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Author Topic: Walkways  (Read 2929 times)

Offline Fanis

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Walkways
« on: February 28, 2020, 08:47:25 PM »
Hello all,

A question if I may please.

Would anyone be aware of any company making walkways of the type below (attached image is a screenshot from the Guerrilla Miniatures Games youtube channel)

The one in the picture looks scratch-built and it may very well be that I have to go down that way myself but I thought I would ask first if any commercially available alternative exists first; time is at something of a premium.

Alternatively if anyone has built such a thing in the past any tips would be very much appreciated. I was thinking popsicles, of variable widths, breaking them off at the edges to make them look irregular/ragged and then glued somewhat haphazardly on a "base" that will be provided by two sticks of either styrene or perhaps bass wood.

Thank you all for your time and kind attention.

Offline Will Bailie

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2020, 09:03:07 PM »
Depending on your budget, you could look at the GW Hobbit Goblin Town set - it comes with a variety of walkways and platforms.  But scratchbuilding would be much cheaper, and you'd get exactly what you want.

Offline Fanis

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2020, 09:38:12 PM »
Hiya Will and thank you for your reply.

The GW goblin town looks excellent in terms of setup/style but it has all those horrid skulls and bones sculpted unto the platforms. I did consider it but the pain of scraping all those off and then scoring the hard plastic to reintroduce some semblance of wood grain sort of puts me off. I really wish they had chosen to make these optional.

I also looked at the GW laketown walkways but those are sold in a kit with a house and it's just plain uneconomical given that I have no interest in the houses themselves.

I suppose another option would be to go down the route of buying some suitable .stl files and having them 3d printed?

Offline Will Bailie

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2020, 10:04:06 PM »
To be perfectly honest, your best bet is what you mention in your first post:  scratch build!  Get some bamboo skewers for the base (set two in parallel for the length of walkway you want, plus a bit extra so it doesn't fall into the gap), and popsicle sticks for the treads.  Use PVA or white glue to stick the treads onto the bamboo skewers and you're pretty much done.  You can use a wire brush to slightly distress the treads (make them look like wood grain) if you want to get fancy.  Use a stain or wash to add some colour (or go all the way and paint/drybrush).  And you're done!  Faster than ordering in special pieces from a vendor or three-d printing.  And best of all, cheap!

Offline FifteensAway

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #4 on: February 29, 2020, 06:04:33 AM »
Two points - beware of the popsicle sticks being too regular in board width, you want some irregularity which can be achieved by scribing some of your boards to get differing widths.

And don't break the popsicle sticks!  You will get way too jagged edges to be believable, more like something snapped in a hurricane than like a cut piece of wood well weathered.  Use a good cutting tool and then a very rough, coarse file to provide the weathered edges.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2020, 12:29:38 PM by FifteensAway »

Offline AndrewBeasley

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #5 on: February 29, 2020, 11:41:25 PM »
There are a few MDF dockside wharf sets could you use one of them?


Maybe one of the MDF scenery manufacturers would do a set of bespoke ones of you?  Two good folk I’ve used are [size=78%]https://warbases.co.uk/[/size] and [/size][size=78%]https://shop.eastridingminiatures.co.uk/[/size] in the UK.


Other thought is to hunt up buildings for Frostgrave or Mordhiem...


Offline Fanis

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2020, 08:51:00 AM »
Thank you one and all for your kind input guys.

You certainly gave me a nice new idea and some good tips about scratch building these if I go that way.

Cheers!

Offline tin shed gamer

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2020, 01:35:43 PM »
If you choose to build this yourself. I'd recommend making two simple types of walkway as these are more versatile than given credit for.

You need the bog standard two rail plank 'ladder'

The second version is almost identical except that you 'table' it .On the underside/rails you add a vertical leg around 20mm in from each end. Then a diagonal brace for each leg ( towards the centre not into the 20mm space.)
So you have a sort of wallpapering table.
This table is a more stable version of the simple walkway as the 20mm section rests on a build and the leg braces against the side of the building (not as easy to tip over when placing figues.
This table walk way can be used upside down to double as a bridge with the legs vetical to give a feel of a suspension bridge .Or table style with the standard versions used to conect it other areas so you can use it as a warf an jetty.
Thats were most people stop with these items.
But you can use these two items to fortify a series ruins. You can turn the gap between two buildings into a gate way. Two short basic walkways as gates a 'table' walkway upside down across the tops of the buildings then rest a basic length against the table legs facing the enemy(Helms deep style gate.) Walls between building can simply be just a basic walk way on its side.
Or you could a 'Table' version to create a firing step with either one or two basiv walkways rested against it.

If it's not for you .Take a look at TT combat. Also don't rule out mdf fences as a walkway is basically a fence on its side.Plastic wise Rendera do a fence that may work too.


Offline Codsticker

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2020, 05:13:07 PM »
Plastic wise Rendera do a fence that may work too.
I thought of that too:

Offline Fanis

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Re: Walkways
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2020, 03:47:17 PM »
Thank you both gentlemen.

A special thanks for your tips Tin Shed Gamer. Very much appreciated.