Faber&Calopide's Ambitious Mordheim Project - UPDATE! 13-03-2012

[midismirnoff]

Oops, you're right about canals. However I was thinking about small squares, hallways, bridges, etc. All in all in a skirmish game that should be enough. Think it as a dungeon but en plain air.

[Remgain]

@Faber,

assolutamente eccezionale!!! (absolutely outstanding!!)

Sooner or later I'll have to begin my own Morheim table... the idea to follow the architecture of Venice is GENIAL!!

For these big project is extremely useful (and suggested) to use castings... it's really unbelievable how many windows/pillars/doors/whatever you need for only a single building..

Ciao!!
Marco

[chantyam]

Bravo just Bravo wish I have time/talent to have a go-still would love a three level go at Mordheim (upper walkways ground level and then a sewer system below -yes with lots of rats and Skaven!!)

[Faber]

@Remgain: grazie mille!  (many thanks!)
I'm drawing stuff  to send concept to Sangennaru who will prepare me some moulds!
@Chantyam: thanks mate. In my first idea there was one more level (obviously a sewer system  ) but I think it is too much job and I am definitely not a pro in scenary building 

[Faber]

Easter holiday has gone and now it's time for a little update. 

First attempt painting directly on the bluefoam: FAIL 



How you can easily see from the pic the brick surface it's too irregular for a drybrush. The result is simply not realistic. We thought we have to create a smooth surface to paint it properly so we tried to insulate the sculpted bluefoam with water thinned vynil glue and then we painted it black.



It seems to be a better surface but we had not enough time to drybrush it so we do not know if it is a good idea  Any suggest? 

BTW we start to shape island bit number 3 (as shown in the map pic) with sandpaper. First with P150 then 500 and finally with 1000. Nice result, a good base for sculpting hundreds and hundreds little bricks  . We have not yet decided wich kind of brick style. I personally like the one you can see in the fail pic above but maybe something a little bigger could be easier to sculpt properly. Anyway, before sculpting bricks, we decided that we need an access or two from the canals to islands. So we create two stairs going from the ground level to the water level.




Before gluing them we sculpted some internal small bricks (I will hate them before the end of this project) following the usefull tip to give them a ruined look.



Finally we glued the stairs and that is the result.




We have to glue some sand to fill the little recess and add some details BUT "details as the last thing" is a good rule 
Pretty happy with the result. What do you think?
As said, we are crazy noobies and really appreciate comments and criticism!
Faber

[Sangennaru]

i'm not an expert of styrene carvin, but  it seems a good start! i think you should enhance the lines, cutting them before with a sharpen (more sharpen) cutter, and then using a pencil to open the rift! =)

really, new blades are 100 times better

and if you texturize the bricks with an old stone they will take a much realistic look once painted!

[zizi666]

i'm not an expert of styrene carvin, but  it seems a good start! i think you should enhance the lines, cutting them before with a sharpen (more sharpen) cutter, and then using a pencil to open the rift! =)

really, new blades are 100 times better

and if you texturize the bricks with an old stone they will take a much realistic look once painted!

What he said.
Blunt blades tend to tear the foam apart instead of cutting it.
Haven't made much yet, but I did renew my blades rather fast for those couple of pieces.
Instead of "scribing" the lines I cut 2 lines so I got a V-shaped strip I could remove.
pro : very deep lines ; contra : very wide lines, hence the large amount of weeds between the stones.
I also used the rock surface detail trick :

[Sangennaru]

Instead of "scribing" the lines I cut 2 lines so I got a V-shaped strip I could remove.
pro : very deep lines ; contra : very wide lines, hence the large amount of weeds between the stones.

i wouldn't do that, the pencil is a good way. but if you make one cut before you will have a more definite stone!

[Remgain]

Faber,

before starting to scribe the bricks/rocks, you could press a suitably rough small stone into the foam so to obtain a less regular surface.
(Italian mode on: cerca un sasso opportunamente rugoso e premilo nel pannello prima di incidere i mattoni, in questo modo rompi la planarità del pannello!!)

Ciao
Marco

[Faber]

thank you guys! Usefull tips 
I'll try for sure.
And about painting styrene? How did you paint that zizi?

[zizi666]

And about painting styrene? How did you paint that zizi?

I covered it completely in black acrylic paint (rather thick stuff from those large Windsor & Newton bottles) then painted it dark grey and drybrushed with lighter tones of grey.

[Sangennaru]

I covered it completely in black acrylic paint (rather thick stuff from those large Windsor & Newton bottles) then painted it dark grey and drybrushed with lighter tones of grey.

...and if you add a tip of blue (and maybe some brown on the first coat) you will have a more fantasy-dark-like colour!

[meninobesta]

Hello,

nice work!

have you tried to use an electrical drill (a cheap one is enough) to carve the bricks in the blue stirofoam!

I've used that with balsa wood to draw bricks and liked the results

[phreedh]

A tip on how to weather and roughen up carved foam stone faces:
Crumple up a sheet of aluminum foil into a ball, roll it around a bit on a cutting board or similar to smooth out the pointy bits a little. Then roll it over your stone work, applying preassure from above with your hand. It really works great!

[midismirnoff]

Hi Faber, good stuff! I don't find your painted specimen disappointing. I'd go for it.