Terrain Workshop Sorted (at least for now)

 

Well I've managed to clean out the Terrain Workshop.  Sadly, the bulk of the "debris" consisted of various shipping boxes that were retained for storage or to use in building terrain.  Of course neither of those objectives were fulfilled.

This space measure 8x8 and serves as both a terrain workbench and storage.  The big plus of this apce is it has a pair of doors which can be closed and hide the mess from the wife.  She has learned long ago that these doors are best left closed.

I've got the bulk and most commonly used scenery materials in a shelf unit right next to the work bench.

If we pan in a clockwise direction one can see 1 of 2 small parts bins - this one has small terrain items like various grass tufts, different grades of sand and special small detail parts.

Continuing our clockwise progression is a new paint rack for craft paints and the second small parts bin which is pretty much empty (for now)

In this corner, I store my unfinished hex terrain (just cut hexes in the boxes and my collection of 2x2 terrain panels.

Finally, another storage cabinet - the drawers hold my 6mm Russo-Japanese War collection and the plastic bins have 6mm ancients.  On top are my fully finished 4" hex terrain. 

Speaking of terrain making, I did decide to do a little work on the hex terrain - you knew that workbench couldn't stay that clean!

Hobby Space Reorg - Phase II

 

The Painting desk clean up is complete.  I added some paint racks that I got from Gamecraft Miniatures to organize my paints and try to keep them off the work space.  We'll see how long that lasts.

I also purchased a large small parts bin to organize my collection of basses.  I think its safe to say that I'm long bases.  During the clean up a large number of bases where discovered (re-discovered?) so my inventory of bases if rather large.  Those very nice people at Litko should be very happy with me.  I. ummm, have a lot of bases to work through.  Some people have a lead mountain, I've got a wood one.

Next up will be organizing the workshop area I use for terrain making and storage.  If my painting desk was described as a "disaster" the only word for this space is catastrophe! 

Hobby Space Re-Organization

 

My Hobby area has become an organizational disaster - this is how it looks AFTER a massive clean up.  It's just not as functional and tidy as it should be and I find my work space shrinking every month or so to a 6 inch x 6 inch spot in the center as debris piles up.

I originally has this bench custom built at least 5 years ago and it's been really good hobby "investment" but it could be more functional.  On each side are some cubbies that I thought would be useful for holding small parts and tools.  Unfortunately, they functional more like a graveyard where stuff falls in never to be seen again.

Heres the left side - I have no idea what the cubbies are stuffed with but at least I keep the TY remotes on top and accessible.  

The right side set of cubbies are just over-stuffed and essentially are inaccessible.  

I'm going to build some shelve units to sit on top the cubbies and provide some more platform space - on the right side of the picture you can see on of the tier paint rack systems I'm going to place on top of the shelves.

I cleaned out the cubbies and piles all of that crap onto the bench top and installed the shelf extensions.  The shel units are just 1/2 birch plywood cut in a 24x9 inch size.  They're held in place by blocks of wood the are friction fit into the cubbies and then the plywood is screwed on.  This makes them very secure but easily moveable to be reconfigured.  Once I figure out the setup, I'll stain the shelves to match the chestnut coloring of the bench frame.

I now need to sort through the mess of stuff that has accumulated over the years.  There's just so much "stuff"...

I do realize that it's been a very long time since I've updated this blog.  I decided to take a little break from blogging as it was becoming more of a chore than fun.  I may transition Lair of the Uber Geek away from blogger (as Google seems to be uninterested in really supporting the tool) and over to another platform but haven't made any decisions on that.  

3D Resin Printing Week 2: Printed Terrain Details

Week 2 of my foray into 3D resin printing continues to show real promise.  Despite the the build volume being small (3.1 inches wide, 5 inches long and 6 inches high), one can cram a good bit on the plate.  One of the terrain features I was missing for the Stalingrad table was the Barmaley Fountain and I was struggling to scratch build one.  Let's just say there have been 2 scratch build failures.

A quick internet search found that 3dPrintterrain makes a collection of WW2 themed files which includes the fountain as well as some other iconic terrain pieces.  

It took a little maneuvering to get the fountain to fit on the build plate but it printed out great.  It's also far superior to anything I would have scratch built do I am really pleased.

I doubt I'll be printing out full building using the resin printer (expect for 6mm) but key detail parts like window frames, doors and signage will be easy to do and add a lot of visual appeal to my scratch builds.

One other useful "discovery" are these cheap plastic cafeteria trays.  The raise lips are great for keeping your printer in and protecting against the inevitable resin spills.  They also make great spots for storing works in progress.

