INGREDIENTSEvery good project needs a good set of ingredients needed for its success. Ingredients might not be the best word to use as it really is more of a cooking term but as this is my WIP I thought I'd use whatever word I liked..... The real reason I used the word 'ingredients' is that I have suffered from a recent debilitating brain fart and can not think of the word.
Its always wise to have everything you need for a project ready at hand. There is nothing more frustrating than making some real progress on your project and then having to abruptly stop because you were missing something that you need.
Normally you would have a very good plan of attack before gathering your tools and this entry is no exception. Unfortunately the scanner is not working properly so my sketches will have to wait till the near future. Once you have a really well thought out and planned idea on how you are going to go about your project gather all the tools and resources that you will need.
Normally I would not really bother with such a thing as 'organization' or 'being prepared' but as this is something alittle bit different and has a tight time constraint I thought I would gather it all first before making a start on my entry proper. So here is a list of the tools and core materials that I will be using in this entry and in no specific order (you even get a photo too).
1. Water Effects. Water effects are good at creating water effects. Funny really how that works. This entry will use some puddles on the surface as well as some areas of dampness underground. Also good for glistening entrails.
2. Paints. Any project is going to look a little plain without some color. The paints you see are not the specific ones that I will be using as I have not thought of the color palette as of yet. That will come much later. My choice of paints are Citadel Color and the Vallejo Range.
3. Masking tape. Useful in so many different ways from holding things together to masking off areas. The main reason for the tape is to bulk out the trees that will be present on the piece.
4. Glues. Hard to stick things together with out them. Plastic cement to glue plastic on plastic and super glue for just about everything else. The super glue you see in the pic is of the cheap stuff, $2 for lots of tubes.
5. Pencils. Used to mark things. Very handy for transferring templates and for creating certain textures. A HB pacer for sharp lines and a 2B for marking large areas.
6. Toothbrush. Another multiple use object from scrubbing plastic and metal minis to flicking paint and adding textures. This is an older toothbrush where the bristles are slightly worn.
7. PVA Glue. The best thing for gluing polystyrene and other non super glue friendly items.
8. Plaque Base (probably spelt wrong). The whole scene will sit on this very nice and cheap base. Nothing ruins a project more than a sloppy base. These MDF bases are incredibly cheap from thrift shops, come in a range of styles and can easily be cut if required.
9. Sprays. The black spray is for speedy undercoating/keying surfaces. The Rough coat is to add texture. When used lightly the rough coat not only adds texture but even coats polystyrene without harming it.
10. Bitz. Never start a project without them. These are just the bits that I had already selected for the project including zombies, the victims, a necromancer and other random bits of the macabre.
11. Lego. This is used to square up joins. More on this later.
12. Static Grass and Modeling Sand. Good stuff. Used to add a nice grassy and sandy surface. Do not ever substitute the purpose sold stuff for beach stuff. In my mind its inferior and looks crap. And do not even think of using dirt from the backyard unless you are doing a muddy surface.
13. Modeling Clay. My choice of clay is air drying. No cooking needed. This will have multiple applications in the entry especially on the trees. I shall be sculpting the bark and be adding some undulations to the ground. Full tutorials on these soon.
14. Fomecore. Light, strong and easy to cut. This stuff is absolutely golden. Better than card for building walls as it has depth. The foam allows textures to be imprinted on it. Can be stuck together with a strong bond using PVA. The one real drawback is it does not take well to aerosol sprays on and exposed foam surfaces.
15. Wire. Bought from a cheap shop. I chose something that is easy to work with as it will form the basis for my trees. Also good for pinning miniatures together when required.
16. Cutting Implements. Snips for models and the stanley knife for other aspects on the project. always be careful when using (not that I am, I prefer to cut towards myself as I seem to find I get better control.... Do so at your own risk)
17. Paint Brushes. Old ones for working with glue and new ones for applying paint. Brushes are also useful for feathering sculpted clay surfaces.
18. Graph paper. Very handy stuff for drawing on plans. The graph itself is very handy as it allows you to square up lines much easier than when using blank paper.
19. Ruler. Always have a metal ruler of a length suitable for your project. As none of my cuts are going to be very long a regular 300mm ruler is plenty.
20. Tape Measure. I actually will not be needing this unless an impromptu gaming session breaks out in the immediate vicinity.
NEXT TIMEThe sketch of my plan (hopefully) and the start of the underground section to this diorama.
