Space Hulk board using Hirst Arts blocks

[Willypold]

Hi, everyone! This is my first post here. I sort of found this forum by way of Anpu, keeping an eye on what he's doing with his Fallout layout.

I've wanted to build a 3d Space Hulk layout ever since the release of the 1st edition, and have tried different mediums for this - paper, cardboard, plasticard... Some years ago I discovered Hirst Arts after a short affair with Dwarven Forge. Originally I started buying the regular science fiction molds from HA for use with Star Wars Miniatures using 1 inch floortiles, and then branched into the Gothic and Egyptian lines using 1.5 inch floortiles for HorrorClix. That got me thinking about Space Hulk, as the 1 inch tiles are too small for the SH figures, but the 1.5 inch would be perfect, although no such were available for the Sci-fi range of molds. A number of gamers at the HA board were discussing various possibilities when Bruce Hirst answered our request for science fiction 1.5 inch floortiles. Half a year later, in the fall of 2009, Bruce introduced the Industrial Edge mold specifically for Space Hulk.

Last January I began my ultimate Space Hulk endeavour using the 1.5 inch tiles, the new Industrial Edge and Machinery molds.

The start of the high wall version, with some sections with just the Industrial Edge mold (in brown) as originally envisioned by Bruce:



Working towards a complete set for Suicide Mission:



Close-up of a corridor:



Basic construction



Assembled:



Combining an Egyptian desert and Space Hulk corridors:



A lot of the details on the walls are from the Machinery molds, which originally were meant for building machines and stuff:



My original 1.5 inch HeroClix/HorrorClix board, which was an adaptation of the Hirst Arts Gothic Arena project intended for MageKnight:



And finally a full view of the Egyptian temple area at present:

[bandit86]

Welcome aboard and Wow! fantastic job.

[Anpu]

Glad you found your way here! Your spacehulk build and VitruvianZekes of the hirstarts forums fallout build is what inspired me to start building my vault.

[dijit]

Extremely well done! I'd love to play on a board like that.
Duncan

[Mister Rab]

That's a fabulous layout; well done, sir - and welcome aboard 

[FunkyBrush]

Thats some neat stuff!

[Calimero]

Welcome and great job!

[mattblackgod]

Nice work. I may have to invest in some of those moulds.

[Braz]

Welcome.
Very nice work.
Thanks for sharing.

[Willypold]

Thanks for the words of welcome! A few words about the construction:

Everything is based on 5 mm black foamboard. The goal for the Space Hulk set is to have a full set of 63 board sections, which means that I will be able to set up any of the base set scenarios from all three editions of the game. So far 32 of the sections are finished and another three are laid out ready for assembly in sub-sections. The floor and walls are kept separate until fully painted.

All of the pieces are spraypainted using Army Painter Army Green. Details are painted with a mix of Games Workshop and P3 colours, which is followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. All of the green surfaces are then drybrushed with GW Knarloc Green. I really like the contrast created by the Army Green / Devlan Mud / Knarloc Green sequence, something the observant observer may have noticed... :-)

The list of molds include the two Machinery molds, the Industrial Edge mold, almost all of the 1.5 inch floor panel molds, and most of the other science fiction molds. Each wall is 0.5 inch thick, consisting of two 0.25 inch layers. The outer layer is a regular pattern of drains and grates, which are really supposed to be floor panels. The inner layer is a mix of different wall panels, 1 inch floor panels, decorated with Machinery mold pieces, GW bitz, tank parts, and just about anything suitable. The Industrial mold edge pieces are squeezed in between the floor panels and the walls, and are occasionally supplanted by pipe sections from the narrow Pipe mold and various Machinery pieces.

If I were to start over again I may have chosen a different pattern for the wall tops, as each board section requires four each of these, and you only get one of each on the mold. Anpu has solved this problem by also using Industrial Edge pieces on top. This pattern is perfect for the storage boxes I use, though, with just 1 mm to spare. I began this project in January last year, and had hoped to have the full set by the end of the year. Ok, this year, then!

[supervike]

Holy crap, that's good!

[Sterling Moose]

Very nicely done.

[Hammers]

All of the pieces are spraypainted using Army Painter Army Green. Details are painted with a mix of Games Workshop and P3 colours, which is followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. All of the green surfaces are then drybrushed with GW Knarloc Green. I really like the contrast created by the Army Green / Devlan Mud / Knarloc Green sequence, something the observant observer may have noticed... :-)

You obviously have a good eye for colour and how to apply it effectively. The models aside, the visual affect is great.

[JollyBob]

Very impressive. All the mouldings look very clean and the overall effect is really something. Top marks. 

[white knight]

This looks amazing and very tempting!

But I have a bunch of the fantasy moulds and found out you really need a LOT of castings to build even a simple piece and, more importantly, that I hate casting them.