Undertown Table progress and Post Apoc scatter

The current state of the Undertown Table. 

I've mislaid the LED lights so am skipping them for now as they will be an easy retrofit. The Data Trust is not pictured here as its currently getting the interior resins done.

 This is for Sci-Fi settings like Infinity (Its actually a Made for Infinity Line from Antenocitis' Workshop ) Warpath, Deadzone, Cyberpunk, etc... It'll, of course, work for the Grimdark of 40K, Kill Squad, and Inquisitor as well... with a few Gothic doodads added to represent the presence of the Imperium... ya know like confession booths or an incongruously ornate religious structure... maybe a big old statue of some Imperial saint or space marine.... that sort of buisiness.

 Since all the buildings have playable interiors there is a lot of flexibility between war games and RPGs.

I'm actually thinking about running a game based around the Death High series of miniatures from Kingdom Death. which are cool contemporary and near future themes that would be at home in any High School Supernatural, Horror, or Martial Arts romantic comedy... probably great characters for Vampire the Masquerade as well.

 I'm separating the terrain out by genre to see what is ready for play... the Undertown is in pretty good shape, the Forward Base needs a lot of work and the Post Apocalypse segment is just getting started.

 Speaking of the Post Apocalypse setting... here are a couple more wrecked vehicles, some recycling bins, and some very weathered payphones...

 Lots of weathering opportunities here... the recycle bins where painted Lemon Yellow (Reaper) over white primer, washed with Yellow Snow (Secret Weapon), and lined with Flesh Wash (Secret Weapon) lettering by Sharpie.

The Cars were both primered with Rustoleum Almond White and brushed up with Solid White (Craftsmart) weathering was accomplished with the Rust Series... Brown, Red, and Yellow (Secret Weapon) Silver (Vallejo) and Medium Earth and Orange Rust weathering powders (Forge World).

 Lining by Sharpie.  Window Glass Silver (Vallejo) base thin Armor Wash(Secret Weapon) Stormcloud (Secret Weapon) re-brush with silver. A lot of the rust here is intended to represent shotgun impacts but I really should be using references for those...

The Hood of the car on its side was unstable in the semi-open position so I propped it open with some cut down toothpicks... you can just see one here.

 The cars here are from Antenocitis' Workshops as are the bins and payphones.

The Payphones are heavily weathered using a stippling technique.  Brown Rust (Secret Weapon) stippled over Black Primer (Krylon Camoflage Black) Tropical Blue (Reaper) stippled over that wash with Armour Wash (Secret Weapon) stipple and dry-brush Silver (Vallejo).

Most of my immediate effort will be directed at the interior resins of the Data Trust... which will finish off the currently constructed Undertown building interiors save for LEDs.  I may sidestep into a couple of Post Apoc buildings next even though some Forward Base is already in the clean and prep queue... Squirrel!

Back to the desk!

Kingdom Death- Gold Smoke Knight

The Gold Smoke Knight is one of Kingdom Death: Monster's end game bad guys and a really cool model to boot.

The whole Model was done with the usual Primer routine:

Primer Khaki
Dry-brush Graveyard Bone (Reaper)
Dry-brush Splintered Bone (Reaper)

The cape and the Skulls on the base are the Reaper Bone Triad with shaded with Strong Tone (Army Painter)
Eyes in the skulls are Splintered Bone Scrofulous Brown (Vallejo) and Sun Yellow (Reaper)

The metallic areas are done with my standard yellow and white metal workups. 

Yellow metal: 


Base coat Brass Casings (Secret Weapon)
Wash with Flesh Wash (Secret Weapon)+one (1) drop of Glaze Medium (Vallejo)
Glaze low and recessed areas with Amethyst Purple Wash (Secret Weapon)
Dry-brush Brass Casings
Highlight dry-brush Shining Gold (Citadel)
Top highlight dry-brush Rustungs Farbe (Gamecraft for Fantasy Forest)... which is a silvery metallic color which looks more like mercury than silver.

 White Metal:

Engine Metal (Secret Weapon)
Wash with Armor Wash (Secret Weapon)
Dry-brush with Rustungs Farbe

Smoke:

Emerald (Vallejo)
Targeted Wash Green (Secret Weapon)
Highlights Emerald lightened with Splintered Bone.

