Just started working on terrain for full thrust (and other space games).
My asteroids are lava rocks (from garden nursery) mounted on some aircraft
stands (hex shaped each side numbered 1 - 6) which are mounted on
another
stand (1.5 inch by 1.5 inch by 1/8 inch) for stability. Each stand is
numbered so that (on seperate piece of paper) nasty things can be hidden
(fighter
group on
SA-10641 side 2 for example). They seem to look good and the lava rock
is light enough to mount at unusual angles.
Just started working on comet which is mounted on space ship stand (from non
GZG company) which I plan to put cotton on to simulate the tail. It is not yet
finished so no comments.
I have purchased styrofoam balls to simulate planets but I have only got
to the point of painting. I'm testing to see what I can use to paint them. Do
not use fixitive as a base coat as it tends to desolve styrofoam but dullcoat
seems to work OK.
G'day,
All sounds cool.
> I have purchased styrofoam balls to simulate planets but I
How big are these styrofoam balls?
One thing to keep an eye out (at toy stores) are the rubber balls made to look
like the earth. As far as I can figure there's a small ball painted like earth
and this is then covered with clear rubber with white paint
twirled throw it for clouds. They look pretty good as earth-like planets
(a
well moulded one has recognisable continents for Earth, but you could use
the less recognisable ones as generic earth-like planets). They're about
5cm in diameter and even though they're solid they mount easily on flight
stands etc. I picked ours up for $4 AU a piece... so you US guys should get
about 200 to the dollar;P;)
Cheers
> On 7/10/02 8:46 PM, "Scott Siebold" <gamers@ameritech.net> wrote:
> Just started working on comet which is mounted on space ship stand
You might want to consider steel wool instead of cotton - much more
durable.
> I have purchased styrofoam balls to simulate planets...
On another list I had wooden balls recommended as a sturdier alternative
-
depends on what your goal is, durability or weight(!)
> On Wed, 10 Jul 2002, Scott Siebold wrote:
> Just started working on comet which is mounted on space ship stand
It
> is not
This should be pretty cool - you can stiffen cotton wool with spray glue
or thinned white glue. (Hair spray works too - borrow your significant
others, or buy some cheap stuff...)
> I have purchased styrofoam balls to simulate planets but I have only
> not use fixitive
See: http://wind.prohosting.com/~warbard/ftgallery.html
The first three pics are the two planets I made a couple of years ago, one
'Earth' and one 'Mars', each from half of a six-inch foam ball. I used
plaster to seal the surface, sanding it smooth on the 'Earth' and leaving it
rough and textured on 'Mars'.
Earth is just painted with the same cheap hobby paints I use for all my
scenery - water first, then continents, then the clouds over. Mars was
stained with several coats of Burnt Umber ink, and the polar cap is just white
paint.
Both of them have gotten a bit banged up, with being transported to games and
back over the last couple of years... I'm going to have to redo my planets
sometime. They look pretty cool, though.
> On Wed, 2002-07-10 at 23:46, Scott Siebold wrote:
Everyone knows that spraypaints melt styrofoam. BUT if you buy
Plasti-Kote spraypaints... they don't!
I find Plasti-Kote pretty reliably at Walmart, the cans are small, like
a can of Testor's.
Just to clarify: Plasti-Kote brand of spraypaints does NOT melt
styrofoam.
> I have purchased styrofoam balls to simulate planets but I have only
> not use fixitive
> On 7/10/02 8:46 PM, "Scott Siebold" <gamers@ameritech.net> wrote:
I have used cotton for splash marks for naval games and they can be extremely
durable. The secret is to use a fine mist of dullcoat to "fix" the cotton into
place. It takes a couple of coats but it works. I did hear a rumor that
someone use hair net (as in spray) but I don't know how or if it worked.
The only problem I would see with steel wool is that I plan to have a tail at
least 4 to 5 inches long and it may imbalance the stand and tail crashing
comets might get a little embarrassing.
> I have purchased styrofoam balls to simulate planets...
Sounds like a good idea. Ill check at the craft store for wooden balls. We
even have a carpentry store which may carry them.
> The only problem I would see with steel wool is that I plan to have a
> embarrassing.
Posible solutions if this is indeed a problem:
- make the head heavier (include some lead pellets at the front
- use a bigger base
- mount the supporting rod at an angle, leaning forward
Greetings