Wargames Terrain
skow
I've created a few terrain pieces for use in Warhammer (especially Skirmish) as
well as other 25mm war games. In addition to photos, there are tips and
tutorials on how to make your own terrain. There are several buildings, but the
most recent are:
Cobblestone Bridge
http://ryan.skow.org/bridge/index.html
Water Mill
http://ryan.skow.org/mill/index.html
Main Site
http://ryan.skow.org
Tips, feedback, and other comments are more than welcome!
Ryan
RT Maitreya
> Cobblestone Bridge
> http://ryan.skow.org/bridge/index.html
Jeezuz christ that's beautiful.
> Water Mill
> http://ryan.skow.org/mill/index.html
See above.
Much appreciated.
RTM
Robert Singers
> Tips, feedback, and other comments are more than welcome!
Lovely. Some of the best I've seen in a while.
A question\Tip. Are you building your various layers upside down and using
something such as Duplo as framing to keep your bricks straight? You certainly
don't have the massive amounts of unaligned bricks that you generally see.
smithdoerr
"skow" <news...@skow.org> wrote in message news:3DBF2AB...@skow.org...
Nice. Especially like the water, very realistic and "animated" looking.
--
-smithdoerr
skow
The buildings are all built from the bottom up, layer by layer, using Lego
blocks connected together in an L fashion to square up the corners and keep all
the blocks aligned.
Thanks for the compliments!
Ryan
Robert Singers
> The buildings are all built from the bottom up, layer by layer, using Lego
> blocks connected together in an L fashion to square up the corners and keep
all
> the blocks aligned.
I've found with arrow slits and windows that I have alignment problems and it
looks like it will be better building from the top row of a story downwards so
the different stories fit together better after painting.
I'm in two minds wether I like your thatch but it's obviously one of the cheaper
options.
BTW RGMW is very intolerant about top posting. If you don't know what I mean
check out the FAQ from news.newusers.questions at
http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/nquote.html especially Q7.
Samuel Campbell
moulds and I definately want to do a bridge similar to that.
--
Samuel Campbell, #109, Housedad, Gamer and RGMW outtakes collector
"Being quoted in .sigs - the poor man's Outtakes."- Brad Hann
"Sam, what would RGMW be without you?" - Marshall Dragoo
http://www.rgmw.org - rec.games.miniatures.warhammer FAQ
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tzeentch - Tzeentch Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Armageddon_Werribee - Wargaming Group
Tom the Tinkerer
V.V. Nice :)
Just as an aside.. has anyone in Australia bought the Hirst moulds.. and
how long does it take to make the various bits and pieces. from casting
to constuction to painting..
Ta
Tom
--
/\
__\/__
/ 12 \
/ ^ \
| | | Tom the Tinkerer
|9 o-->3| Horologist in Training
| | RT mini lover and all around nut job :)
\ 6 / azrap...@tpg.com.au.spamless
\______/
Rob Singers
"Tom the Tinkerer" wrote
> Just as an aside.. has anyone in Australia bought the Hirst moulds.. and
> how long does it take to make the various bits and pieces. from casting
> to constuction to painting..
I might not be in the West Island but I have. The answer to your question is
highly dependant on how big the object is that you're building.
skow
There are, in fact, people from Australia who are active on the HirstArts
message board ( http://pub97.ezboard.com/bhirstarts ) and who have purchased
molds. I myself am not overseas, but from what I've heard the shipping is very
reasonably priced and timely.
It takes only a few minutes to mix and pour the casting material into the molds.
After about five minutes after the pour, the mold is ready to have the excess
casting material scraped off so the back of the mold is level. About twenty
minutes later the pieces can be removed from the mold and set out to dry. It is
generally best to let the pieces dry overnight to ensure the glue will have a
full strength bond. After the pieces are dry and you've got a plan of what you
want to make, it is just a matter of stacking them up on top of each other
(without glue) to get the exact block layout. Each of the 'layers' is then
taken off and set aside separately. I then start by gluing the bottom layer
down and working my way up. It is helpful to use Legos hooked together in an L
fashion to square up the corners and keep the blocks in line. Another overnight
drying period is now recommended. Finally it is time to paint. Three layers of
paint plus finishing touches is used by many people. There are painting
instructions on the HirstArts site which I will not go into in this posting.
Small to medium structures can basically be cast, glued, and painted over a
period of three days - this was the case with the water mill. Larger structures
take longer due to the number of castings needed to create the blocks needed
for them.
Hopefully this posting is what you were looking for. If not, I'd be happy to
clarify any of the points.
Ryan
Andy
Definitely look nice.
Every once in a while I think about building fixed pieces of terrain.
Then I think about the storage problems.
Errm...
There is one thing I noticed.
Yes I know the last thing you want after however many hours work is
some git pointing things out.
But....
A real mill would have a mill race.
Otherwise you can't control the rate of the wheel and when the river's
low you can't mill.
