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And now for something completely different. Not everything here has to be serious and miniature connected :)

This being the Christmas season, My girlfriend and I decided to get into the festive mood and make our own Christmass tree decorations.

We mixed the dough (1part salt , 1part flour and add some water)

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Don't add any tomatoes from the picture... :)

Roll the dough.

We then used the moulds we bought before. They were star-shaped, heart-shaped and something that is supposed to be bear-shaped.

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After pressing the moulds into the dough we got our decorations...

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I even managed to slip in some of my more creative ideas :)

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anyway, they are now drying. Afterwards we'll paint them and add some hooks so we can hang them on our tree come Christmas eve...

will keep you posted...

Edited by Demonn Agram
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a little X-mas update..

Finally after a week of drying, the dough... well, dried :)

and we painted it

AAW085.jpg

and a little shot of my Santa/snowman...

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not sure my GF likes it, says the little dudes remind her of It...

anyway, I painted my Von Schill. will post pics soon...

Edited by Demonn Agram
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When making such a board, as with every big project, you need to make the blueprints and carefully think everything through. What size will the board be, how many modules, how to connenct the modules, features stretching through a couple of modules - how to make the transitions...

1. 120x120cm

2. 9 modules 40x40cm

3. use magnets (diametre 10mm)

4. place them in the middle of each board (as in picture)

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Also, you have to make your demand/wish list so you clearly know what you want when done. With such projects one can get easily distracted with all the small details..

1. easy storage (modules - no big wooden board that's hard to put away)

2. use magnets for fixing (pay attention to the poles of the magnets - picture bellow)

3. details (roads - cobbled and dirt, river, swamp)

4. details over a couple of modules must begin and end in the same place on the module - middle of one side is the easiest

5. materials to be used - high density polystyrene to make it light with a wooden frame

6. frame - wooden planks - needed for strengthening the module and for placement of the magnets

Connecting the magnets

02.jpg

Make a list of everything you need. Now that you have the blueprints it shouldn't be difficult to calculate the quantity of materials needed

glues - PVA 1kg, 2x10g Superglue

paints and spreys - 6 Pebeo Deco Paints (black, white, grey, brown, ochre and ash), 3 black matt acrylic spreys and one clear matt acrylic sprey

brushes - No2 x2, No 6 x2, No 10 x2, 3x large brush for painting walls

Resin - Gedeo Crystal Resin 750ml + paint (Pebeo vitrail emerald)

high density polystyrene - 3 boards (1200 x 600 x 30 mm)

Planks - 18 pieces (30 x 5 x 1000 mm), 9 pieces (5 x 3 x 1000 mm), 1 piece (20 x 20 x 1000 mm)

Flocking - static grass 100g, static grass 20g (different colour), static grass 7mm 20g, small scatter 20g

magnets - 72 pieces (diametre 10mm, higth 1mm)

stone - slate (as much - I'm fortunate because Zagreb lies on Mt Medvednica which is full o slate so all I have to do to get it is to go for a hike :) )

When you make such a list, you can write where you can buy those items and it'll make your shopping easier.

Actual build

After you purchased everything you need, it's time to start the buils. First thing I did when I started was making the "mould" for the wooden frame - so all the planks can be the same size, which is vital! In order to make the module 400 x 400 mm , you need two planks 30 x 5 x 390 mm and two planks 30 x 5 x 400mm. Therefore you need two moulds, one for 390 mm and the other for 400 mm.

Cut from the 20 x 20 x 1000 mm plank one length 392mm and one length 402mm. Sand them to sizes 390 mm and 400mm. Glue and nail small stops at each end.

(sorry for the text in Croatian in teh pics, everything there is somewhere in this text in english...)

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Once the moulds are done you can make your planks for the frame out of the 18 remaining 30 x 5 x 1000 mm planks. First you cut them 2mm longer - 18 pieces 402mm long and 18 pieces 392mm long.

When cutting (with a saw) cut one from one side of the plank and the other from the other side. It will ensure you that you have at least one vertically cut side (factory made). After you make this, you'll have to sand of the extra 2mm of length untill your plank fits snuggly in the mould.

07.jpg

now you need to make the brackets. (of course you can buy them, but it's cheaper this way). from the rest of the pieces of the planks (you shold have around 18 pieces of 18 cm length), cut 10mm wide slices. afterwards using a knife cut them diagonally and ther you have it. 36 brackets :) glue them using a superglue to the shorter planks (390mm).

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Placing the magnets.

first of all, mark one side of all the magnets with a letter L (left) and the other with a letter R (Right - D in the picture because "desno" in croatian is right :) ).

Take all the 390mm planks and 95mm from each edge and 15mm (middle) from the bottom drill 1mm deep bore with a 10mm diametre mill.

Now take the 400mm planks and drill the same bore but 100mm from each edge and 15mm from the bottom.

This will ensure that once the frame is complete, the magnets will perfectly align one to another being exactly 100mm from each frame edge.

In every left bore of every plank glue the L marked side of the magnet and in the right bore the R marked side of the magnet. Now everything should fit.

