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Author Topic: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???  (Read 2857 times)

Offline Codsticker

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BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« on: April 07, 2021, 02:36:07 PM »
Still ruminating on what I might do: bog/swamp, plowed fields, a river crossing...

Offline Codsticker

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2021, 03:35:19 AM »
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.

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:

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:




Here I have laid it out on a 24" square piece of 1" foam insulation:

Offline Will Bailie

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2021, 03:51:24 AM »
Looking great so far!

Offline Bravo Six

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2021, 05:12:33 AM »
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with Codsticker. That seige table for Salute looks amazing. Sorry I missed seeing that.

Offline AKULA

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2021, 07:48:43 AM »
And he is off!  :D

Looking forward to seeing your progress

 :)

Offline Codsticker

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2021, 08:47:01 PM »
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:


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:


The joins were then smoothed with drywall mud (I should have used spackle- it would have dried sooner):


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:

Then a layer of 12mm static grass to add bulk to the canopy:

Then a coat of primer:


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.




Offline snitcythedog

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2021, 08:29:27 AM »
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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Online Daeothar

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2021, 02:17:57 PM »
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?
Miniatures you say? Well I too, like to live dangerously...
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Offline Codsticker

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2021, 03:04:31 PM »
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.

Offline Wirelizard

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2021, 07:39:50 PM »
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...

Offline Blackwolf

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2021, 01:33:58 AM »
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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Offline Codsticker

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2021, 03:26:44 AM »
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

Offline Codsticker

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2021, 04:22:56 AM »
Progress is slooow.... I'm following the Hammers model lol.

This weekend I added grout to the terrain tile:

The depression got Polyblend Sanded Caulk in Tobacco brown and the main surface got Polyblend sanded grout in Sable:

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.

Offline Vanvlak

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2021, 04:31:42 AM »
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)

Offline Clach Umha

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Re: BSC2021 Codsticker's... Difficultness???
« Reply #14 on: June 08, 2021, 04:20:44 PM »
.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2022, 04:35:02 AM by Clach Umha »
Getting excited & making jokes about dropping Nepalm on little Asian Children in a Viet' village doesn't make it ok just because 'it's wargaming & not real'. You wanker scum need to look again at the real photographic horror of such chemical weapons. Seriously Disgusting mind set amongst some you.

 

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