Building at the Edge of The World

Before and After

This wee project was an experiment after 2 consecutive thoughts (yes I know, me too!).

WIP Wednesday

Does 2 weeks in a row make it regular?

The main structure is complete with steampunk pipes etc fitted. The inside is just a standard texture option set to "mirrored" in the printer settings. Floor level is at ground level, hence the steps down. The walls have a layer of mounting board in between them. It feels quite sturdy.

I've cut out the bottom half of the windows on the side door for shooting out of, and the door has been opened up, with the hinged side only cut through the first 2 layers, leaving the inner card surface to hinge. Inside I've only fitted one piece of equipment, but another will probably follow.

Now onto sorting out the roof.

Graffam Sci-Fi #2

The second of my Graffam lunchtime builds: Observation Tower v2.

A pretty simple build. The gun\observation ports were a bit fiddly for my big tattie howker hands. All fingers and thumbs to get them on the side. The version 1 of this model just has the flat textures of these, and despite my best\worst efforts these 3D additions look worth it. No recognisable door it has to be said, not that you'd be putting anyone inside for gameplay.

Here is a comparison shot next to the previous model.

This build was actually finished a couple of weeks ago. I'm about 75% through the Delux Bunker kit, which will hopefully be presented before Christmas.

Graffam Sci-Fi

If you have been glancing at this blog for a wee while you'll know that I'm a big fan of the products of Dave Graffam. I have numerous Ruin and Fantasy card terrain kits of his (some are even built!) but I've never ventured any of his small Sci-Fi collection. Why? Well they've never really grabbed me on the website the way the other kits do. However, the pictures of that some other fans\clients have put up on his Facebook page had me re-evaluating this stance, and as he has a sale on for November I took the plunge and bought a few kits.

I have started with a partial build of the Watchstation - it is too basic a change of the original to call it a "kitbash". All I've done is built the ground floor and stick the top roof to the ground floor overhang section\first floor floor (if that makes any sense!)

So what do  I think now? Well really I like the textures and design. The colour options are distinct and varied enough for different feels (I've gone for a basic cold grey future example here). One option I would have liked would have been to have the choice of whether to have a side "blister" or not, much like Dave does with the Dormer Windows on his fantasy designs. The buttresses give some extra cover than just a usual flat fronted building with is nice.

I think my greatest hesitation is the size of the door-  it's huge. However, two counters to this opinion: Firstly the guide does recommend printing at 95% for 28mm figures (which these are) and I lazily didn't bother resizing ..And secondly, why not have a big door? You may be the most puny race using it, don't be so selfish!

New Fantasy Buildings

Dave Graffam has recently had another $1 sale, in which I picked up some interesting buildings. It has prompted me to take a brief break from painting and put together a collection buildings I had printed out on card ages ago. I'd chosen some of the smaller and simpler designs, as these were cheaper to print (less pages) and quicker to build, as I wanted a bit more ground coverage.

In the last 10 days or so I managed to clear the lot (10 in total). One problem I often have with terrain projects is basing, as I don't have power tools for carving out hard bases. I have acquired a bag of foam core off-cuts in the last few months and they were wide enough to base here. I am very happy with the result. I'd been using cork for the previous builds and some of them have become very warped. The footprints will have to be re-printed and replaced with foam core.

I obviously had to get the other buildings out to see how the coverage was coming on...

Boxfile Spaceship Module 3 complete

Lorks-a-lordy, here's a sight more unexpected than the flag the North Korean Olympic Women's football team ran out to. After a brief hiatus of only 2 years the third module of my Boxfile Spaceship project gets wheeled out. To those of you who have not shared my trip on the blogisphere that long this is part of my Lunchtime Project series (hobby work I do in my lunch break funnily enough). The first two sections were a central accommodation section and a cargo/loading bay section. Here we have engineering:

Pretty much a shell filled with large pieces of equipment to create a cramped environment. I'm sure the majority of you can recognise that I've looted some old computers for heatsinks, fans, etc. No doors have been added as they are going to be flexible between the various sections. As a note I'm going to ditch the magnetic door on washer idea as seen at the end of the  section 2 post as it's a bit ugly when the door isn't there. I hope to develop a way of incorporating the doors into a clipping system to hold the boxes in place as well.

The next section is planned to include the control deck. I'll try and take some WIP pictures by way of a "how-to" article.

