Terraforming Necromunda 006: The Drawbridge

I've been working on the bridge and platform this past week, and made quite a bit of progress.

I'm using the robot kit I got from Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago to make the frame for the bridge and platform. The deck of the bridge and the catwalk over the platform are black plastic canvas (granny grate) with thin card overlays. I traced out the design with a ruler and protractor and then used a stencil knife to cut it all out.

The biggest challenge of this piece is that I wanted the bridge platform to 'float' over the ruined building. The idea being that where ever this happens to be in the underhive, a rotted out section of makeshift gantries crossing a anchient administratum ruin wasn't going to cut it anymore. The powers that be had the ruin 'leveled' and then the platform and bridge installed. If you build it, charge the underhivers to use it!

In the underhive the powers that be are of course the gang that controls that section of the sump... so I wanted the construction to resemble that. The platform and rigging is solid and suitably industrial, but the keepers hut is ramshackle. The bridge stolen from somewhere else and incorporated into the structure.

But none of that explains the 'float' part.

Well, how do you keep your new toll road mostly level? Build it on stilts, of course.

And by the gods of the warp, it worked. AND even before I glued the stilts in place it was mostly holding itself up.

You can see here the entire superstructure has a decided lean to the right. I glued the stilts to the base of the platform and pinned them with floral wire, which took care of the stability issue.

The bridge keeper's hut is made of foamcore clad in thin card, and fronted by a cut down Necromunda bulkhead. The deck of the platform is more thin card, this time with the plastic canvas on top.

...aaand it's big. I mean, it got away from me from the go, with the footprint being larger overall than I envisioned. It's also more squat than I wanted, but at the same time it ended up being taller in the super structure. It had to be to 'work' properly. I set the drawbridge and the industrial ruin from a few posts back on the floor and took a picture to really get a sense of what I've got.

So there it is. The industrial ruin is going on a 24"x24" base, so I built the drawbridge long enough to reach. That spot on the deck of the industrial piece is a Skitarii. There is an Inquisimunda henchman on the deck for the drawbridge. Oh and my cat. Cat for scale.

Eventually I'll get more work done on the industrial ruin, too.

Cheers,

CJ

Terraforming Necromunda 005: The Drawbridge

Between work and life I'm not finding as much time as I'd like to get my hobby fix. On the upside I have plenty of time to read during my commute every day (I've taken to playing The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth on the ride some days XD).

I've gotten the shacks at the base of the drawbridge all...er...dressed? I'm not sure that's the word I'm looking for but nonetheless... Clad, that's the word.

I was also able to get the floor of the ruined building laid down around the shacks and walls, I used thin card for all of the flooring, and most of the shacks' walls. The corrugated card is from the inside of coffee cup insulators. For the grating on the floor I used black plastic canvas.

With the base of the drawbridge mostly finished, it's now time to move on to the drawbridge platform and the bridge itself.

Cheers,

CJ

Terraforming Necromunda 004: The Drawbridge

While working on the sump station project I had an idea for controlling access to the place with a drawbridge. At first I was eager to incorporate it into the sump station, then decided it was better served as its own piece. I got out my notebook and sketched out a few things.

This is the first design I cracked out. You can see the suggestion of the Necromunda bulkheads in the column that supports the bridge. No sooner had I finished this quick scribble than I had the idea to incorporate a few shanties to the base, and an array of spikes and other physical obstacles blocking access to the bridge platform from below. If the Scavvies  could just scramble up then they may wrest control of this vital underhive crossing!

So with that in mind I revised my art, and set to work. I envisioned thicker walls, a near completely ruined structure that has been co-opted into use as a base for this ramshackle bridge above, as well as a group of shanties in the shadow of the bridge.

Now at work we had recently tidied up a bit. One of the things that I saved from the bin was a one by eight sheet of 1/2" thick foamcore, clad with plastic instead of card. I set about cutting it into two foot lengths and brought it home where it wait for a use. Turns out its perfect for this project. I set to work cutting the shapes I would need and then peeling the cladding.

