Tabletop World - Cottage

After 7 months I finally have something to show for. I've been wanting to post something, anything actually, but just haven't been painting much lately.

I've been on the verge to actually write one of those "I'm still alive posts", but in the end I just couldn't, we all know how awfully pointless those are.

So, in my last post I mentioned something about a shipment from tabletop-world. Those not familiar with the best supplier of scenery around, take a look at their website.

Mold #74: Fieldstone Walls

Things are starting to return back to normal. The holidays are coming to an end and the kids are going back to school. I haven't been able to do much hobby related work during the holidays. I kinda took a break of all that. Sometimes a break is all you need to rekindle the interest in the hobby. Especially when you're painting Warhammer Forty Kay.

Remember my previous article of me Going Pro. Well, I used 2nd edition Space Hulk Terminators to experiment and practise my airbrush techniques. I never really liked painting Forty Kay or Terminators in particular, but I thought it would be different painting them with an Airbrush. The Airbrush part was really fun and exciting, but I'm having a real hard time finishing them. They're so boring I actually fell asleep one time while painting.

In an effort to keep me interested I decided to shift my focus on a little terrain project together with the kids. I'm always looking for ways to include the kids in one of my hobby adventures. Usually those endeavours end up with me being highly agitated, but this time I actually enjoyed the whole process and more importantly I think they did too.

A while ago I made a Fieldstone Bridge from a Hirst Arts mold. In that post I mentioned you could make stone wall sections with the same mold. I still had a lot material left from doing the bridges, so I figured to make some wall sections while the kids joined me and played around with the remaining materials.

Wall sections (picture made by Thantsants)

Mold #74: Fieldstone Bridge(s): Part 2

I finished painting the bridges. I've painted the bridges with the same painting technique as the hill panels, described in Modular Gaming Table: Part 12. This enforces the idea that the bridges are made of the same rock materials.

Below some pictures of the various dry-brush stages:

Base painted with Scorched Brown

Dry brushed with Shadow Grey

Dry brushed with Space Wolves Grey

Dry brushed with Fortress Grey

I did an extra dry-brush with "Off White", added various layers of watered down Vallejo washes of "Sepia Wash", "Umber Shade", "Fleshtone Shade", "Green Shade", gave it a satin varnish and finished it with a "Testors Dull Coat" varnish.

I'm planning to add some foliage to the bridge in a later stage. I'm in a bit of a hurry, because I needed to finish the bridges for our upcomming battle report "The Bridge over the River Chai".

Mold #74: Fieldstone Bridge(s): Part 1

After finishing the table I realised I needed bridges in order to cross the river sections. I didn't want to design and create them from scatch, but I also didn't want to buy pre-made scenery. Looking around on the internet I found the perfect source for my solution, Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture Inc.

The website offers a great range of molds to create buildings of any shape and size.Without wasting time I quickly ordered, mold #74: Fieldstone Bridge.

When it arrived a week later I immediately set out to cast the materials needed for two large fieldstone bridges. The Hirst Arts website contains everything you need to know about this.

Below you can see the casting progress.

Close-up mold #74

Close-up mold #74 with plaster

Materials for one bridge

Glued and assembled

Sealed with Epoxy

I'm not sure whether sealing the plaster with Epoxy is proven practise, but it seems to work very well. The plaster is very fragile when left untouched. The Epoxy protects the fragile plaster, tightens the bonds between the various parts and the Epoxy is absorbed by the plaster without obscuring any details. So far, I haven't noticed any side effects.

You can also use the bridge materials to create other structures like walls. I've noticed that Thantsants from over at the Somewhere the Tea's is Getting Cold blog uses stone walls made out of same materials. Below a picture from his battle report Blood Bath at Orc's Drift - Encounter at Ashak Rise.

I'm definitely going to make these 

Now I still need to paint them...