Purple:

Amethyst Wash (Secret Weapon) over the primer treatment Splintered Bone colored with Amethyst Wash for Highlights
Very thin glaze of Amethyst Wash for blending
Targeted re wash of Amethyst Wash for better color depth.









Shown with the ubiquitous Canoness Veridyan for Scale the Gold Smoke Knight is appropriately Monster sized.

Raging Heroes Executrix Troop should be the next up on the desk but who knows for certain!?!  There are still a few pesky Vampire Hunters remaining to be completed as well.

3D printing: Ruined Lighthouse and Kingdom Death inspired terrain.

In the continuing quest to improve the terrain of the fabulous Kingdom Death Monster game I've added a set of 3D printed fallen and broken columns.

The printing in the area around the faces was a bit dicey and tended to have spaces and holes.  Nothing really serious but worth noting.

 I went with a tawny marbleized look for the columns because I imagine the twilight world of the Survivors to be covered in dirt, dust, and mold.  The ground faces tend to be alabaster because they might be newly deposited while the columns seem to have fallen long ago.

In any case they were an experiment in painting marbled surfaces and I learned a lot about painting in the various veining.

A sampling of the current state of the Kingdom Death inspired terrain set. 

 The biggest downside of this set is that the minis do not always sit easily on some of the elements that are intended to share a playable space with... its doable, just not pretty to look at.

Fortunately the columns and some of the larger things, like egg piles and sacks, are not intended as playable spaces so its not really a problem and the do look a lot better than the flat cardboard they replace. 

 Eerie lights emanating from the crystals complements the light variations on the mini bases.

I think that completes the terrain for the game.  I've printed replacements for all the cardboard terrain counters that I've found in the game and the Spidicules expansion... If I find anything else there will be more!

 Moving on to the Ruined Lighthouse from the Rampage: Lost Isles Kickstarter.

The first happy lesson was that printing this with black material was both less expensive (Black seems to be the cheapest color of PLA roll around by a couple of dollars a roll) and much, much easier to paint up.

Shown throughout with some of the excellent Raging Heroes Void Elves for scale.  This is important as, due to the limitations of my build space, I was compelled to print the model at 99% of its intended size.

 Because the material is black the primer stage was less demanding and full coverage of the crevices was not required.  This saved a lot of time and consumed much less primer than the tan, white, or gray material. 

 Rampage is really good about updating their products post release and I get regular emails about updated files.  Generally speaking these files seem to be re-scaling models that might have been proportioned for 20mm square bases to the increasingly common 30mm round lipped bases.

 Another great thing about Rampage is that many of their large models have .stl files for both large and small format printers.

In my case... my printer (Snapmaker) is on the petite side of small... which means that I am unable to print this size of model without using the small format files...without dramatically reducing the model dimensions.  Because of the inclusion of the small format files I'm able to print this model at 99% of its intended size.  Score!

 The model is quite large and I noticed that it printed with small holes for magnets!  Sometimes Storing and transporting big terrain models is problematic so I popped magnets into the designated holes and it went together surprisingly well... with a satisfying snapping sound to boot!

Here is the model broken down for storage/transport. I'll be adding magnets to many more buildings as, in addition to making them easy to deal with when not in use, it really opens up access to the interiors while on the tabletop!  Double win!

All in all this took me a time fraction of the time it takes to paint an equivalent model in another color.  Printing took a couple of days but cleanup and adding magnets time was under an hour.  Painting was done in two short afternoon sessions.









An early experiment with texture rollers from Greenstuff World (Thanks for the heads up Ed!).

While these will be great for Twisted! I'm really going to want to switch to a less spendy putty or clay and roll out big sheets of texture.  Then I'll want to get, or make, some small size biscuit/cookie cutters and punch out circles and squares.  I'm having difficulty locating circles and squares in the right sizes for this but its early days and I haven't put a lot of time into the search... hmmm... maybe some pill bottles are the right size.... we'll see!

Back to the desk to experiment!

More Fun with 3D printing Terrain, Kingdom Death Monster, Bruegleburg: A day at the Fair

  A lot of stuff wrapped up at once!

Lets start with the Kingdom Death inspired 3d printed terrain. 

These are in PLA printed on a Snapmaker.

I've got replacements for the flat cardboard terrain pieces in the Kingdom Death expansion "Spidicules" .




