Here is the basic structure of the ruin, held together by cocktail sticks. Nothing is glued at this stage, waiting for the base, a piece of MDF. I drilled holes through the base and secured the foamcore structure with more cocktail sticks and wood glue.

A little further along. It was late while I was getting the base prepped and I decided to carve in a Genestealer cult sigil and a paranoid slogan. The former will be completely covered by a shanty, while part of the latter will remain visible. I'm interested to see how visible the letters will remain after a coat of spackle.

The shanties basic shape are accounted for by blocks of blue insulation foam. Into each I cut a rude doorway and gave each a door frame made of stir sticks cut to size. They are secured to the base and ruins with more wood glue and cocktail sticks.

So next up is the coating of spackle and then detailing the shanties. After that, sand and debris and the base of the drawbridge will be done. I've yet to start on the platform and bridge, aside from the above sketch.

Finally, I'd like to give a nod to The Terrain Tutor, Mel, and his excellent YouTube channel. If you haven't heard of it or given it a look yet, go to it. He used to run a blog called Corbania Prime, and his Imperial Guard stuff is just excellent (fair warning, its been some time since the last update there). Anyway, watching his videos has been inspiring. The board he's been working on most recently for Bolt Action is just beautiful.

Until next time!

Cheers,

CJ

Terrain: Terraforming Necromunda 003

My housemate got new speakers for his car and as soon as he opened the packaging I knew it was terrain waiting to be realized.

So I set to with some cardboard tubes, foamcore, card, and some plastic grid from light fixtures to make something suitably underhive-y and industrial. I used the coffee sleeves from the 7-11 for the corrugated walls.

As I worked on the project it grew out from my initial vision.

And this is where I'm at with it after about two weeks of crafting after work and in my free time. I'll have another post where I get into the guts of the construction a bit more.

Cheers,

CJ

Terrain: Fuel Bunker

No updates this week, my apologies there. I did get some work done, though. My girlfriend brought home a small can of Pepsi, which I immediately saw as a fuel tank. I loved the Forgeworld model, which I think is not available any longer. This small bit of terrain will make for some nice scatter terrain most of the time, and occasionally as an objective to be held.

I got a bit more mileage out of my compass in getting me a nice circle of card to seal up the open end of the can here. I cannot tell you how useful simple geometry tools are in terrain construction. There is a packet of Sculpey equivalent shown in the picture there, but in the end I used two full packets and another 2/3 packet (roughly) on top of that.

On what?  On sandbags, of course. I had a running tally until my cat stepped on my number pad while chasing a fly. Ah, well. I know the rough number came out to just shy of 700 sandbags total... all made from hand. Have I mentioned I'm a bit mad when it comes to this stuff?

I also jammed a bit of floral wire into an old hairband. With a bit more wire, some styrene tube, and a bit of brass tube I have a serviceable fuel line. Using some extra sprue and plastic canvas I fashioned a sort of catchment grate thing.

The base was coated with sand and bits of cork tile. I traced around the sandbags and then was careful not to let the sand overlap when it was glued in place.

Once the sandbags were baked in the oven and solid, I carefully drilled holes into them and the base both. A length of bamboo skewer was then used to help secure the sandbags in place.

All done. The piece has been painted in the same fashion as the rest of my terrain: Blue Grey Slate and Seal Grey drybrush over black, black wash, Seal Grey drybrush followed by Fortress Grey on the cork and Kommando Khaki on the sand. The sandbags were painted black, then Ceramcoat Burnt Umber, followed by overbrushing layers of Graveyard Earth and Kommando Khaki. A black wash was applied and followed up by drybrushing on Kommando Khaki and finally Bleached Bone. The fuel hose was painted Tausept Ochre and given a black wash.

I also put together a length of barbed wire, using new and improved finger torture wire. Seriously, this stuff looks awesome but is hard on your fingers to produce... and my cat tries to chew on it, constantly. Pets add a new level of interesting to making terrain and wargaming in general.

