Sophiaport. My biggest project. Now with the WHY...

[alone_withmyaxe]

So a little while ago I started on my biggest build ever! No not an exaggeration.

A very good friend of mine is planning a very special game involving a massive number of troops magic and excitement, although I am sure i will talk about that in more detail at some other point. In a conversation about this game I said something like, "It would be great to have the sea at one end.." followed by something stupid like, "...I really fancy making a costal board after my cornwall holiday..."

The rest as they say is history, and Sophiaport was born, well at least the idea was.

My mate put this together as a rough plan


It is showing the whole game terrain concept. I was looking for this kind of feel for the coast, which I snapped in wonderful Cornwall.



And so the Sophiaport project began, and below are some pictures of the progress.










and some closer pics...




Still very, WIP, I am hoping to get most of it filled so painting can begin and get all the base coats done. I want to build on some modular cliffs and such, but that may be stage 2. For now I want the basing and textures all sorted so it is ready to game on.

Let me know your thoughts and I will keep you all updated as I get further on!

[OSHIROmodels]

Very interesting looking project 

Looking forward to seeing the whole board develop 

cheers

James

[Stu]

You have so got my attention! I will be following this intently. Keep up the work.

[Andym]

Good start! Good luck that man!!

[alone_withmyaxe]

Thanks everyone!

All my basic shapes are done and mostly in place. I am currently doing the labour intensive "bog roll" texturing which I use on all my projects these days. For anyone who doesnt know it is basically applying papermaiche toilet paper to the exposed areas. The WIP looks like the below image.



What it does is give a hard, easily paintable surface especially over white polystyrene. It also helps fill gaps, is light weight and very cheap. The solution I use nowadays is 50/50 pva to water. Although I now add some paint so I know where I have been before, and a new technique is to add a bit of powdered filler/ filler powder. Kind of emulsifies the whole solution. It does however require a lot of work! I end up applying it with a smallish, cheap brush. This allows for better control of the texture and solution, but means the time per inch squared is around 20-30mins all told so far without yet adding any base paint!

[Elk101]

Impressive stuff. You can always build me one when you're finished if you like! 

[alone_withmyaxe]

Impressive stuff. You can always build me one when you're finished if you like! 

Errr, No!

Thanks for the offer though

[alone_withmyaxe]

I remember why I stop half way through so many projects, all the leg work to get it ready!

Here is the board now half covered, once dry I will throw some paint at it, not literately.



Missed a couple of close ups too from the previous posts.


From across the bay


Smugglers cave, in the cove

More to come...

[Elk101]

Errr, No!

Thanks for the offer though

Oh well, it was worth a try! Love the cave 

[alone_withmyaxe]

Your work is great...your camera skills are....well not so great?

What a shame - it deserves better photography.

Working and shooting quickly, all on my poor lowly iPhone 3gs. If I end up stopping to take 'good' pics I would loose momentum and if I lost any more of that I would be in trouble!

Once I get to a consistent point across the board, I will get the proper camera out and do some grown up pictures. Probably after the base painting is done so watch this space...

[Blackwolf]

Looks great! Shall look forward to the finished boards

[alone_withmyaxe]

Looks great! Shall look forward to the finished boards

Me too!

Here is a bit of the most recent work, a little bit of paint. trying to get the colours sorted in my mind for the base coats. I think "getting there" is the progress report for now.

Here are the paints I am using, God bless tester pots!


And the board with a little paint on it...

[dijit]

Good looking stuff. The colour for the rocks you've chosen seems pretty good, and a good match to the rocks in the photo.

[alone_withmyaxe]

Good looking stuff. The colour for the rocks you've chosen seems pretty good, and a good match to the rocks in the photo.

Thanks for that!

Here it is now painted with its first base coat



There is an issue though! The island I originally painted is a very different colour, does it need a repaint, opinions please!

[pocoloco]

Very nice start! It will look great when finished. So how many terrain boards you will have in the end? Judging by the sketch in the first post there needs to be quite a many in the end?