Post by DM Michael on Aug 18, 2014 20:31:16 GMT
- That is exactly how this project started.
When I bought my washing machine 11 years ago, it came with a lot of nice packaging polystyrene. A large portion of this has been recycled as city wall, standing almost 6 feet long 7 years ago.
Anyway, while I was making this wall, I noticed an odd piece. It had this really nice crack in it. The crack didn’t go all the way through and the polystyrene still had a lot of strength left. So I thought: I’ll just make a nice little corner castle ruin out it, where the crack still visible. Two pieces of polystyrene glued to a base, how hard can that be? It will take me 20 minutes, tops.
When I had glued the two pieces together on a base, I thought, I’ll just add a little support wall. You can hide behind it and it will really add something to the piece.
In order for it to be of any real value, there should be a platform that you can place a model or two on. So I added a platform.
In Mordheim there is a rule that you should always shoot at the nearest model, unless you are in a different building, the nearest model is behind cover, a larger model is visible, or you are on another level raised or lowered by at least two inches (5cm). – So in order for the platform to be of value, it had to be 5 cm of the ground.
Unfortunately the battlement polystyrene was only 5.5cm tall, so models standing on the platform would have virtually no cover. – Well I’ll just glue some sand and rubble on top of the wall and build it up layer by layer. Big mistake. Sand, rubble and white glue takes a very long time to dry, and is hard to keep in the right shape. And that way my 20 minutes project ended up being a multi-day project. All in all I spend about 2 or 3 hours crafting it, and the rubble took about 3 days to dry.
The platform is made by gluing a fat L-shaped piece of cereal box on to the two polystyrene blocks. If you look closely, you can still see part of it. The kebab skewers underneath was added to make it look more realistic. Believe it or not, it is actually hard to break a kebab skewer in a way that makes the break look interesting and realistic.
I have used it many times, even though it looks odd on my gaming table. It is virtually the only piece that I have that is made in this way, so it always stands out and not necessarily in a good way.
If I were to make it today, I would have used MDF for the base, to prevent warping. I would also have made it larger. I would have textured the walls so that you could see the individual stones in the wall, instead of just texturing it with sand. I would probably also add a pile of rubble on the base, and finally perhaps something to mimic ivy growing up the wall (hot glue + white glue + green flocking).
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures, or gotten inspired.
When I bought my washing machine 11 years ago, it came with a lot of nice packaging polystyrene. A large portion of this has been recycled as city wall, standing almost 6 feet long 7 years ago.
Anyway, while I was making this wall, I noticed an odd piece. It had this really nice crack in it. The crack didn’t go all the way through and the polystyrene still had a lot of strength left. So I thought: I’ll just make a nice little corner castle ruin out it, where the crack still visible. Two pieces of polystyrene glued to a base, how hard can that be? It will take me 20 minutes, tops.
When I had glued the two pieces together on a base, I thought, I’ll just add a little support wall. You can hide behind it and it will really add something to the piece.
In order for it to be of any real value, there should be a platform that you can place a model or two on. So I added a platform.
In Mordheim there is a rule that you should always shoot at the nearest model, unless you are in a different building, the nearest model is behind cover, a larger model is visible, or you are on another level raised or lowered by at least two inches (5cm). – So in order for the platform to be of value, it had to be 5 cm of the ground.
Unfortunately the battlement polystyrene was only 5.5cm tall, so models standing on the platform would have virtually no cover. – Well I’ll just glue some sand and rubble on top of the wall and build it up layer by layer. Big mistake. Sand, rubble and white glue takes a very long time to dry, and is hard to keep in the right shape. And that way my 20 minutes project ended up being a multi-day project. All in all I spend about 2 or 3 hours crafting it, and the rubble took about 3 days to dry.
The platform is made by gluing a fat L-shaped piece of cereal box on to the two polystyrene blocks. If you look closely, you can still see part of it. The kebab skewers underneath was added to make it look more realistic. Believe it or not, it is actually hard to break a kebab skewer in a way that makes the break look interesting and realistic.
I have used it many times, even though it looks odd on my gaming table. It is virtually the only piece that I have that is made in this way, so it always stands out and not necessarily in a good way.
If I were to make it today, I would have used MDF for the base, to prevent warping. I would also have made it larger. I would have textured the walls so that you could see the individual stones in the wall, instead of just texturing it with sand. I would probably also add a pile of rubble on the base, and finally perhaps something to mimic ivy growing up the wall (hot glue + white glue + green flocking).
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures, or gotten inspired.
Cheers!
Cheers!