90's inspired 40,000 terrain

How I start most of my fights! :)

Still it's why none of my terrain fits away neatly and why all of KingOfTheLeadPile's ends up looking so beautiful and neatly packs away. Despite endlessly thinking I really must try to do that I never seem able to!
 
KingOfTheLeadPile said:
Well, what can I say... I am German, I have to over engineer stuff due to cultural heritage ;)
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Do I make a comment on some of them.. erm.. Over engineered to a point of being useless Super Tanks (Landkrezuzer) and the Krummlauf which were... well, still used, still pretty bad..? ^_^
that said, compared to what the UK is playing out in our design trade at the moment ¬_¬;
 
I glued the sheet of paper with the templates onto a 2mm sheet of plastic card.



2025-01-18____11-15-29-w960.jpg

view full sized image [4032x2268]
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Fearing the drill would rip the paper of the plastic (which it indeed did), I scored all the lines first, used a pin to transfer the center holes onto the plastic, then drilled the holes.




As... ahm... clearly mentioned before, this was of course only prototyping, not a real production run... ahem...


Eric said:
[...]Not sure how you are going to drill out a 7mm hole in an 8x8mm bit of board, that'll take some serious skill![...]
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As @Eric pointed out, the 7mm holes in an 8mm square might turn out problematic. I did drill the holes, before actually cutting the squares out of the sheet, still... I obviously don't have the serious skill needed... Some of the holes merged. I guess I did not hit the centers good enough, and with little margin there was, that being slightly off overlapped with the next hole, which probably also wasn't center enough.




With all the pieces (I did not even bother with the roof squares), I used Tamiya plastic cement and assembled the pieces.




As by now it was clear this was not working out as expected, I wasn't too concerned about neatness.




Couple issues:


  • The roofs fit lengthwise to the slanting parts of the walls. But, I did not take into account their thickness, so I free-handed a chamfer to fit them in, need to give this issue some thought.

  • I glued the outer box first, then tried to glue the inner walls in, then the roof. Need to reverse that. First the inner construction, then the roof (to be able to reach it from the underside when trying to slide it in place) then the outer box around that.


Otherwise, the design basically turned out as exptected.


When I placed the Dark Angles Captain (which I painted in the 90's... ) besides the structure, it seemed a bit small. So I took another shot, also with a 'normal' Marine (also late 90's or early 2000's...) without exaggerated helmet ornaments,




to try and compare it with the size from the original photo:




My structure seems a bit small to me, so version 2 will be slighty larger. Which should hopefully also solve some of the drilling holes issues, if I keep the holes the same size.


Just as a starting point, I think I will go with the assumption that the original image was with 25mm models, mine are rather 28mm, so with a factor of 1.12; considering today's miniatures are 32mm, perhaps also with 1.28, or 1.25 which is a nicer looking factor.


Next step will definitely first be a paper mock to check the size.


Any other comments and advice welcome.
 
I'm impressed even with 2mm plasticard you managed to get so many neat holes. Top marks. Standard drill bits are never ideal for thin materials once you get past about the thickness of the material in question. I suspect a mill might do better. Much as the scratch builder in me is loathe to say, but designing the roof in 3D software and resin printing it would probably get the best result. However if you don't have someone to hand with a printer then not a simple option. I wonder if scale wise standard binder "hole punch" sized holes would work? You'd need thiner plasticard, but you might be able to cut some holes like that and then cut them out as you already described. Or if you don't mind changing the look then use some resin vents from one of the many "bits" shops for the roof?

Certainly size I think is best based on what "feels/looks" right rather than what maybe seems accurate, you are after all trying to re-create the look not the actual piece.

Love seeing WIP like this, so much more interesting than just the finished result.
 
Eric said:
I'm impressed even with 2mm plasticard you managed to get so many neat holes. Top marks.
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Thank you :-)

Eric said:
Much as the scratch builder in me is loathe to say, but designing the roof in 3D software and resin printing it would probably get the best result.
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I do own a resin printer, thought about that too, but back in the day they did it by hand... kind of a self imposed challenge for me I guess... It can't be that difficult, can it...? ;-) Current thinking is to use way thinner material for the basic roof layer, so the height does not get in the way, but not decided on that yet.
 
First, well done! Even if it didn't turn out perfectly it's still completely usable. Grible it up, paint it, and put it on the table.

Second, a thought for your second attempt. The holes look to me to be drilled in small squares that were applied on top of a sheet. That could make your job easier. Maybe drill a bunch of holes in your plasticard with a nice, sharp drill first, and then cut the squares out around them? Should be a simpler and more reliable process. Less fiddly.
 
oh, these things never turn out perfect. When I was doing alot of conservation work in woodlands and stuff, and we had to build a bridge or something, the term was 'rustic' ^_^
 
symphonicpoet said:
First, well done! Even if it didn't turn out perfectly it's still completely usable. Grible it up, paint it, and put it on the table.
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Thank you.

symphonicpoet said:
The holes look to me to be drilled in small squares that were applied on top of a sheet.
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No, I glued the paper with the template to a sheet of plastic, the drilled the holes in the large plastic sheet. I did first score the square outline with a knife, but basically did what you propose. Thanks anyways.
 
KingOfTheLeadPile said:
No, I glued the paper with the template to a sheet of plastic, the drilled the holes in the large plastic sheet. I did first score the square outline with a knife, but basically did what you propose. Thanks anyways.
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I think he meant how the original looked to more how yours looked ^_^
 
ManicMan said:
hI think he meant how the original looked to more how yours looked ^_^
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Ah, thank you for translating, totally misunderstood @symphonicpoet , sorry.

Yes, I also will glue squares onto the roof, with a hole. But I want the hole to go through the roof, so I drill the holes into roof plus the squares that go on top.
From the inside I will then glue a mesh or something to make the hole visually more interesting.

You can see the squares in this pic
KingOfTheLeadPile said:
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At the bottom.

But when I noticed that this build will not make it, I didn't bother with them anymore, that is why they are not glued to my prototype.
 
^^Ooh, is that essentially a hole punch, as one might use for leather or cloth? (Sharpened tubular tip, put the item to be punched onto soft wood, bang the back with a hammer or potentially even the but of your hand if it's not too stiff?) Great idea! Should have thought of that. :) Might be a revolving punch pliers might work as well? Why do I suddenly feel the urge to do a little tool shopping?

And Manic Man, thanks for the clarification. I had indeed been referring to the original.
 
symphonicpoet said:
^^Ooh, is that essentially a hole punch, as one might use for leather or cloth?
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Yes, essentially. But you don't need to hammer it, just twist and the sharp edge cuts neatly. Good on paper, card, leather, foam... not used it on plasticard/HIPS but I imagine with a bit more twisting it would be fine.
 
I made a paper mock of the upper structure with all measurements times 1.25. Looks much better in my oppinion, will go with that size.




I then created the structure in OpenSCAD, to check how the struts would look in comparison.

​

The initially planned 5mm struts​

With 6mm struts​

With 7mm struts​

And with 8mm struts​



I have not decided yet which to my eye looks closest in proportion compared to the original I am trying to replicate, but the 5mm are definitely too spindly.

What do you think?


Also, I will probably increase the height, but that does not mean any fundamental changes to the design, just cutting the struts to different lengths, so that decision will be made during the building process, when I see the actual model.
 
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