More Finished Citadel 05/19/2013

The photos came out ok at best, but here's the latest batch for better or for worst...

Citadel WIPs from my motel room

I was sent to training last week and I am back in training this week, after going home for the weekend.
Of course I brought some minis and paints for my down time hours in the evenings.
I have been trying out some new techniques here and there.
Care to spot the "dip" experiment?
They are all in various stages of completion. Most are "mostly" finished.
I will take some individual photos when they are completed.

Cutting Foam Hills - Part II

Whew.  Another opportunity to pursue my terrain building came up and I was able to find a wind channel at the side of my house.  I opened the wood gate door and began working on the carving of the 2-inch Styrofoam boards using my rigged-up Weller soldering gun.

Here's what I discovered; the copper wires can get very hot and then begin to warp.  At this point onwards they'll stop conducting heat efficiently.  What I mean is that when I first use the 10-awg wire I was able to carve with it quickly.  After several minutes it becomes a much slower task.  I replaced the wire three times and was able to carve through three pairs of hill contours.

I cut big blocks out of the 2-inch foam boards.
I rushed the cuts by cutting deep about 1-inch
and then snapping the sections apart.

I tried to maintain the cleaner machine-cut edges on
pairs of sections.  These will be used to create either
larger hills or to allow a section as an edge hill.

I numbered my sectioned pairs and tried to savvy
what a sample contour would look like.

Here's one of the smaller single-section hills
that I carved out.  Its just 'okay'.

Top of the hill.  The idea is that I'd stack smaller
hill sections upon the larger ones.

Here's the first of the section pairs.

A close-up.  Notice that I scored the edges of
the hills with the soldering iron to simulate erosion.

This is that same hill above my largest section pair.

Another section pair; a bit triangular.

The same triangular pair split apart.
As mentioned before this allows the hills
to be placed upon the battlefield edges too.

Cutting Foam Hills - Part I

So I got daring and purchased a bunch of foam board so that I can start building hill terrain.  Here's what I've  been discovering and maybe this might help others.

1. I can purchase white Styrofoam boards in 24-inch by 48-inch sections for about $5.00 USD each at Home Depot.  I decided to purchase both 1-inch and 2-inch thickness boards.
2. Apparently it is a lot harder to cut boards this thick compared to the 0.5-inch pink expanded polystyrene that I had been using. 
3. Therefore I intend to use a hot-knife.  I chose a piece of scrap white-foam from my last gig.
4. My first attempt was to rig up my 25-watt Weller soldering iron with a 8-awg copper wire.  This doesn't not get hot enough as you can see in the pics below.
5. My second attempt is that I purchased a 140-watt Weller soldering gun.  I replaced the filament with 12-awg copper wire.  The filaments are fixed into position with screws.  This worked out well.
6. Next time I'll start actually do something more interesting.

This is some thick board!

I had thought this was a bright idea.  Nope.
Not enough heat generated.

The result of poor planning is sloppy work.

Notice the melted plastic everywhere on the
copper bit that I used.  Not good.

Attempt #2.  More Pow-wa!  140 watts of danger!

The old filament is at the top.  I created the
one at the bottom by shaping 12-awg solid
copper wire.  It's about 3-inches long.

And the result is satisfactory!  That piece is about
1.25-inch in thickness.  I'm happy.

Wanted: Citadel Valkyrie?

I don't normally decide I really want a particular miniature, but I have been seeing this lovely lady around a lot lately. She's some sort of a Citadel Valkyrie.
Does anyone own one (preferably in good shape and unpainted) they are willing to part with?
Or a comparable modern stand in?
I might be interested in a few other models to make it all worth the postage.
I am located in the USA.

 

Posted on Blood Forum and LAF as well.
http://bloodforum.treps.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=547

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=53464.msg630786#msg630786

Wet Pallet and some WIP shots 4/28/2013

So I finally got around to trying a wet pallet recently and I have to say I really like it.
For anyone not familiar with the concept it is essentially a box with wet tissue paper inside it covered by a single sheet of parchment paper. I really love it and its a great tool.
The moisture keeps your color mixes from drying so it really speed up your paint time.
I also thought I would show a few WIP photos I took as the sun was setting here in sunny California.
As you can see there are more old Citadel minis in the works

The pallet

Sewage Tunnel Entrance Part III

I got more time to work on my sewer tunnel project. Here's what I have got:

This is where I was last time; black primer.
I added a dark coat of brown paint to the base.

I dry-brushed a medium coat of brown paint.
I applied it to the tops of the boulders as well.

I also coated with medium-gray the tunnel itself.

I then added a lighter coat of gray to the tunnel
using the dry-brush technique.

I then took white and lightly dry-brushed the edges
of the tunnel walls and exterior.

Here's some detail of the tunnel before the white.

Here's the tunnel after the white dry-brush of the edges.

I then added two different colors of green into
the tunnel floor.  I chose bright-green for the base.

Here I have flocked the base board of the piece.
You can also see the darker green upon the tunnel.

Another corner shot showing how the flocking
falls upon the base board.  I tried to make it
look organic by letting parts of the board peek through.

I've added some moss to the tops of the
boulders.  It looks like the tunnel has been
through some weathering.

Here's the other side.  The tunnel floor looks a bit bare.

This is the top shot.  The flash on my camera
didn't bleed everything out.  Done!

I think I'm about 99% completed.  I'll check with Damon about how to add a varnish layer to the tunnel floor to make it look wet.  Otherwise this piece is good enough for game-play.  I'll probably spray it down with fixative on the flocking and then spray it again with a matte finish to seal the paint.