The lips have edges that are 1/8 inch thick and about 3/8 of an inch wide.  I think I can build some really simple cabinet boxes with 1/8 inch grooves and make some super quick storage shelves.

I purchased 2 sets of 12 each, which cost me 20.00 each set (used).  Thats kind of expensive for plastic but compared to the alternative cost of wood and build time a real bargain.

Obviously, "cafeteria tray" storage shelves will not look as nice as my standard box shelves but after building 36 of these wooden shelves, I'm running out of space!  Plus with wood prices being what they are, it's hard to justify the cost.  Yes, all 36 drawers are filled just like the one pictured.

Project Work has resumed

 

With work of refitting the basement pretty much done, time has been freed up to return to more important tasks - painting miniatures.

Next up in the queue are some 15mm US Vietnam forces for an upcoming club project.  These mini's are all from Battlefront and need to get painted over the course of May.  There's some light terrain work for the project.

It's nice to be able to have sometime to get back to the painting bench!

What do you See?

 

Most people would say they see a really cheap wire brush head on top of a very messy workbench.  Not me!  No I see a incredible well organized storage depot of 6mm scale pikes!

I went to the hardware store to pick up some modeling supplies and spent some time in the brush section looking for just the right "pike brush".  The bristles had to be stiff enough to be sturdy but not break or impale when brushed by a hand.

I also picked up a gallon bucket of pre-mixed tile grout plus some other odds and ends for terrain making.  Getting ready for the last push in the challenge

Stalingrad Project: Supplies Running Low

 

Like any military campaign, terrain projects are won and lost over logistics.  If one does not have the raw materials, one does not make a lot of progress.  While the core tabletop has been built there are some extra details I want to add and my supplies are running very thin.  My gallon bucket of pre-mixed flexible tile grout is just about empty.  I started the project with this bucket 3/4 full so it has served me very well over the past few months.  I'll need to run out and grab another bucket in a day or two.

Please excuse the disheveled work room between the messiness of a giant terrain project and the basement flood it's a shambles.  In all honesty, it was a shambles before the flood but now there's an excuse!

Also running low on railroad ballast and talus.  I was using 4 different types and started the project with all of these bins full.  I have made a tactical error here as I never wrote down the names of the different ballast products and those are now "lost forever".   The rubble terrain making technique I've developed for this project does not involve painting so I'm lucky the supplies held out until the project was finished.

What are the blank hexes for - I'm doing some testing on making generic "countryside" terrain in 15mm scale and so have 2 road, 2 clear and 2 to be forested hexes to see how it looks.   I'm kind of all in on hex terrain.

Using lots of different texture sizes is important to getting a good look on the table top - I've found four is a really good match and its worth the few extra steps to ensure things don't have too uniform of a look.

Looks like a trip to the hardware store is in the cards for later this week

Stalingrad Project: The Third and Final Section is Done!

 

The Southern end of the Stalingrad table is now done!  This section was a smaller 2ft x 6ft section and includes the Univermag Department Store.

The last of the 11 iconic locations from the battle to be completed is the "House of Specialists". It was a large multi story apartment complex that provided an excellent observation post for the Germans to call in Artillery and Air Strikes onto the far side of the Volga.  The current rendition is a re-purposed early version of the Grundin Mill that I converted and repainted.  The model is scratch build from pink foam and was way to small for the Mill but happened to be the right size (3 hexes) for the House of Specialists!

Two of the centerpiece locations on the table is the Univermag Department Store and Red Square.  I put a lot of effort into scratch building both and am very pleased with how they came out.  I need to add a bit more battle damage to the Univermag and may green up Red Square. Having something with a little bit of greenery will really contrast with the drabness of all the urban rubble.

A shot from the front.  Some battle damage has been added but I found it strangely hard to put holes into "my precious" model.

A street level view.  The park did have small trees through out but really didn't have a row of tree along the street next to the department store.  I tossed them in on a whim and kind of like them

Just west of the Department Store is the "L" shaped  Nail Factory which saw very heavy fighting in later part of September.  Next to it is a generic apartment block.  To be honest, the apartment block is on first on the list to be replaced as I tweak the board.  There are two reasons - it's a bit to flat and clean looking (hard edges) and its too tall to be on the edge of the table - player will get caught on it as the lean over it to reach units in the middle of the board.  There is a 99.9% chance it gets "belly squished" during game play.

Some Russian village buildings that are currently being pressed into service as worker home.  At this stage in the battle most of these wooden structures where reduced to ash, rubble and a chimney so I'll likely replace these also.  The buildings are MDF kits for "Things for the Basement" and are very nice.

A shot looking at the rear of the Department store.

A last picture looking at the other side of the House of Specialists.

