Foundry 144 - Large-Scale Terrain Projects

[CommodusXIII]

After filling my table with homemade infantry-scale terrain, I've been itching to tackle something a bit larger. I've been participating in the Adepticon Titanicus event for the past few years and figured this was as good of an excuse as any, so I volunteered to build a terrain piece for next year's event. After some thought, the organizers asked for a refinery. The basic requirements are that it fill a 2' x 2' city block, and that it block line-of-sight.

 

I spent some time in the petrochemical industry, so I thought this would be rather easy. Try as I might, though, I couldn't quite come up with an idea that would block line of sight for a Titan. Then I stumbled upon my department's dirty little secret.

 

 

Literally. We have a few large printers for engineering drawings, but for whatever reason no one had the energy to take the empty rolls all the way to the trash compactor. Instead, they piled up behind the printers until nosy me found them. One man's trash is quite literally another man's treasure. The smallest tube is 24" tall, enough to block a shot from even a Warlord Titan's carapace weapon. The taller ones are even better.

 

To paraphrase Michelangelo, every piece of rubbish has a terrain piece somewhere inside of it. This is my solution:

 

 

A complex of massive distillation towers. I want these to be fractional distillation towers, so I'd need outlet lines at relatively regular intervals - say, every 6". I had some leftover PVC piping and fittings left over from a house project which fit the bill. A little measuring, a little cutting, a little drilling, and here's the prototype:

 

 

It would be a simple matter to just paint and stain the towers and leave them be. But that's not very 40K, is it? How would the Imperium decorate such a thing? I considered anything I could find in a church that's tall and cylindrical - the more significance, the better. A pipe organ was my first thought, but I couldn't quite make the concept work. The next example that came to mind was the paschal candle:

 

 

A paschal distillation tower? Yes, that would do. It also gave me an excuse to play around with my 3D printer. After a little bit of research and resizing, and a day's worth of printing, the details were complete:

 

 

I hit them with a heat gun and gently shaped them to the contour of the tubes, so they'll lay flat once they're painted. I made a mix of Imperium and Mechanicus imagery because, well, variety is a good thing.

 

One last problem remained - how will I mount the tubes to the board? I can't leave them unsupported, as one wrong move would sent them tumbling over. Crushing a Titan is enough to make any adult cry. The mounting system would obviously have to be impermanent, so the towers can be removed for transport. Yet strong enough to prevent structural collapse.

 

 

I first turned to the plumbing department of the local hardware store, figuring there would have to be a flange somewhere that fit. As it turns out, the only item that worked was a slip-on toilet flange. The bad news was that they're relatively expensive. I can't quite justify that kind of cost on terrain, no matter the cause, so I went back to the drawing board.

 

Well, after a night of pacing around, I finally realized my stupidity. I have a 3D printer, for Emperor's sake!

 

 

I had another lapse of sanity on my first attempt, having designed the mounting block at fully half the size it needed to be. Oops. The next prototype is still on the printer, and hopefully I'll be able to test-fit it later tonight.

[hushrong]

This is going to be good!

[Kierdale]

Great stuff! :tu:

[Son of Carnelian]

Oh! Always a great idea to raid the local hardware store for terrain. I'm interested to see how this turns out!

[CommodusXIII]

Thanks, all!  I should have waited a few more hours to post - I've had a very productive evening!

 

 

That's the tower base plate - there isn't much to it at all.  However, it works perfectly:

 

 

The tube fits over it like a glove.

 

 

Even the tallest tube is perfectly stable.  I'm thinking of printing a second set to leave loose, so I can use individual towers for 40K.  Adepticon Titanicus is played on the floor, which puts the terrain (and the Titans) at a higher risk of encountering a distracted player.  Up on a table they're far less likely to be knocked over.

 

 

I also got a head start on the first two towers.  Here's the first one after a simple basecoat and assembly.  Usually I use E6000 adhessive for terrain, but this time I used hot glue.  It leaves a nice, gnarly weld bead and also sets very quickly.  This way, I can paint around each output tube before mounting the next.  Once fully assembled, it would be a pain to get a brush in between them.

