Author Topic: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS  (Read 9559 times)

DOC_Agren

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #30 on: 20 October 2022, 21:37:42 »
very well done
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RazorclawXLS

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #31 on: 12 August 2023, 04:04:15 »
@Knorpelkeks02

I am finally starting to make my own hills and mountains for AS, I am in the process in acquiring XPS boards, but I am not sure about the sizes of "kidneys" I need to cut.

Can you give me a run-down on what sizes are you hill/mountain shapes (layers)? And how much did you make out of each size?
I am not asking for super precise dimensions, I just need dimensions of a rectangle that will hold a given shape you cut.

I forgot to ask, what did you use for a brown wash? What would be good to use as a wash for terrain in general?
I am asking this, because there is no way to wash the terrain with washes I use for my minis, as I would use up all of it.
« Last Edit: 12 August 2023, 04:07:04 by RazorclawXLS »

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #32 on: 15 August 2023, 15:13:30 »
Sorry, I didn`t see your post until today.

The size of the kidneys depends on your gaming table and on the style you want to achieve. My goal was to have some hills which are fully walkable for the mechs. But I also have some w.i.p. hills for my dessert (with a different technique) which can only be mounted by jumping mechs.


The good thing with hills or rocks is, that you do not really have to care about scale or shape (from the aesthetic perspective). Just try out what is pleasing for you.

For making these hills I used a lot of scrap foam pieces. Unfortunately I can`t give you the rectangular measurements but I can give you some dimensions of the finished products. These are the biggest:





And these are the smallest ones:



Do not make them smaller if you want your mechs to have a solid stand on them.

By cutting and carving the rocks you will loose maybe round about 2cm (0,79inch) on each side. But you can always take away more if you want or need to. So maybe start a little larger than you feel it would be right.
I made sure that each smaller layer had the possibility to be positioned in a way that there was always at least one side with enough space for one hex base (at least). But don`t overthink it. Embrace the happy little accidents. After the first 4 hills I turned off my head and let the inspiration take me to wherever it wanted to. :smiley:

When washing terrain I always make my own cheap and simple wash by using acrylic paint (mostly burnt umber), water and a tiny drop of dish dertergent. I noticed that i like the result better if I do not use the cheapest paint because the better the paint the better the pigments and the better the effect. In my area we have the German brand "Schmincke". They have a series called "Akademie acryl color". They use pigments that are very opaque. I find them to be great for washing terrain. I always make a test model before washing all the other stuff.

Hopefully this helps a little bit.
« Last Edit: 16 August 2023, 00:40:12 by Knorpelkeks02 »

Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #33 on: 15 August 2023, 17:45:44 »
I see it's kidneys FTW! ;D

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #34 on: 16 August 2023, 00:45:44 »
I see it's kidneys FTW! ;D

That`s Capellan dedication. They give a kidney for Xin Sheng!  :grin:

Long live Capella! Long live Sun Tzu!  azn

RazorclawXLS

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #35 on: 17 August 2023, 17:42:54 »
Thank you very much, Knorpelkeks, for your extensive answer.

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #36 on: 18 August 2023, 14:55:20 »
Thank you very much, Knorpelkeks, for your extensive answer.

You are very welcome.  azn

Fell free to ask again if there is another question!

badlands

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #37 on: 28 October 2023, 05:34:00 »
WOW!!! That was really AWESOME!!! Great job, thanks for showing how you did that.
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Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #38 on: 14 February 2024, 05:20:51 »
Hello to everyone!  :cheesy:

After a short break, there is more to come. I have got some spare time during the next 2 weeks and I decided to make some terrain again.

Besides some buildings (still haven`t got a clue for some handmade ones) I always wanted to have a modular river. So let`s go picture heavy as usual!  :smilie_happy_clapping: Everything is built with materials I already have. No extra money is spent.


Some HDF-boards cut to pieces with my trusty coping saw with the measurements of 15x30cm and 15x15cm. The smaller sections will become bends.


A lot of sawing this time because the edges should not be straight lines.


The embankment is built with 2mm xps sheet an beveled with a box knife.


First check showed, that it fits quite good and the gaps between the pieces do not dominate the impression. But I also noticed, that I do not like the straight inner edge of the embankment. It looked like an artificial canal.


