DavicusPrime Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Howdy. I've just recently become the proud owner of a Lacroix crew so I'm going to build me some swamp themed terrain to go with it. My first "test piece" is an outhouse... Obviously a priority structure for any swampland settlement. Pre-paint: With most of it painted: More to come. -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ned Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Looks like a good start. Nice choices on colour thee, the wood looks very natural. I look forward to seeing mire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted April 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 (edited) Thanks for the comments. I need to add some rust effects to the hinges and the roof needs some more weathering but I'm liking the way it turned out. ...the wood looks very natural. I spent some time on google looking at photos of weathered shacks and about three coats of paint more than planned to get the wood to look right. I thought starting with brown and building up the gray over that was the trick, but it turned out to be the opposite. Black undercoat, a build up of grays from dark to light then a wash of light brown. The green "moldy" look is just a little green wash strategically stippled on after the fact. One thing that didn't work for me with the outhouse was the attempt at adding a wood grain and knot holes using a ballpoint pen. I didn't press hard enough to get a good indent with the pen so it didn't show up when I painted it up. I should have done some testing on a scrap bit of wood. The second piece to this terrain set is going to be shack on an elevated wooden platform. I've completed the platform and my wood grain lines for that one have turned out much better from what I learned from this one. Hopefully I'll be able to get some time to get the shack built and some paint on the shack before the weekend. I look forward to seeing mire I see what you did there. :-P -DavicusPrime ---------- Post added at 11:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 AM ---------- Do any of y'all have suggestions for a reasonably priced "water effect" material? The woodland scenics stuff is a little too spendy for me. I've thought about just using some colored white glue but it tends to warp my bases something fierce. Anybody had any luck with two part epoxies or varnishes? Swamp terrain without the swampy bits just won't do. -DavicusPrime Edited April 8, 2013 by DavicusPrime For spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ned Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 Boat varnish can work as an alternative to water effect, no quite as good but a darn sight cheaper. the key like always, is to use multiple thin layers or it cracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted April 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Alrighty... I've got a little more progress to show. The following pics are the beginnings of a Gremlin Shack. I'm still toying with leaving the shack separate from the platform to allow for more modularity, but the original idea is that the shack will be built to fit the platform. You can see here what I was trying to do with the outhouse, I drew a wood grain and knots into the wood with a ballpoint pen pressing hard so as to leave depressions that will show up well with a little dry brushing. This time I got the results I was trying to get. The left side is the bare wood with the wood grain drawn on, and the Right side is the same thing but with a couple layers of gray. That's exactly how I wanted it to work. I am now in the midst of building up the shack. I started with a foam core shell to create the basic shape then adding an outer sheath of craft sticks using the same drawn on wood grain to detail this thing. The door is recessed into the foam core to give it a little more depth. After I get the wood on, I'll add a slightly dilapidated looking roof and awning. The Platform is roughly a 5 1/2" square and the shack is roughly a 3" square. This allows me to easily place 30mm and probably 40mm based models on the platform on any side of the shack. I'm not worried about making the interiors playable as they're so small. But I want at least a portion of those platforms to be playable space. After I get these built, I'll have to start building a swamp base to mount the platform on. Which means it's going to be time to teach myself how to use some water effects! In the mean time... I've got to get this thing finished and get to assembling some models for my next scheduled battles coming up in a couple weeks. :-) -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted April 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) Okay. I finally got a chance to finish up the modeling portion of the shack and it's ready for some paint. Here's a couple pics of the roof before and after adding all the shingles. -DavicusPrime Edited April 19, 2013 by DavicusPrime Fixed messed up URL's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Really liking the finished wood efect youre getting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ned Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Excellent shack. The sagging roof really helps with the delapidated feel you're aiming for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted April 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 The roof came out beautifully. I also made one of the walls a bit irregular as well but it's too subtle to see unless you're looking for it. Great thing about using the wood/card to sheath the underlying structure is that I can make the shape I'm going for any way I can conceive of then hide