Grishnakh's Custom Terrain

[BigThumbToe]

I personally wouldn't mind throwing a few bucks your way once in a while for your buildings. You do put a lot of work into them. I've spent a bit here and there at worldworks just to spend more time making them fit for heroscape. At least yours are ready as is

[mcmeeple]

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

I did a little looking and found where I got them. They were drawn by Dave Graffam. You can look his stuff up on Drive Thru RPG. He used to offer his stuff for free on his web site back in the early days of the Internet. He doesn't do that anymore and now sells his paper buildings. I just happened to have downloaded his free buildings years ago. That's what I used in the pictures.

Hmmm. Perhaps I should do the same thing huh?

You clearly put a lot of effort into them. Why not offer them up for sale and make a few bucks on them. It might inspire you to create more, which I would gladly purchase. There are so many tools online to sell digital products (Gum Road for example. You could also offer up some way for people to donate money, kind of a pay what you want type thing. I would buy you a beer, and I am sure many others would as well.

Made the 8 story building last night:
Photo on Dropbox

I am saving all the spray mounting up for one big round of work. Kind of dreading that part.

I have been thinking about how to put them on the board. 1/4" MDF is just the right thickness to match a hex height. I have been considering cutting wood bases with the hex style edge so it doesn't eat up terrain pieces. The only downside I see to this is that it will limit the ability to have the buildings touch. I just like the idea of the building base interlocking with the terrain. Not to much unlike the glaciers.

[BigThumbToe]

Hey @mcmeeple , I noticed that little lip you have at the tops of your buildings. Sometimes that's caused by assuming the boards you're working with are perfect 1/4" when piecing together. Might save you a little time sanding if you measure the thickness as closely as you can and factoring that slight difference into your edge lengths. Looks like your tops are cut to size but the base is a fraction smaller. Ive ran into that issue a bunch at work when working with 1/2" PVC or foamboard. The PVC we use is actually 12mm but sold as 1/2" here in the U.S. causing all sorts of little problems when trying to make boxes not unlike your buildings. Please show some pics of them all mounted and looking nice like

[mcmeeple]

Originally Posted by BigThumbToe

Hey @mcmeeple , I noticed that little lip you have at the tops of your buildings. Sometimes that's caused by assuming the boards you're working with are perfect 1/4" when piecing together. Might save you a little time sanding if you measure the thickness as closely as you can and factoring that slight difference into your edge lengths. Looks like your tops are cut to size but the base is a fraction smaller. Ive ran into that issue a bunch at work when working with 1/2" PVC or foamboard. The PVC we use is actually 12mm but sold as 1/2" here in the U.S. causing all sorts of little problems when trying to make boxes not unlike your buildings. Please show some pics of them all mounted and looking nice like

Yeah, it isn't perfect. This is in part due to me rushing the work as it was about 15 degrees in my garage

My process is to put the top on last. I simply trace an outline of the cube since I am sure I am not dead on in terms of being square. I will use the sander to knock down the overlap before mounting the art work. If I were moving slower I would just keep trimming the top until it is perfect.

I have 5 buildings roughed in now, just need to sand and mount artwork...maybe this weekend.

I suspect my approach is a bit longer then using foam core...but the buildings will be super strong and I won't worry about the kids breaking them.

It also occurs to me that the smaller ones could be used under terrain to reduce wasted terrain building up elevations.

[Grishnakh]

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't responded sooner, the snow storm that hit the Eastern US blew out my internet and phone for a few days.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement about selling my custom buildings. I think if I take my hobby and make money off of it it stops being my hobby and becomes my work. I do art for a living and relax with my hobby, even though it's a lot like doing work, if that makes any sense. So, for the foreseeable future, my stuff is here for whomever wants it. And for as long as this site will host it.

Cool stuff building these out of different materials. It's a no brainer, just work with the materials that you know and feel comfortable working with. Me, I'm a wiz with an xacto knife so that's what I used. Really interested in seeing the finished product mcmeeple!

I've got other buildings and terrain planned out. Just gotta find the time and energy to make and post them.

[Tornado]

Glad to hear you survived the blizzard. You really got hit hard.

I have been working on ruined buildings as of late.

Have you ever had any luck painting foam board Grish?

[Grishnakh]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Glad to hear you survived the blizzard. You really got hit hard.

I have been working on ruined buildings as of late.

Have you ever had any luck painting foam board Grish?

Thanks. Total snow wasn't so bad, it was just over such a wide spread area, something like 85 million people affected. It came down fast, along with 35 - 50 mile an hour winds. The power lines were taken out by falling tree limbs. Still, not too bad.

I have painted foam board. If you look at my enlarged Thunder Road map you'll see what you can do with it.

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1901424/thunder-road

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1901430/thunder-road

That's all done on 1/4 inch, black on black foam core board. If you are having trouble getting paint to stick to the foam edges you can either pile the paint on thick, or brush on a coat of elmers glue first. After the glue dries it seals the surface and you can apply paint easier.

[Tornado]

Thanks. I just tried out the Elmer's trick, looks good.

[Good Pig]

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

I think if I take my hobby and make money off of it it stops being my hobby and becomes my work.

Couldn't agree more.

Makes me wonder sometimes too as appealing as it would be to be an legit game designer, if it's not all it's cracked up to be. You have stress, deadlines, financial constraints, and a whole host of other things that enter the equation.

Having a fun and relaxing hobby without any strings attached is priceless.

[mcmeeple]

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

I've got other buildings and terrain planned out. Just gotta find the time and energy to make and post them.

I am curious what you have in mind. I have started thinking about designs I would love to add to the mix. Things I came up with:

• Titan Tower
• Avenger / Stark Tower
• Hall of Justice
• Avenger Mansion
• X-Mansion

The first two in particular seem suited to the approach you have previously used. The problem I see with the last 3 is that they have a larger horizontal layout which would consume epic amounts of space.

I also can't stop thinking about the TMNT Heroclix that come out soon. I have been trying to think of how to create semi realistic/interesting sewers. I love the idea of having two boards that work together. One is above ground and the other is underground. With man holes to link the two.

[Porkins]

There is C3G's Shadows over Gotham scenario:




Obviously not custom terrain, but it's a cool map and may help give some ideas.

[Tornado]

I was just contemplating custom sewers myself.
Metal grating over swamp water tiles would be cool looking. Not sure if having actual pipes would be possible as it would restrict LoS and make it hard to reach areas.

If you are going all custom I suppose there is a lot of different media you could use.
If you start a thread for it, I would be happy to offer suggestions.