 The big egg pile was painted with Hexwraith Flame (Citadel technical) and then mottled with Green (Secret Weapon) and Yellow Snow (Secret Weapon) washes. Emerald (Vallejo) is the base color on the rope-like connecting bits.

Once everything was dry I used Extra Heavy Gel (Vallejo) to get some goo effects and to make web-like connections between different parts of the model.








Replacements for the Various faces in the main Kingdom Death Monster game.

This is a case where the limitations of my printer leave a striated surface texture but, in this case, I really like that effect!

Unfortunately, if I didn't like it, PLA can't be effectively sanded because it just melts... so I'd have to, essentially, plaster the faces to smooth them out.

I am working on improving my grasp of OSL and got a little practice in with the gems that protrude from a couple of these faces.  I still need to add more white to the point of origin but its getting better.

 The full set of Egg terrain.

 Eggs with a Kingdom Death Survivor for scale!

 The Bruegleburg: A day at the Fair was a Kickstarter from Lead Adventurers.  I gathered up a handful of the children and had a go.

A play Knight and Squire.

These were all based with Khaki, drybrushed Sandstone and then with white before painting with a variety of washes.

 A second play Knight and Squire.

Since this takes place at a fair I wanted to put the kids in their colorful best... although some are more colorful than others.

 Fair maidens for the joust!

I really enjoy making these supporting characters for my Greystone village and the Bruegleburg: A Day at the Fair series is a great source for the setting.

 The full set of the kids having a pretend joust.

















A set of the jousting kids with a Kingdom Death survivor for scale.


On the Desk; a couple of 3D printed APCs, a pair of assassins, one 3D printed and an identical one cast traditionally, and a unit of the new version of Raging Heroes Blood Vestals (SF).

Back to the desk!

A quick WiP kinda day. Some new starts and some winding down.

 Its been a busy week and the weekend looks slammed as well so I thought I'd make a note of where I paused...

The real final pile of the Star Saga Core set... the doors!  There are two of each style so I went with red-ish and blue-er... with the general idea that they correspond with the navigation lines on the mini bases. The lining still needs finishing and they are still due some decals and highlights.

The next batch on the desk include this assortment from the base coat tray.  Several 3D printed terrain pieces for Kingdom Death a pair of 3D printed doghouses from the Rampage Lost Islands kickstarter  and a coupld of Raging heroes Lust Elves.  On of them is about twice the usual height so should have some interesting spaces to work with.

So far they have just been sprayed with the base coat so there isn't a lot to show.

Off to the Air Show and then back to the desk!

3D Printing terrain for Kingdom Death Monster +Star Saga, Twisted, and Raging Heroes WiP.

I finished up a pair of large Faces to replace the cardboard markers that come with Kingdom Death Monster.  I painted them in a similar way to the small faces that come on the decorative base inserts.   Basically a Khaki base coat, a sandstone dry-brush, some blended washes with Secret Weapon Algae and Sewer Water amended with a spot of Glaze Medium (Vallejo), and a dry-brush of Graveyard Earth (Reaper) and a final dry-brush Splintered Bone (Reaper).

 Is that a ray of hope!

Maybe it explains how some things grow in the gloomy world of Kingdom Death!

I've found that in 3D printing at my best resolution visible striations are a thing.  I'm looking into ways to reduce them other than sanding.  Mass sanding of PLA seem to result in it melting...

I actually like the striations on these faces but, in general, it would be better to get a handle on them!  I think I can rotate them in the shredder so the layers stack from a different direction to reduce it... more tests!

 The last batch of Core Set Miniatures from Mantic's Star Saga Kickstarter is getting close to finishing up... which is good because there are rumbles in the rumor mill about the next wave shipping soon!

Two batches in progress here.  Twisted! The Dickensians Set 2 and some paupers, street performers, beggars, and merchants from the Bruegelburg: A Day at the Fair kickstarter (Lead Adventurers)

Both of these sets are traditionally sculpted and I'm having a lot of fun with the personalities.  I'm finding myself more and more into NPC and Non-Combat type characters... probably because I'm leaning in on scenery and the role play elements of the hobby more than the wargames themselves.

 The real end of the line for Star Saga wave 1!  Doors! So far I've sprayed these with a khaki paint/primer combo and then taped them and resprayed with an Ivory... next step... colored stripes!

