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Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Wirelizard on December 02, 2019, 10:42:12 PM

Title: 1:1200 naval - another coastal module, Dec 2023
Post by: Wirelizard on December 02, 2019, 10:42:12 PM
I've wandered into 1:1200 naval gaming, specifically the coastal gunboat WW2 end of it. Now, naval games can of course be played with nothing more than an ocean-coloured table covering, but I am utterly incapable of not producing scenery so I'm going to do a few sandbanks, some rocky reef bits, and a few feet of modular/semi-modular coastline to decorate one edge of the table.

(https://i.imgur.com/QzgyigR.png)

For the coastline modules, I'm thinking 12" long and either 3" or 4" deep/wide, and probably fairly low, using 1" styrofoam as the base for the landforms.

The image above is a planning graphic I threw together in Inkscape; the left-hand set is 3" wide and the right-hand set is 4". The two black shapes are nominal building footprints, the top one being 1/2" x 1/4" and the bottom square being 1/2" per side.

Because these coastal strips are going to be a) fairly small and b) not actually part of the full-on playing surface (that's the water) I think I'm going to push the detail as much as the minute scale allows. This is assisted by a batch of lovely buildings I just received from Brigade Model's Small Scale Scenery range, which are gorgeous and inspiring.

1/1200 is seriously tiny. 1" = 100 feet, and 1mm = ~4 feet!

A lot of the standard techniques I'm used to for 15mm or 28mm scenery aren't really going to work, or will need modification. According, I've started a little test piece on a random offcut of board, 3"x3".

(https://i.imgur.com/p0CvCG8.jpg)

The walls are strips of craft wood, just under 2mm tall. The nearer, neater hedge is also craft wood, covered in mixed flock. The foreground area is plain ground foam and I think it works for a grazed pasture or mowed/maintained lawn; the rougher field behind is my standard 28mm flock & ground foam mix and works, I think, for scrubby areas.

The rough hedgerows at the back were made from a mix of flock and white glue, then (because I accidentally used a white glue that sometimes dries glossy) covered with another layer of flock after they dried) and while they work for scruffier hedgerows they're messy. May or may not keep using that technique.

The treed area at the back right is just a blob of coarse turf foam mixed liberally with white glue and splatted down. Keeping in mind that 1cm = 40 feet, I think it works for medium-ish trees. For bigger trees en-mass I'm going to experiment with putting a layer of styrofoam or foamcore down first to lift the coarse foam tree crowns up.

Still wondering about making stone walls that can follow the contours of the ground. Styrene strip glued down with superglue, maybe?

Anyone done any detailed microscale terrain? I'd love to see more links, tutorials, or whatever, a lot of the microscale terrain I've found has been fairly plain.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Wirelizard on January 02, 2020, 08:43:21 AM
Progress on this!

The first two coastal pieces are constructed, painted, and waiting for buildings, flock, and detailing. The water still needs some work, but that'll wait until later. These are 12" long and 4" deep, with 3.5" of land at each edge so they're modular.

The river section:
(https://i.imgur.com/csSFRqj.jpg)

The village section:
(https://i.imgur.com/HrUNMme.jpg)

Boats (on the right) and buildings (on the left) all primed.
(https://i.imgur.com/vZga3M0.jpg)

Planning the village layout with the Brigade Models buildings, which are tiny and awesome.
(https://i.imgur.com/KpniZQr.jpg)

Some of the Brigade buildings being painted. Really fun painting on these, it's easy to make them really pop with a bit of attention.
(https://i.imgur.com/32s8zg9.jpg)

There's a few more photos and more words over on the blog:
http://www.warbard.ca/2020/01/01/small-buildings-tiny-ships/
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Ray Rivers on January 02, 2020, 11:53:57 AM
Wow, that looks nice!

Looking forward to see how the terrain boards come out. Already have a pretty good idea based on what you have shown and I think they will be great!

Good luck.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Captain Blood on January 02, 2020, 12:40:21 PM
Rather good  :)
What are the raised dark brown areas? is that where the woods will go?
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Wirelizard on January 03, 2020, 12:48:55 AM
Rather good  :)
What are the raised dark brown areas? is that where the woods will go?

Yup, understructure for woodland areas.

Will probably start detailing and flocking the two boards tonight, will share more photos here if so! Stone walls and hedges around the fields and farmyards, and I need to figure out exactly how mad I want to go with backyards and such inside the village.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: von Lucky on January 05, 2020, 03:15:33 AM
Nicely done - already looking pretty good.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: FifteensAway on January 05, 2020, 06:09:08 AM
If you can find it in the right colors, dry tempera paint powder will give you finer detail for your flocking. 
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Wirelizard on January 06, 2020, 09:45:21 PM
If you can find it in the right colors, dry tempera paint powder will give you finer detail for your flocking.