So I made some pieces out of the xps to disguise the straight lines and glued them to the inside.


With the sand on (this time bird`s sand) the little gaps between the pieces are hidden.

Next steps to come:

Paint and drybrush the sand and make some water. This time I won`t use epoxy resin. Much better! I will use a lot of thinned PVA and toilet paper.  :smilie_party_cheers:




dirty harry

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #39 on: 14 February 2024, 05:43:37 »
Nice idea! Nice to watch!

But a suggestion: Wouldn't it be better to have 45° angled river bends instead of 90° only? That should make layouts on the table more flexible and if a 90° angle is needed... 2 45° angle pieces and voila!
(and yes, i can imagine the pointy edge to be very prone to breakage...)

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #40 on: 14 February 2024, 09:03:28 »
Yes, you are right. A bend with 45° would be more flexible. I have to decide if those bends or a forking are more important to me. I will finish the actual pieces and decide according to my experiences (and my motivation).  :cool:

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #41 on: 14 February 2024, 16:26:06 »
The progress of today:

Painting and drybrushing of the embankment: all pieces done

Toilet paper water: 9/10 straight pieces , 0/8 bends

I replicated the way making the water from a youtube video. This is how it works:

You will need a lot of watered down PVA!


Soak the base with PVA.


Lay down the first layer of toilet paper and soak it with PVA. Then stipple with a stiff brush like there is no tomorrow. This will remove every motive that is pressed into the paper.


Repeat soaking, laying down paper and stippling until you have 3 layers of toilet paper.


Than stipple one last time and try to make a wavy pattern.


Close up.

Next steps:

Finish the toilet paper on all pieces.

Paint the surface of the water in realistic colors.

Apply at least 3 layers of gloss varnish.

Drybrush the waves carefully with pure white.

Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #42 on: 14 February 2024, 17:35:19 »
Another amazing project!  I look forward to more! :)

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #43 on: 26 June 2024, 15:03:26 »
It`s been a long time...

I did not continue the modular river because I didn`t like its appearance on the table. Somehow this kind of modular river does not fit a sci-fi universe (at least for me). But this threat is for making terrain and trying something new sometimes. A new idea came to me while finishing some dessert rocks. Those rocks are inspired by the ones you can find in Monument Valley (Arizona).


They came out like this:


I wanted some dried vegetation to be on the top. Just for some visual variety.

But back to my idea concerning my river.  :grin: Why not pouring it with epoxy resin direcly on the table? Will it work?

I did a test piece.


I poured the resin on a sheet of baking paper and traced the outline with some fine aquarium gravel. The gravel is totally overdone and I did not have any plan for the shape - but as I said it`s just a test piece. The resin creeped between all the little stones but did not creep further. But you need a surface that is absolutely level.

Check: Outlines with gravel - working

It needed one and a half day to harden enough for pulling it off the baking paper. 2 days later it is still not totally rigid. Maybe because of the thin layer? It is flexible and it can adapt to the ground it is laying on (in a small amount). I expected it to be brittle.

Check: The thin layer of resin seems to be sturdy enough not to break without any support

Here are some impressions:




I am really pleased. With a little bit of tweaking my modular river will come true.  :grin: For the final pieces I will stain the resin in brown/green/blue. After hardening the rocks will get a wash and a drybrush to remove the gloss. You can not prevent the outlines to be a little bit bent upwards. That is because the resin is shrinking to a very little amount while drying but overall the appearance of this "new" style is much more pleasing to me.


My holidays are incoming in 2 weeks. Time for finally finishing the river!  azn



Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #44 on: 26 June 2024, 17:55:13 »
Those desert rocks look AMAZING! :)

And the river's not bad at all!

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #45 on: 10 July 2024, 09:45:07 »
Seems like my river is a lot of trial and error.

I tried to pour it directly on the table without a mould.   :huh: First I wanted to draw a line with hot glue to build a barrier. That did not work because the hot glue warped the baking paper while cooling down.

I decided to pour it without any barrier. It showed that any of the surfaces at home are level enough, even if my bubble level told me.