Dam or mill pond, sluice.... almost always a drop for more energy.
But it's a fantasy mill.
And the thing looks so nice...
Very pretty.
RT Maitreya
> Just as an aside.. has anyone in Australia bought the Hirst moulds.. and
> how long does it take to make the various bits and pieces. from casting
> to constuction to painting..
A day to cast parts, two days to build something with a lot of layers,
no time at all to paint. They're awesome!
My top tip is to purchase little sorting bins for all of the tiny parts
that you get from each casting, so that they are all organized.
RTM
skow
I certainly don't mind design types of comments as long as they are constructive
- which I definitely take yours as. I did do a lot of research on mills and
indeed, many have some sort of gating mechanism. Many which I looked at are
also overshot rather than undershot like what I built. The reason for going
with undershot (the less efficient type of mill) was simply due to the fact that
there was not enough vertical space to provide for such a design to still be
able to get back down to 'ground level' which the rest of my boards are at. The
decision not to add a race has a few components to it. First, I wanted to keep
the river at 4" wide at both ends so they remain somewhat modular. Since the
river is so narrow, if I were to add a race, it would appear that a mini could
simply walk from the far bank of the river onto the race and cross the river in
that manner. For some reason that didn't sit well with me - not a great reason,
but I just couldn't get a good picture it in my mind and make it work in
miniature. The second reason is even less substantial - I didn't want the race
to 'hide' any of the wheel. ;) I didn't want to cover the bottom quarter of the
wheel with stone blocks. I thought the water rolling off of the back paddle of
the wheel would be obstructed by the addition of the stone which I thought
looked kind of neat (unfortunately the effect isn't very well shown in the
pictures)... So I've basically wound up with a mill which can either be 'on' or
'off' controllable by filling up the grindstones with too much grain (to stop
it) or feed the normal amount in and run normally. If the water gets low then
the townspeople just don't get their flour for bread! ;)
As for storage, I'm in the process of building some wooden boxes to fit the
terrain pieces in. I've basically run out of shelf space to store things so I
need to go vertical. ;) The box design is pretty simple - basically five sides
of the box are wood and the sixth 'front' side will be plexiglass. A slot will
be cut around the inner edge of the box pieces so the plexiglass can just slide
in. The piece can then be slid inside the box and the plexiglass can be put in
place. This will allow me to stack the pieces at least 6 high in a 2'x2' area
of floor space. Anyway, enough on this - I'll post some pictures of the box
construction when I get some done.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback and compliments. Hopefully my response is not
too boring nor defensive. If I do another mill in the future, I'll probably do
an overshot style with a race. It would be neat to see how the water would look
running through the race and over the wheel.
Thanks again!
Ryan
Andy
> Hi Andy,
Wotcha.
> I certainly don't mind design types of comments as long as they are constructive
> - which I definitely take yours as.
Good.
<<>> Since the
> river is so narrow, if I were to add a race, it would appear that a mini could
> simply walk from the far bank of the river onto the race and cross the river in
> that manner.
Hey, it's your terrain.
You can do what you want.
> For some reason that didn't sit well with me - not a great reason,
> but I just couldn't get a good picture it in my mind and make it work in
> miniature.
Weirs are usually involved...
The germans crossed a major Grench river in may 1940 by using a weir
the French hadn't thought to defend properly.
>The second reason is even less substantial - I didn't want the race
> to 'hide' any of the wheel. ;) I didn't want to cover the bottom quarter of the
> wheel with stone blocks.
Yeah, I can see that.
Water creates quite a lot of force.
In practice it's a good thing, structurally, to have the other end of
the only thing supporting the wheel on something nice and solid.
> I thought the water rolling off of the back paddle of
> the wheel would be obstructed by the addition of the stone which I thought
> looked kind of neat (unfortunately the effect isn't very well shown in the
> pictures)... So I've basically wound up with a mill which can either be 'on' or
> 'off' controllable by filling up the grindstones with too much grain (to stop
> it) or feed the normal amount in and run normally. If the water gets low then
> the townspeople just don't get their flour for bread! ;)
Staff of life and all that... not a popular move no food.
Perhaps they go eat the giant mushrooms in the forest though :^)
> As for storage, I'm in the process of building some wooden boxes to fit the
> terrain pieces in.
People usually go for shelving and you slide each into a shelf.
Curtain across the front is enough to keep out most dust.
Although... hoovering them is another thing you'll have to eventually
do.
Cleaning models, you can use a home made gadget:
You need a hoover has a tube attachment, stand-up hoovers without this
are no good...
Take a thick piece of card.
Cut a hole through it just big enough to take the outer of biro....
obviously guts removed.
Secure your empty biro with a big lump of blu-tack on each side of the
hole.
Double check it's secure.
You lob the thicker end into the end of your hoover-tube.
When you turn your hoove on, an odd thing about the way the electrice
motors work in them is if they can't suck at full rate they don't
over-heat or anything.
