A monumental task

Just as it was with the basing, terrain just took over.  It required such a vastly different setup, it took many hours to get everything in place.

This image is a bit of an illustration as to why I had to remake this monument for the video.  The original monument on the left is at least five inches TALLER than what you can see in this image!

So, I had to redo that, scaling it down by measuring what the camera would be able to show in the actual setup.  Also, it turned out that due to waiting for things like glue and oxide paste to dry, I needed to make even MORE of them.

Unlike paint, one does not simply take a hair dryer to soft foam to make it dry when you want!  Here we have the Obelisks...

And now the Mayan Totem.  Reworked to fit the screen, and be much easier to handle.

In that time where I waited for things to dry, I had done some prefabricated pieces on the next demonstration in line to use that time as best as possible.

I only went so far with that, since I did want to show some of the cuts.

I figured that people would get very bored very quickly if all I showed was me making the same cuts 16, 32 or 64 times! :-)  That was another reason to fast forward in that manner.

My blue painter's tape is always a critical ally when gluing foam!

Super sharp brand new blade to cut my snakes on a pole...

Glued in place.

Sand and gravel, and Voila!

But wait, there's more!  Oxide paste to fill gaps, add texture and even strength to the joints and connections.

Forts and Towers!

Yes, you are seeing a WHOLE lot of terrain.  Maybe that's 'cause a whole week was spent on it.

These were even more complex to film than the basing videos, as it turned out.

Set ups like this definitely took a bit of time to arrange...

Ah yes, the Dreaded Watchtower!

There was a lot of waiting for things to dry, so during those times, I tried to grab the next set of terrain and some some work on those pieces.

This was one of the few finished sample pieces that I could use... long story!

The Watchtower continues...

Yes, those are pieces of cereal boxes!

These were so tough to make, I needed to enlist the help of Wage the Master Builder.

Now for the filming of the Watchtower.

A whole new type of doorway.  I tried to show you a few different ways to do roofs, doors, and so on.

Gotta have windows!

Oxide Paste!  That means we must be getting close to the end...

Fin.

Step into the vortex

While it was a bummer to discover that I had to completely redo the warpgate terrain due to the GW bits, it did mean that I could make improvements on the pieces.

Just using a layer of pink foam on top of the foam core was helpful, since foam core alone has a tendency to warp once it is painted.  Pink foam does not!

The new unpainted gates side by side...

And then it was time for some painting.

I don't know if I want to walk into that...

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

One more bike added!  The next one will be a little different, as it is the Sergeant with lightning claws...

As the unit begins to take shape, it dramatizes the effect of those Dragon Forge bases.  Fantastic stuff.

Just two more to go and the unit is complete!

Stay tuned for more enraged Mongol Space Marines!

Hey... where ya goin'?

Uh oh!!!

A warped perspective...

Much to my horror a while back, I realized that the warp gate that I wanted to use for that terrain video had GW bits plastered all over it.  That meant constructing a whole new terrain piece. :-(  Very sad for me, since that turned out to be many hours lost.

At least I got to show of my ancient veteran welder's glove!  Safety first...

Since most of you probably don't have a $200+ mat cutting machine as part of your hobby equipment, I created a cutting rig that should be easy for anyone to make for themselves pretty easily.

Goin' 'round in circles... so it seemed.

The new warp gate with power generator towers that are NOT made by a certain cranky miniatures company.

Conduits everywhere! Gotta spread that juice around.

Ready for painting!

The White Comet

One more bike!  This time with a chain sword.

I have to say, these have turned out to be more fun to paint than I expected.  I figured they would mostly be a nightmare.  Happily, that is not the case!

As the squad progresses, I learn how to do each area more efficiently.  Of course, I will have these mastered just when there are no more to paint!! :-)

Also, I think the fact that these are more of a cool/neutral gray has piqued my interest.  I never get the chance to paint pure white, so this is very cool!  I will be painting some other figs with this scheme as see how that goes.