Butters Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Hi guys. I decided to build a large city board as I thought that it would cool to have very confined battles. After a long stint on ebay I am now 2 imperial sectors and 1 imperial city rich. I actually did not realize how much scenery is in those boxes! After thinking about the layout of the city I decided that just a plain city was rather boring. So I decided to put the city in the center of a canyon to sort of protect it from the harsh landscape of whatever planet it is. Also for a bit of a little flair i decided to put a super highway running through the center (maybe some custom rules when a unit is on the highway). Then I thought that why not have the city more of a mining site. I dug out the cliffs on the side and am going to put catwalks inside them as if the humans are mining the minerals inside. This makes for great tunnels and the ability to sneak around. I actually thought about putting some extra necrons I have in the caves embedded in the walls, almost like it was an ancient necron tomb would the humans had discovered. As you can see from these before carving and paint photos the board has the highway running from corner to corner. I was going to make it about the width of 2 land raiders wide so that it offers plenty of room from tanks and even super heavy walkers to move around. The highway I am thinking should be anywhere from 6" to 10" off the ground. Initially I wanted it to be only 6 inches off the ground so I could ave catwalks stretching from the building over it, but then I thought about how much of a pain it would be to move guys underneath that. So 10" would probably be better. Then I can put smaller catwalks underneath that only a single line of basic units could cross as a time. on the ground i want to have just some barren ground that is open. Maybe some shanties made from rusty sheeting or something. At this point I started a couple buildings and gave the entire board a dark grey and brown initial coat. I still need to drybrush, shade, and add real rocks to the entire thing. The Fortress of Redemption you see at the far end is actually an idea that I got from this website. http://anythingbutones.blogspot.com/2011/07/40k-space-marine-terrain-center-piece.html Mine will be modified to only have 1 tower obviously. I'm also thinking not Icarus cannon. On the left and right side you can sort of see the interior of the caves. The rust colored second building will be built into the left had side caves serving as the entrance point for mining. My biggest problem is flooring. There is NEVER enough. What can i use as a flooring substitute that will work great inside the caves and as the flooring on the catwalks that will eventually be placed around the board???? I like the idea of using some form of mesh from HomeDepot but I cannot find anything that is relatively cheap enough. I'm going to need two 3' x 8" pieces and sever long skinny ones for the catwalks. Here are some images of to oher buildings that I will be using on the board as well. Let me know if you had any ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stercus Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Check out model railway stores. They have textured plasticard in dozens of types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 I have tried the local Hobby Town USA and they have some stuff but nothing that really seems like what I would want. I was thinking something along the lines of the complex from Aliens 2. The floor grating that Ripley and Hicks have to cut through always pops into my mind when I think of the catwalks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Dallo Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 This looks impressive. In regards to the flooring, are you aware of the site Yakromunda? It's basically the BnC for Necromunda, and they have some pretty amazing terrain logs, if you go looking around. Hope this helps. Dallo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 man there is some great stuff on there! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kythnos Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Wow, this project is off to a great start. I'll definitely be watching this! What are the measurements of the table so far? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Thank! Its just your standard board size. The problem i am starting to run into already is that it has to be played on a low table as the caverns are over a foot high and the highway is going to have to be to make it possible to move under it. maybe I can make the highway lift by an extendable leg or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Dallo Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 No problem. Glad you appreciated it. I started a converted gang log there, but haven't gotten back to it for a while. One day... Keep up the good work. Dallo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathspectersgt7 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Looking forward to seeing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewChristlieb Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Granny grating is my go to for anything like walkways and such. The terrain site, granny grating entry. Cheap too. Couple examples: http://lh5.ggpht.com/Gryskiewicz/R79Booqnn_I/AAAAAAAAAcY/d6OUntKsXBA/s800/Towers+WIP+18.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 Ah yes i have used that my only problem was gluing it down in large sections was difficult because the glue tended to fill up the little holes and then it looked awkward. I actually found a site that sells molds for about $30 which is kinda a bit much but I think the plaster from Hobby Lobby is about $10 for 5lbs, so it actually comes out very cheap. Then I ordered one of the micro art studio catwalk sets to see how that looks. Stairs would be the biggest pain I think and since it comes with 4 sets I should only have to make maybe one or two more and then the long spanning sections. I play to work on it this weekend and Ill update with some more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share Posted November 15, 2014 So I picked up the infinity catwalk system today and I must say that its not to bad. It was $39 I think which is a bit much for some lazer cut wood but it is not too bad. It comes with 2 long catwalks (8") and two square spots (2"), and finally 4 stair cases which go up about 3 inches. In the pictures you can see a few models for some scale. One is a terminator chaplain so he's rather large. With a bit of polystyrene to make some extra lengths it might just work. This is actually a mold that I found online for some flooring. I think I might use it inside of the cave system to great effect. I like the pipe molds they will be a great bit on walls maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 Last night I did bit more work. I started to craft the stands the catwalk system will stand on inside the cave. It was a real pain leveling each pylon so that the catwalks have some semblance of of being level. As you can see I made it mainly out of the excess wood from the catwalks. Once it is painted I want it to have a very rusty and broken down feeling so I like the different sizes and non-uniform look. Those two pipes are going to be weathered and will run underneath the granny grate catwalk system. i have the idea to fill them with green model water stuff to get a great dripping effect. I am going to add a couple more running vertical against the wall tonight. The catwalk itself is going to be made of granny grating and polystyrene. I want the look where some parts are grates so they can see the rocks below and others are not. For instance I picked up 4 land raider control panels for $5 off ebay and I'm going to make a sort of computer zone where the floor will be solid. Here you can see the start of the infinity terrain catwalk system. I made simple stilts for it to sit on so that I can get the correct measurements. I'm going to use a patch of styrene as the connector between the stairs and the 7-8" piece of catwalk. Then the second set of stairs will be used to go down on the fortress of redemption. Speaking of the fortress, here it is with a bit of foam to make it sit more embedded in the rocks. I actually just used the simple foam installation you can buy at Home Depot for $5. The catwalk will come from the left hand side and the join down to the lower level. The doors on the lower level lead to the door, which I can't find, on the second level and then I will make a makeshift door to access the top of the tower. I was rather disappointed with the foam this time as there were tons of bubbles. The first time I used it there were almost none. I think the fact that I was doing this in a garage at near freezing temps probably caused this effect. lol Other than that I cut the two holes for the buildings that will be coming out of the cave walls. SIDE NOTE: if you find yourself working in freezing weather, don't. Just go buy a painters tarp and move inside. If that is not an option wear small cheap gloves and then put rubber surgical gloves over them. You would not believe how warm this is and the gloves are not ruined because your covering them with rubber gloves! Also the smaller the gloves the thinner your fingers will be making it easier to work with small pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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