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It's not HirstArts, but since it IS gaming terrain, I thought I might share.
This is one of Steve's latest projects. It is a balsa wood 30mm scale model of the blockhouse at Fort King George in Darien, GA.
Much like the models by Miniature Building Authority, this one is designed so that minis can be placed inside on the top and bottom levels. The roof and floors lift away like those of Miniature Building Authority's resin gametable buildings.
He is also building models of the various outbuildings which surrounded the blockhouse, and eventually he wants to write a set of rules for skirmish gaming set in the colonial period.
Meanwhile, he's put me to taking pictures and making his web site. I've made a gallery of this project for those of you who want to see the details. I'll update the gallery and maybe post a few pics here too as more buildings get finished.
Nice to get one in the "completed" category:
I am so late on this but my partner was understanding.
I believe I have explained how a mini exchange works previously but I'll summarize here. You sign up, you get a name, you paint a mini, you send it off. Someone else paints a mini and sends it to you. Fun all around.
I like to research what the person receiving my mini prefers. I do this by searching the forum for things they've posted or commented upon. Normally they give some guidance when they sign up (elves, females, etc.) but I like to do my own research too.
This time around I was paired with someone who only likes display minis. This means they're part of a diorama of some kind and not meant for game play. Hmmm....
I picked up a couple of the cheap wooden bases at the hobby store and started stacking blocks. I came up with a spiral staircase on a round base. The mini is a wizard walking down stairs. Of course, the stairs weren't the same height as the ones I made but that can be worked around. I mangled my first attempt at getting him off his integral base and my friend Erin took pity on me and sent me one already de-based.
So he's walking down the stairs on one side of the diorama. I needed something to fill the space on the other side. Meet Mr. Rat.
For the full effect, have a look at the 360 degree 'movie' I made.
Oh - the lantern is from an adventuring accessories pack and the hanger was made by my friends Abaroth and KeeblerOrc with their fun laser cutter. That's actually a candle holder but I didn't put that part on it. I needed a lantern hook.
I've been working on these off and on for a while. I wanted some decorative little founts to toss around the dungeon (not literally toss but scatter decoratively) and I had some casts from the oh-so-wonderful Hirst Arts Cavern Accessories Mold so I decided to have a little fun. Of course, this was after I decided on my 'no new projects' way of doing things. Like anyone thought that was going to happen.
This shows the fountain and the 'water' I used. I tried something different this time. Instead of using resin I tinted gloss varnish and used that to put in a layer of water. As you can see, all the varnish went to the edges of the piece. Not quite what I had in mind. I still used 5 minute epoxy for the water from the spout but didn't really do a froth where it hit.
Backstory. I have time to think whilst making and painting these things. And that was a lot of marble to paint. I actually made four of these founts so it was a lot of assembly line work. Rastl doesn't like assembly line work.
I wasn't being particularly careful on painting the marble so it isn't the best quality. And the lion heads all have some air bubbles. Without the stippling the alabaster is certainly second rate. So here's my explanation for all that.
The contractors building the dungeon must get pieces in the job lots that just aren't up to the standards needed in the BBEG's lair. But they already paid for it and had it hauled down to the job site. So rather than waste it they make up things that will be useful in various 'staff' areas of the dungeon and not really seen all the time by the guy who pays the bills. Now, you would think that the contractors would be doing their very best not to cheese off the BBEG but there's a pretty strong dungeon builder's contractor's union and there are very steep penalties for turning the contractors into undead (sub-contractors need to work out their own arrangements) so it's just easier all around for the less-than-perfect pieces to go into the less visible areas of the dungeon.
And if you're wondering, acrylic paint really doesn't have fumes so I don't have that excuse for what I just wrote.
Note - BBEG is the abbreviation for Big Bad Evil Guy. Essentially the reason for most quests and the fella you find in the center of the dungeon doing bad guy things.
I thought I'd add more modules to the catwalk, so I built a corner piece.
I'll probably do a second one, similar to this one.
A fella on the Hirst Arts forum was showing off his latest projects and he had these wonderful bottles on the crates. So I pestered the heck out of him until he gave me all the details.
In a nutshell:
- Glue beads onto a straight pin
- Base with white acrylic
- Paint with ink
- Varnish
For whatever reason superglue isn't liking me these days. I just can't get it to work. I think the house is too dry for it to adhere so I may have to experiment with that but not right now. So I used regular tacky glue. While this fills in the gaps between the beads so they look more cohesive it takes longer to dry and I seem to end up with crooked bottles. Those are going in the back.
Two coats of white craft paint make the proto-bottles a nice smooth white. It also reinforces the glue bond and fills in the spaces even more. Since I'm trying to look like they're one unit this is a good thing.
On to the ink. I do have Reaper inks and haven't really had a chance to use them much. This was a great opportunity. It took two coats to get it looking smooth. I probably could have done a third coat but didn't for two reasons.
- I didn't want the color to look too opaque
- I'm lazy
I let those dry really well. Because I had other things to do.
On to the last step - varnish. The originator used three coats of Future Floor Wax. If you haven't used this stuff in your terrain and other miniature making adventures you're really missing out. Great gloss finish and tough as nails. Downside is that it is really thin so if you're looking for something to stick on the surface you're going to have some issues.
So begins the Great Varnish Experiment. The idea is to give the bottles a decently thick layer of clear so the eye is fooled into thinking the bottle itself is clear. I decided to try out the layers of Future vs. straight acrylic craft varnish (gloss). The craft varnish is much, much thicker so it sticks to the surface and leaves a thicker result. At least, that's my hypotheses.
Without further ado, here's the current state of the experiment:
That bottle is actually painted with two coats of Reaper Clear Plum. The Clears are pigment in a clear base. So I thought I would give it a try. That's with one coat of the acrylic varnish.
The odd blue-green bottle is two coats of Reaper Clear Viridian and again, one coat of acrylic varnish.
The deeper green bottle is two coats of Reaper Green Ink and one coat of acrylic varnish.
The lighter purple bottle to the right is two coats of Reaper Purple Ink and two coats of Future.
Personally I like the hard gloss of the Future. But the acrylic varnish gives a thicker clear coat. So I think I'm going to combine the best of both worlds and do two coats in the future: one of the acrylic and one of Future.
I was wondering how the Reaper Clear colors would turn out. They're much more opaque than the inks but have a richness that will work for more pottery-like bottles. They still have enough of a clear feel that they might work nicely.
So tonight I'll hit everything on the board with one last coat of Future. Then I get to start painting caps and such.
The glossy surface is also just crying out for me to try out decals as well.
Finally I sat down and finished these things. I know I could have used colored paper and not painted the drawers in place but I like how the base coat of paint unifies things. Otherwise it would have really looked like pieces of card stuck to a piece of wood.
I have a 'price chart' for the things in the cabinet where each color is a different price. That will go up when the whole shop is assembled.
Now I need to make a balance scale for the counter, since I have things that need to be weighed out.
And I'm making bottles. Every mage needs empty potion bottles!
