Mordheim

As the month is coming to a close, I’m running out of time to finish my Dice tower. So I don’t even have enough time to write a good description. Here’s a picture blog of what I did tonight on my Dice Tower:

More on the way. I got 5 days to finish making this and paint it…

Ashton Sanders

This is a quick update because I only have done a couple very simple things:

Added broken wooden planks to the first “ramp” at the top of the tower:

And I glued down the roof, and cut the starting injuries:

My next step will be to add the roof tiles, and then rubble to the roof. I hope to add enough rubble to the roof to allow models to safely stand on top of it.

I’m building this dice tower for a Terragenesis Competition which is ending in 12 days! I better hop to it, and finish up this roof pretty soon.

More to come soon,
Ashton Sanders

I have done my second base coat on my Mordheim Dice Tower.

I painted most of the inside of the dice tower because I am planning on having a number of holes in the exterior that will allow you to see inside as the dice roll by. I have already cut one of the window holes all the way through. I needed to paint the inside of the tower before I put the roof on, so I went ahead and base painted everything I could.

I didn’t really have a plan as to how many windows I wanted to cut into this building. I have kind of decided that this building was going to be a tavern. It could definitely pass as a tavern, and since most taverns have a back alley/dump section which no windows face, I thought this was a perfect excuse not to make any more windows. =)

To frame the windows, I’m planning on cutting tiny strips of Popsicle sticks, which is going to be a royal pain… So the fewer windows the better.

Next step is the roof. I have decided to permanently glue the roof down. I was toying with the idea of using magnets to secure the roof, so I could remove it to fix anything that might go wrong on the inside of the building. I just have very grand plans for the roof, as I want to to be as playable as possible, and since players will not be allowed to go inside of it, making the roof playable is my only real choice. Now that I think about it though, the dice going through the dice tower make it rumble and shake a lot. So I may have to scratch that idea.

Only the future will tell,
-Ashton Sanders

Ha!

A wealthy city, like Mordheim used to be, must have some sort of system to dispose of waste. Mordheim must have had garbage cans and a garbage collector, wouldn’t you think? Anyway, after my last trip to the range (Front Sight), I grabbed 4-5 of the empty bullet holders, knowing there must be some way to use them in the city of Mordheim. After lots of thought, I found that they are almost the perfect size for Mordheim-sized garbage cans!

In this picture you can see the transition (from left to right) of Bullet holder to Mordheim garbage can. First, you need to cut one of the can’s out of the container with a razor blade. Once this is done, trim the edges around the top of the can. Then cut off the bottom of the can. If you cut straight enough, you can use the bottom as a lid. The can on the right side of the picture above still needs some work on the paint job, but it’s enough to give you an idea of where I’m going with this.

I also don’t have a bottom to these cans, but I’ll think of something by the time I need to put one on it’s side.

No anyone who plays Mordheim at my house won’t have a reason not to throw away all their garbage. =]
-Ashton Sanders

I’ve added 6 more windows to the other side of my Mordheim Dice Tower Building! The window on the very top of the tower is cut all the way through the wall, so you can see through it.

I haven’t glued anything into place yet, I want to paint black behind the gratings before I totally secure them to the window and add a frame.

You can see the lines where I measured this time. I am using a smudge over 5cm for each story, and the window is a little up from being right in the middle of the story.

You can also see a couple trash cans in this picture. I’ve been experimenting with them, and I should have a tutorial on them soon.

Enjoy,
Ashton Sanders

I’ve done a bunch more detailing on my Mordheim dice tower:

I’ve added the wooden baseboard and three corners around the outside of the building. I have also framed one of the windows. I have used Popsicle sticks for almost all of the wooden sections of this Mordheim Building. I have also used a couple stirring sticks. Some of the thin wood (like 3 sides of the window) was created by cutting a very tiny sliver from a Popsicle stick, and turning it sideways.

Here’s the front door:

Here’s the framed window. I forgot that I will need to remove the grating to add the black base paint behind the grating, so I will just have to do my best on this window to cover all of the white foam bubbles with black paint:

More to come:
-Ashton Sanders

While I was at a Montana-style estate auction (in someone’s backyard) I accidentally bought a bucket of crap for $2.00 when I thought I was only buying a T-square. Instead of throwing away the bucket, I brought it home and searched through it. This bucket was full of the most random construction stuff. It had some weird foam tubing, bolts, tails, etc., etc. It also had probably 100 of these small white vent-type plastic parts about 7 inches long and 3 inches wide. I have no idea what they are for exactly but I knew they could definitely come in handy for my Mordheim Buildings. I just hadn’t figured out what I could use them for… until now!

MORDHEIM WINDOWS!

This picture shows the plastic vent with one edge cut off and sliced into nice window sized pieces, and the other side of the plastic vent left in place. They end up being kind of thick borders, but I think after painting, it will look perfect. Here’s a progress shot I took while cutting a hole for this window. It was really quite simple; I just marked the hole, and cut it out with a razor blade, leaving a small ledge around the edged to keep the window grating from sinking too far into the wall.

My next step will be adding a window frame around the window.
-Ashton Sanders

Here’s a video of my Mordheim Dice Tower (WIP) in Action. You won’t be able to see the dice once I put the roof on, so here you go:

Enjoy,
-Ashton Sanders

As promised, here’s a little tutorial of how I used Spackle to cover Styrofoam and packing foam surface.

The Problem: If you have ever made anything out of the Styrofoam that comes packed around store-bought products (or seen it for that matter), you probably have noticed that the surface is definitely not smooth. Since it was made with little, round foam bubbles, the surface has lots of little bumps and gaps. If you are unfamiliar with this surface, you probably won’t need to read this tutorial. Here is a picture of Styrofoam with a base paint of black so you can see the surface:

Read the Rest of the Post >

As you may have noticed, my dice tower (and most of my buildings so far) are constructed mostly of packing foam (Styrofoam). As you can see in this picture, the foam bubbles and small holes in Styrofoam is not really a desired look for model building, so I have gone on a quest to find the best way to hide the Styrofoam texture. Here’s a picture of my Dice Tower Wall after I painted the Styrofoam, and before I filled in the Styrofoam holes:

Click on any of these image for an even larger view.

If you put 3-5 coats of acrylic paint on Styrofoam, it will eventually cover up these holes. Another tactic I’ve used is to spread Elmer’s Glue or PVA Glue (White Glue) over the surface of your building. Or you can mix in the previously mentioned white glue into the paint before painting the Styrofoam or foam. All of these create a very smooth and flat surface on your foam, which is nice but not realistic.

I happened to have a small tub of “light-weight” Spackle hanging out in my closet, so I spread it over the surface of my building. In this next picture you can see how the Spackle automatically filled in the Foam holes, surrounded the Styrofoam bubbles and filled in the cracks. I accidentally painted this building black before putting on the Spackle, but in the end has helped a lot for these pictures.

This next picture shows the thin layer of Spackle I spread on this foam dice tower building. I tried my best to thin out the Spackle and create a nice, smooth surface over the foam. In retrospect, I would definitely recommend a thicker layer of Spackle. The extra Spackle will add more texture to your building and cover the foam better.

As you can see in this final picture, the layer of Spackle is too thin and shows some of the foam bumbles. I’ll be adding another layer of Spackle for texture and to cover the Styrofoam bubbles.

I’ll be putting together a Tutorial for Covering Styrofoam and Foam in the next couple days!

-Ashton