Custom Terrain by Porkins

[Porkins]

I promise I'll get the tutorial up for the Petro tank too.

Also, I started on a new project: Chain link fence (at least that's what I hope it will look like when it's done). It should be pretty simple, and I think it will add a nice game element: blocks movement but not line of sight...as if ranged attackers needed more help, I know but it seemed like an interesting and fun thing to have on the board.

[Cyb3rBlade]

I'm looking forward to the petrol tank tutorial.
I eagerly await my next encounter with an empty...
well, any frosting container, really.
Power to the Popsicle Sticks!

[Porkins]

Petro Tank tutorial





I started out with this can of almonds that somebody left at work. Once the nuts were gone, I grabbed the can.





Next I painted it with a mixture of white paint and white glue and water. It took several coats to cover the dark colored wrapper around the can. I used the glue mixture because I didn't want a smooth surface, I wanted the glue to add some tooth to the surface so that I could drybrush it with dust colored paint later. So I made the glue/paint mixture pretty thick.





Next cover the top with 1/8" thick foam and glue it down with white glue to make the top surface roughly level.






Using the Grishnakh hex template, I figured out the size I wanted for the entire terrain piece and cut a base for it out of black mat board. Then I cut the circle for the top of the can out of the template. I was trying to get the circular water tank can to fit as well as possible onto the hex pattern while trying to maximize the number of usable hexes on top of the water tower as well as around its base. Additionally, I needed to leave a strip around the outer edge for the steps coming up the side.





Glue the circle template to the top of the can. Then print out the Grishnakh template on cardstock and cut out the hexes and glue in place.






Next is the stairs. Here is the material I used. It's for cross-stitching or something like that. I got it at Walmart for about $3. Lay a sheet of the grid stuff on a cutting surface with the template that was removed earlier around the can and cut out the steps.





Next glue the steps to the side of the water tower using a hot glue gun. To the side you can see the stacks of terrain I used to help get the height of the steps correct.






Next add the railings to the steps. The short uprights are made with flat toothpicks. The rest of it is plastic coffee stirrers. The coffee stirrers are difficult to glue. I tried several types of glue, but hot glue is about the only thing that would work. I didn't want to use hot glue because it tends to leave a glob of glue at the joint, but I figured I could paint it later to look like a weld bead. So try to do this part with as little hot glue as possible. Where the railing turns a corner, if you look closely you can see that I cut the ends of the coffee stirrers at an angle so they would fit together.








I got some sand from the kids' sandbox in the backyard and screened it to get the finest grains of sand for the base. Next mix the sand with water, white glue and brown paint until you get a thick but paintable consistency.






Then paint it on around the base of the water tower.






Using some larger pebbles carefully selected from the sand, I glued a few piles for effect and also onto partial hexes that I didn't want to be usable. After the paint dries, mix white glue with water and spread all over the sand to glue it into place. The mixture needs to be kinda thin for this. This step is crucial, or you will have sand falling off everywhere.







After that glue dries, it's time to paint. I painted over some more plain white on the tank and glued on the Petro logo, which was just printed from an image I found online. Base coat the steps in black (as shown on the lower step), then drybrush over it with gray and/or a metallic silver color (as shown on the upper step).





Then drybrush over the steps with a rust color. Also apply the rust to the railings, the water tank surface, the edges of the hexes, running down the sides and from the "welds" where the steps attach to the side of the water tank.






Drybrush over the sand with a deep reddish/brown color and after that drybrush very lightly with a light brown color over the sand and lightly on the edges of the rock piles.







Finally, add some graffitti to the tank and you're done!





I hope you found this helpful!

[Porkins]

I finally finished the tutorial for the Petro Tank!

[Lord Pyre]

That's awesome!

It'd look good behind some skyscrapers, I think.

[Shedim Kabal]

Man, you make it look easy!

Beautiful.

[Grishnakh]

Awesome stuff! Really like the stairs.

[Yodaking]

That is a great tutorial! Love how you kept the hex steps the correct shape to match the curve of the tank via the paper hex lay out. Very smart.

[Porkins]

Cloning Chamber Tutorial





For Lamaclown's first Trash-to-Treasure Custom Terrain contest, I created a Cloning Chamber. The rules of the contest required that the object be constructed primarily of egg cartons and straws.

After some brainstorming and a few sketches of the best ideas, I settled upon the Cloning Chamber. The most difficult component to find was the clear plastic cylinders for the chambers. I finally found these at Michael's Craft Store. They were in an aisle with essential oils and stuff for aromatherapy. A travel kit might also have similar cylinders for shampoo.






I cut off the top and bottom of the cylinders to the length I needed.






Cutting the egg carton to size.






One big and one small for the base of each of the three cloning chambers.






Test fit.






Glue with white glue.






In the background you can see what will become the upper portion of the chambers. It was cut from the upper half of the egg carton. I had be very careful with this piece to keep the segments from tearing apart.






Using Grishnakh's Hex Template 4 to cut the base out of cross stitch mesh.






Test fit of the cloning chamber bases on the cross stitch mesh.






For the top, make a hole in the top of each chamber. Glue a bendy straw into each hole with hot glue. At the intersection of the middle straw into the upper straw, I cut an arc shape in the middle straw such that it would mate with the upper straw. Glue with hot glue.






Base coat in black, then drybrush with dark gray, light gray and silver.






The figure I used is Man-Thing from Heroclix. The arm on the left sticks out too far to fit in the cylinder. I tried repositioning the arm using hot water baths. It worked, but the arm kept moving back to its original position over a day or so.





So I ended up cutting off the arm at the shoulder, slicing off a wedge of the arm, then gluing it back on with crazy glue. This was much easier than I thought it would be and looked good too.





Adding details. The numbers on the upper portion and the lights and buttons on the bases are painted on, then outlined with a Sharpie marker. The ladder and the railing are from the Heroclix figure "Black Mask." The blue and red pipe at the base are speaker wire painted red and blue. The collar on the floor for the straw to go into (behind the railing) is made from a leftover rubber seal from a toilet repair kit. Hot glue works well to attach these details.






And the final product again. The final assembly was tricky. I first glued the figures in place with hot glue. Next I glued the tubes in place with hot glue. You have to be careful to avoid getting glue any on the figures. Also, you have to work fast to put a nice bead all the way around the base and get the tube in place before the glue gets too cool. And, the tube has to be straight up and down so that it aligns with the top. Finally, I put three beads of hot glue on the upper piece (now you have to move really fast) and put it down over the cylinders.




I hope you have found this tutorial to be helpful.

[A3n]

That was an awesome entry. Great tutorial.

[ssnover95]

Words do not suffice for the amount of creativity in this piece. Great job on the cloning chamber! And on all of your creations as a whole! Your work is both amazing and inspiring! I can't help but wonder where the inspiration for the cloning chamber came from?

[Yodaking]

Really appreciate seeing all the step by step pics!