Thanks all

I hope to get the last two canal sections completed this week, and I will put up pics once they're done.

Having seen what the canals add, I think my city could use an additional splash of colour. Are there any of the WWG sets that would have things like a park in them? For natural terrain I would usually turn to clay, sand and glue, but I think that would look wrong here, so a WWG solution would be preferred.

Typically I would link you to the storefront, but it is having issues (that I assume are related to the massive sale). Instead I will link you to the forum topics about the products I recommend for a "park."

Hinterland: Forests TLX Edition is one that could work quite well. Also, The Garden could prove useful as well. There are others, but those two jump to mind due to the TLX compatibility. [/url]

Thanks! They could be ideal. I was also looking at the ground tiles in the Shellendrak set, which have some paths on them.

EDIT: The Garden is perfect - grassy areas with some interesting walls. And why have I not seen Thoumonts before? Doh! Perfect houses, all in one bundle.

Thought I would add some close-up shots of the canal:-

Basic construction:-



The inserts I have made to block off the canal ends (I need one more). The magnets are in the bottom, behind a strip of card I glued along the base of each one:-



Here is one of the magnets in the canal itself. There is another at the other side, and two at the far end. The polarity is such that not only will the magnets hold the inserts, they will also attach to other canal sections:-



And lastly a close-up of the canal interior. Nice, shiny water!:-

How did you get the water to be shiny?

Really, an incredible build! Might I ask what printer you use (and what kind of paper)?

The printer is not my own It is a colour laser printer that I have access to, but I don't know the make or model. The paper is my own, and it is just plain white matt A4 label paper. No particular make, just whatever happens to be on Ebay at the time.

Two coats of acrylic gloss varnish, and then a thick coat of Vallejo Still Water. The varnish dries shiny but not smooth, whereas the Still Water dries like glass, as you can see. I need the varnish first as otherwise the Still Water will not flow over the printed paper properly.

Thanks for the more detailed pictures. You really have put in some work and done some great things here. Keep it up.

On shiny water; I bet you could get away with printing your water on PhotoGloss paper for a similar effect.

@Denny - you're probably right, and I did consider that (after the fact!). I will stick with the acrylic water, however, since I want my other pieces to look the same as this.

For the harbour sections, I will be using Water Effects to model choppy little waves. I used this product for the canal downspouts - it dries clear, but can be moulded to shape beforehand, so really adds to the appearance of moving water.

Your photos make me want to re-do every single bit of TLX I've made so far. This is amazing stuff.

Clever on the ramp and street builds. I'm going to make that a foundation for my Mayhem City build. Thanks for the tip!

IN-GAME PHOTO

A game of Malifaux on the terrain set:-



DOCK TILE

I used some of the harbour pieces to make this dock tile. I will make 2 more, so that one side of the table can be a river setting, complete with a lock door into the canal network.



CANAL UPDATE

In the Xmas chaos, I managed to throw out an A4 envelope containing all the printed labels for my next harbour tile so last night I decided to have a crack at my third and last canal tile.

Why last? Curved walls. Not looking forward to this one, to be honest.

I wanted a 12" square tile that was mostly canal, with four exits so I could position my other two canal pieces any way I wanted. It will give me the option of a large, sunken area in the middle of the table. Unlike a large, raised area, line of sight across will be unaffected, making this a bit different.

(The plan is to raise up the pillar in the very middle, and then have removable footbridges that can stretch across from one side to the other. 'Removable' means magnets will be involved. Then I can add a couple of levers that control the bridges for a (1) Interact action, but that's for later, Princess*)

I need to make the canal walls curved, because this is what the canal pieces look like when you put them all together on a 12" x 12" piece of foamcore:-



It is clearer when I cut the corner pieces off:-



The walls need to have three curved sections each. To get the right length of wall, I cut out a strip of plain label paper and stuck it along the edge of the piece I had cut out. I trimmed it for length and marked where the curved sections joined and removed the strip. This strip was now my template for cutting out canal wall sections. The white strip below is the template:-



I cut the wall to length, and then used my X-ACTO foam board cutter, which has a handy feature I have never used to date - it can make two cuts 5mm apart in the foamcore, and then remove one side of card and the foam between them in the next pass. I used it to do this:-



That's the cutter, by the way. It also does v-grooves.

