To try and speed things up I have also been using hot-glue (via a hotglue gun), to tack into position the poly rock clumps, with PVA between, which will set later but stronger. Same with the new rear back piece of MDF sheet for the side wall.
It all allowed me to get the whole side wall built up, and attached and skimmed in polyfilla over the course of one day...
So that really is the main construction finished now... though I need to add a couple of styrofoam carved pillars to the shooting gallery... might even 'dwarfy-fy' the outer surface of it with some polygons or strips of depron..
Next is going to be the fiddly bit; making and rigging up the LED lighting array for the flames coming up through the base board...
Once that's in place, I'll conceal the wires and 'rocky-up' the base with poly chunks again. Then skim with filla, and then paint... the end is in sight!
-----o0o-----
Other weekend activity included putting together a set of Woodland Scenics plastic conifer tree kits. Trimmed them and assembled the trunks, melted up spare sprue to conceal the joins, drybrushed the trunks, and 'hob-e-tac'-ed the trunks to attach the clump foliage... all well so far... then I had a brain wave, since these would be handled more than in a static display, I figured I would spray them as well with WS scenic cement (which is a bit like very thinned down PVA glue), to 'seal on' the foliage... all seem good to start ... then disaster! The water content of the scenic cement seem to lessen the adhesion of the hob-e-tac, as clumps of foliage started falling off all over :-( I left the remainder to dry over night... it seems now dry and OK, though considerably barer than before... I may get some ADOS F2 aerosol spray adhesive and see if I can get a bit more clump foliage attached that way... might be able to recover them I hope...
Other than the above woodland disaster, I pressed on with general paint work, varnished the Hobbit ale cart, and got the base half done. Got the trolls base painted, and continued ploughing my way through the Gondorians...
Busy as always...
Spray adhesive is best but watch out for pet hair! The causeway it gianormus!
ReplyDeleteThanks Robert - I'll have a blast with it at the weekend...
DeleteIt's great to follow this project.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the WIP things.
Cheers
Stefan
Thanks Stefan, glad you are enjoying it... :)
DeleteThis is gonna be great.
ReplyDeleteI hope so! ;-)
Delete"the LED lighting array for the flames coming up through the base board…" - just awesome!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed I get it looking and working right!
DeleteExcellent progress. You now can see the utter awesomeness of the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteYou are too kind Sir!
DeleteVery impressive Scott! This will be an incredible piece of terrain!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rodger - its certainly the biggest thing I have every made!
DeleteGreat looking terrain, Scott. Reminds me of Renaissance marble work:)! Best, Dean
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean :)
DeleteMASTERCLASS!
ReplyDeleteAs for the clump foliage, I have read that you need to spray very lightly with the glue, otherwise it makes it very heavy and drops away. Apparently you can use hairspray to fix the foliage in place, again I haven't tried this.
Many thanks Pat :) Yes I think that's been the problem - I put too much on and the water weight pulled off the clumps. Thankfully what stayed on is stuck well now. Yes I've used Hairspray before on sealing down static grass and flock... it works rather well.
DeleteLooking forward to seeing the finished project. Had a similar problem with making trees a while back. Can recommend horsehair fibre (or coconut fibre as it is now!) you may find this post of mine useful: http://thereppledeppleclubhouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/trouble-with-trees.html.
ReplyDeleteCheers Mark, and thanks for the link, I'll check that out...
DeleteYou should box this in with glass and use it as a coffee table. :-)
ReplyDeleteCool idea! I have been pondering what exactly to do with it once its finished... It really needs to be a permanent display somewhere, not hidden away... Only thing, at 3 feet tall its perhaps a tad too high for a coffee table ;-)
DeleteLooking brilliant Scott!
ReplyDeleteAlmost there mate :-)
Many thanks Paul - I'll keep plugging away... to quote Magnus Magnusson; "I've started so I'll finish" - I hope! ;-)
DeleteBetter and better Scott!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Cheers Chris :)
DeleteI think this battleboard will be stunning and even with only the white filler / basecoat one gets a good feel of its size, epicness and well thought out layout. It should make for some really nice scenario games.
ReplyDeleteSome material related questions:
Where do you get the Depron from and where do you get your LED/fibre optic supplies? I was looking for this in NZ, but so far was unable to get LED chips and single fibre optic strands.
Some suggestions:
Did you intend to make the bottom of the pit playable or only lava covered? If the latter I'd suggest to add some rock surfaces models can stand on. It might be also cool to have some alcoves in the rock faces where you can position "climbing" goblins. The main idea is to make as much as the board interactive, so you can use it for a variety of scenarios. It would be a pitty if it is limited to a specific one.
Thanks mate.
DeleteI ordered the Depron foam from http://www.foamworks.co.nz/index.php?cPath=38
The LEDs and other electrical bits from a couple of suppliers - the twinkle effect yellow LEDs are from http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/partsmenu/574 and my other local supplier is The Computer Shop in Paraparaumu who stock various electronic components... LEDs, resistors, copperwire, solder, battery packs etc etc...
I wondered about the bottom of the board and whether to go Lava or not... but the more I recall about the story, if I am right is that there was not lava below Khazad Dum... the lower halls were on fire due to the Balrogs presence... so I am going to go with a very rocky surface, through which blasts of flame have burst upwards as seems befitting, if you watch the movie sequence again...
The board was really built for this scenario only in mind... but I may well add a few platforms as you suggest for model placement for other scenarios too...