At first I wanted to cut and file the pieces in shape because the resin is at least for 2 days soft enough to cut it with a box cutter. I noticed that there were places where the resin withdrawed while hardening. I tried to pour a new layer of fresh resin in the spots. Unfortunately it is clearly visible, where I poured the new layer. You can see it clearly on this picture, too.

That somehow did not look pleasing to me.  :undecided:
There where some sheets of xps by the army painter (terrain maker) laying around in my hobby cave. So I took them and started a new river. The process became much more complex than I wanted it to be. My hot wire had much more to do than it expected to...

The pieces are cut out of a single piece and separated. After this the middle part was cut several times with very thin layers to make it lower than the edges. Then all was glued together again.



I crafted a lot of pieces.


The edges were textured with a ball of aluminum foil. I did not want to use pva and sand because it would warp the pieces.


The recent state:


Next:

wash, drybrush, epoxy resin (right now I have no idea how to seal the pieces, time will show...)

Stay tuned... :cool:



« Last Edit: 13 July 2024, 18:10:34 by Knorpelkeks02 »

Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #46 on: 10 July 2024, 10:45:05 »
Staying tuned!  Very interesting so far... :)

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #47 on: 13 July 2024, 17:58:09 »
Ok, here is my try:

I decided to use xps pieces that are wrapped in epoxy tape. They are glued with hot glue (low temperature!) onto the river pieces. I will have to repaint some parts here and there after removing the glue, but I saw in a video that hot glue is a good solution for sealing barriers before pouring epoxy.


The stuff on the table is used to hold every end down because some of the pieces have a slight bend on them. I spent nearly 45 minutes today for adjusting my kitchen table. It is as level as I can somehow make it.

I did the pouring.


Seems like it is working the way it should - for the most part.  :laugh:

I had only a few leakages like this one:


I will see tomorrow how to fix it afterwards (maybe with gras or sand?).
« Last Edit: 13 July 2024, 18:20:54 by Knorpelkeks02 »

Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #48 on: 13 July 2024, 20:36:40 »
Progress! :)

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #49 on: 15 July 2024, 04:38:26 »
The cleanup was done quickly and I applied the ripples effect.



I just have to repair some damaged spots like these.



After this I will decide if I will decorate the banks with some vegetation.  :smiley:
« Last Edit: 15 July 2024, 04:41:23 by Knorpelkeks02 »

Knorpelkeks02

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #50 on: 15 July 2024, 13:15:45 »
Ok, i finished all the steps and had some fun with some layouts on my tables. Right now I am not sure, if I want to add some vegetation. All in all it feels good to finish this project after such a long time. But I am not fully satisfied with the appearance. I hoped to be able to let the pieces connect nearly seamlessly. But that is not really possible with such an amount of manual labor. Maybe with better tools? Alone the epoxy is hard to control in such a way that you have the same height in every piece. There is a bulge building up on every barrier on each side. You have to cut it by hand. The water ripples help to hide the difference in surface quality between cut or non cut. But it is nearly impossible to have the same height on every piece. So I have a modular river with clearly visible fragmentation. Longer segments would make it easier to achieve a more uniform look but on the other hand I am really happy about how flexible I can lay it down as I crafted each piece freely. The color of the bank was chosen because I wanted it to stand out against the green of my gaming mat. There are already so many shades of green and brown. On the other side it should work in my dessert mat, too. But here are some impressions:




As you can see there are a lot of spare pieces. So I did a layout with all of the tiles.




And here is a dessert layout:




On to another subject!  :laugh:
« Last Edit: 15 July 2024, 15:39:31 by Knorpelkeks02 »

Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #51 on: 15 July 2024, 18:04:44 »
Looking good! :)

Daryk

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #52 on: 15 July 2024, 18:10:11 »
Oh!  More pictures on the second page! WOW!  I think that came out brilliantly!  I can't wait to see what you do next... ;)

schoon

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #53 on: 19 July 2024, 11:15:58 »
Great project. Thank-you for sharing the pictures and techniques!

I'm thinking of doing some rivers with "urban banks."
« Last Edit: 26 July 2024, 17:09:15 by schoon »

Wolf72

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Re: Knorpelkeks` terrain for AS
« Reply #54 on: 25 July 2024, 20:05:48 »
holy moly ... that is amazing
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