KrazyIvan

This is O scale english ivy by Silflor. It came from one of their sample size packs you can buy from Scenic Express. Mine looks a bit more overgrown than the picture on Scenic Express becauseI didn't pull it apart that much. It is basically a big hedge when you get it, so you can taylor the look.

It's not as much painting as you might think. If you seal these up you could use aerosol paint to do most of the work (assuming that you don't have an airbrush). The bigger issue would be fixing them to a sturdier base board, like 3mm MDF.

Beveling the bases would be my only suggestion. These look pretty good.

I use 3mm (or 1/8") all my projects since it's so readily available. It has more warping issues than thicker stock, but that is easy to work around.

He is out shined by other models in the same price range...and us Outcasts are spoiled for choices in the 7-10 SS range. That said, if the match is maker heavy and close deployment I can still justify taking him.

My $0.02: Play NB, Arcanists, or Levi. The Vikas are not sneaky at all. They are a one trick pony. It's a good trick, but it will only be sneaky once. After that a prepared opponent will start to setup in such a way as to to minimize model loss from the slingshot, isolate whomever you sent in, and kill her. The Viks are great killers, but are made of paper.

I am probably dropping out. I finally got the materials for my new city boards (see my Mk 2 build diary in the Terrain section), and they are taking up most of my hobby time.

First, a video... CBMK-WIP22.mp4 That out of the way, pouring the mold didn't exactly go to plan. I actually had to do it twice as it turned out that I didn't have enough Oomoo 30 silicone on hand so I was only able to make a partial mold. Silicone will stick to silicone so I had the option of pouring the remainder of the mold after visiting my local Smooth-On distributor. I had a gut feeling that all wasn't well however, and my hunch was right. I de-molded the partial pour only to find bid voids up against the tile. Had I poured the remainder I still would have ended up with a bad mold. On the plus side the master came through fine, and that partial mold had sharp detail. I tossed the partial in the trash, hit the Smooth-On store, and poured a new mold. No problems this time around. After de-molding the master I was able to get a clean cast of the board in Smoothcast 300 resin. I should be able to pull somewhere between 30-60 casts from this mold. Here are the pics: Next step is to get the remaining boards built. Once that it done I will pour their molds all at once. Then it'll be boards for days (and just maybe sets of boards for other folks who want some of their very own).

The build for the first board is complete. Tomorrow I'll prime and varnish it, then build a mold box and pour it's mold. If I've done an adequate job of sealing all nooks and crannies then all should go well...otherwise the master might be damaged. On to the pics: Here we have the cobblestones all laid out: A close up of the man hole cover that I scratch built (no button this time): And finally a few of the completed piece. I went ahead and primed one corner so that you can better see the texture of cobblestone and grout. The resin sand was applied pretty thick, but it shrinks quite a bit as it dries. The advantageous for this application because as it shrinks it helps fill in the gaps and undercuts.

Some updates: Since the new boards will be cast in resin, I needed to get some practice in with the mold making and casting process. I decided to get that practice by casting cracked earth bases for my small collection of Guild miniatures. The bases were made by using standard round lip plastic bases. I first used an xacto knife to score the recessed area, then a thick layer of crackle paste was applied. After being left to dry for 72 hours everything was sealed with a 1:1 mix of watered down PVA. The bases were mounted to a piece of PVC board using super glue, then additional pieces of PVC were attached to the base board using hot glue. The mold box was then tested for leaks simply by adding water. Once the box was dry a batch of 2 part silicone rubber was mixed, Oomoo 30 in this case, and poured into the mold box. The mold box was left to sit for 6 hours. After setting I de-molded the masters. To be blunt they were destroyed. Crackle paste leaves some voids underneath the surface, and the silicone found every single one. The lesson here is to ensure that your masters are compeltly sealed before making a mold! Once cleaned up and trimmed I cast a few bases from the mold using Smooth-Cast 300. My little experiment in casting done, I proceeded to work on the first of the new boards. The first one is a 4-way crossroad, with a manhole cover in the middle...very similar to how I started the first set. As mentioned previously each of the flagstones was carved from extruded insulation board. They were glued down to the MDF using straight PVA. One the corners were done they were attached to 6"x6" board using E6000 commercial adhesive. Please note that the fumes from E6000 are extremely toxic. Only use it in a well ventilated area with plenty of airflow. I use it because it creates an extremely strong bond, without sinking into the MDF - which means no warping. Next I hit it with a rock. Seriously, there is no better method of giving foam a rock-like surface texture that grabbing a rough stone from your yard and work some stress out on your terrain. Once dry voids in-between the stone work were filled with a little PVA and sprinkle of kitty litter. Once that dried a 2:1 water to PVA mix was lightly brushed over everything to seal it. After that dried there were still too many void-looking areas for my liking, so I used a brush to apply straight PVA to certain areas. Cobble stones were next. Just like the last set of boards I am hand rolling every single stone. I could use some kind of roller, or lentils, or some other shortcut but the effects of those methods just are not as nice in my opinion. Hand rolling assures that every stone is unique, and that provides some extra visual character to the board. Unlike last time I left a significant amount of space between each cobblestone. One of the problems with the last set of boards was that there were tiny gaps between some of the stones. Since the stones are round these gaps have little undercuts that could cause mechanical lock is molded. To get around this I started grouting in the stones. This is another way to create visual interest as well. I used Liquitex Resin Sand for the job. It's basically a sticky acrylic medium mixed with grit. The resin sand was applied using a brush and pushed into any gaps to seal them off. I also applied some of the resin sand to the gaps in the flag stones.