Eldar Craftworld table

Part 2. Materials, purchased terrain, and Prototypes

(Part 1 can be found here.)

Materials

With a plan in place I needed to figure out materials to use. I thought about MDF but decided that it would be too hard to work with and could get expensive if I screwed up too much. I looked for a mat that might fit the bill or even an image I could get enlarged and placed under clear Plexiglas. Nether really worked for what I wanted to do. In the end I decided to go with good old pink foam. I have a lot of experience working with it and it is more forgiving if I make a mistake. It is also lighter than the other options. More details on materials will be included in future posts.

The Gamer standby!

Terrain

For the above table features I decided to go with terrain from http://miniaturescenery.com/

These guys have been in business since 2005 and know their stuff. I ordered some of their entire elven line. http://miniaturescenery.com/CategoryPage.asp?CODE=CAT_ELV

The Elven Tower

Elven Dais

Elven Uridium Space Modulators

Elvan walkways (2)

These were modified for my use

And the sanctuary of souls

Makes a cool defense line too

These kits are really neat and I recommend them if you like the look of MDF scenery

Prototypes

I worked on several prototypes to figure out how I wanted the table to look. I thought about sanding the table to give it texture, this did not go so well.

The sand did NOT go well.

I had an extra 2’ by 2’ section so did it up trying several techniques most of them sucked. It did teach me how to make the table though! The pictures below are for the tests piece. It did NOT make it to the final table.

Shapes cut out with a knife and wire cutter. A little too busy.

Spackle used to smooth out defects in the foam. when dry they were sanded.

Primed black

Base coat of Medium brown

a darker tan was applied over the brown.

The lines were pre-shaded (this did not work so well so was not done on the final piece)

A bone color was added to finish the effect (note the black paint showing through...)

Colors were added to some spots as accents. (this also sucked and was not used on the final table)

Stuck in with the rest of the foam to get an idea of the tables appearance.

I made this Eldar portal from plans I found on Dakka Dakka

The final paint color was pretty close to what I was looking for to complement the Charity Army bases

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/163483-Eldar%20Aspect%20Shrine%202.html?m=2&w=600

My version- needs weathering  but the base color looks good.

The base color scheme

In the end I decided that the best results were from the smooth finish highlighted below. And with the right colors it should look pretty cool. 

The circled section is how I decided to go. BTW you will see that piece again...

 Well that is it for now. 

In the next installment we go into production where I will cover building the MDF terrain, cutting the foam and making the huge hill that dominates more than half a 2 foot section as well as the construction of the water feature!

Later

RGH