Anyway, thanks for watching through these lazy days of the summer months. I am thinking I am terrained out at the moment, and might finally finish first platoon.

Cheers,

CJ

Terrain: Imperial Streets 003

The other six sections of road complete, I turned my attentions to the bombed out section. Starting with a compass, I marked out the locations of the craters. With these sizes in mind I started cutting triangles of styrofoam to build the skeletons of the craters.

I used hot glue to secure the styrofoam wedges to the hardboard of the base. I cut a few wedges, glue them in place, and repeat until the craters are complete. I've found through trial and error that this method works best: you don't tend to mix up the pieces.

Styrofoam all in place. At this point I start adding DAP wall filler, and waiting. Once the first coat dried, I repeat the process with a thicker layer of DAP, and then off to work. It was dry by the time I got home, and so I applied the third layer, forming the details of the craters and building up the lip.

After these layers of DAP were done, I painted the whole section in Delta black and PVA. Once it dried, I started layering on pieces of cork. Broken bits were used around the edges of the craters. I used PVA to secure them and constantly checked the placement of everything with the cork sheets I had sized for the each end of the section. The PVA securing these initial pieces of cork would be further reinforced with more DAP.

Layer by layer I added cork to the cratered section. The last two pieces to be added were the ends of the street. Before I added them I traced crosswalk marking on them with a permanent marker. After all the glue and DAP was solid, I took to digging out all the cracks on the board. Once again I also peppered the section liberally with cork debris. Finally, I picked out the crosswalk with PVA.

I painted the whole works in two coats of watered down Delta black and PVA, then picked out the pitiful remains of the crosswalks with PVA once again. Blue Grey Slate and Seal Grey came out again for heavy drybrushing. The crosswalks were painted in the now familiar fashion of Space Wolves Grey and Skull White. Graveyard Earth was used in drybrushing the crater interiors, as well as some of the rubble deposits. Black wash followed by another drybrush with Seal Grey. Finally, I used a wash of thinned down Rhinox Hide on the craters and rubble that received Graveyard Earth.

With this section complete, my Imperial streets are done for now. I look forward to expanding the 'set' in the future. Just like when I was a kid playing with Matchbox cars... there was never enough road.

Terrain: Imperial Streets 002

I Googled images of cracked asphalt to help me detail the roads, and the images returned were promising. I also looked around my neighborhood to see what inspiration I might find there. After marking the locations of dividing lines and crosswalks with a permanent marker, I scribed a pattern of pencil lines on each road section, to be picked out later with my x-acto blade and dental pick.

Gouging out all the cracks is one of those things that ended up being more labor intensive than I expected. In some places the cork tore out in chunks, and on a couple of the edges long strips peeled away. It didn't matter. I saved all the debris from the process and once all the cracks were dug out, I used it as rubble in the voids and in piles on the street. After all the rubble was in place and the glue set up, I used a filbert brush to paint the lines on the road with PVA.

After giving the roads a coat of watered down Delta black, I painted the lines with a second layer of straight PVA. The idea here is that the definition from two thin layers of PVA will serve to make the lines visible through the painting process without my having to constantly retrace them... Here's hoping. The final step before the roads are ready for drybrushing is to give all the rubble a coat of watered down Delta black mixed with PVA. This will serve to help the deposits of rubble not to erode as I drybrush over them.

Two years ago I bought a pint each of Blue Grey Slate and Seal Grey. All my craters, rubble deposits, roads, etc. will share these two base colours to ensure that all my terrain is tied together. The roads first get heavy drybrush of Blue Slate Grey, then Seal Grey. The PVA did its work wonderfully: the rubble stayed and the road markings showed through wonderfully. After drybrushing I picked out the road markings with Space Wolves Grey and then Skull White. Everything then got a coat of black wash. Once the wash dried everything got one last drybrush of Seal Grey.

Now all that remains of the road construction is the cratered section.

Cheers,

CJ