Monthly Archives: January 2014

The Tower Continues …

I got round to giving the Quality CD Tower a quick spray with Games Workshop Rough Coat (No longer available, I believe – no loss!). Its not very rough, more of a slight texture.

Tower with Rough Coat

Tower with Rough Coat

I’ll give it another layer, and see if that gives it more texture, and I’m very tempted to put Stone Coat over the top, which, last time I used it, gave a much deeper effect.

I have also dug out some Imperial Architecture to liven it up with:

Tower With Buttresses

Added Buttresses!

For now, these have only been propped into place to show how they will look. Once the surface is finalised, they’ll be glued and painted up nicer.
I’ve got a load of extra bits for the top, including skulls, Imperial Aquila and some lamps which will be placed around the rim. I’m not sure what to crown the piece with, maybe a radar dish, or gun-platform. Of maybe I can find a “statue” or monument to put on top.

Watch this space!
(Or leave feedback!)

 

The Loss Of Epic

Epic Scale Space Marine used 6mm figures to play out mighty battles, where huge armies would clash and Ancient Titans strode the battlefield while lines of artillery pounded the enemy forces.

Unfortunately, support was withdrawn, and now very few people play. Which is a shame, as scenery for Epic Scale is very easy to make!

My original Matchbox buildings were designed for Epic Scale, as evidenced by the small Ork Battlewagons used for scale alongside a 40k “Barry”.
Being small, just about anything could be turned to scenery for Epic Scale, with yoghurt pots and blister packs forming a great deal of our battlefields. Hills were formed from off-cuts of polystyrene and empty paint pots were saved to become silos and towers.

With 32mm scale WH 40k getting all the attention, Epic Scale passed into the mists of HIstory, and scenery had to become larger. Matchboxes would only make small houses rather than fortresses. yoghurt pots are now tents or makeshift shelters and paint pots are little larger than tank traps. To fashion large, impressive scenery, more raw material is needed, and many previous inspirations are sadly unusable. (Another effect was that more detail had to be modelled, but that is another story).

The knock-on effects of this meant that more space is needed for storing material, workbenches need to be larger, and pieces waiting while their paint/glue dries take up a lot more space. When making particularly large or numerous pieces, it means eating of your lap for a week, as the dining table is set over to construction.

The main loss is the sheer amount of day-to-day items that I look at and think “That would make a great building!” only to realise that I am still thinking on Epic scale, and 40k-scale models would be able to step clean over it.

Ah, for the halcyon days of yore!

Quality CD Tower

As previously mentioned, I have a new project. The “Quality CD Tower”:

Quality CD Building

Quality CD Tower

The current plan:

  • Glue the two pieces together, and find an appropriate base.
  • Spray with Rough-Coat.
  • Affix some Imperial Buttresses and other accoutrements.
  • Add a level of battle damage
  • Repair battle damage with Ork Tek (welded plates, painted with glyphs and Klan Symbols). Corrugated cardboard makes good metal sheets, and lolly sticks for wooden planks.
  • I’ll then need to add some details/bitz/decoration. I’ve got a few barrels and crates in my bitz-box, and should be able to knock something together for a comms dish on top.
  • Extra Credit: I’m considering turrets on the side, either just as gun-ports, or big enough to hold a model or two.
  • Distinction/Project Two: A ruined version (either before the Orks repair it, or more likely after the Forces of Chaos (or Tyranids, depending upon which Army my friend plays next!) have bombarded it. I’ll be using GW’s Dreadstone Blight fantasy Tower as an inspiration for this.

There will be a Work-in-Progress report on the project as it unfolds, but it may take a while to fit it into my schedule.