Kaled's Terrain Blog

[Kaled]

Not sure whether I'll remember to update this as I go along, but here goes...

Some time ago I made a 4'x4' board to play a few games against Necris - as I'd already built the Valkyrie, I decided to mark the board out with a landing pad.



At the time we played using Necromunda terrain, but I always planned to eventually build some proper terrain.  The first piece I bought was the old STC Colonial Habitat.  I eventually got around to painting this a couple of weeks ago (and was reminded just how dull painting terrain is!).





Last week, with my game against Brother Brimstone rapidly approaching I decided I really ought to build a few more bits of terrain after seeing just how much stuff he'd managed to build and paint.  I had a couple of tubes from bottles of whisky which I'd been saving to use as terrain, so chopped them up and over about six hours I built and painted these two storage tanks.

Tank 1





Tank 2 (or should I say 7!)





In amongst this lot, I built a few small bits - a lascannon emplacement, platform to access the cockpit of the Valkyrie, comms beacon, cogitator terminal and barricade - mostly 28mm stuff which I though worked well at 54mm as well as some Robogear platforms.



My next project are two warehouses designed to fit in the rectangles at the top left and right of the board.  I've just finished the basic structure of the first;





As you can see, I need some ladders or stairs to allow characters to access the upper levels.  The next step is to start adding details and to make the main sliding doors - the doors will be 2mm plasticard, and I've got some barrels, fuel cans, sandbags and some cities of death bits and pieces (as well as a bits box full of crap) to detail it.

After the two warehouses, I plan to build a watch house / bunker from a Bastion kit, a couple of intact building and then round it out with some cities of death ruins (which I may sub-contract out to save time).  AFter that, I need some scatter terrain - crates, more barrels, fences, walls, pipes and so on.

That's it for now...

- Dave

[Adlan]

Looks very Awesome.

I like the Platform to get upto the valkerie cockpit. It looks like it's risen from the floor on hydraulics. Have you considered making a tile so you can depict where it would rise from? Then you could swap it out in game when the hydraulics are activated.

[greenstuff_gav]

Looks very Awesome.

yeah, that
thanks for showing! love seeing terrain come together

have you considered gluing together a few crates and hollowing 'em out so that they can sit over the top of the hinges? they really detract from a Nifty board 
i'd have recessed it into the board and added a Gutter Guard as its running straight along the board...

[Brother_Brimstone]

Great work on the building! It puts my terrain to shame! Looks like it's all coming together well; looking forward to playing on it.

[Kaled]

On the subject of crates - does anyone know of a source of various sizes of crates, pallettes, cargo containers etc?  They're easy enough to make, but I need quite a few for the second warehouse...

[greenstuff_gav]

for 54mm, i've got A Couple Of These and they work well and come in a variety of sizes

some of Jeds Stuff could work, but its mainly 32mm...

toy shops maybe worth a look?

[Van Helser]

Looking nice so far. 

You could try some Britain's farm accessories out - they do palettes, and with a bit of paint, their bales could be barrels or containers easily enough.

[Backyardpatrol]

Looking forward to some pics of the Bastion, I've got three sitting around that I'd love to re purpose for 54mm.

[kierkegaard]

Very cool. It is always good to see proper terrain rather than cardboard boxes and things.

[Kaled]

Ooh I didn't know Britain's was 1/32 - I used to have loads of that stuff when I was a kid...

Just sprayed the outside of the building with Plastikote Stone Touch - I'll post pics once it's dry. I've done much of the detailing - I don't plan to do too much to this one as it's very shallow so there's little room for much inside. I've also drawn up plans for the second warehouse - I've learned a lot from doing the first one, so the second promises to be a lot better (it helps that it'll be a lot bigger too). Now to see what I can fnd on eBay...

[Kaled]

Okay, here's the first proper update.  As you can see I've added a load of barrels and other bits and pieces to the interior - I originally was going to add more stuff, but decided to keep it pretty sparse so as to leave as much floor space for gaming as possible.  Any larger crates will be left movable, so there'll be the potential to put more stuff in there during games anyway.



I've also added some detail to the outside, and then I sprayed it with the Plasticote stuff.  I'm not sure about that stuff yet - the texture is a little weird and it's still a little tacky despite being applied over 12 hours ago.  Hopefully it'll harden up, otherwise I'm in trouble...



The sliding doors are still next on the to-do list, then I'll start putting together the second building.

[Swarbie]

Looks nice. Keep it up, I know how boring terrain making can be.

[Kaled]

It's not so much the making as the painting I find dull - building the basic structure is okay, but I really enjoy adding all the detail.  The problem comes when I then have to paint all the detail I added - then I wish I'd left it plain!

As a minor update, to get around it not having any doors (other than the main ones) or glass in the windows, I've added a door to the floor of the warehouse as if it's been kicked/blown off its hinges, and I've found some clear plastic that I might use as broken glass in one of the windows (it's a bit flimsy, but will do if I don't find anything better).

[Kaled]

Another double post, but I just wanted to show some pics before I put this building to one side and move on to the second one.  I've just sprayed everything black and the surface feels hard and looks rather good.  The main doors are in place - they're rather plain, especially from the front, but should look good when painted.  You can also see one mistake I made - when the doors are fully open they partially obstruct the window and door onto the balcony.  It's not the end of the world, just a bit annoying.

[Alyster Wick]

Looks excellent so far.  Sure the bit about the doors is annoying, but if you have an Inquisitor Scale Valkyrie sitting in the middle of the table I'm sure people won't notice/will forgive the mild oversight.