Oh, interesting idea. How do you keep it from dissolving into the glue when you go to fasten it down, though?

I'll share more photos tonight, the village is done except for the forest areas as is the river section, although I've had a bit of a setback on the river section where the matt medium has dried all chalky over my flock!
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Wirelizard on January 07, 2020, 05:18:55 AM
Just had time tonight for a couple of photos, but here's my favourite of the lot. The village of (damn, it still needs a name, doesn't it?), with the village church of Saint Bob the Swineherd with the memorial for those lost in the Great War next to it, and the village tucked into it's valley behind.

Rather pleased with that war memorial, it's a scrap of sprue not quite 2mm per side.  :D

(https://i.imgur.com/DfYDl5G.jpg)

Couple more photos and some more verbiage over on the blog: http://www.warbard.ca/2020/01/06/small-buildings-tiny-ships-part-three/
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Vanvlak on January 07, 2020, 05:23:50 AM
That is so incredibly cool - the memorial is a nice touch.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Ray Rivers on January 07, 2020, 05:39:50 AM
Definitely coming out nicely.

When the forests are done it will make a great difference.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: von Lucky on January 07, 2020, 10:12:44 AM
I agree, it's pretty sweet.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Captain Blood on January 07, 2020, 12:32:42 PM
Nicely done  :)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Wirelizard on January 14, 2020, 04:55:30 AM
Thanks, all, glad you're enjoying following along.

I've been really enjoying this scenery build, such a total change from 28mm stuff, although the scale change did my head in at first! It's fun to be doing complete scenes, though, with details like the war memorial and such.

Cranked out a headland so the existing coastal sections can end on-table without looking weird.

(https://i.imgur.com/gzsmd4v.jpg)

Nothing fancy, half inch styrofoam on plastic card base, sanded, plastered, painted, and flocked. I like how the sandbank across the front of the headland turned out, and the general shape of the cliffs.

More photos and verbiage over on the blog: http://www.warbard.ca/2020/01/13/a-headland-for-tiny-ships/ (http://www.warbard.ca/2020/01/13/a-headland-for-tiny-ships/)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain
Post by: Wirelizard on January 22, 2020, 05:04:18 AM
Right, forested bits and some touchup are all done, so except for one last round of touchup (there's always something!) to correct some of the colour along the cliffs, I'm declaring this first round of coastal pieces DONE.

Here's everything laid out on a chunk of grey felt I happen to have around. I might actually use this grey as the basis for a sea mat, overdyed with blue to make a good chilly North Sea/English Channel colour.

(https://i.imgur.com/x1F1kLf.jpg)

Here's a low level look along the coastline, with the village of Nameless-on-Sea in the foreground and a coastal freighter of some sort puttering along just offshore.

(https://i.imgur.com/o9gmFNl.jpg)

I'm prepping to run this naval game and a pulp game in the third week of April, plus I am nominally participating in the current Build Something Contest, so I'm not likely to get back to making coastal pieces until end of April at the earliest, but I do want to do some more, these were a lot of fun and very satisfying to create.

There's a few more photographs over on the blog: http://www.warbard.ca/2020/01/21/coastline-complete/
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: tomrommel1 on January 22, 2020, 09:55:53 AM
that is gorgeous  :-* :-*
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: Daeothar on January 22, 2020, 10:26:09 AM
Wow, so awesome  :-*

Also, I can instantly see the appeal of building an entire village in this way. It must be great fun thinking up the layout, with gardens, roads and alleys, not limited by the need to keep things modular, or the size of a table.

I think I'd be completely losing myself in the details, and gladly so :)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: von Lucky on January 22, 2020, 11:52:04 AM
Lovely result - really something to be proud of.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: Mad Lord Snapcase on January 22, 2020, 01:29:52 PM
Great work, absolutely lovely!   :-*
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: Wirelizard on January 22, 2020, 09:21:22 PM
Wow, so awesome  :-*

Also, I can instantly see the appeal of building an entire village in this way. It must be great fun thinking up the layout, with gardens, roads and alleys, not limited by the need to keep things modular, or the size of a table.

I think I'd be completely losing myself in the details, and gladly so :)

That is exactly the appeal I found too, with the added advantage that because this is for naval gaming I didn't have to make any of our usual wargaming compromises to fit stands of troops or anything amongst the terrain. All the action is going to be happening offshore!

Also things like, "A realistically proportioned alleyway can't be a thing, because you won't be able to reach in a move figures around in it" stop applying entirely. Go ahead, leave a ~1mm alley between buildings.

