Building Better Worlds: A Terrain Progress Log

[hd3]

35 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

I think @Grotsmasha did a better job of phrasing it than me - if you look in the top left (where the slot is), there's quite a hard outline of the edge of the sponge that would benefit from being softened out a little.

 

Yeah,  I was considering that but I thought it's probably going to be mostly covered up by the other wall that slots in.

[Tallarn Commander]

Excellent looking terrain! I will have to get some Gore Grunta Fur and try to replicate your pipes' color. It has a nice, subtle warm appearance that, as you note, does not overpower the other parts of the model.

[hd3]

Next, I've gone over everything with a watered down rattling grime to make everything look appropriately filthy. 

 

Finally, I've also started on the doors. I wanted these to look like real emergency doors and to stand out as a bright colour contrast to the rest of the model. But they also need to look appropriately bombed out. So I've gone over them, first with liquid mask on a sponge to block any more paint accumulating on top of those spots. Next In the hope of making a decent gradient, I've sponged on a bit of xorax white heavy in the top and a darker khorne red on the bottom. This looks strange now but I'm hoping once I layer on the final yellow colour for the door, it will really make the shading blend together.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks like it's coming together nicely

[hd3]

Here are the doors after sponging on Vallejo yellow. I'm mostly pretty happy with how the shadows came out. After that I did a quick glaze of the same yellow to tint the white though I had to stipple the paint on the fallen door because the debris next to the door makes the sponge really difficult to use. 

 

Finally, I used some balled up blu-tac to get the liquid mask off the doors to make some chipping. I'm really happy with how this effect came out. After a bit of clean up around the door frame where the yellow spilled, I moved onto the decals.  Im using the various campaign badge decals I will never use since I don't play adeptus astartes and I figure skulls and blood are fairly wide spread imagery even outside those first founding chapters.  I did do a quick pass over them with rattling grime though to make them look less freshly painted.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I like the yellow doors - my only suggestion would be to pick out the oval "plates" on the top halves of the doors - in my mind, those are labels of some sort and would have been intended to be visible and legible to the doors intented users.

[hd3]

5 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

I like the yellow doors - my only suggestion would be to pick out the oval "plates" on the top halves of the doors - in my mind, those are labels of some sort and would have been intended to be visible and legible to the doors intented users.

 

Maybe a red to contrast with the yellow?

[Firedrake Cordova]

To my eyes, they look like plates to me (e.g. manufacturer's).

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I always thought they were identifying labels for whatever the door went to.

 

Red would work, though I think two colours would work better - one for the label and trim, one for the rest.  On my own terrain, I did them black with leadbelcher trim and white symbols - I don't seem to have a picture, but in the same way (without the coloured skull) as the plate in this picture - but that doesn't mean you need to do them the same way.

 

Edited November 1, 2024 by Dr_Ruminahui

[hd3]

I've finished adding the decals and done a quick coat of rattling grime over them to make them look sufficiently worn and filthy. I've also gone over the yellow doors with transparent orange from vallejo to give them just  a dash more colour, although it doesn't show up super well in the photos because its mostly in the recesses. Finally, a red to highlight the manufacturer plate on the door.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2024 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

The chipping on the yellow doors came out well

 

I think the base "stabby guy" is on is closer to the image than "shooty guy's" base.  

[hd3]

3 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

The chipping on the yellow doors came out well

 

I think the base "stabby guy" is on is closer to the image than "shooty guy's" base.  

 

Yes, I will definitely be using this method on battle damage in future.

 

Yeah, the webbing came out better when it had the plastic rock to sculpt around. I think if I did this at scale, id glue bits of sprue to the base at random to create more varied texture 

[hd3]

Just taking a brief diversion from my zerg/Tyranids to rave about these decals. I've always wanted to use more hazard stripes on my models, terrain especially. But can never find good ones of the right size. Yesterday, I found these beauties, perfectly sliced in different sizes and even inverted hazard stripes which would be a great motif for a loyalist iron warriors descendants.

