265: Fort Vallum

This project took me almost a year. I got a wire cutter for it. It also toppled over any lingering resistance to getting an airbrush.

In a little while I will post up some rules, and ask for some advice. 

 

254: Fleshy eggs from popcorn

In which I will show how to make alien egg sacs. I put these on a mysterious objective marker. Should also be handy for terrain or Tyranid bases.

1. Start with a bag of cheap popcorn kernels. Nothing fancy. You may need to wash with detergent.
2. I usually use oil, if I am planning to eat them. This will cause problems. I found that I could get them to pop by leaving the grill to get hot, then putting a tray in very close. A few should come out right.
3. Glue them to your base.
4. Dilute PVA to seal (also acts as a fine primer).
5. Paint.
6. I also added some UHU glue strings to complete the look.

A "before" shot.

246: A Cork Tor Hill

Hills made from foam seem common. I think cork is a good material. When the edges are torn, it has a nice rocky texture. It's more robust than foam. Creating a landscape with visible rock strata is a good way to walk the line between looking natural and having some flat surface to put a model on.

- That's 9mm plywood. 6mm or maybe thinner would do, but I had an offcut. I bevelled the edge by variously hacking at it with a file, a surform (wood grater thingy) and a dremel.
- Toilet rolls cut to random lengths.
- 6mm cork sheet ripped up. I bought mine from amazon.co.uk. You can get it in craft shops. hacking up an old cork noticeboard would probably be a good way to go.
- (hot) glue gun and lots of it. I filled the inside of the toilet rolls around the edges to stick it good and proper.


I used caulk: mastic gun tube, used to squirt around top of skirting board, and paint over. I built this up in layers. and poked extra bits of cork in occasionally. I put the whole thing in a fan oven at 50 degrees to speed things up. This is still several evening's work. Not that long each evening, but it took a few days.

I flocked it with cork dust.
- coat with PVA
- chuck on cork
- shake off excess
- wait for it to dry
- coat with dilute PVA to bind up any loose bits.
This was repeated 3 or 4 times (with oven acceleration).

I added more random battlefield debris (ork, marine, eldar, ...). Painted and added some sickly looking grass.

Done!