too fiddly for your liking, I prepared a different way of doing it (which, due to my outside curve being slightly larger than my inside curve, I had to use).

So...
Step 8;

Prepare outside curve.
To do this I super glued the pieces down on to a piece of paper first, and then just cut it out.



Step 9;

Glue this curved piece down.

You need to match the right angle corner with where the two curbs meet on the inside.
When you do this there will be a large amount of space between the piece you've just glued down, and the curved curb. Don't worry about it.
We fix that in...

Step 10;

Remember that 'weird curved bit? It kinda makes a comeback.



(Apologies for the upside down picture).
Basically take that corner and cut it to size.

I know it doesn't fit in with the rest of the pavement, but it you replaced it with slabs you would break the slab pattern anyway, so it is kind of a no win situation anyway.

I think I plan on putting something here. Suggestions as to what are welcome. So far all I can think of is a crash barrier.
Anyway, moving on to....

Step 11;

Carry on with the pavement as per usual, adding the outside curb.



And there you have it!
Curved pavement complete.

Next step is sand (which there wont be a step by step for because I have already covered it in a previous post), and then it is onto painting (and maybe some more detailing).


That is all for one day haha :P.

C&C welcome!

-DH-