It is not often in life that you get a do over. Opportunities like this should be cherished. I was happy with the results of last year's Tactical Terrain board with the Eldar Craftworld theme. But I always thought I could do better, as the design of the board had several starts and stops. In the end the final product you saw at the 11th Company GT (Veteran's Day Weekend and the Clarion Conference Center in Myrtle Beach, SC) was the 3rd concotion of the board.
So when someone asked me to build one for them, my first reaction was "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" After a moment of collection, I thought the design part is done, I can focus on execution this time. So in the end I completed another Craftworld. Much like George Lucas, I simply added a few extra Stormtroopers and Jawas but kept the basic idea intact.
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| I started with the tried and true stencil. It was cool, but it lacked something |
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| I experimented and finally settled on this idea. Originally I was going to cut the dark sections out, but this made the Gate too flimsy. I opted instead to etched the outlines to break of the flat areas |
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| For the Center Piece, I kept the original design but altered the platform. The old ones were a simple circle, so I added some flare by using part of hill template to create a more interesting look |
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| Looking back at some of my source material, I realized I missed an opportunity to add some detail to these wide flat areas, notably the triangle pattern around the warp gate |
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| Base Coat is applied |
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| With a little more time I was able to spend more concentration on the paint job. I airbrushed (instead of a frantic drybrush) a layer of brown followed by a layer of black, leaving the brown still peaking through |
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| I continue the paint theme here as well. I really hated that hole in the middle, so I changed it |
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| Using a piece of MDF, I painted a black area where the hole would be. But I could do more |
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| A quick search of the internet I was able to find 4 different Eldar Icons. I printed them out on frisket (fancy world for 8.5 by 11" sheet of painters tape) and cut out the designs. Learn from my mistake: don't do this on a windy day |
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| Put the board in place, but don't glue it yet |
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| Find the right spot and attach your stencil |
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| With the airbrush I spray a lightning pattern using a 50/50 mix of white and reducer |
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| Then go back over the white areas with Transparent Blue to finish the look |
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| Remove the stencil and the glyph is floating in a plasma storm |
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| Final Look once the foam is glued to the MDF |
So I hope you enjoyed. Here is an example that repeating a project doesn't need to be boring. Even after doing this a second time I came with more ideas to add but time to move on to new ideas
Leave your comments below and thanks for listening to the show
