Badlands

Just finished some badlands terrain.  I still have enough foam to do another couple of bases of rocks and some more saguaros.  They break up line of sight pretty well on the table.  Hope you like.

Snitchy sends.

Been away for a while.

First of all I need to apologize.  Real life has received the lion’s share of my time recently.  Saying that I did manage to finish a project.  

Since I immigrated my gaming options have been limited because I did not have a Games Workshop army.  I remedied that by creating an Eldar Windrider Host. 

So far 40 bikes, 4 vipers, a fire prism, two wave serpents, a wraith lord, a wraith knight, and a total of 17 infantry.  Net effect is the army is incredibly fast and I tend to either win or loose the game in two turns.  Three at a stretch.  It did get second in the local GW store for their armies on parade.  There were only six entries so I don’t think that my limited painting skills was a factor. 

Here are some images. 

 

Next the Christmas loot and a couple of reviews. 

First off is Bees Putty.  It is a bakable polymer putty similar to Fimo or Sculpy.   It is different on several different levels.  First when warm (worked by hand) it is very similar in texture to plasticine/modeling clay.  When it is cool it is almost solid and takes a bit of effort to blend.  While testing it out I was able to create very thin crisp edges that I would have never been able to sculpt using Fimo/sculpy.  Once it has been baked it has a similar consistency to set green stuff.  It is slightly flexible and difficult to break. It can be drilled, filed, sawed and glued.  It also sticks to armatures reasonably well.  So far I am very happy with this polymer.  The only downside is the price.  Compared to fimo/sculpy. It is at least twice as expensive per 100g.  Saying that for detailed use I am more than happy to pay the price.   Bees also produces some hand made sculpting tools.  I picked up two and they are well made and very useful. 

  Next review is for Green Stuff World’s textured rollers.  In a word slick.  Easy learning curve, easy to use, good detail and a reasonable price.   I picked up four and would like to pick up another four later.  Here are some images of the detail and some putty that has been textured.  

 Ruins

 Brick

Cracked ice

 

Last review is for a product that I picked up on a whim to see what it was like.  Sculpting Block is a foam that combines the properties of extruded polystyrene (insulation foam) and floral foam.  It is strong like insulating foam and does not break easily and it can be easily cut filed and sanded.  Its structure consists of many tiny foam beads and is similar to the green floral foam.  It is sold in a package with six blocks of 15X15X2.5 cm.  I have included some photos of a few standing rocks and saguaros that I am working on.  I would not have even attempted the saguaros with insulating foam.  These were done with a simple mini rasp.  Another bonus is it does not react  to superglue, model glue, wood glue, spray paint or spray sealer.  It is a bit expensive at sixteen pounds for a 15 cm cube.  Apparently it is not available in the states yet but I am sure there is another manufacture ready to pick it up. 

 Sorry about the poor picture.  I am trying to show the microbeads. 

Hope you like. 

Snitchy sends.

Just in case you missed it here is my completed entry for Build something 15.

Pretty happy with 25 votes that were not mine.  Did not place but apparently it made the guy on Guam feel cold. 

Sorry there are not more photos.  They are on my wife's puter and she is occupying it at the moment.
Hope you like.
Snitchy sends. 

Building a building my way #2

Sorry about the delay posting more on this build.  Real life being what it is put this on hold.  Back to business. 

Once the windows are built I usually start on the floor to create the footprint for the building.  Here I am using Hirst arts tiles and blocks for parts of this build.  I glued the tiles together face down on a cutting board so I had a level floor.  Once I glued it down I reinforced the back with more glue and then some putty on the portions of the tiles that were not level for added stability.  When the floor was completely set I turned it over and filled all gaps between the tiles. 

  Next I again use the Hirst blocks to build the bottom edge of the walls and corners of the building.  After these parts dry I roughly cut foam core walls to fill the open areas and roughly set the windows.  You will notice lots of gaps here as I did not worry too much about the fit since I will be covering the walls inside and out and I was in a bit of a hurry at the time. The windows are shimmed in and leveled with coffee stirrers.  When the walls are set in place I cap them with popsicle sticks so I have a level surface to put the roof on and to edge the façade for the exterior walls.  

After gluing the popsicle sticks on I use coffee stirrers to fill any gaps between the foam core, wood and Hirst blocks. 

 When I have a good surface for the wall faces, I cover the whole wall with PVA glue and then dump clay kitty litter onto the surface.  This will appear similar to a flint nodule surface.  After the PVA sets up I use super glue dribbled over the surface to protect the kitty litter with a hard acrylic surface and to set it firmly in place. 

  Hope you like.

Snitchy sends

Building a building my way.

Since I have finished my build something entry I have decided to show my step by step process for constructing buildings.  I generally start counter intuitively with the windows.  These are prefabricated using stencil paper that is cut to size with the individual panes cut out.  The paper is then edged with a layer of coffee stirrers around the face.  The whole structure is boxed in with larger coffee stirrers and a Popsicle stick as the window sill.  These took me about two or three hours to knock up.  The individual holes for the glass are 5mm by 5mm. 

Hope you like. Snitchy sends.

Birch Trees yet again.

Since I am still rebuilding my terrain after the move and after a few tests I have finally settled down on individually based trees.  Here are the finished Birch using the toot that I authored on Terragenesis. Linkey  New basing though.  They are on heavy washers and there are at least six different types of ground effects on each base.  I will probably do another ten or so stands later.  Hope you like.

 I also received a little package today.  More plastic for my pile of plastic and metal.  Whooot. 

Snitchy sends,

Build something 15 #7

Pine trees done.  Twisted wire with twine branches, sawdust flock, spraypaint prime, watered down PVA and some Woodland Scenics snow.  Overall cost approx  £0.20 and some time per tree.  I think that the snow came out well. 

Snitchy sends.