My gaming table is 8ft by 4ft so will not fit the 10x6ft size of the Stalingrad set up.  I will be adding some 1 ft table extensions so I can set the whole thing up but that will need to wait for warmer weather.   To try and give you an impression of how the table looks here are pictures of each of the sections:

Southern (it's just the left half of the image)

The Middle Section.  The souther section is to the left and the Northern one to the right.

The Northern section.  Since this photo was taken, I have repainted the roads to match the same color that was used on the other table sections.

The entire table is 30 x 18 hexes which is a total of 540 4 inch hexes.  That was a lot of work but I think worth it as the hexes are easy to reconfigure and break down pretty efficiently for storage / transport.  I'll probably build another 150-200 more open terrain hexes for non urban scenarios for the rules I'm writing whic have the working title: Company Command: Kompanie vs Rota.  I'm pretty sure having an over-wrought title is required for any ruleset.

There is still a lot of detail / scatter terrain work to do but that is more on the "nice-to-have" rather "got-to-have" list of things to add.  I also need to continue all the rail lines across the lower and upper sections of the board.  For some idioc reason, I decided to scratch build all the railroad track.  It has a nice "crafty-look" but it is very, very tedious to do.

Some of the items I want to add are

 - trench hexes

 - street barricades

 - wrecked vehicles

 - LED lighting effects for fires

 - artillery craters

 - a little more river front details (docks, maybe some wrecked rivercraft.

Stalingrad Project: No Paint Rubble Base Scenicing

I have stumble upon an easy no-painting way to scenic infantry bases for an urban / rough terrain look.  Here's a close up of the first platoon I've experimented on.  It took me less than a minute to finish these bases.

A comparison of the urban rubble bases to my "standard"  basing.  For Stalingrad, I'm thinking of using different basing types to denote troop experience.  Those that have the traditional green foliage bases will be inexperienced / conscript troops, while those with rubble bases are Veteran / Guards.

When adding texture and rubble to hex terrain, I use a cheap aluminum pan to catch the run off.  After making 500+ hexes, it has a considerable amount of ground texture materials.

For the miniature bases, I paint the bases edge with Vallejo tan-earth and then put on a light coat of undiluted modge podge (a cheap form of matte medium) and then dunkt the bases in the bin.  After shaking off the excess I hit the bases with a spritz of water from a spray bottle which draws up the medium to bind everything and the base is set aside to set.  It's ready to go after that.

I like the look but will add a bit more tile grout to reduce the percentage of rocks (model rail road ballast).

The next experiment is to just use the tile grout and then add some ground foam for more standard bases but I think I've stumbled on a really easy way for basing.

Stalingrad Project: Final Road Sections are Laid Down

The road sections and curbs have been completed and have 2 coats of paint.  I'll put a third coat on these tomorrow.

The next step will be to scratch build a few more ruins )most are single hext structures and then figure our how to do the parl section (red square) in the center.

Getting close to done!
 

Stalingrad Project: Preparing for the Last Terrain Push

 

The last batch of hexes needed for the Stalingrad project have been cut out.  

This section of the table will be a lot of fun to build as it has iconic buildings like the Univermag Department store and the Nail Factory plus some actual green space in Red Square.  Red Square still would have some green in it as of Sept'42 but it will need to be muted or it will appear to jarring with the rest of the purposely drab table.

The Univermag Department store has been patiently waiting for me to get to this point.  I'm looking forward to painting and getting this iconic building "tabletop ready".

There is one iconic building left to scratch build - the "House of Specialists" which is located in the lower right corner of the map image.  The research for this building is ongoing as I'd like ot to be as realistic as I can make it.

It's exciting to get the terrain portion of this project almost over the finish line.  There is still a lot of work to do on detailing and scatter terrain plus the rules need to be tested.  Stalingrad is the most ambitious gaming project I've undertaken and I suspect I'll be running it at multiple conventions - well assuming the game isn't a disaster!

Project Stalingrad: Middle Section Done

 

The middle section of the table is now fully built.  I still need to add some weathering pigments and a few details but I need to order some more and like to let the base terrain fully cure for a few days before weathering.

I like how it came out

Now two pictures from the German table edge - The train station in the lower right corner 

I think the table is shaping up nicely.

When embarking on a project like this, doing some prep-work and planning really makes it easier to accomplish.  I made a mockup of the table in powerpoint which has been used to guide the build out.  The section in today's post is within the "black box" on the chart.  The section to the right was finished a few month ago so all that is left is the roughly 2' x 6' section on the left.

Here's a picture of the right side section

and another one of it all packed up

Just a few weeks ago central Stalingrad looked like this, I'm very happy with the pace of the project.

Once the table is fully built the really fun part of the project starts - scatter terrain and super detailing the table.