Ishoo Wun-Sixteen: Ruined Concrete Walls.

Continuing the back to basics trend here at TFH, it's time to look at some simple ruined concrete walls. We've done these before - way back when I built the My First Underhive terrain set, but these are a little different. They came out of the same planning session with Pete as the rock spires from last ishoo and are intended to be scale-agnostic enough that we can use them in Gaslands and mighty ruins or in 28mm scale games as low ruins. And in an attempt to make them more durable than our polystyrene, foamcore, or cardboard walls, they're made from MDF.

And there you have it Hippo Fans! Hopefully, these walls will prove more resistant to the destructive forces of HGC club storage. And hopefully you'll be back for the nest ishoo (in about half an hours time since I already have that one completed and sort of forgot to post this one for a few days...)

Ishoo wun-fifteen: Rock Spires.

In the old days when I first got into this hobby, rock spires were a big thing. They were always turning up in White Dwarf pictures, and they were one of the first terrain projects I undertook - almost certainly the very first time I used polystyrene. Which makes it a bit odd that I have never actually posted any to the blog. Of course, terrain technology has marched on. Those first rock spires I made used 10mm thick sheets of low density foam cut to shape and slathered in plaster. These days it's easy to get high density styrofoam insulation sheet and I've learned much more effective texturing techniques. So with the increasing interest in Gaslands at my club, it seemed like a good time to build some 'scale agnostic' terrain like rock spires which could be used in Gaslands as well as all the 28mm games we play. So here's Grot to show you the way!

Note: He toothpicks will add some strength and stop the pieces slipping around while they dry - they're even more important on thinner spires which are more fragile than this one.

Note: Extend about 5-7cm of blade, dig it into the polystyrene horizontally, and then flick your wrist to twist the blade sideways. It will rip a chunk out and give a nice stratified effect.

Note: My jigsaw is mounted upside-down to this jigsaw table - that's the blade coming up through the whole.

And there you have it hippo fans! It's quick and easy to make a whole table worth of these (which is exactly what I did - I ended up with nine seperate pieces ranging from about 5cm across all the way up to about 20cm across. So long as you don't over do the grass they will look perfectly at home in anything from 15mm-28mm scale, and if you just swap static grass out for flock they'll work at smaller scales too. You could leave the grass out, but it helps to seperate the spire from the base visually. Come back soon for the next ishoo which will also tackle one of the classics of my youth in. a scale agnostic way. Or attempt to anyway.

Ishoo Wun-Firteen: Planter boxes

Wow! Two ishoos in a day? That hasn't happened in... I think it happened once before...
While I was working on Orkness Station, I had a bit of spare time waiting for PVA to dry just after I carved the chimney. I was looking at the chimney and thinking that it was a good technique I'd like to showcase in a piece somehow - possibly an ancient dome granary, when I realised there was an easier option - plater boxes. Town councils are always trying to pretty up their public spaces, and no matter what time period, planter boxes seem to fit in. So here's a quick and timeless project. Unleash the eco-freindly Grot!

At this point it's also worth denting in some of the bricks with the blunt end of a paint brush - I forgot to get a photo of that stage... You might also want to roll a ball of crumpled tin foil across the surface to roughen it up too.

And there you go! This is a quick, easy and very effective technique. The brick/stone work really stand out at a distance too - I'm sitting across the room from one of these planter boxes (about four meters away) and I can clearly see the individual blocks. This would make a great effect for some sort of ancient and weather beaten building like a witches tower... hmmm... that's got me thinking...

Ishoo Wun-Eleven: CD Scatter Terrain (swamp and well)

Welcome to the first post of 2019 hippo fans! There hasn't been a lot of action on the blog lately because I have mostly been building cars for Gaslands (and plenty of people have already done excellent tutorials on making those) and painting Cryx ready for Cancon. Unfortunately, Gaslands has been cancelled, and I've run out of Cryx to paint, so today I decided to do some small terrain projects to pass the time, and revived the old CD Terrain concept (or DVDs in this case). 

Rather than just one project, this ishoo will cover two variations on the CD terrain idea - a small swamp and a well.

These really are quick and easy pieces - so much so that I built two of each today - an ideal weekend project! Here's Grot to show you how!

BASE:

SWAMP VERSION:

WELL VERSION:

And there you have it Hippo fans! Two quick, easy scatter terrain projects to really liven up your table. In the morning, once everything is nice and dry, I plan to spray these both down with a coat of super diluted PVA glue with some dishwashing liquid in it - this will soak into all the folliage and really hold it in place. Then I might have a bash at building something else before I have to leave for Cancon -we shall see...