Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: 6mmfan on July 26, 2015, 10:38:20 AM
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I just got some free card buildings as part of the Reaper Bones3 kickstarter. It made me think about the idea of using these rather than scratch building them (which was my plan for some fantasy builidings).
I was thinking about adding details such as making a foamboard shell, balsa wood framing, recessing the windows, adding moss/ivy from flock and so on. Has anyone tried this and is it worth the effect (which I think will be 2-3 times the assembly time)?
One source of inspiration is a guy who makes them from photos and foam board along with some 3d details
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/wikkywok/m.html?item=161126335135&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
The fat dragon details are pretty amazing and the layers allow you to choose lots of different styles using the same footprint.
Cheers
Kieran
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Seems to me once you start adding stuff like that, you'd very quickly cross the threshhold for "might as well just scratchbuild". The only labor you're saving by starting with a pre-cut (I'm assuming they're pre-cut?) card building is a few minutes with a pencil and a razor blade. Wouldn't take much to spend x3 or more time on detailing than doing the box modeling yourself would've cost.
For me at least, this makes scratchbuilding more worthwhile, as that minor additional +% of total effort is more than balanced out by having full creative control over the design in general. If the creative aspect wasn't attractive to me, I'd probably resent the time spent detailing as much as the time spent box modelling, and go looking for full color print-out buildings than I don't "need" to detail.
Same would seem to go for MDF/ply stuff... but in wood(or wood-like product)'s case cutting out the boards at home would actually be enough of a PITA to justify trading away that creative control.
Best of both worlds IMO would be the plastic-based foamboard types (best strength/weight ratio, + easy to cut at home), but those are too expensive. :?
*EDIT* Looking at the Ebay link, it looks like I got your intent wrong, maybe. You're looking at building a foamcore structure, then using the color print outs to "skin" it as alternative to textural detail and paint? Basically using the foamcore layers to create depth for things like doorways and windowsills and such, yes?
If so, I can see that being viable. You could scratchbuild that way too, but the job of creating templates and assembling the "texture maps" in a photo editor would be more or less equal to the cutting and assembly, if not greater, so doing it with prefab templates/printouts could actually saave you some good time.
I've always kind of wanted to try something like this with paper vehicle patters. I mean, use the patterns as templates for plastic sheet, and separating & layering details with different thicknesses of card.
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*EDIT* Looking at the Ebay link, it looks like I got your intent wrong, maybe. You're looking at building a foamcore structure, then using the color print outs to "skin" it as alternative to textural detail and paint? Basically using the foamcore layers to create depth for things like doorways and windowsills and such, yes?
Yeah thats right. I didnt explain myself very well.
I am planning to make a foamcore frame the same size as the card buildings and glue the walls etc on. And recess parts like the windows and add raised details such as timber framing. The quality of the pdf prints mean the fine details such as windows will look better than anything I can paint and the walls have very nice weathering and shading. It is almost as much work as scratchbuilding but I think the end results will be better, as the examples on ebay (and used by gamers) look very realistic. You can see some in the ww2 section posted by V. eg
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=79435.0
Cheers
Kieran
Cheers
Kieran