Pulp Alley - Terrain

[Wirelizard]

He's got terrifyingly eldricht fingerprints, then. 

That looks great - do you colour the HA blocks before assembly, coloured plaster or something? I like the subtle variety in the blocks.

[d phipps]

Looks good Dave.  Did you press buttons or beads into clay to do the door?

Lon -- I traced over a sheet of aluminum foil with a pen, that I placed on a styrofoam backing. I crumpled the foil a bit and flattened it back out to give it a little extra character, before doing the sigils.

I think those are Dave's fingerprints... 

Peabody --  I've been discovered! 

That looks great - do you colour the HA blocks before assembly, coloured plaster or something? I like the subtle variety in the blocks.

BB -- Yup, the water-putty makes tan blocks. Then we dip each one in stain prior to assembly. Lots of factors affect the color, but mainly it's how long we hold it in the stain. Most of the blocks are only in the dip for 1-2 seconds, but the darker blocks were dunked for about 5 seconds. We mainly use minwax golden oak wood stain for this kind of stuff.

We don't do any brushwork until the very last, for a quick drybrushing.





THANKS

[Mr. Peabody]

Durhams Water Putty? That's primo stuff. Very durable and takes colour differently than most plasters 'cause it has some adhesive in the mix.

[d phipps]

Durhams Water Putty? That's primo stuff. Very durable and takes colour differently than most plasters 'cause it has some adhesive in the mix.

Ayup, we can find Durham's Water Putty easily locally, so we have been using it the most. It works great for the blocks but doesn't quite have the strength to mold some of the more delicate parts.

We recently ordered some Merlin's Magic and it is considerably stronger - for when we really need it.





HAVE FUN

[Legion1963]

d Phipps and Wolf grl you got a good thing going. It warms the heart of me. And it's not Christmass yet.

[Amalric]

That looks great - do you colour the HA blocks before assembly, coloured plaster or something? I like the subtle variety in the blocks.

BB -- Yup, the water-putty makes tan blocks. Then we dip each one in stain prior to assembly. Lots of factors affect the color, but mainly it's how long we hold it in the stain. Most of the blocks are only in the dip for 1-2 seconds, but the darker blocks were dunked for about 5 seconds. We mainly use minwax golden oak wood stain for this kind of stuff.

We don't do any brushwork until the very last, for a quick drybrushing.

I wonder what just dipping as you describe would look like on just plaster white bricks?
I ask, because I have ordered some casts from Hirst molds from a vendor and the casts will be white.

Do you wipe any stain off or just dunk and dry?

[d phipps]

I wonder what just dipping as you describe would look like on just plaster white bricks?
I ask, because I have ordered some casts from Hirst molds from a vendor and the casts will be white.

Do you wipe any stain off or just dunk and dry?

I'm guessing it should work the same with white blocks.

The blocks tend to be failry pourous, so there isn't usually anything to wipe away. Anything on the surface is quickly absorbed.

You can control the saturation of color by leaving the block dunked a couple extra seconds. I try to do this with about one-fourth of our blocks just to get some variety of color.



HAVE FUN

[Amalric]

I'm guessing it should work the same with white blocks.

The blocks tend to be failry pourous, so there isn't usually anything to wipe away. Anything on the surface is quickly absorbed.

You can control the saturation of color by leaving the block dunked a couple extra seconds. I try to do this with about one-fourth of our blocks just to get some variety of color.



HAVE FUN

Thank you, I'll let everyone know the results.

We mainly use minwax golden oak wood stain for this kind of stuff.

Do you dip figures in this to?

[d phipps]

Ayup, thats the stuff. Just a few more points ---

It can take awhile for the blocks to dry after dipping. I usually give it about 24 hours.

I place the blocks in a single layer after they are dipped, bottom-side down, with a little space between each one.

After dipping be sure to place the blocks on something that won't bleed through, like some aluminum foil or such.

And please mind the vapors. I usually move the blocks outside if its not too cold or rainy.



Please let us know how everything goes.




HAVE FUN

[d phipps]

In preparation for our Vice Alley campaign, we've been looking at different ways of getting some city buildings on the table -- paper buildings, mdf, resin cast, and so on.

This morning I decided to try my hand at just building a storefront from sculpey and spare bits of balsa/bass wood I had. This was a quick little test so I just made it up as I went along, rather than having much of a plan.



First I shaped and baked the sculpey. And then started adding some wood... (front and back)







With all the wood bits added... (front and back)







Checking scale. One of the nice things about DIY stuff is that you can make it to fit your own sense of scale...





And now with some paint...





And a bit of weathering and windows...








Overall, I'm quite happy with this quick test project. I made a lot of mistakes and learned quite a bit as I went through the process but that can be part of the fun.

Eventually, we'll add some more details, but I think this is something that may work quite nicely for us -- and it could be a fun project for Mila and me to do together.


Comments and suggestions wlecome!



THANKS

[magokiron]

Looks good.

I strongly reccomend MATAKISHI'S TEA HOUSE as a good source of inspiration. He uses cork, but if that's not your choice material, there is still a lot to learn about measurements, proportions and design.

Waiting to see where all this goes, moreaver if there's a campaign asociated.

I'm currently building my own "folding" cardboard city, and may be able to post some pics in the near future.

I already have about a dozen buildings, plus sidewalks and urban furniture, waiting to be painted.

Best wishes.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Comments and suggestions welcome!

I think it looks great. A whole street of these will look superb.

[Anpu]

Looking great!

[marianas_gamer]

Looks really nice Dave!!!
Lon

[Traveler Man]

Now that looks smart! Looking forward to seeing a whole street or alley of these.