Boxfile Spaceship Module 2 complete

The second module is now complete. Well actually it's the third module, but as ever, the other so-far-unseen one required slight painting so is delayed.

Just so you know it's a cargo/loading bay to give a nice flexible open space for battling. An
office has been added at the corner, with a window to make sure that nothing goes un-noticed.

Also the first module connecting bulk-head door has been constructed. Magnetic tape on the back of the door, and a couple of steel washers glued to the wall.

Boxfile Spaceship Module 1 complete

Completed the first module of the box file spaceship project. I've not made any bulkhead doors yet, but as these will be move-able it can wait.

The rooms are all in the middle of section for flexibility of bulkhead doors. I see this as a central section to the ship, so I have left plenty of room for the connecting sections.

Door Refinements

After a bit more work (and a few suggestions on TMP) I've slightly reworked the doors, based around option 2 in the last post.

The door frames have been widened and mounted on mounting card for strength. There is no longer a doorway cut into the foamcore wall, but the door frames join the two halves together. This is stronger than the original option 2 and also alows for a better cut down the doorframe inner sides to allow a smoother action for the door.

The door is still mounted on mounting card (which is pretty strong), but the space round the door is squarer remove a few of the gaps.

The Spaceship Doors

Before the build starts I need to sort out how I'm going to do certain elements. One of the main decisions to be made is what is going to happen with the doors throughout the complex.

The doors between box file sections will have to be marked, as I'm not going to cut holes in the boxfiles. These doors will be assumed to be bulkheads or security doors, so will not be left open. The internal doors are a different matter however. I feel it is important that these can be opened for gaming. The question is how?

Option 1: Solid door. I've used the cutout from the foam core wall to use for the door. It has a nice robustness about it, but I can see it being a bit fiddly to take out mid game, as it has to be pushed out of it's fit in the wall.

Option 2: Use a door insert. The door texture is mounted on card  and slid through the upper doorframe where the foam has been removed. The resulting door is a bit more flimsy  and loose than in option 1 and the wall is weakened by the lack of foam at the lintel, but it is easier to remove mid game.


I'll have to have a think about this, but with the better in-game mechanics I'm starting to side with option 2.

Textures are from the Stone Edges Orbital set, by the way. They have just the worn look about them that could be either from well used space freighter or gloomy multilevel complex.

Boxfile Modular Space ship

And so another project begins without another one ending. I may as well get any apologies out of the way now to our cousins on the Western side of the Atlantic, as I believe that the humble boxfile is not a commodity easy attained across the water.

I've been a fan of the box file as a scenic structure for a while now, mostly without taking any ideas to full fruition. They are sturdy (being built of wood chip on 3 sides) easily stored (being box shaped) and regular) coming only in a couple of sizes. I've used one for my Dog Soldiers cottage. I've also used them as areas for fantasy roleplaying (see below).

The plan is to build a modular sci-fi structure with a series of boxfiles, each section with a seperate "theme" or purpose. So far I've 6 boxes, so I've provisionally pitched accomodation, hanger, command area, med bay, science wing and engineering. The original idea was a space craft, but the good thing about a future setting is that it (or a subset of modules) could easily be used as a building or complex.

As a note, this is to be another "lunch-time" project. My other main similar project has slightly stalled in the painting stage, as that has to be done at Arabian Towers, where there are other priorities and distractions. So this one is predominated printing, gluing and cutting.

Lunchtime project - end of week 3

Walls and floors this week.

All the outside walls of the nodes were covered in a thin layer of fine filler. This has covered some of the foamcore joins and added at some depth the wall surface. I've not made the outside smooth, but left it patchy to give the impression of the concrete breaking down. The inside walls have been left smooth to allow for fixtures like junction boxes/control panels and platforms.

The floor has been covered in a mesh printed plastic sheeting I picked up from work. It had been covering a pallette surface, so I'm afraid I've no idea what it's called or where to get it. It's perfect for sci-fi floors however.
The roof segments have also been covered in the same meshed sheeting. I had covered them in filler initially, but the thin edges warped and I didn't like the surface anyway, so a new set had to be made and covered.

The floors of the pipes were put in. A strip of foamcore was crudely shaped and glued to the pipe floor and a strip of the mesh print sheeting used for the node floors was glued down on top.