 

I have a few more minor details planned, and once I test those out I can move on to the final washing and weathering.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[Pearson73]

Really cool ideas, looking forward to seeing this progress; thank the lord for lazy engineers not removing their rubbish!

[CommodusXIII]

One small detail I like to add to my terrain pieces are flyers and propaganda posters.  It gives the scenery a more lived-in feel, and it's a chance to add some nice little references, memes and in-jokes.

 

 

I simply print them on normal copy paper, give the backside a good coat of PVA glue, and paste them onto the building.  They might run a bit when the washes are applied, which gives them a grungy appearance.

 

 

I washed the entire tower in one go and let it dry overnight.  Today I'll apply some matt varnish to seal it up, and it'll be good to go.

 

 

[Sgt. Blank]

Awesome project! I don't have anything as large as Titan, but enormous machinery like this is a big part of the 40k setting - I don't think I've seen anything so vertical though. I like the posters, they help with a sense of scale.

[CommodusXIII]

The second tower is complete:

 

 

 

That's about it for the time being - I'll pick this up again sometime late next week.

[MagicMan]

Nice idea! Big fan of DIY Terrain, and the Pipes and little details really bring this one to life.

[Honda]

I've got a little  oilfield in me as well and a refinery is a brilliant idea.

 

After that Shadow War batrep in WD with the refinery, I loved that idea, but it's a huge "model" and then you'd potentially have storage issues. Your refinery concept is much more doable, cost effective, and it would seem, easy to store.

 

However, it does seem like you need some storage tanks.

[hushrong]

Looking great! The refinery towers look great with the imperial/mechanicum etch. I also love the addition of posters too.

[CommodusXIII]

I've got a little oilfield in me as well and a refinery is a brilliant idea.

 

After that Shadow War batrep in WD with the refinery, I loved that idea, but it's a huge "model" and then you'd potentially have storage issues. Your refinery concept is much more doable, cost effective, and it would seem, easy to store.

 

However, it does seem like you need some storage tanks.

 

Thanks! Storage was indeed a consideration, and by leaving the towers unattached I can stick them behind my furniture when not in use. I have a large box for 2'x2' display boards so the underlying base will pack away with no issues.

 

I was more concerned with transportation when planning this out. I like building "abusable" terrain out of rubbish because it typically lacks fragile details that can break, and I don't particularly care of it gets dinged up. A little metallic paint, a little shade, and it weathers itself over time!

 

I'd also considered storage tanks - I have some ideas involving 12" styrofoam spheres, but haven't moved on them yet. The Adepticon Titanicus event staff has several large storage tanks in their inventory, so I didn't feel pressed to reinvent the wheel. For my own terrain collection, though, I'll come up with a solution eventually!

 

 

Progress has been rather slow this week, but I've finished two more towers in two more colors. I'm particularly happy with the deep magenta. All four "small" towers are now complete - I'll be moving on to the "medium" towers this week.

 

 

I'm continually amused by the propaganda posters. This is the only one of my own design - I never know when inspiration is going to hit me, and from what direction it will come.

 

 

 

I've decided to expand this thread to additional terrain items on the same theme. I've been collecting expended copy toner cartridges, and have enough to build a small processing plant. I'll once again be 3D printing the base mounts - the one on the far end was the prototype, and a bit too tall. I cut it down with a Dremell and shorted the following prints to match.

 

 

 

Finally, I've stopped procrastinating on an old project of mine. I've had this 3D printed Warlord Titan head on a shelf for a long time now, and always meant to turn it into a themed objective marker. The new Adeptus Titanicus Rules Set comes with a severed Warlord Titan head as a similar objective, so this is as good a time as any to get back to it. I added a neck collar made of a scrap of plastic downspout, and the power conduits from trashed network cable. I'm still sorting out the technique I want to use for the base topography, but hopefully I'll be able to move into painting soon.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I think "Horton hears a heretic!" needs an additional sentence to serve as its moral, lest readers mistake it for an ad for a children's book. May I suggest "The enemy is everywhere- Maintain vigilance"?

[CommodusXIII]

That's exactly what it is!  I wanted to replicate Horton's trunk, and the gasmask of this Krieger from the 3rd Edition rulebook seemed just about perfect:

 

 

 

For my terrain, at least, I like to add a little bit of silliness to an otherwise-grimdark scene.  If you're leaning in close enough to see it, I think you deserve a chuckle.

