Coconut Fibres for my Pile of Shit

A couple of days ago my wife and eldest daughter went to Odense to find some clothes on the January Sale, and I asked them if they could swing by a pet store to look for some coconut fibres.

Dr Zombie of the LAF had told me that he used that material to represent straw and the likes for several purposes, including his Dark Ages dung heaps, which, among others, are some of my main inspiration for making my own. 💩

They came back with this, an expense of only DKK 25, and I can soon get on with my dung project! 👍

There will be plenty of material to use on other projects, and I am now thinking of using some of my newly acquired mini DVDs for a couple of smaller dung heaps, to place in strategic positions around my - hopefully soon built - Dark Ages village. 😉

Two updates about terrain in one day? Yes, I think I am going to spend a lot of Hobby Time this winter and spring on terrain-making, as it is an area I have been leaving wanting for quite some time, and I really want my tables to come a bit more to life.

I am going to need some scatter terrain, too, but as it is something I do not have a lot of stuff for, sadly it will have to be postponed until I have a sizable collection of larger terrain items.

Purchases will be limited to perhaps about DKK 200 per month (and will only be allowed when I have a specific purpose for the stuff in question, so as to not create new backlogs).

I really hope to reduce the amount of stuff I have sitting around unused in boxes, and get a lot of it ready to put on the table(s) instead - after all, that is why I purchased it in the first place 😇

Strange Aeons: FFG Grey Sleeves Sized Card Holder for Solo Play Deck

This Card Shoe/Deck Holder is sized to hold cards in FFG Grey sleeves, and accommodates the Strange Aeons Solo Play Deck as shown in the photos.

This build uses glue and cardboard tabs to keep it together, and is completely devoid of the scotch tape I used to assemble my first Card Shoe for the Star Wars Armada Damage Deck (FFG Yellow Sleeves).

I think I can make a template for a one-piece build, and I expect to do that for my next Deck Holder.

I do not think that I shall find the time to build more of these this side of New Year's Eve, though, but I still may have a few things to post the next couple of days...

My First Pile of Shit

I started making a dung heap for Dark Ages/Medieval/Fantasy settlements today.

Basically, until now it is a CD, some Renedra plastic wattle fences, some styrofoam, a foam scourer, used tea leaves from tea bags, and lots of PVA.

I think I need to add some filler and gravel and maybe some bristles from an old brush or something, to get more coarse structure, before adding even more tea leaves of different kinds...

Any suggestions are welcome!

Dark Ages/Viking Village WIP

Anna and I started building a large longhouse today. I let Anna decide on the type and size, so this is probably going to be the Chieftain's/Hersír's longhouse, while I am going to make some smaller ones of the type with the door in the gable wall.

We are using this drawing as pattern for the house, and in restrospect it would have been easier to use the simpler designs for our first building, but Anna is always very ambitious when it comes to any kind of creative activity.

Star Wars Armada: DIY Card Shoe

I took the holidays as an opportunity to start playing around with making some card shoes for some of my games using cards for several purposes.

I like putting sleeves on my gaming cards to protect them from wear and tear, and that makes the decks rather tall and unstable, and the sleeves add thickness to each card, and the sleeves are somewhat more smooth/slippery than the card themselves, so the stack/deck topples over easily when handled.

My solutiuon for this: Card 'shoes'.!

I had been playing with the idea of getting some pre-made kits for this, but as it were, they do not seem to be commercially available in all those different sizes I would need, so I decided to make some from cardboard - an almost free solution, as I have plenty of sturdy cardboard in store, I just need to add some glue/scotch tape and elbow grease ✌

This, my first 'proto type' was made exclusively from cardboard and scotch tape. It is for Star Wars Armada Damage Cards, and I made it taller than necessary to accommodate a double deck, if I decide to incorporate both Damage Decks form the two starter sets I have.