And last, but definitely not least, Two miniatures from the Raging Heroes TGG2 Kickstarter are in the build bucket.  I just got word that the remainder of my TGG2 was shipped today so I'd better start clearing the deck!

Dice Box of Death: 3D printing with Snapmaker

 More adventures in 3D printing with the Snapmaker.

As I'm specifically not allowed to touch my wife's dice because I might transfer my abysmal dice rolling luck to her set... I decided to print up the Dice Box of Death!

In spite of the title its not at all related to Kingdom Death... although protecting the purity of the dice for that game will be the box's first job.

The box is shown here with our Canoness Veridyan for scale.

 This print is at high quality due to the fiddly details of the bone walls and alcoves.  The white PLA material took paint well and seems pretty stable... if I don't leave it out in the direct sun!

I remember seeing the casket of the three wise men in the cathedral in Koln and the casket/handle for the box is painted to resemble it.  Its a minor modification of my most recent yellow metal process; Brass Casings (SW), Flesh Wash (SW), Brass Casings (SW) again, and Shining Gold (GW).  I left of the final highlight step of Rustungs Farbe (a bright silver metal color made for Fantasy Forest) to get a better separation between it and the metallic straps on the wood.

 The Bones were Tan Earth (Vallejo), Dirty Bone (Reaper) + Tan Earth 50/50, Dirty Bone (Reaper, Graveyard Earth (Reaper), Splintered Bone (Reaper).

The Wood is my regular wood process as described here.

Stone is a simple dry-brush over black using the Reaper Stone triad.

About the Snapmaker.

I got this from a kickstarter to experiment with 3D printing, Laser Engraving, and CNC.  The machine is transformable to do all three operations.

After several weeks of working with this machine I've discovered several things:

On the plus side:

It was easy to assemble.
The machine makes good quality prints.
The Snapmaker Shredder software, while short on features, is easy to use and is very helpful when dealing with a build area as small as this.

On the minus side:

1. The machine has a petite, as in on the small side of small, build area.  As you can see the Dice Box of Death fully covered the build area.  This has been a problem with some kickstarters... even the excellent Rampage range which offers a "Small Printer Format" option for most, if not all, of its STL files.  Even with that many models are not printable without resizing downward. I'm going to contact Rampage and ask about a "Petite" option but it'll be an ongoing problem. On the plus side the Snapmaker shredder software is designed for this petite build area and warns the operator when the model size exceeds the capacity of the build area.

2. The modular design and all aluminum body were attractive to me because I move often and would need to break down the machine and re assemble it post move.  Unfortunately the fasteners are poorly designed and often not actually anchored to anything so, for example, a screw holding the lower cooling fan just fell out onto the print during operation.  The print head impacted the screw which unseated the print bed. The print bed is no longer as stable as it was, has to be checked for position prior to printing, and is prone to slip.  I'll have to break it all down and see if its re-seatable.

3. The filament feed system is a twitchy and I had to disassemble the print module to get the filament to feed the first time.  During this process I discovered that the cooling fan screws are not anchored to anything and take advantage of the cooling fin spacing for traction... this traction disappears the first time the screw is removed and, since the cooling fins get hot, you have to consider that when coming up with alternative ways to seat the screws. There are effectively no guides for the filament but with practice, once understanding the interior geometry, the filament has change has become more manageable.

4. The enclosure is a nightmare!

Let me say that again... The enclosure is a nightmare!

90% of the problems I have with the machine so far are due to the design of the enclosure.

Some examples:

 The metal tabs are brittle and easily broken during assembly.  I only broke one and had to glue the support in place.  This isn't a major problem for a permanent location but kind of defeats my goal of re-locatability.

The filament feed tube is plastic and during normal operation can easily come into contact with a hot part of the machine.  This happened to me.  The tube melted onto the filament which eventually broke off very close to the print head which then had to be changed.  To change the print head requires loosening a small set screw that, in normal operation, becomes filled with PLA material.  The screw is made of low quality material and is easily stripped when trying to loosen it.

Basically any interaction with the machine, from transformation to filament changes, is made much more difficult by the enclosure.  The one advantage the enclosure has is that it does reduce the noise level.  Having the enclosure actively assault the machine is a pretty high price to pay for a little less noise.