 

Im gonna give these ones one more pass with the micro sol then scratch off a bit here and there to look more weathered and of course, some more rattling grime

[StratoKhan]

Looks like your project is coming together nicely.
 

Japanese mecha is a great source for a lot of high quality transfers, greebles , etc . 
 

don’t know if you were planning to do this, but a nice touch once decals are fully set is to scrape a sharp hobby blade over some sections, which can simulate wear and blend the transfer into the model. Paint is of course always an option. If you scrape some off just make sure you leave it to fully dry or you might detach the whole thing.

[hd3]

Ok, I know I said the next post would explain the zerg/Tyranids but my dirty down rust finally came today for my STC-RYZA terrain. At first I was putting water on the models and thinning the paint down which I think might have been bad advice. Frustrated, I tried again disregarding all normal decorum and just threw a thick coat on after heating up the model with a hairdryer to help it adhere better. By the Emperor, this stuff is incredible. It's just perfect rust in a single use bottle, that you apply with a single coat! I've included a comparison of the biggest wall rubble piece with one side untouched by the rust and the other.

[hd3]

Ok, I can finally reveal why I'm doing Tyranids in my terrain log. The Tyranids are going to be mounted inside the Munitorium armory container,  one side of which is going to have written on the door in four quadrants, "Don't Open 'Nids Inside!" I'm not sure how best to apply this to get it to look like graffiti though. I printed some a4 text templates which I plan to cut out the letters, and then use the paper as a stencil to sponge on paint. I'm worried because the lettering is so small tough, it will be too difficult to cut out the letters nicely. 

 

Alternatively I could just try to freehand it. Can anyone suggest a good technique to make it look like this has been haphazardly sprayed onto the container door?

 

I also need to figure out how to mount the Tyranids inside so they don't move.

[Firedrake Cordova]

See if there's a graffitiesque font and print it onto transfer paper? Or a very fine pigment pen?

[Tallarn Commander]

Great idea! Would magnets keep the Nids from moving?

[hd3]

11 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

See if there's a graffitiesque font and print it onto transfer paper? Or a very fine pigment pen?

 

You mean like this stuff?

 

https://m.shein.com/jp/goods-p-43193330.html?goods_id=43193330&test=5051&url_from=shein_google_jpadplaEN_women-20240624&scene=1&pf=google&ad_type=DPA&language=en&siteuid=mjp&landing_page_id=1510&ad_test_id=1195&ad_check=2&requestId=olw-47cx0tbuqdcp&gad_source=1&skucode=I02rbnw423em&onelink=0%2Fgooglefeed_jp&setid=164614186515&currency=JPY&lang=en&cid=19626491887

[Firedrake Cordova]

This stuff: https://papercutz.co.uk/decal-water-transfer-paper

[hd3]

So, I added a Vallejo rust wash to my STC-RYZA terrain to tint everything back to a slightly more consistent colour and added a bit more transparent orange on the bottom half of the yellow doors for more colour contrast. But I'm almost finally finished with the buildings now! Just a spray on of the matt varnish and I'm done.

 

One thing I don't get is why one side of the big building with the yellow door gave us such a nicer dirty down rust effect than everything else, especially since I did the same process. I thought it was because I used way more dirty down but even when I went heavy in the other pieces, it still didn't come out as nice.

[hd3]

I finally got a chance to finish my armorium container, gluing in the Tyranid termagaunt inside the crate! And of course, the obligatory frustrating graffiti. That blood ravens better watch out! That hormagaunt is clearly already in engagement range.

[Grotsmasha]

Looking great

 

Just on assembly though, the little eagle heads on top should be flipped with the heads level looking outward, these act as anchors so you can stack the crates.

[hd3]

This will probably be the end of my terrain log for now. I want to focus on expanding my main army as soon as my blood ravens kill team is wrapped up.