[walter h]

Holy Promethium fraction towers,oh my. You have some incredible terrain that could be used for any of the games in the 40k universe. 

[Pearson73]

Love the severed Warlord head, it makes for a very thematic objective. The power cables coming out the back really add a lot, out of interest, how large is it next to a marine?

[CommodusXIII]

Good question.  I got rid of most of my Marines during 4th Edition, but I did keep the very first model I ever painted.  I also threw in a Skitarius for good measure.

 

 

It's slightly larger than Lux Aeterna's head, but it's not noticeable unless you put them right next to each other.

[hushrong]

Awesome terrain updates! I’m loving these foundries and they are going to look awesome on the battlefield. The propaganda posters are top notch!

[Pearson73]

Thanks for the scale shot, I hadn't realised quite how big the head would be; really puts the whole beast into perspective!

[CommodusXIII]

 

I'm beginning to play around with the placement of the towers.  The goal is to block as many lines of sight as possible through the model, while still appearing to be a somewhat ad hoc arrangement.

 

Work is also progressing on the objective marker:

 

 

I found a suitable plywood oval to use as the base.  I built up a topography using mâché and pressed the head into it.  The underside is not very presentable, so sinking it into the ground is both thematic and an aesthetic necessity.

 

 

I once again put my Horus Heresy books to good use.  The base is in danger of warping as the mâché dries, so I put weight on four quadrants to keep it flat in the meantime.  It's a very awkward size and shape to clamp down.  And yes, I'm keenly aware of how precarious this situation is.

 

 

The severed neck reveals a hatchway, build from greenstuff and a salvaged bulkhead from one of my Warhounds.  Again, it's rather rough so I wanted to add a gangplank to hide the underlying mess.  I cut this section from an existing 3D model that I had in my concepts folder and sized it to fit.

 

 

After printing, I went to work with the dikes and a cigarette lighter to mangle it into shape.  It's just large enough for a Skitarii to hunker down inside the cavity.  I know there's a lot of black in this picture and the detail is very hard to make out - it will make more sense once I start painting everything.

[CommodusXIII]

The distillation towers continue to be a grind and, while I'm making progress day by day, there's very little to show at the moment.  In the meantime, I've made significant progress on the severed head objective:

 

 

 

 

I gave serious though to using this head for Lux Aeterna.  One of the reasons that I decided against it was because it's something of a failed print - the right side of the face suffers from significant surface distortions.  It's beyond my ability to clean and patch.

 

However, this actually makes it perfect for wreckage.  After a few passes of heavy drybrushing, the distorted detail looks like melted armor and blistered paint.  Perhaps this Warlord took a glancing melta blast to the face before being unceremoniously beheaded.

[CommodusXIII]

This has been an unusually rainy August, and as the distillation towers involve a lot of spray painting my progress has been unfortunately slow:

 

 

The first of the 'medium' towers is complete.  The scale of the overall terrain piece is now becoming apparent.

 

 

Playing around with the arrangement of the towers, I had a rather large area open up in one corner of the footprint.  I decided to print a large access hatch for three reasons:

• It fills the space rather well.
• It gives infantry something to fight over for an objective, useful for Apocalypse games.
• All of the outline lines run into the ground, so there must be some kind of subterranean structure below.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a glitch with the print so the doors didn't come out quite as clean as they should have.  This would have been disastrous for Lux Aeterna (and I do have a box full of scrap parts that need disposition) but for a terrain piece it's something of a boon.  After a quick basecoat with gun metal primer, I gave the door panels a heavy drybrush of magenta.  After a good staining (to come after final assembly and painting of the entire footprint) this will do very nicely for a worn and neglected structure.

 

 

Work has also progressed significantly on the severed head objective, and I'm calling it finished:

 

 

 

 

 

And with everything painted, you can finally make out the detail inside the exposed neck area:

 

 

I used the same sand-and-wash technique for the base as I previously applied to my Skitarii and various Tech-Priests, so it will do well as a personal objective or Kill Team display board.  At the very least, it's another longstanding project finally off my WIP shelf.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job so far. The disembodied Titan head is impressively detailed.