Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => "Build Something" Archiv => Topic started by: Codsticker on April 07, 2021, 02:36:07 PM
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Still ruminating on what I might do: bog/swamp, plowed fields, a river crossing...
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Well, like quite a few others in this competition I will be building a section of swamp/wet grasslands for my BSC 2021 entry. I have lots of other types of terrain already but wetlands/swamp is not yet part of the collection.
One thing that I have always wanted to do is build terrain sections out of 24" by 24" tiles. The closest I have come to that is a siege table I built for our local convention, Trumpeter's Salute.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-160421031046.jpeg)
The centre of the table is made up of 8" by 8" squares that can be replaced with trenches and siege works as the attackers sappers and engineers work away:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-160421031940.jpeg)
My wetlands section will fit into this table, but it will be 24" by 24" section as my ultimate plan is to have a separate all purpose table with a variety of such pieces. Here is something like the effect I am after, albeit with less trees:
(https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/large_8pvK0YfwV98iy3uSIAQJPRyN46HAgO0OyFBnul4xpxM.jpg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-160421020856.jpeg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-160421021017.jpeg)
Here I have laid it out on a 24" square piece of 1" foam insulation:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-160421033330.jpeg)
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Looking great so far!
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Looking forward to seeing what you come up with Codsticker. That seige table for Salute looks amazing. Sorry I missed seeing that.
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And he is off! :D
Looking forward to seeing your progress
:)
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Been picking away at this here and there, trying a few new techniques.
To make the depression in the tile, instead of sanding, I tried pushing dome lacquer thinner around with a brush:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-030521202903.jpeg)
In the end a little deeper than I wanted but an interesting effect; it turned the pink insulation foam a rich reddish-brown which will be covered up in a couple of stages.
To create a little variety on the flat parts I added some low mounds with foam cut offs:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-030521203239-51242350.jpeg)
The joins were then smoothed with drywall mud (I should have used spackle- it would have dried sooner):
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-030521203239-512442206.jpeg)
While I waited for that to dry I tried my hand at a twisted wire tree armature. The armature was sprayed with a rubberised coating in several light coats, then covered with tinted wood filler. The branches are pulled apart 3M stripping pad material:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-030521203239-512451848.jpeg)
Then a layer of 12mm static grass to add bulk to the canopy:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-030521203239-51246469.jpeg)
Then a coat of primer:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-030521203239-512471583.jpeg)
I'm not 100% satisfied with the tree. Although the trunk turned out well enough the foliage is a little too reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss tree; ideally it should have more large branches and the canopy should be thinner.
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Codsticker, The tree and branches look great. I think that the reason it reminds you of a tree from Dr Sues is the spacing on the branches. Real trees do grow with big separations between branches on the trunk like that but not as often as they do with closer separations. I like the windswept effect that it creates as it is.
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Yes, the tree definitely has a certain gnarled quality to it. I can see it stand alone on a wind swept plain, or near another suitably foreboding terrain feature, such as a haunted house (or particularly difficult ground ;) ). A vulture on one of its branches might even bring it into a tropish wild west setting.
One thing though; the twists of the armature are still visible under the coating. Now, this can easily be explained away by the tree's gnarled and twisted growth, but for less characterful trees, might I suggest some more body to the trunk, to hide the twists?
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Yes, more material over the armature would have been better; a second layer in a few spots would have been an improvement. I am going to try to hide some of the armature with painting. Another thing I should have done is add texture to the bark, especially in the lower third of the trunk which I could have done with a sculpting tool while the wood filler was drying.
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Trees are hard; I don't know that I've ever made a tree that I'm totally happy with. This one looks pretty solid and it's definitely a tree, so it'll do!
Hoping you bring the ECW siege game back to Trumpeter Salute whenever that actually happens again (2022?) because I missed it last time, I think I had a Pulp Alley game I was running in the same time slot...
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Your tree looks excellent! If you want a bit more of a leafy look,dried oregano,basil or tea leaves should do the trick,attach with white glue.
Alternatively if you are unhappy with your tree,go into your garden and dig up any dead weeds,shrubs et cetera,the roots are often excellent you can also attach smaller wire armatures to make more branches,or attach other roots. Have a look at my last years entry for examples :)
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Have a look at my last years entry for examples :)
I heard you weren't making a tree for this year's BSC so I thought I would give it a shot. :D I did actually sniff around looking for a suitable piece of material but in the end thought I would have a crack at a wire armature; lessons learned for next time
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Progress is slooow.... I'm following the Hammers model lol.
This weekend I added grout to the terrain tile:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-180521041514-513521007.jpeg)
The depression got Polyblend Sanded Caulk in Tobacco brown and the main surface got Polyblend sanded grout in Sable:
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/51/11089-180521041514-51354113.jpeg)
From here on out it will mostly be adding plants, turf and that tree so I don't imagine this will be seen again until June 6th.
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Looks good - I'm at a similar stage with just some gravel and stuff and then the rest is flock and stuff. The depression and its border look very realistic. 8)
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Thank you CU. You can send me the pics as I am curious to see them but they won't have an effect on the build as I have already submitted my pic. :D
... the marsh I'm on about is an inland estuary lock that filters in & out with the tide, so it is a fresh water salt marsh if not an oxymoron. Lot's of fresh water birds on it, so can't be too salty
Indeed it is not an oxymoron; the water you describe is called 'brackish'. You are right, it's not really what I have modelled, although one of my inspirational pics earlier in the thread is of a brackish marsh.
The current 8" squares are not mounted on anything; they are just foam. I have already started on other 60cm tiles that will match the one I have made for this BSC and they are mounted on 7mm MDF.
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Here in North America we use 'brackish' when referring to areas where salt and fresh water mix such as estuaries.
The top photo is not mine but the other two are. The middle one is the brackish swamp by a local mall, taken before the plants have greened up. The bottom photo is a shallow fresh water pond I drove by on my way home from working a day out of town. I live on Vancouver Island so temperate rainforest terrain.
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Lovely place to reside Codsticker, aesthtically it's as if the West Indies & Scandinavia got married.
Lol, yeah sort of. It is a great place to live, mostly rural.
(though I read your getting the shitty stick through all these shenanigans going on just now, not quite as a bad as the aussies though, hah, says me in the British Isles)
Vancouver Island has done OK. It helps that we are the end of the line so to speak, not a lot of through travel and although vaccinations started slowly we have achieved a high level quickly. Other parts of Canada not so much.
The bottom pic is beautiful, the one above is remarkable that it is just outside a mall.
]
That mall is at the north end of Campbell River which is at the top of the most populous stretch of Vancouver Island. North of that here is only about 9000 people inhabiting an area about 16000 sq kilometres.
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I’ve been wrestling with some wire tree armatures for my project as well. I think yours has turned out fine and would definitely looks right at home on some windswept plane.
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I’ve been wrestling with some wire tree armatures for my project as well. I think yours has turned out fine and would definitely looks right at home on some windswept plane.
Thank you cahrn. I think I can improve on them; in fact I am thinking about making a few armatures and making moulds so that I can just cast up trees as I need them.