Pulp Alley - Terrain

[Wolf Girl]

Hey all! It’s me again! Hope you enjoy the post and thanks for the comments!
I assembled the scaffolding today. I wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be but luckily dad was nearby to help out when I needed it. 


Here I am almost finished with the second ladder. I used the grooves at the bottom of the miter box to line up the long pieces.  That held them in place while I glued the rungs of the ladder.




I decided to make the floors next. This seemed easy at the time, but I’m not sure if it was the best idea. Dad said he made the floors last when he made his, so you could do it either way.




Here are the finished floors. Making these was much easier than making the rest of the building. There is supposed to be a certain amount of unevenness to the floor boards to represent how people might just throw them into place.




I then attached the poles to the floor pieces. This was a real pain getting everything to line up right. I used a couple rubber bands to try to get everything to stay in place.




This is the finished piece except for the base which will be done at a later time. Some of the angles aren’t exactly right but dad says that just gives it more character. Overall I’m happy with the way it turned out. It wasn’t easy but I got it done and maybe it will be ready to use for tomorrow nights game.




Next up I might make another building. Dad sketched out plans for a big three story one that looks pretty cool. But I’m also thinking about making some new jungle terrain.


Wolf out-

[Furt]

Having made a very similar scaffolding myself I can vouch for the "looks easy but NOT" part of this build.

The miter is indeed a stroke of genius.

Nice clear tutorial - great work! 

[BigMecha]

very cool

[rjandron]

I have to re-read this thread for some inspiration for my own pulp-Egyptian/Arabian style village that I can hopefully start on next month.

Some great work on display in this thread!

[Big Martin]

I can't understand why I've missed this thread before. I've made some similar foamcore buildings but yours knock spots off mine.
Perhaps I need a talented daughter to assist, though I think it's possibly a little late starting out for one now.
Keep up the good work.

[Wolf Girl]

New buildings are on the way so stay tuned.

[d phipps]

The before picture is the building after the staining is done.

Next, Dad puts on a layer of whitewash that has been thinned out a little with water. Just stroke it on and don’t leave bare spots. This takes him like 10 seconds.

This is after dad brushed on the white paint. You can see the white paint pulling apart.

This is about 15 and 30 seconds after the last picture. You can see the paint keeps pulling away even more.


Now this is about where the separation stops. You can see all the bare and white areas in the picture. Dad did dab a little paint on in a couple places but mostly he just left it alone and let the paint do its work.

Dad says there is a rule about not using water paints over an oil because this is the weird thing it does. But it works for this. 

Wolf out.

Every once in awhile we have a few questions come up regarding this project, so I thought it might be appropriate to share the answers here --


The wood stain was MINWAX Wood Finish, Golden Oak 210B. Which I believe is just a stain, rather than what I'd think of as a sealer.

The whitewash was a latex indoor/outdoor paint thinned with water. Just the sort of stuff you'd use to paint a real house - not a model one. 

We put tape on the inside of the windows/doors to prevent the texture from altering the interior surfaces -- so the doors and windows would fit flush against the wall.


The basic steps were --
1. Stipple the surfaces with wood filler for texture.
2. Paint it with wood glue to seal it.
3. Paint it with an oil-based stain.
4. Cover with a thin whitewash that will shrink back on top of the oil below due to surface tension (shown above).




HAVE FUN!


Dave

[Capt Croft]

..... Very nice ....... Always liked those buildings

   Foamcore is great stuff, bullit proof ....... Forgiving ..... Cutting it was never my strongpoint, glad to see you guys have it down

[Wirelizard]

..... Very nice ....... Always liked those buildings

   Foamcore is great stuff, bullit proof ....... Forgiving ..... Cutting it was never my strongpoint, glad to see you guys have it down

The trick with cutting foamcore, insofar as there is a trick, is to use a brand-new razor knife blade, and to replace the blade the minute it starts snagging in the foamcore.

The stuff is brutal on blades; I usually figure one building (or two very small ones) per blade. You can keep the blades for non-foamcore work, they're still OK for simple hacking and even cutting cardboard and such, but don't use them on foamcore after they start snagging.

[War In 15MM]

Really outstanding!  Richard

[d phipps]

Since we were planning 10+ buildings, I decided to invest in a foamcore cutter. This is the one we got -- http://www.amazon.com/Logan-WC-6001-Foamwerks-Straight-Cutter/dp/B001JSWKO6/ref=pd_sim_t_8

I've done a lot of work on foamcore with a knife through the years, but this little gadget really helps. 

[Sangennaru]

Interesting indeed. Any review of it? can you explain us why it is better than a normal cutter?

[smokezombie]

This is a great thread.

Nice scafolding Wolf Girl. You have some serious skills there.

[Grimmnar]

Since we were planning 10+ buildings, I decided to invest in a foamcore cutter. This is the one we got -- http://www.amazon.com/Logan-WC-6001-Foamwerks-Straight-Cutter/dp/B001JSWKO6/ref=pd_sim_t_8

I've done a lot of work on foamcore with a knife through the years, but this little gadget really helps. 

The $5 one from Xacto wouldn't do the job any better?

Grimm

[Traveler Man]

Very nice work! 

I cut foamcore with a box cutter knife, and keep a whetstone and mineral oil handy. When the blade starts getting blunt, I sweep it over the stone a few times. Saves on buying blades all the time.