Scatter Terrain - 2 Playing with Tarps

Nothing new on the 3D modelling side but I have had a play with doing some tarps. In the past I have used tissue and thinned PVA glue to do tarps but I have never been a huge fan of them, so I had a search on ling and found this article and thought I would give it a go.

So these are my first attempts. It is still a work in progress as I am trying different sealants and thickness of tissue. These two are three ply tissues and I have not taken any of the sheets out, I currently have drying a two and a one sheet to see how they compare.

The banding is just some 0.5mm styrene strip.

I also did a second but didn't take pictures of it at the same stage.

I decided to give the two of them a very quick paint job to see what the tarps look like once painted.

Keep in mind these are just test pieces and very rough. I didn't even bother painting the underside or the back of the stowage.

The banding on the second pallet was some 0.25 sheet I cut into strips. I won't have the banding like this on the final pieces however, I just added them for effect and to see what they look like over the tarps. The final ones will probably have a horizontal band (to hold all the stores together) then a couple of vertical ones to hold the stores down on the pallet.

Overall I am happier with these tarps than the earlier PVA based ones. I will continue to experiment though to see if I can get them better. I will be using the pallet & stores from the ZM test games to play around with so I've got plenty of scope to try things out.

Grot Tanks 1

Grot Tanks, how could you not love them?

You can’t is the answer. They call to you like a big eyed kitten, you’d have to be dead inside not to give in to one of them.

Yeah, anyway. I have decided to paint three of the seven I have. I can’t face cleaning up another four so they will have to wait till another time. I reckon even I can paint three Grot Tanks in one go.

Before I can paint them I need to finish modelling them.

How they looked after the quick build for the ZM games.

These three I built quickly to use in the Zone Mortalis trial games (where they performed above expectation) so while they may look finished in reality they needed more work.

First job was (carefully) pulling the exhausts and tracks off. I then removed the glue residue and drilled holes for some brass rod.

The holes on the hull to take the brass rod on the track units were drilled slightly larger and had some GS put in them. It gave me a little leeway in lining everything up.

The track units and exhausts were then reattached.

The original plan was to use the Dalek turret as the Kommanda Grot Tank, but alas the Grot Kommanda model just didn’t fit. So instead I did a turret swap. The Kommand Tank also needed a second weapon mounted in the hull and I magnetised a Skorcha.

I used both FW Grotzooka ammo boxes I had for this one tank, however I cut, drilled and scraped out the one and added different ammo (i.e. scrap). The two boxes were pinned in place.

The second Grotzooka tank had a new ammo box built and the scrap in the Grotzooka was removed and replaced.

Is there a better combination than Grot meet Dalek?

While the turret weapons are going to be glued in position I needed to do some work on the mounting due to the gaps. So the weapons where removed from the turrets and small styrene discs inserted. When the weapon was refitted (and pinned in place) they looked much snugger. The rokkit turret shows this the best, I also cleaned up (and GS a few miscast areas on) a crewman for it.

The FW Rokkits will be added to the rear of the turret but I’m keeping them unattached for ease of painting.

So all together they now look like this:

That is all that needs doing to the Grot Tanks modelling wise, so next step will be undercoating them.

Oh and deciding what scheme I will actually be giving them. All the Ork tanks in the force have some sort of camo scheme, each tank kommanda doing his tank in whatever scheme he wants. I’m not sure if to go with a camo scheme for all these Grot tanks or to show that these are Grots and not part of what the Warboss really considers his ‘proppa’ fighting force by doing a different scheme – basically bare metal with flashes of colour and a shed load of rust.

I need to decide soon…

Scatter Terrain & 3D Printing - 1

After doing the scatter terrain for the Zone Mortalis game I started thinking of doing my own set of terrain pieces along similar lines – namely drums, crates and pallets.

My thoughts instantly turned to doing them as 3D prints. I was hoping the White Detail material used for the gun emplacement base parts would be good for these.

So here are the concept designs for the new pieces.

Pallets:

First up are the pallets. I plan for two sizes with the larger one slightly smaller than the ZM one I scratch built. The smaller one is half the size of the larger pallet. They would be in two parts allowing me to cast them.

Large Pallet Base

Ditto.

The Small Pallet Base

The Large Pallet with the top in place

And the Small Pallet with its top plate.

I still need to add more details to it. I am thinking of changing one hole to something different – such as a stylised Aquilla or skull.

I changed the lower half so that the base is a solid piece rather than slats, making it much easier to cast. I may simply scratch build the lower half from styrene rather than having it printed.

Drum:

Two sizes, both the same size in height but in diameter one is 50%  larger.

Crates:

Likewise two crate sizes which are both the same height. The smaller is half the length of the larger crate. In height the crate are half the height of the drums.

The sizes picked for the drums and crates allow them to be stacked together without a problem…

And some pieces on the pallets:

Smaller Drum on the Small Pallet

And the Larger Drum on Small Pallet.

Large Pallet with some Drums and Crates

And something I may end up with...