I know some of the cuts are messy, but I was just getting used to using this tool. I could probably have just used card, but the whole point of this project was get away from cardstock and use foam core, so foam core it is. Plus, the remaining pieces of foamcore give the wall a strength cardstock would never have.

After that I glued up the top:-


and finally glued it to the canal base:-



Only three more to go

WATER EFFECTS

The Vallejo Still Water I used in my first canal piece shrunk on drying and caused some slight warping to the piece. Not much, but enough to stop it lying perfectly flat.

Captain Carrot suggested this one to combat warping. Take a damp cloth and wet the reverse side of the foamcore that has warped. On my original canal piece, as the foamcore dried it pulled the canal piece straight again. It now lies perfectly flat once again

Here is a pic of a canal piece with Envirotex Lite applied. This is a 2-part resin which does not shrink on drying, and has the most incredible appearance. Even when dry and hard, it still looks as wet as when you first pour it, and glassy-smooth. No warping (so far!). 10ml each of hardener and resin covered this with very little to spare.



(*as in Leia. C'mon - levers to operate bridges? Hells, yeah!)

Wow... Just Wow!!!!

This is stunning, I love the water effects. That curved wall is a nifty trick too.

Most impressive!

Stunning - Just stunning!

When you started this, I was not sure it would be worth the effort you were going to have to put in. But know it is awesome to behold. You really stepped it up to make this worth the effort.

Beautiful! I think this serves as an incredible guide to users who are toying with mounting on more robust materials.

Job well done my friend and can't wait to see more!

This is so amazing. I love the way the water tiles look! Great tips re. warpage as well, thanks.

That is hugely impressive. A lot of work, but it is really paying off.

The Auld Grump

Thanks

There are a couple of people over at the Wyrd forums who are making similar set-ups. You can see them here - http://wyrd-games.net/forum/showpost.php?p=192253&postcount=185 and here http://wyrd-games.net/forum/showpost.php?p=192253&postcount=185

I finished my third and last canal piece (the one with the curved side walls). I needed a round raised section in the middle, so after trying a couple of ideas that didn't work, I came up with this:-



I hope it's obvious how that is put together, but if not just ask. Map pins are essential for making curved wall sections.



I forgot to take photos, but there are 4 magnets buried in the top. The idea is that players will activate bridges (max 2 at a time), so I made a bridge with a corresponding magnet. I will make another later, but the bridge was a bit of a rush job and I will probably redo it later.

Here it is before I added the Envirotex Lite:-



One of the problems of making 12" square terrain tiles where ground level sits 2" above the table is getting ground level exactly the same between all the pieces. There is only so much I can do with measuring, as even the thickness of the drying glue affects the dimensions of the finished piece. I need a way to keep these canal sections level with one another.

So, I borrowed a leaf from WWG/ Wyrd's book and invented SholtoClips :-



They are made of plasticard, 1.5mm thickness I think. They are 1" x 1.5". That is a step texture on each one, to help them blend in.

Here they are all set up. The hands are from Sholto's Little Helper #3 :-



I added the Envirotex Lite to the docks, and put some brown ink on the quay posts to darken them up. Still very pleased with how the water effect is working out:-

So amazing! Love the

You are getting an amazing mix of cardstock and foam-core/traditional terrain making.

http://incunabulum.co.uk/blog/wp-conten ... City_1.jpg

Just saw that one on the Wyrd forums. That is an awesome game board. I luv the way it has all come to gether. Just how tall is it at that top bridge? It looks about 12 inches.

It is just over 10" above the canal surface

Here are a couple of better photos:-

You are cool. Straight up. As soon as I am done with my Maiden build I am making it my mission to be as cool as you. These builds are beyond inspiring. Great great great work. Out of the box, down the street, around the corner cool.

Holy crap how did I miss this thread?


Very sweet build!

Thanks, all I will keep updating this as I continue to build. I have the second of my planned three dock tiles done, and here it is:-



Just the water effect to add. To help support the pier on the right I cut a length of PVC pipe, and just rolled a wall texture round it. Quick and easy. The third dock tile is going to be something pretty special, and I can't wait to get started on it

A question - any suggestions for making a hinged door out of two pieces (or more) of foamcore? I thought about using a wooden skewer as a long hinge, but maybe others have better ideas?

After this, I have some plans for the sewers. I don't want to do them the same way as the Streets, and I will let you see how that goes, although it is likely to be a few weeks away yet.

Glue card stock to the foam core with a score line where the hinge will be.