Friday 7 September 2012

Warhammer World - terrain 2

This is just a photobomb really. I absolutely love this 40k city board. I mentioned how figure eye level shots are hard to come by for decent backgrounds for compositing fluff imagery. Given the coolness of this terrain and how I could get down to figure level I may have got a bit snap happy. But, if like me, you wanna do fluff pics then I've a shedload for you here. Really there's not much to say other than that, just enjoy the images:











Wednesday 5 September 2012

'nids part 51 / Terrain is everything - Tyranid Aegis Defence Line Pt3

Tyranid Aegis Defence Line update. Now I'm not 100% happy with the backs, they're OK and I'm hoping the painting will work better. My sculpting clearly has a bit to be desired. I wanted something a little similar to Mr_Pinks but obviously my success so far on sculpting was because I was doing something basic. This first attempt was a bit flat so for the next lot I added some rolled out tubes to be the 'ribs' on the back.


Essentially I covered the back with a flattened 1cm blob of Milliput. When I say 1cm I mean 1cm of each of the two parts, so really it's a 2cm blob. There's effectively 12 panels but you need a bit extra to bridge the gap in the doubles. Each strip of Milliput is 12-13cm so careful measuring in advance and saving bits to make the ribs is essential. Anyway as you can see the ribs on the right are much more pronounced, better but still not 100% happy though I'll live with it.


A close-up to show how 'bad' it really is  ;)


This is quite laborious actually, even more so than the fronts and getting my GW sculpting tool in place can be fiddly. I decided that I'd do them in halves. That way when I came to do the second half I wasn't holding onto the bit I'd already sculpted and was 'happy' with.


Some places it's not too bad, I still have to decide how I'm going to paint the backs. The fronts will definitely be blue but will I go for Bonewhite or the liver/Mechrite Red? The Bonewhite is easier and will show up more but the liver/Mechrite Red will be more fluffy and gory but may get lost on the red base.

Where possible I tried to do most of the join between the two panels, just because this is a tedious job and to try and make the Milliput go further.


All four doubles are half done.


And the last single still to do, five panels in total left.


Monday 3 September 2012

Warhammer World - terrain 1

I better start getting through these Warhammer World pics otherwise I'll be back there again for my next visit and still not shared these. The problem is I add too much description so the blogposts are taking longer and longer to do, I do ramble on too much don't I? Anyway this is what greets you when you step into the hallowed halls of Warhammer World


I love this Tau themed terrain, the trees are awesome, slightly too large but why can't there be giant trees? I also love the Tau terrain, I'd love to see some of this start coming through from GW. Xenos terrain needs a push and if there can be some fortification slots for Tau bits then there'll be a market for it.


Here's your standard gaming tables, simple but durable.


An awesome drop pod themed table, 13 drop pods makes a nice bit of terrain.


This Imperial excavation of an Eldar webway gate is so cool.


More shots of this realistic snowy planet.


Plenty o'skulls.


A Petrified forest, can you imagine I took this so I could cut out the foreground?! Yeah I'm insane for Photoshop clipping paths.


More skulls!


The road to nowhere, you can see this as a backdrop to Ferron Proxima easily.


I took an awful lot of low-level shots to composite for future projects. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get the sorts of shots I know will be useful. The plan is to find way's to fit them into the Ferron Proxima fluff...


...like so! Not entirely convincing but it was a quick first attempt and I still haven't settled on the yellow sky I'm happiest with yet.


Saturday 1 September 2012

'nids part 50 / Terrain is everything - Tyranid Aegis Defence Line Pt2

I left these last having to decide on DAS Air Drying Clay or Milliput to clad the chinin plates on the pineapple pot. In the end I decided on the Milliput. For some reason I thought it would be more durable and less likely to chip. It'll cost more but it'll survive. Once again if you refer back to my original post about  Mr_Pink's Tyranid defence line you will see he did a layered effect of the plates. Did the tip, then added another on and then a third, much like the standard Tyranid armour. However despite liking the idea I just slapped a full sheet of Milliput on and sculpted it as large plates.  


Much in the same way I did with my Mycetic Spore, you can see below where around a third of my 4oz Milliput supply went.

 

And that didn't turn out too bad did it? So although I'm deviating from Mr_Pinks design that's what the hobbies about, riffing and remixing others ideas [like Turiya64's reimaging of my STCs] and creating something new or an alternative option for how you do yours.


One thing I did keep that Mr_pink did was little holes, not sure why but the look cool, even as battle damage but how that will work with my already 'spotty in places' turquoise we'll have to wait and see. 


Each of these pieces was rolled out as flat as could be then stuck on [something I feared the DAS would also struggle to do well on the shiny plastic pot]. I was wearing nitrile gloves, because I hate the way Milliput gets hot as the chemical reaction takes place and getting epoxy putty on your hands isn't nice.


Then, once it was in place I shaped it. I used water to smooth the surfaces and then used my thumbnail to score the plate grooves, occasionally pinching and squidging the centre of the plates to get those ridged centres.


I used a cocktail stick for the holes, but for the most part it was just my hands, you can see here I scored the chitin plate on the left right down to the plastic to try and create the depth Mr_Pink achieved by overlapping the plates. This is slightly less detailed but probably quicker because you don't have to wait for one pit to dry before you overlap it.


I haven't done the backs yet, I didn't want to spoil the front while messing around the back.


So far this is all I've done, three singles and a double - five out of the twelve panels. I estimated that there was around 3/4 to 2/3 of the packet of Milliput so I'm assuming one more packet will cover the front of the remaining seven and a second packet will do all twelve backs - I don't expect to have it as thick there and my quad gun base.


As you can see the Hive Guard are making themselves at home and why not?


There's still so much I wanted to do to them. I actually cast a thin layer of plaster that I was going to break up around the base to show the plates 'erupting' from the ground but having smoothed the Milliput into the bevelled edge I don't think there's room, so a standard sprinkling of sand maybe.


There's also opportunity to add more detail - toxin sacs and beads could be embedded in the walls. Tentacles - rolled Milliput or even unwound string like my other efforts. I also thought of making a little press cast of some ribbed tubing I have, if I bend it as I press it into the some Milliput when it's dry I can press more into so I get a ribbed 'slug' shape. That can be put on the insides and then Milliput can be smoothed wound it to make those little ridged detail bits you see on Tyranid arms and legs. So many details and effects I want to do but I fear doing them would slow down progress and I want this done while I have the momentum.


And yes, they do still stack, a bit. Now I await the two packs of Milliput I ordered off ebay for £5.50