There is till room down the side of the flooring strip to put in piping or cabling as required.

Here is a close up of the sheet mesh.

The next step is a tidy up of edges and a coat of paint before any details, etc can go in. The painting will have to happen at home, so I'll have to find something else to do next week...

Lunchtime Project - end week 2

Good progress this week. First of all I managed to get the pipe lengths cut. This was no minor job as the cardboard tube walls are 5mm thick. In the end I've decided on 2 straight sections and 1 elbowed section. The straights are 12" long to make them a couple of movements phases in Necromunda. The elbowed pipe is longer.

I also decided to construct a ruined node for a bit of variety.

The tops of all the pipes have been cut away to provide access to play miniatures, especially as the lengths are "designed" to have figures stationary inside them.

Final shot is of the complex with all the "hatches" exposed. Next I need to tidy up the edges and get the glue out. I may cut some small windows in the node walls as well before that.

Lunchtime Project - end week 1

Managed to get the node walls measured and cut out. For simplicity I've made them a basic 10cm cube. As can be seen in the picture they look pretty tall next to the 28mm figure, but this is down to the tunnel tubes. They are high enough to take a 28mm mini on a walkway (for figure stability) and have a diameter of nearly 60mm, so the nodes need to be quite large. A base wasn't cut out to give more internal height as I plan, at the moment, to take advantage of the height and put a short walkway inside. I'll have them on a larger base to give me othe option of external pipes anyway.

For the outside finish I thought I'd try cutting out some of the foam, so that the wall ends are covered. Still a bit rough, but works well. I haven't decided on a finish for them yet. I may be just paint or it could be a thin layer of wall filler ("spackle" I believe to our US cousins). I removed the foam again on the roof to make a neat lid. This will prevent it falling off during a game. The lips of the lid will be strengthened by a top layer of something ("design" dependant). I've made 3 nodes. One will be a link node, so will have to have holes for 2 pipes cut in the walls. The wall holes still nedd to be done before I can glue the walls together.

Next week I hope to get the tubes cut to length, the wall holes made for them and maybe even cut the pipes length ways to allow for access.

Lunch-time project #1 - Sci-fi Tunnels - The Brief

Now that we all know what the lunch-time project is I can bash on with this WIP feature.

I have "inherited" (read nagged until given) a bag full of foam core strips and thick inner paper tubes from a poster printer feed. Now I've always fancied a sewer type setup to have on the board but the practicalities of having an underground level are always too great. So with scrap in hand I've decided to move it all above ground and have a small pipe network to move through.

The plan above shows the basic idea. A section of pipe running between two access nodes. Each node will have more than one pipe leading into it. The pipes will be detachable from the nodes for ease of storage and for flexibility of size. The pipes are large enough to have a 28mm figure inside, so there must be a way to move the figure down the pipe section.

I will construct the nodes from the foam core and obviously the pipes from the tubing. All other details will be worked out as I go along.

Updates on this will hopefully be weekly.

Introducing The Lunch-time Project concept.

Before I launch into another blog feature I thought I'd better explain what's behind the Lunch-time Project.

I spend all day sat behind a computer. For health and safety (and sanity) reasons it is alway good to get away from the screen. Occasionally I may even go to the work canteen, but most of the time I have a packed lunch (which I can eat at my desk). Like alot of working folk I have very little free time. After work, food, chores, etc there is usually have very little time to switch off with something fun and relaxing even if the energy is available, so days can go past with no hobby activity. I'm sure most of you know that NO HOBBY = UNHAPPINESS. So I decided to spend my available lunch half hour doing hobby stuff and kill 2 birds with one stone.

Obviously there are restrictions in what I can do at Work in half an hour blocks. Sitting down and painting is out (in fact pretty much any painting is out). Construction with a bit of gluing, however, is very much a possibility. The office in which I work is next to the graphics dept, so I have access to large cutting mats and can occassionally scrounge the odd bit of scrappage. I've been using my lunchtimes like this on and off for a few months, so they are used to me coming in making "odd" constructions. My Dog Soldiers Barn was a previous Lunch-time Project (see below) and I've spent quite a few lunches making card stock houses as well. (also see below). Progress is understandably slow, but that isn't the main purpose of the exercise. Hobby, mental rest and "not work" are the watch words here. So watch this space as a new project is dawning...