There's some complex explanation you could probably find on one of
those how things work web sites.
You end up with a controllable pointy thing on your hoover which won't
suck anything but the tiniest bits of any model down into the depths
of the hoover.
Probably too fine for most of your terrain, but for hoovering around
fixed trees or bridges....
DJ Jizzy Bear
"skow" <news...@skow.org> wrote in message news:3DBF2AB...@skow.org...
Really good work. I'm just getting into using Woodland scenics stuff and I'm
sitting looking at their 'water', wondering when I'll have the nerve to
actually try it. I like your tip about making 'dams' to hold it in. Good
idea. Hadn't heard about the water effects though. What exactly is that?
BTW, what colour did you paint before you poured on the 'water'? I'm doing a
Texas/Arizona terrain and have no idea what will be best to make the water
look 'right'.
--
DJ Jizzy Bear
"I'm in with the Out crowd..."
Putting hardcore spooge into music since yesterday afternoon. Respect!!!!!!!
skow
was that when the Realistic Water is cut away from the dam (since it is pretty
adhesive it takes an exacto to slice it away), the water sort of shrunk in a
little ways. This was mostly covered up by using the Water Effects. The
Realistic Water dries very smooth which doesn't make for very good 'moving'
water so the Water Effects are used to form up little ripples and current flows.
The Water Effects are a thick white paste very similar to the artist acrylic
medium gels. I used a plastic bristled paint brush to sort of form the waves.
As for what color to paint the river bed I certainly have not mastered. If you
are attempting to model deep water you'll probably want to skip the rocks step
(at least for the center areas of the water area) and just paint the bottom
lighter at the edges and darker in the middle. I can't say that I've ever been
to Texas or Arizona so I'm not sure what colors would work. I suggest trying to
get some photos and trying to get an general feel for what the river's color is.
Using the general color, pick a darker shade as well as a couple lighter
shades of the color and use the drybrush scheme described next. For my piece I
just stuck with a brown base coat, heavy drybrush of dark gray, and then a
couple layers of lighter gray in the shallow areas. This helps to give it a
feel of a little more depth even though it is only 1/4" thick.
Hopefully I've described things in a somewhat understandable manner. If not,
please let me know and I'll be happy to clarify anything.
Ryan
DJ Jizzy Bear
"skow" <news...@skow.org> wrote in message news:3DC1D22...@skow.org...
> Thanks! The dams worked pretty well for the most part. The only trouble
I had
> was that when the Realistic Water is cut away from the dam (since it is
pretty
> adhesive it takes an exacto to slice it away),
OK. That's one to remember.
the water sort of shrunk in a
> little ways. This was mostly covered up by using the Water Effects. The
> Realistic Water dries very smooth which doesn't make for very good
'moving'
> water so the Water Effects are used to form up little ripples and current
flows.
> The Water Effects are a thick white paste very similar to the artist
acrylic
> medium gels. I used a plastic bristled paint brush to sort of form the
waves.
>
> As for what color to paint the river bed I certainly have not mastered.
If you
> are attempting to model deep water you'll probably want to skip the rocks
step
> (at least for the center areas of the water area) and just paint the
bottom
> lighter at the edges and darker in the middle. I can't say that I've ever
been
> to Texas or Arizona so I'm not sure what colors would work. I suggest
trying to
> get some photos and trying to get an general feel for what the river's
color is.
> Using the general color, pick a darker shade as well as a couple lighter
> shades of the color and use the drybrush scheme described next.
I've been going through all my western videos, but the best river shots are
all in B&W...typical.
For my piece I
> just stuck with a brown base coat, heavy drybrush of dark gray, and then a
> couple layers of lighter gray in the shallow areas. This helps to give it
a
> feel of a little more depth even though it is only 1/4" thick.
>
> Hopefully I've described things in a somewhat understandable manner. If
not,
> please let me know and I'll be happy to clarify anything.
Thanks. Might well come back to you on this subject.
smithdoerr
"DJ Jizzy Bear" <keepin...@homeboys.com> wrote in message
news:aptbji$ia3$1...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
> the water sort of shrunk in a
The few rivers left in the lowlands of the South-West part of the US are
generally cloudy dark gray or brown with hints of blue or sometimes green.
As you move up closer to their mountain sources they usually get clearer but
will still often have a brown tint due to tannin from the leaves falling in
them (just like tea).
Then there are the washes. If you look at a current map of the area, most
of the "rivers" no longer flow year round and are in fact washes. Washes
are basically dry river beds that occasionally have flash floods during the
monsoon season. Flood waters are usually solid muddy brown.
For modeling purposes I'd go with dark blue/gray for larger rivers and for
smaller streams use the same colors but make them more transparent so more
of the natural color of the river bed shows through.
--
-smithdoerr
DJ Jizzy Bear
"smithdoerr" <spamc...@notreal.com> wrote in message
news:v_Aw9.209554$%d2.70974@sccrnsc01...
Thanks dude.