09.jpg

now it's time to cut the high density polystyrene boards to size of modules. You need to mark the size (390 x 390 mm) on the boards. Cut carefully along those lines. Instead of one hard cut, rather use severall thin ones. This will limit the potential damage to the modules. Draw the features on each module and mark it well (write the name of the feature for example). When drawing it is vital that each element ends on one place of a module and starts on the same place on another. This table has a river which is 10cm wide and the roads are 5cm wide. I decided that all my elements should exit the module in the module's middle.

10.jpg

After drawing, it is time to fix the frames to the modules. First glue the shorter planks (390mm) on two opposite sides of each module using PVA (as superglue will eat through the high density polystyrene). Then connect them with the longer planks (400mm). you can add superglue on the place where the planks touch, but otherwise use PVA. Wipe off the excess glue..

11.jpg

Carving out the features. The riverbed will be easiest to carve out if you cut out small cubes one at a time and afterwards just sand it. Unlike rivers, the roads (because of their "shallowness") are made by just sanding them down 2-3mm in depth. I made myself a home-made tool for that job..

12.jpg

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After al the elements were cut, it is time to model all the features.

You build the dirt road by modelling its front (like in the picture) using clay (I use DAS clay, whether white or red it doesn't really matter - what the store has at the particular moment :) ). Remember to also make the wheel tracks.

13.jpg

The cobbled road takes a bit of time to make. First cover the dug out part with PVA and scatter some gravel over it. Once the mix is set, you should make as much small balls of DAS clay in various sizes (no bigger tham 5mm in dia). Afterwards (before the clay dries!) place the balls in the road and press slightly to make the flat stones of irregular shape but round edges. Don't forget to place some PVA on the balls befor placing them so they stick to the board better. In between some rocks, leave some space open where you can add some puddles or static grass later on.

14.jpg

Carving out the river is a bit different than for the roads. Just pay attention to the cross-sections on the pic bellow. Afetr everything is carved out and sanded put a nice thick coat of PVA glue. On such large carved surfaces it is easy to have a lot of cracks and various damage and if not properly sealed (with pva, gravel etc) the resin WILL go through and eat away the

high density styrofoam and ruin your module!

Next step is to put in some large rock formations in the middle of the riverbed and the banks of the river. I did mine from slate. it is easy to shape (as it can be carved by just using a knife) and it is easily accessible in Zagreb. The rest of the slate I put in a cloth and put the mace to it (FUUUN!). once it was small enough (about 1mm large), I glued it to the riverbed. In the shallows I made the transition from the hammered-down slate to the small sand (sand for chinchillas I got in my pet store - finest grade I could find in the 10 years I've been in this hobby). This ends the making of the riverbed.

The swamp part of the module is made the same way as the river. Cut out a big pond and several small puddles. Inside the large pond you model some islands using clay and everything is covered with PVA. Once dry cover it again with PVA and pour the small sand (the same as in the shallows) over it. Leave to dry.

15.jpg

afterwards, every module should be covered with PVA, in some places put some larger slate and poured over with gravel and sand.

16.jpg

Then undercoat it all black, drybrush it brown (Pebeo Deco Brown 29, Ocre 51 and Ash Brown 70). Paint the roads black again, drybrush it with mixture of Pebeo Black 55 and Grey 54, then jsut Grey 54 and the last layer should be Ash Brown 70 to "connect" all the elements so the roads do not look like they were just wiped clean. Finally, basecoat the shallows and the dirt road in Pebeo Brown 29, then drybrush it using Ocre 51 and a mixture of Ocre 51 and White 41. Some larger rocks can tehn be drybrushed using White 41 only..

17.jpg

Last step before pouring in the resin is puting the flock. Since the board is so large, I suggest using several shades of static but also playing around with other types of flock like scater, small sponges, 7mm static grass etc. The main rule is to immitate the nature and you can't go wrong with too much vegetation (unless making a desert board :D ). I should remind you to place some of the 7mm static grass in the holes in the cobbled road and also on the highpoint of the dirt road (as in picture above where I wrote about the making of the dirt road).

18.jpg

All of this took me three days to finish. So, before puting in the resin your board should look like this:

19.jpg

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Puting in the Resin!

First of all glue some partitions to the modules with the river. I used the plastic foil used for overhead projectors (if some of you remember tehm :) ). it is good because it is really smooth and can easily be removed once the resin is dry, and most importantly the resin doesn't stick to it.

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Then glue some vegetation on the riverbed..

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once the glue on the foil is set I placed some Vallejo extra heavy gel around the foil to seal it completely. let it set for a day or two...

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Then comes the pouring in of the first layer of Resin. I used Gedeo Crystal Resin dyed Pebeo Vitrail Emerald.

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After drying put in another layer (this time with less colour) and another after that (without colour).

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The swamp is dome much the same

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Finally your board should look like this (when you add some terrain on it :) )

100_7176.jpg

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X-mas is nearing so a little update on my decorations...

now they were all painted and dry, it was time to add the hooks and straps with which we'll hang them on our X-mass tree.

first I used my pin vice to make a hole in the decorations. about 4mm should od the trick (at least I hope so :) ).

