Western Town Layout and Board

[Andym]

The transparent bases look best I ever seen anywhere too!

Now you mention it, they do look great! I’m not normally a big fan of transparent bases, but yours blend to the point I can hardly see them!

[Treebeard]

Fantastic. You can be proud of what you achieved here.

[Mason]

That is a beautiful set-up, sir.
It is making me want to go back to the Old West*, it is so good.
I think the base board is lovely and the 'marks' on the board which you call 'The Bad' work well, i reckon.
 



*It is certainly making me realise that I have nowhere near 'finished.
I certainly need to add more fencing and I really want to redo my own base boards now.....

Oh, and those 'blister' clear bases work really well.
So thin that you do not see the edges, which is what usually puts me off of clear bases.
I shall be considering that for a future project as there is too much work involved to redo my whole OW collection.

[dinohunterpoa]

Have you seen the size of his cabbages? !!!   
Besides - everything is bigger in Texas and this is next door. 

 

BTW: yes, there are native tumbleweed species in Texas, so you can go with it! 

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2014-01-29/tumbleweeds-invade-texline-other-areas-drought-continues

[Vagabond]

I appreciate all your kind comment, but must say that most of this was inspired by other folk on here, Wolf Girl - Bases, Vampifan - Buildings, Jeff965 - Board, DinohunterPOA - tumbleweed and most of all RebelYell for all the stuff about New Mexico which I found fascinating, I am seriously thinking of visiting there. The only down side is that I think I should have maybe built an adobe town instead of wood planking one. Maybe I need to move this one further north. and start again.

The transparent bases look best I ever seen anywhere too!  Did you matt varnish them or is it just incidentally that they do not shine?

I do intend to matt varnish as a test to see if it cuts down any shine. I think though that because the PVC blister packing material is worn that helps cut down shine and also I was lucky with these photos. Having said that I think that the biggest distraction with commercial bases is the thickness.

I can almost taste the dust!

Andy If you have seen the film No Country For Old Men that is what I am aiming for, I'm pleased you think I might be somewhere near it.

the 'marks' on the board which you call 'The Bad' work well, i reckon.

I shall be considering that for a future project as there is too much work involved to redo my whole OW collection.

The obvious lines are disguised a bit by the clutter on top and the fact that I scattered sand to try and hide the hard edges between the buildings and the base board which was one of the main things I was trying to achieve and one of the reasons for the original post. It's part way there I think.
Regarding re-basing - because these are all resin Black Scorpion figures I thought it was worth a punt as they are so easy to cut and carve. I don't believe I will do any others because of the work involved rebasing and I do like to have the characters name on the base, but that's just me.

[dinohunterpoa]

Having said that I think that the biggest distraction with commercial bases is the thickness.

Vagabond, I think that the MILA'S ULTRA-INVISO BASES are also much better to keep the figure glued to them than usual commercial bases - in which their acrylic material with time reacts with the super glue in a way that "ages" and weakens the bond, and the figure may come loose... usually in the worst possible moment and with "fatal" results! 

Oh, and thanks for the tumbleweed mention anyway! 

[FifteensAway]

Hey, dinohunterpoa, is there scientific evidence that the tumbleweeds in Texas are native, as in endemic, to the region?  Genuinely curious because I was quite surprised when I learned - from a scientist - that tumbleweeds are not native to north America.  Not that it matters in a game, of course, unless - if the scientist is correct (and no reason to believe he is not) - the game is set before 1870 when the seeds are believed to have arrived here.

Maybe that problem in Texas stems from the tumbleweeds being a non-native and invasive species and thus without adequate 'predators' to keep them in check?

Now, let's return to this fun game and fine modeling.

[dinohunterpoa]

From about 10 plant families that form tumbleweeds, 40% are native from the Americas; the other 60% are from Africa and Eurasia, and were naturalized in large areas of North America when their seeds came in agricultural shipments many decades ago.  

 
 

[SteveBurt]

I think that's the first time I've ever seen transparent bases work.
Normally you see this big shiny thing with thick edges which looks much worse (IMO) than a normal base.
But your bases really do blend in to the terrain. Very nice.

[Arundel]

Yes, I also remain unconvinced by the current trend of using clear bases. But I must say yours look awfully nice!

[dinohunterpoa]

Mila Phipps' 2014 article How to do Clear Bases on the Pulp Alley Forum:

http://pulpalley.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=905

 

[Andym]

Thanks for that link Dinohunter, I hadn’t seen that before. I might try that on my next mini. I can see me changing everything I’ve painted so far! Dam, I now need a lot of blister packs! Do you think I can convince the wife that I need to buy a shed load of models just so I can get the plastic they come in?

[dinohunterpoa]

Thanks for that link Dinohunter, I hadn’t seen that before. I might try that on my next mini. I can see me changing everything I’ve painted so far! Dam, I now need a lot of blister packs! Do you think I can convince the wife that I need to buy a shed load of models just so I can get the plastic they come in?

You don't need to convince your wife of anything, just plant the idea as if it came from her own mind and you're done! 
 

[Ockman]

Wow, this is great! Lovely board, I will steal some inspiration for my sci-fi colony!

[Andym]

You don't need to convince your wife of anything, just plant the idea as if it came from her own mind and you're done! 
 

You’ve done that before!