it with the exterior detailing. I did most of this project on the fly. I drew up a preliminary sketch and decided on the general envelop I wanted the structure to fit inside, everything else just kinda happened. :-P Next Step: Building a marsh base to mount the platform and outhouse on. But that'll have to wait for me to assemble and base my Lacroix for my upcoming weekend O'gaming coming up next week. On the drawing board: -Pig Pen and shed. -Modular marsh sections with "islands" of solid ground connected by board walks/bridges. (I'm seriously contemplating building the base for the shack as part of this configurable swamp). -Scrap Pile. Something I made a while back for in my 40K years was some scratch built trees that I'm going to be re-purposing for Malifaux. Here's a couple examples... Stay tuned! -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted April 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2013 Here's a little preview of the "Modular Swamp Project"... More to come... -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted May 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Update Time! I shaped the masonite/hard board, added some sheet metal for the magnets I put under my trees to hold on to and sculpted a stump and half submerged log as well as added some supports for the bridges. So here;s the whole thing, all three parts w/o the trees so you can see the ground level details. I found these spiffy wooden barrels at Hobby Lobby for $2US. Perfect scale for these things. And here is a little close up of the sculpted details I added. Once I add some sand, paint and water effect, these two things will integrate right into the board. And here are a couple angles with all the trees in place. All the trees are interchangeable as are the three sections. Next time there should be some sand and maybe a little paint on these things. -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ned Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 It's all really coming together now! I can't wait to see the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_was_like_you Posted May 6, 2013 Report Share Posted May 6, 2013 "Get off my roof!" Coming along nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted May 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2013 So I haven't got any new pictures today but work has progressed... I have the middle section painted and the two ends base coated (need to hit the craft store for more paint). I've also been experimenting with scratch built detail bits to go with my woodland scenics tall grass to pretty things up. Last night I successfully made some cattails to put on the shores. And I'll be whipping up a batch of Green Stuff Lilly Pads after I get enough cattails made. However far I get this weekend, there will be new pictures posted by Sunday Night. -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted May 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2013 Well... I got more time to paint tonight than expected so here's a few little poorly lit pictures. I've got some work to do to help the transitions on the green to better match each other, but there you go. So the whole thing... And a little better look at the details on the ends... Hopefully I'll get a little more work done and can get some better pics tomorrow with some close ups of the cattails. -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted May 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2013 Here's some Pics with some natural light and the trees in place. The idea of this project is to be able to make one large swamp piece, one small swamp piece by removing the center, or two swamp pieces extending off the sides of the map. This is an example of the off the side of the table. And here are some closer pics of the detail bits I've added so far... I painted a portion of the log under the water in hopes that with the water effect it'll look like it's just under the surface. The cattails are a 1 1/4" bit of wire, a little fine sand glued on and some green painted paper added for the leaves. Turned out to be pretty easy. Next, more tall grass in places as well as additional cattails and then some flocking all around the edges. You'll notice I haven't yet painted the shack up. I ran out of black. :-P -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavicusPrime Posted May 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 So I have finished one of the sections completely... The center section. Here it is in all it's glory... The one thing I noticed is that the brown on the tree's bases is a little too light compared to the brown on it's new home... I think a quick wash will solve that little discrepancy. Otherwise I think it turned out pretty well for my first water feature... Hopefully I'll be able to present the rest of this project over the course of the next two weeks. -DavicusPrime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonasty Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 I found these spiffy wooden barrels at Hobby Lobby for $2US. Perfect scale for these things. I found these same ones at AC Moore for about the same price. My wife had to stop me from cleaning them out, "leave some for others" lol. They are amazing, the scale is perfect, and with a little stain look fantastic. Overall I gotta say your swamp terrain is fantastic and is really inspiring me to start tackling some of my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ned Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 Fantastic mate. Brilliant bit of modular terrain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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