I applied good old Pythagoras to find the necessary depth of the shoe, and as it turns out, I need to add a little depth to give a few more degrees of dimensional tolerance to the build, but - hey - that is what proto types are for, right? 😎

My next build is for the Strange Aeons Solo Play Deck, as I intend to start delving into that mind of madness very soon (just have to make a nice 2x3 playing mat out of painter's felt, of which I have an abundance from when we  moved to out current home.

Expect to see more of this kind over the next couple of days (plus updates about Christmas Wars and God of Battles - things have been brewing lately, and I should have more to show very soon)!

SotHT: Finishing the Last Bits!

Realizing that the deadline for the 'It's Alive Painting Club' is drawing close, I thought I'd better bet my act together, and begin the last phase of the project.

Therefore, I finished painting the stone stairs I built to ease access to the Hidden Temple, and although I could give it another highlight, I think it will have to do as is.

I gave it another heavy drybrush of 'Amber Light', then a drybrush of 'Ivory'.

SotHT: Painting Stairs WIP 2

A bit more progress.

On top of the 'Golden Ochre', an overbrush of 'Amber Light' to which I added a few drops of Scorched Brown back when I prepared it for my first attempts on painting Egyptian rubble.

SotHT: Painting Stairs WIP

Work on this was paused, because I realized that I needed to get a bottle of orange-brown acrylic artist's paint instead of using my Citadel Vomit Brown up on the stairs. Orange-brown, because I want to paint the stairs to match the aquarium deco Egyptian statures which are that colour in the deep recesses.

I got it today, so work could continue.

SotHT: Stairs 'Primed'.

I attached the constuction to a block of wood, using 'sticky-tack', and pulled out my dark brown artist's acrylic paint to get the whole thing sealed/satiated with paint before I start using my expensive model colours.

And, yes, it is still wet in that picture!

SotHT: Stairs Based!

After playing around with Gripping Beast plastics for a couple of days, I decided to glue the metal base to the stairs, after all.

SotHT: Stairs Phase Two Completed!

Everything glued in place; I may have to carve a bit here and there, but overall, I am pleased with the result.

I may skip the metal base, as the model is fairly heavy in itself; I have to ponder a bit about that...

SotHT: Phase Two Commenced!

I've started glueing the layers.

I expect to finish this process today, but painting will probably have to waint until next week, as I am going to work tonight and tomorrow night, and the weekend is all booked up with a delayed birthday party, and the girls attending a riding event.

SotHT: More Steps!

Got a couple of layers done before going to the post office this morning.

I expect to finish the build today (i.e. carving all the layers, and glue them in place).

SotHT: More Steps!

Two thirds of the steps, and maybe three to four
fifths of the total carving done (the layers get shorter).

I have reached the second step with space for minis, and I'll rest my X-Acto until tomorrow. and watch som Game of Thrones and Rome for therest of the evening.

Oh, and nothing has been glued into place, yet, in case anyone wonders...

SotHT: Stepping up to the Challenge!

Having the day off, I am getting somewhere with my temple stairs.

I started by making a template marking up the metal base I am going to use - for two reasons: 1) it will add weight to the stairs, making them less prone to topple over, and 2) I can store the stairs securely in one of my boxes with a magnetic sheet in the bottom.

After marking up the footprint of the stairs, I cut out the base with a hacksaw.

I have cut and carved the first five layers of 5mm foamboard - the fifth layer will have the first step wide enough for a mini's base (if I have calculated correctly, there should be three such ledges in total), thus I have carved the stone slabs about 3cm into it.

I expect to do at least the next five layers this afternoon, but now it is time for some excercises, a 5km run!

SotHT: Work has Begun!

I slept until 4 p.m. today, but I managed to ready the dining table and start measuring and making a template for the metal base I am going to make for the stairs.

I may achieve some progress this evening, before going to work, but there is not going to be any quantum leaps until tomorrow (I end my 5-night period this night, so have the next couple of days off).

The stairs are being made of layered 5mm foamboard, with a thin metal base. I plan to carve the foamboard to look like large stone slabs, Membership of LAF oblige, so I have to up my game a bit to earn a place among all those other magnificent projects!