Once I have finalised the designs (mainly just the pallet)  I will probably order the prints, though I may wait to see what Shapeways say about the problem I had with the gun emplacement pieces.

Gun Emplacement Mk. II - 4

The latest prints for the gun emplacement arrived a week or so ago, but I’ve just not had time to do anything with them till now.

I tried the White Detail material to see if the surface texture was good enough for project such as the emplacement.

The result is mixed. The surface texture is good enough, especially after a light sanding with wet and dry paper in some place but the detail on the hatches on the gun mounting plate was just too fine for the resolution available, also some of the rivets didn’t come out well. I gave it a coat of grey spray as in its natural colour it isn't very clear.

The mounting plate is salvageable as I can fill in/cover or replace the hatches and replace the poor quality rivets as required.

So far I have started looking at the hatches and redoing those: One is going to be filled and have some plating over it (perhaps) while the other I am doing a new recessed hatch.

While I have the pieces to hand this is how the gun base fits onto the mounting plate:

Moving onto the two other pieces the news is again mixed. The texture on the top surface including the treadplate and rivets is spot on. No problem with that at all. The problem is on both pieces they is a ‘drop’ in the material around the edge, almost like a thumb has been pressed into soft plastic. It is hard to know why this has happened.

The pieces before
getting a coat of spray paint.

The tinted areas highlight the edging which is the problem.

 

I will be dropping Shapeways an email to see what has caused this in the hope of avoiding the issue in future. Looking into the hollow pieces it doesn’t look like the upper surface has ‘fallen’ into the hollow mould. The picture below isn't that clear but you can just about see that internally the piece is as it should be.

I am going to try and repair the damage, not sure if I will have any luck but it is worth trying to save them.

Recalcitrant Daze - One Year In, Part 2

Welcome back.

Every month I do a post looking back over the last month, I’m not really sure why but it has become a habit and like a crack whore I just can’t seem to stop. But as this month is RD’s 12^th I thought I would instead look back over the last year.

Doing a blog was a bit of a move for me after all those years on forums but I have found it a refreshing medium and to the shock of all those that previously knew me it has proved a productive first year of blogdom (it may not be a word yet, but it will be one day).

So what has been seen on RD since its birth?

(NB: I am not going to mention everything on RD, as there was a lot of post showing what I had done previously, I am just mentioning what I consider ‘RD based projects’)

Starting with the forces of Chaos I started dabling with some Rough Riders:

Before spending some time bathing in Papa Nurgles putrid pool:

Hell Blades (still PIP)

War Altar of Nurgle (WIP still…)

I actually finished a force, namely the Plague fleet for Battlefleet Gothic (still unplayed however - Maelstrom I am looking at you).

Orks took up a fair amount of posts…

Dreads & Kans (WIP)

Many, many Looted Wagons…

Right at the beginning of RD I was working on the Weirdboy Battle Tower:

And I painted (yes, painted) Da Choppa:

And last but not least some Glyphs…

Terrain also had its part to play.

Starting with (the rather popular) Propaganda Posters.

The still WIP (I say that a lot don’t I?) Realm of Battle River Boards

Before moving into my experiments with 3D Printing…

Defensive Walls and Gun Emplacement:

And there was the concept work for some City Fight terrain, which is something I definately will be tackling at some point...

Obviously the pictures above are just a small fraction of what it shown on Recalcitrant Daze - please click on the tags on the right to see much, much more...

Articles.

As I mentioned in Part 1 this year I wrote some articles for both Bell of Lost Souls and the MWC.

At the moment these articles are only on those particular blogs, but I will also be putting them up on RD in the near future.

For now though here are links to the articles:

BoLS articles:

One Meks Guide to Lootin'
Lootin a Warmachine
One Meks Step by Step Guide to Lootin' - Part 1
One Meks Step by Step Guide to Lootin' - Part 2
One Meks Step by Step Guide to Lootin' - Part 3
My First Tentative Steps Into 3D Printing

MWC articles (in addition to my intro article and an article covering the FW Open Day):

Terrain - Minefields

Looted Chimeras

The Blessings of Papa Nurgle



Now, I know what you are thinking. "Why is there a picture of a Grot tank at the start of this post when they are not mentioned anywhere else? It is most irregular." And you would be correct, it would be most irregular if it weren't for this next paragraph.

I have decided to mark RD's first birthday by painting something. That is correct, I am going to paint something. And what better than these three cuties?

I will finish off building them this week (need some more work yet, including some krew, second weapon on Command Tank and pinning the tracks in position) then paint the little buggers.

Wish me luck.

Model Masterclass Volume II - Review

A few people have asked me for a review of the latest Masterclass book from Forge World, while I could do one myself I am a lazy sod at heart so instead I shall direct you to a review done by Schoolcormorant who was with me at the Forge World Open Day (and spent most it drooling over the prospect of getting his hands on the book).

As such all those who want to have a glimpse of what can be found in the book head over to The Spring Offensive for the REVIEW.

I am sure he will be happy to answer any questions you might have as well...