Tuesday, 4 March 2014

You like terrain? I like terrain!

Here's the first test for my Rebellion Protocol showcase terrain, there will be 4 boards in total initially.

All I've done is the basic colour blocking, I still have tons to do. Next up is the detail (modelling and painting) then my favourite part: weathering! It might be a while before I get this all finished, I prefer quality over quantity, and to get quality means you can't shirk patience.

For anyone struggling to find suitable boards like this that wont warp, are precise and cheap... I use cake presentation trays. This one is about 45cm square and cost me less than £5. All my buildings are mounted on smaller sized cake boards too.

For now I'm focusing on the war torn suburbs, and trying desperately no not make it look like Tatooine from Star Wars! Instead I want to emulate District 9 or Elysium style, only set in the likes of Khartoum or Amman. I've got big shipping crates, market stalls, palm tree's and other bits and pieces in the works... oh and my prototype vehicles will take pride and place as abandoned bits of terrain.

Sigh. I wish I could do all this stuff full time... I love it.



4 comments:

  1. Very nice :)
    Did you make it out of foamcard?

    As an aside, I've been looking into laser cutting MDF (3mm) to make buildings. It's not rocket science, and if you've any experience with CAD it's a doddle to bash out a design similar to yours that can be cut and assembled

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    1. Yes foamcard is my medium of choice. There's a small art studio near my office where I had some laster cut MDF tests done but I actually prefer foamcard: you can rip of the card to expose the foam and carve stonework into it. Foamcard is also easier to carve cracks and damage into, and it overall lighter in weight.

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    2. If you want more solid shapes, the blue insulation foam might also do the trick. Would imagine it to be a bit cheaper than the thin foamcard.

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  2. Hmm, perhaps it's also an idea to look at shantytowns for inspiration, especially if you want more of that District 9 feel rather than Star Wars. More current 40k Ork 'architecture' might also be a handy influence. For some reason I can imagine the rebels hiding away in a ship graveyard of a sorts. A place where old ships are torn apart, their old parts used/sold for new purposes. Kinda like those graveyards in countries like India.

    Another nice touch would be some civilian tech added to it. I mean, this is in the middle of the desert, so how do these guys get water? Is there some sort of pump, or do they use some sort of 'net' system in which moist from the air is captured? What about power? What kind of reactor do they have? Something wind powered might be fitting, it's rather easy and sturdy tech.

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