The one area I did compromise on, for the sake of my sanity, is the back alley area of the central block in the village, which should be a litter of tiny yards and alleys behind the row houses. That would have involved insanely fiddly minute bits of wall, so it got skipped. There's also fewer sheds and outbuildings than there "should" be, but, well, you have to stop somewhere.

On to wee tiny ships next, but I will definitely be coming back to more tiny scenery, both more coastal sections and possibly some other bits for aerial games or even microscale/2mm ground combat.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: Codsticker on January 23, 2020, 12:46:52 AM
Awesome work WL. That last pic is a great perspective- it really shows it off as a landscape.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: Wirelizard on January 24, 2020, 07:23:12 PM
Awesome work WL. That last pic is a great perspective- it really shows it off as a landscape.

Thanks, I'm very pleased with how these coastal bits have turned out.

If you look at the four photos in a row over on my blog post you get a nice "flying down the coastline at low level" effect. Maybe I should figure out how to stick them all in an animated GIF or something.

I'll be running a coastal naval game at Trumpeter Salute in Vancouver in a couple of months, currently scheduled for the Friday evening opening slot.

Painting of impossibly tiny ships has been progressing, I'll try and get some photos to show off this weekend.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: OSHIROmodels on January 24, 2020, 07:25:02 PM
They’ve turned out great  8)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - first segments finished, 21 Jan!
Post by: Wirelizard on August 11, 2020, 04:34:17 PM
Finally sat down and bulldozed through the rest of the buildings from my first Brigade order at the end of last year, the buildings I didn't use on the two completed coastal modules.

(https://i.imgur.com/b4rEvgW.jpg)

This is fifty or so individual buildings, with parts like the industrial chimneys and church steeples cast and painted separately from the main body of the relevant building, all from various Brigade's line of English/British/UK buildings. A bunch of industrial buildings, a few more walled farmyards, enough town/village buildings for a reasonable little village or the edge of a town, and a bunch of detached houses of various sizes which are also useful for things like schools, hotels, small hospitals, and that sort of thing. Also a trio of lighthouses and a pair of Martello towers for coastline details.

I have no immediate plans for these, as there's other incomplete projects I want to finish before I come back to making more coastal pieces, but it's satisfying to get them all finished up so they can stop lurking around the edges of my painting area!

There's another seven or so photos over on my blog, including some closeups: http://www.warbard.ca/2020/08/11/fifty-or-so-tiny-buildings/ (http://www.warbard.ca/2020/08/11/fifty-or-so-tiny-buildings/)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - new buildings painted, 11 Aug 2020
Post by: Hammers on August 12, 2020, 12:17:20 PM
Oooh... I'd play with that!
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - new buildings painted, 11 Aug 2020
Post by: OSHIROmodels on August 12, 2020, 02:03:02 PM
Nice  8)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - new buildings painted, 11 Aug 2020
Post by: Wirelizard on August 12, 2020, 04:43:47 PM
Thanks, guys, I'm very pleased with how this lot turned out, and the Brigade SSS series is just such fun to paint.

The trick, such as it is, is to be fairly aggressive with edge highlights, especially on roofs. These buildings are so tiny - the largest one in that photo, the big factory at top left, is not even two inches long - that they turn into little blobs if painted conventionally. Pop the edges back out with a fairly aggressive edge highlight and your eyes and brain go "Oh, OK, that is actually a building".

I'm planning a harbour/industrial coastal module based loosely on what Felixstowe looked like before and during WW2, with a harbour basin (or at least the front half and entrance) and industrial buildings alongside.

(https://i.imgur.com/cyJfwDS.png)

The National Library of Scotland has a fantastic archive of OS maps going back to the 19th C and covering the whole of Scotland & England, in various scales: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=51.94985&lon=1.32271&layers=171&b=1 (https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=51.94985&lon=1.32271&layers=171&b=1)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - a sandy resurrection, 23 Nov 2022
Post by: Wirelizard on November 24, 2022, 05:02:40 AM
Hauling this out of the barnacled deeps because after most of two years not doing a thing for my WW2 coastal naval project I got a couple of games in and am now building new scenery and have ordered new boats and planes!

Cranked out a couple of sandbars to give enthusiastic captains something else to run into; this is an in progress shot with the base paint down but several steps left to go.
(https://i.imgur.com/uf0jGD6.jpg)

There's a real shortage of "naval scenery" articles out there (trust me, I've been looking) so I'm writing up blog posts on the sandbars, and also doing some rocky reef bits and some small islands and will write them up on the blog too. 1/1200 is a fun scale to do scenery for, really really different from 28mm/15mm/etc.

Over on the WW2 forum I also have a two year old post of boats and planes, will likely salvage that from the briny depths once my two orders of new boats and planes show up.
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - a sandy resurrection, 23 Nov 2022
Post by: Wirelizard on November 24, 2022, 06:09:14 PM
As I mentioned in the post right above this, there's a shortage of small scale naval scenery how-to articles out there, so I'm writing my own with hookers and blow to fill that gap.

