I've made quite a bit of progress on the lower levels of the board since the last installment. The mine level is nearly done, and now you can see all of the extra bits I've added to bring it together. I used one of the old resin Forgeworld 12" x 12" floor tiles (now OOP) to create a raised platform with a couple of Plastruct truss structures and some cut foam so it looks like the wrecked Goliath drove onto its platform from something. You can also see the test fit of the fragdrill in the upper quadrant. Also reealed is the reason for the green LED lights that were in the "effects package" for the mine level - they're glowing green crystals of course! I epoxied some quartz crystals together in order to create them, as if you've got a mine, there should be something exotic down there to actually extract!
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| Lower mine level - nearly done! |
The photo below shows a slightly wider perspective so you can see both the flooring and the ceiling with all of the light fixtures actually installed. I've also cleaned up the lower edge of where the rock face meets the floor with some talus (coarse, medium, and fine) glued down with Matte Medium. In the photo below you can also see all three of the green crystals. It was a fun and only slightly cheesy effect, but I'm happy with it.
Moving on to the hive level, the ceiling is finally (!) wired up as you can see in the photo below. I've also added Plastruct truss structures here to help create a bit of a gap underneath the ceiling grid so I could more easily run the wiring for the LEDs. I have all of the wires running through a few plastic clamps to ensure they pass easily through the Underhive walls. I was only able to get the wiring for two lights through each clamp because of the size of the resistors (since I didn't want the bulky resistors to be underneath the ceiling tile - or technically above the ceiling tile as this whole assembly will be inverted in the final board.
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| Did someone ask for a light? |
Speaking of the lower walls, the photo below shows one of the Underhive walls completed and ready for install. I've used one of my Soviet greens from Ammo of MIG for the base color, and then I've liberally used Mig's Oilbrushers to create the streaking effects on the wall. I scratch built the piping from Plastruct and other components. My son and I happened across a pack of six of the large circular vents while picking up some supplies at the hardware store, so I decided to integrate them into the design. I finalized the design with some decals. The number comes from one of the Imperial sets from Games Workshop, while the Cult graffiti comes from Scumb4g Kustoms - whose decals grace most of the army!
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| I just got this built, and it's already been tagged! |
I've gotten the basecoats on the other wall which I detailed in an earlier entry as well. Now the large holes (for the vents) likely make a lot more sense. I've also added some buttresses I found in a very deep bits box dive from the old, out of production, Imperial Sector terrain box. I still have one of those boxes lying around unopened which I figure I'll pop open and build one of these days. Alternately, given the way GW prices for OOP kits have been going, I could hang onto it for a few more years and put my kid through college.
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| Underhive mock-up before attaching the ceiling |
You can also see some of the various Necromunda terrain I'm working on finishing up. The base coats of Ammo of Mig protective green and the various rust shades are done, but I still have all of the washes and detail painting to finish up. I also found a very old Adeptus Mechanicus symbol (as this is supposed to be a Forge World), that I decided to get painted up and add to the terrain.
I still have a really long way to go, but I'm making real progress. The wiring ended up taking a lot more time than I'd hoped, especially since I decided to use so many of the square chip LEDs which had to all be wired from scratch. After Armies on Parade is over, I'll post a few more "how to" articles on how I got all of this insanity together.
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