Then I took some wire and made a loop with the end protruding (those 4 mm) to make a pin.

I then dipped the pin in the PVA and stuck it to the decoration.

bozic001.jpg

afterwards we cut the straps into 10cm (4") length. we pulled them through the loops and stapled the ends of the straps together. I guess that we could just tie a knot but this was quicker..

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While I was fiddling with the loops and pinning, my GF was making little bows..

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and making some arrangements with sticks of cinnamon and some straps...

bozic002.jpg

so that's it. our decorations are over. now wait for tomorrow to make our Christmas tree...

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So, this is a board that my friends and me have built from feb.2006. to june 2006 (in the pic - . It was a part of a GW competition held for their release of the Cities of Death 40k supplement as well as their 40k building sets. They said they wanted a board 6'x4' and that they'll supply every entry with a lot of their buildnig sprues. all we got in the end was Imperial cities box - which isn't enough to cover 2'x2' let alone 6'x4'... The winner was supposed to receive all the minies that can fit on a table. we got a 100 GBP prize.. go GW :hangman:! but I digress...

COD019.jpg

(from right to left: Tomislav Petrovic (sgt. Colon), me, Davor Bokun and Andrija Jurisic)

so here are the blueprints:

Blueprints03.jpg

first I'll put some pics of the finished board with some stats. I'll update this with info on the build itself later on..

The table is 210 x 125 cm big. it is 75cm high (where the tower is). The tower istelf is 50cm high. it has several electronic features.

COD013.jpg

The power supply is from an old computer (ATX power). It had all the voltage we needed. 12V DC, 5V DC, and also 220V AC (for powering the fogger unit and the water pump).

1. feautre - water pump - it pumps water from the "factory" through the canal

COD014.jpg

2. feature - fogger unit - underneath the board - makes fog which rises through the shafts in the street

3. feature - lasers - they shoot across the street and above the shafts - so the beams are visible

COD016.jpg

4. feature - search light - a LED on a servomotor which can be operated manually to make an arcon the street

5. feature - working street lights and hangar lights (LEDs)

6. feature - broken street lights (LED's that blink)

7. feature - Vents on the factory (old computer vents of various sizes)

8. feature - running lights on the landing pad (LEDs)

9. feature - radar (radar mounted on the Servomotor)

10.feature - models used: GW's Imperial cities box, Predator, Sentinel, Steel Legion Lieutenant, Shuttle (from Battle for McCragge)...

these are the photos of the whole table:

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some more cool photos of the details on the board:

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COD001.jpg

COD003.jpg

COD004.jpg

and anyway here is a little movie where you can get a better idea of what this table can do:

as I said, a little racap of the build will follow

Edited by Demonn Agram
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1 they are some mega kick arse gaming tables and the pirate board

looks sick.... I think you have a lot of time on your hands lol

2 you can f*%k me in the arse with a barbed wire dildo.... the paint jobs on your models is awesome you really captured the malifaux steampunk there with ramos crew....

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finally caught some time to upload the photos, so to conclude the story behind my decorations...

On Christmas eve we finally put them on our tree. and this is how it turned out. My GF and I are really pleased with the outcome...

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with the presents underneath :)

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and a close-up of my characters...

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And once again, Merry Christmas everyone!

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I've noticed somewhere on this forum that people are talking about their crew carry cases so I thought I'd share mine. It is custom made from a cute box I saw in a store (I paid like 10€ for it):

01.jpg

It is built for my Mordheim gangs (Marienburg and Undead). Unfortunately, the 30mm bases Malifaux minis are on, are too big for the spaces I created.

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I made the box within a box from balsa. Every cubicle was then insulated with sponge so the figures inside don't get damaged.

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I also made room for the dice I was playing with as well as the tape measure.

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The custom made sign was a leftover from one order I made so it didn't cost me an arm and a leg (just a leg ;) )

05.jpg

06.jpg

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I finally managed some time and finished painting my Freikorps.

VS002.jpg

the 2nd, 4th and 6th are finished. and the other three need leaves on the trees. That's up next. Hopefully by the end of the week :)

VS014.jpg

As always, feel free to comment and/or criticize :)

Edited by Demonn Agram
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  • 2 weeks later...

thanks. the hats are Perdita's. I made a mold ( I mentioned somewhere earlier what kind of material I use for my molds) and pressed in a ball of Green Stuff and let it dry. For the hats with bent rims I took them out before completely setting and just bent it and let it set... then I chopped off a bit of the head of each mini and glued it :D

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Yeah, I just decided to go sexxxy instead of fat thong chicks (coco T, Kim K etc... :D). My bette will be casandra... I just think it's more along with the rules of the models.. I somehow doubt the original Sybelle could Lure (1) anyone or anything (except maybe a case of clap :D)

but that's just me...

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Wow!

Just can't get over the quality and detail you manage to put into all your projects.

I really love the the Von Schills - pumkins and all - but your boards blow my mind!

I must have a go at your river techniques and get that fogger unit...

So many ideas and never enough time!

Keep them rolling out.

Good Luck with the Empire wizard - great idea for fund raising - hope to see some pics when finished.

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