The full sandbar/sandbank blog post is out now; rocks coming in a few days and small islands sometime next week. I've already talked about how I do my coastline modules back in 2020/early 2021; at some point I'll likely do a summary blog post with links to all the various naval terrain posts in one place.

Anyway, sandbars: http://www.warbard.ca/2022/11/24/sandbars-for-naval-gaming/ (http://www.warbard.ca/2022/11/24/sandbars-for-naval-gaming/)

The finished articles, all ready to menace captains who get more focused on the enemy rather than the unforgiving sea...
(http://www.warbard.ca/files/sandbar_6_nov22-1024x576.jpg)

Feedback welcome, either here or as comments on the blog!
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain - a sandy resurrection, 23 Nov 2022
Post by: Wirelizard on November 28, 2022, 02:05:20 AM
Wrote up my rocky shoal/reef/whatever you call it construction process.

http://www.warbard.ca/2022/11/27/rocks-vs-boats/ (http://www.warbard.ca/2022/11/27/rocks-vs-boats/)

Plastic card base, cork bits (crumbs, really) and not a lot else beyond paint.

(http://www.warbard.ca/files/rocks_4_nov22-1024x576.jpg)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain -islands, rocks, and sandbars, Nov 2022
Post by: Wirelizard on November 30, 2022, 08:39:55 PM
Islands! One of them with a lighthouse, so we can mock players who ram their fast boats into it even more than we already do... "It had a sodding great red-and-white lighthouse on it, how did you slam your Vosper into it, Lt. Carruthers?"*

(http://www.warbard.ca/files/islands_5_nov22-1024x576.jpg)

More progress/how-to pix here: http://www.warbard.ca/2022/11/28/small-scale-islands/ (http://www.warbard.ca/2022/11/28/small-scale-islands/)

* I gather that many lighthouses were turned off for the duration (although not always!) and most were repainted from their usual deliberately conspicuous red/white/etc paintjobs to dull grey or even actively camoflauged, but I've left this one in peacetime livery because it's prettier, frankly...
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain -islands, rocks, and sandbars, Nov 2022
Post by: Pattus Magnus on December 01, 2022, 04:20:26 AM
Those pieces all look great! It’s quite impressive what you’ve been able to achieve with cork and paint. I don’t have any naval games on the go, but when I do I’ll keep your approach in mind!
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain -islands, rocks, and sandbars, Nov 2022
Post by: Wirelizard on December 01, 2022, 10:23:06 PM
Those pieces all look great! It’s quite impressive what you’ve been able to achieve with cork and paint. I don’t have any naval games on the go, but when I do I’ll keep your approach in mind!

Thanks! I've used cork bits for small rocks and such in 28mm scenery projects and bases before and it works nicely there too, but it really, really looks good as cliffs and big rock formations in this tiny scale.

1/1200 is 1" real = 1200" or 100' scale, so a quarter-inch thick piece of bulletin board cork make a cliff face about 25' tall and it looks the part and is really quick and easy to do.

It'll be a while before I come back to 1/1200 scenery but I definitely want to do one or two bigger cliff face/headland pieces, either the classic White Cliffs from the English side or the darker rougher formations found along the French coast of the Channel...
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - coastal terrain -islands, rocks, and sandbars, Nov 2022
Post by: Wirelizard on December 16, 2023, 09:53:06 PM
Back at the coastal terrain after a long enough break that the forum software is scolding me again!

Finally finished another full 12' by 4' coastal section, this one hosting part of a fairly large town with a harbour, big church, and industrial area.

Here's the full module:
(http://www.warbard.ca/files/new_coast8_dec23.jpg)

Closeup of the harbour, bridge, and a convoy of military trucks heading into town:
(http://www.warbard.ca/files/new_coast7_dec23.jpg)

Whole bunch more photos over at the blog: http://www.warbard.ca/2023/12/16/another-coastal-module/ (http://www.warbard.ca/2023/12/16/another-coastal-module/)

Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - another coastal module, Dec 2023
Post by: snitcythedog on December 16, 2023, 10:02:16 PM
Absolutely amazing detail on this one.  Very cool build all around!. 
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - another coastal module, Dec 2023
Post by: OSHIROmodels on December 16, 2023, 10:48:14 PM
Nicely done  8)
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - another coastal module, Dec 2023
Post by: Daeothar on December 18, 2023, 11:23:13 AM
Ooh, but that's perdy!!  :-*
Title: Re: 1:1200 naval - another coastal module, Dec 2023
Post by: tomrommel1 on December 21, 2023, 09:25:45 AM
nice additions indeed :-*