Chaos Castle Pt. 2 - Basing and further building

Now that I've got a structure to work with I can move on to basing. What you make your base from will very much depend on what you're looking for. In keeping with the recycling theme I'm making a cardboard base, but not just because I want to recycle as much as possible - it's also a great base as it is stiff, light, strong and best of all free. You could use foam board (delicate but very light), MDF/masonite/chipboard (strong but heavy but not ideal for putting on top of other terrain) or in fact any other fairly thin material that you like. Another reason why I like using cardboard is because it stands up to knocks/bumps and falls better than any other material and you can shape it easily using a modelling knife, bread knife, retractable knife, shears etc. This makes it a very flexible material - did I mention it's free also?

One thing to bear in mind is this - the bigger the base the thicker it needs to be. In the case of this castle the base will be around 75cm (2.5') in width and around 90cm (3') in depth. This means that it is in no way suitable to use only a single layer of cardboard as it would flex/bend too easily and wouldn't be sturdy enough. To make a solid base I'm going to use 3 layers in a lattice pattern. This makes it extra strong, in fact many times stronger than a single piece of cardboard as thick as the 3 layers of the cardboard I'm using combined.





Above: I'm using some pretty big boxes made from thick card to make this base - leftovers of some electrical items that I bought.

Below: When I say to lay it in a lattice pattern I mean that you should alternate the direction of each layer when you glue them together. You can see the 'grain' of the corrugated cardboard runs in two directions. In corrugated cardboard the outside layers sandwich a centre layer of 'wavy' (re: corrugated) card that gives it strength and protects whatever it is packaging/carrying. The idea is to layer them in opposite directions for each new layer, increasing strength in all directions and making it less prone to bending/flexing. The more layers you add in a lattice formation the stronger it gets, in this case 3 layers will be plenty. Obviously the bigger the base the more layers you'll need (for most small items [i.e. less than 50 x 50cm {}] two layers is plenty).




Above: 2 layers of corrugated cardboard in a lattice configuration.

Below: When gluing layers together use PVA glue, it doesn't matter what brand as they're all the same (regardless of what anyone tells you), what matters is that you use plenty and get good coverage of the two surfaces being glued together. TIP - When you glue cardboard together push them on to each other and then rub the 2 layers together, this will distribute the glue across both surfaces evenly and fill all the cracks, helping it adhere better. It also helps stop big blobs of PVA from forming, which makes it cure faster.



Above: Once you've glued the two layers together put some evenly distributed weight on top. This will make the final bond between them that much stronger and more consistent.

Below: The third layer isn't a full layer per se. Instead, I'm using 3 off large off cuts as stiffening boards. Again I've used plenty of glue, put them in a lattice formation, placed some evenly distributed weight on top and given them a few hours to dry.




Below: You don't have to do this but I like to, particular on cardboard bases of this size. After poking two holes in the base I've used a twist tie (most often found on bread bags and new electric cables) and pushed it through each hole. Once done you simple twist it off until it's tight and then move on to the next hole. This may seem like overkill but I like doing this on bigger bases, by no means do you have to do the same.





Above and Below: All tied off. I used 5 ties, though I would've used 6 if I didn't run out. Again this isn't strictly necessary, I just like to make sure.




Above: Once the base is all dry and ready to go it's time to mark out where it's going to be cut. When cutting the edge try to cut it at about a 15 degree angle - this makes it slope off so that it looks better on the battlefield and doesn't come to an abrupt 90 degree angle.

Below: Cutting the base. You can use a bread/modelling/retractable knife, but always make sure that you're cutting away from yourself and take it slowly. Slipping and cutting yourself is not pleasant.




Above: The cut and finished base, all ready to have the castle glued to it.

Below: The foam walls, glued to to the base. It takes a lot longer for glue to cure when gluing foam and cardboard together. Also, be very wary using anything other than PVA (craft glue) on foam - most other glues either won't bond strongly enough, or they'll melt the foam. If in doubt, test it on a scrap piece first. You can see I've also glued the carved off pieces of foam to make the buttresses match. Don't worry about any small gaps as they'll be covered over with filler.

Above: The boxes are going to form the base of a rocky outcrop, on the front of which will be a portal.

Below: I cut a slot in the back of the bigger box, so that I could wedge the smaller box into it. This also makes it a lot stronger, particularly since I glued, stapled and taped it all together.

Below: Using a utility knife I cut lots of nicks/wedges/holes in the sides of the boxes, so that filler, rocks and other items I add aren't the only depth it's given. This also draws attention away from the fact that the rocky outcrop is, in fact, boxes.

Up next - texture, the portal, adding detail and generally making the castle look pretty EEEeeeevil!

Make your own Steampunk Nerf Maverick and CS-6 Guns (also known as 'A lapse in concentration')

Though not technically related to this blog I felt that I should add this, safe in the knowledge you will approve of such deviant content.

For those of you who are not aware, 'Nerf' is a Hasbro brand (to which I am in no way affiliated) of wonderfully pointless toys designed to allow children and adult-children (henceforth known as childults) to shoot one another with foam darts. Being that I'm a childult I was compelled to purchase one for both myself and my partner who was almost more excited than I was to have her very own Nerf pistol.

After getting home and wrestling our respective Nerf guns from their boxes, a half hour skirmish ensued - adult chasing adult with scant regard for knick-knack, item of memorabilia or tumbler glass. Later reflecting upon our chase we determined that it was much fun, 'But wouldn't it be cooler if they made Steampunk Nerf guns?' crooned my out-of-breath significant other. Turning to meet her enthusiastic smile I made an astonishing discovery: that Steampunk Nerf guns would be awesome, and how good was I for having thought of them? With this in mind I told her that 'I will make for us now Steampunk Nerf guns, so that we may use them and smile!'. Hence from that place I went and traversed the arduous space between the couch and the fridge, after which my machinations took shape once I'd polished off some delicious Sprunk. Ahem...

First thing is you start with a Nerf gun (or more as the case may be). You then have to take them apart so that you can see where you have to spray.






When spraying (I used Citadel Chaos Black spray) make sure that you get in all the nooks and crannies but not on any slides/frictive surfaces. This means spraying a single coat and then pulling everything back and spraying it, being sure to get every square inch. Leave them to dry for a couple of hours on a hook/peg/washing line/narcoleptic sloth.





Once they're dry the plan is to drybrush them (see my Terrain Boards Pt 4 tutorial for a guide). I used a rather large brush (about 1" [25mm] across), making it much faster to complete than you might think (a couple of hours it took me). I used a 'Tinbitz' metallic (I think) to paint the body, 'Chainmail' metallic to paint the barrels/detail and 'Burnished Gold' metallic for writing/crests. I built up a few layers of drybrushing and it turned out really nicely (just make sure you drybrush in all the corners [there are many]).

Here is a pic after the first round of drybrushing



The finished beasties (that said I'd like to add some brass engraved plates, copper tubes etc. but I wanted to make sure they still worked well and weren't just ornaments):




I couldn't help it...


I'd like to Steampunk some more items but with 1001 projects on my hands we'll see how that goes. Please feel free to comment and suggest Steampunk'able items or to add links to other cool Steampunk stuff, like this.

PLEASE NOTE: In no way do I endorse nor take responsiblity for any mods you make to any 'Nerf' brand foam projectile launchers and so on and so forth. On the side of each toy it says 'Do not modify darts or dart blaster'. You have been warned. Oh, and apparently if you live in the USA you should make sure that the tip of the barrel remains bright orange - something to do with legalities and safety etc. But then you wouldn't modify a 'Nerf' dart blaster, would you?

Cheers!