_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu
http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lHi All,
Got my first order of ships, yesterday, from the very nice Nic at Eureka
Miniatures. One of those ESU starter sets. Hoo-rah!
A question about the FT210 Petrograd Battleship - the 'wing' seems to
fit nicely either way up, one side is fairly plain, the other has a domish
shape moulded on it, and elsewhere, what appear to be fuel lines or similar in
a recess. Is there a 'correct' way up for this wing?
At www.pantoffelhelden.de, you should find a German gaming group's homepage
which has, in English, a couple of good articles on modeling space. They
recommend slicing polystyrene balls in half to make planets. At a local fabric
wholesalers, in amongst their hobby and craft supplies (for quilting, teddy
bear making, scrapbooking, etc), I discovered large plastic globes, seemingly
designed to make large
christmas tree-type decorations. These globes come apart to form two
hemispheres which are just the berries to make planets out of (and less messy
than polystyrene). The globes appear to come in 8cm and 10cm diametres (that's
about 3.2 and 4 inches, I think).
I coated them with PVA and pasted on tissue paper. Then painted them with
poster paint over a black undercoat. A light wash with watered down white,
dabbed off with a paper towel, gives quite a nice 'atmosphere haze'. The
larger ones are gas giants (one in shades of red and brown, the other in blues
and greens), the smaller are rocky worlds
- one with seas and atmosphere, the other one I rolled in my daughter's
sandpit first after a second coat of watered down PVA, then painted in
reds and brown, added an 'ice-cap' in white but didn't 'atmosphere haze'
- it looks quite Mars-like.
All in all, a very pleasing result for a couple of evenings work while
half-watching the TV. While at the fabric shop, I picked up a couple of
metres of black cloth. Our German friends play on black boards and suggest an
interesting way of creating starfields using inverted spray cans. I'll have to
have a bit of an experiment to see if this technique will work on fabric. Now
to paint the ships!
Regards
see also http://members.quixnet.net/deboe/ft/terrain.htm
If you want a larger planet, you can get 12-24" dia wood disks from a
hardware store, or you may be able to find a glass / acrylic 42" dia
tabletop. Or cut a circle out of styrofoam or similar.
Chris wrote on 08/18/2005 07:15:58 AM:
> see also http://members.quixnet.net/deboe/ft/terrain.htm
I love that stuff! Course, it's easy enough to adjust the scale if you wish.
Also, remember that loose scale allowed you to make one side of the table the
edge of the planet, or if you prefer, the edge of atmosphere. See also Ren Leg
stuff, especially, I think, Prefect, for interface mechanics.
> If you want a larger planet, you can get 12-24" dia wood
Could he have been referring to avoiding cutting styro when he said 'and less
messy than polystyrene'? Those are the hobby balls of which I'm aware. I've
noticed smooth 'balls' which tend to be bead styro, and very messy when
hacked, and rough surfaced balls, which I think would be less a problem.
The inverted-spray-cans-on-fabric, and the sputter-splatter you get, is
intriguing, but I've friends that did simple Jackson Pollack, and were quite
happy. I wasn't as pleased with the long stringy drips you get, but I think
they just considered 'em some kind of ionized stretch nebula. *shrug*
I think they also did some fill with toothbrush spray, but that's a LOT of
work over 4x6 or larger cloth. My thumb is aching at the thought!
By the by, yes, I've old Geo-Hex in both hexed and hexless, and quite
like them.
The_Beast
The_Beast
I've never had a problem with messy styrofoam. If you u se a hot wire cutter
you have a few strings to clean and no mess. I have had the urge to make a hot
wire mitre "saw" for making perfectly straight cuts.
Roger Books
> On 8/18/05, Doug Evans <devans@nebraska.edu> wrote:
> Could he have been referring to avoiding cutting styro when he said
Probably, because polystyrene is smelly and fragile but not messy.
Blueboard styrofoam also doesn't make a mess. And if you're going to do any
ground combat terrain, you should get a hot wire cutter, about $35 for a basic
one.
I pretty much agree, though things like packing inserts, with GREAT shapes
for buildings/ruins/etc, are generally bead styro, and that can have
pesky beads floating around, electrostatically sticking in all the wrong
places.
I've wanted a hot wire 'mitre' to be able to do consistently angled bevels.
I've never been able to give my 'collapsible' terrain a proper try.
Roger wrote on 08/18/2005 09:23:32 AM:
> I've never had a problem with messy styrofoam. If you u
Ok, once again demonstrating ignorance du plastic, isn't styro merely foamed
polystyrene? What makes styrene poly, then? Oh, nevermind, as this is going
WAY OT. I'll just go Googleing.
Chris wrote on 08/18/2005 09:41:44 AM:
> > Could he have been referring to avoiding cutting styro
The_Beast
I built a pair of planets from a 6" styrofoam ball a few years ago.
One pic each here: http://www.warbard.ca/ftgallery.html
One done up as Earth-like, one Mars-like.
I've still got them, but they really need rebuilding - the plaster's
gotten all battered.
There's some details of building them at the gallery page too.
Cheap scenery - I think the ball cost about $2.50/Cdn...