Slacking but not dead!

Oooh! I been bad and not posted anything for a month now! But it’s the holidays and other excuses. I haven’t been totally away from my minis projects. Just today I was working on that pyramid again. It’s just that casting up all those damned bricks takes freakin’ forever, and I still need to do probably 4 more castings (about 184 more bricks). Anyway, here’s what it looks like now:

It’s 12″ wide at the base and 6″ wide at the top. The Pig Iron squaddie is for scale reference. I could stop here, but I want this thing to be taller, so I’m going to add another layer on the bottom, increasing the base to 14″, and another level on top. Here’s a pic with some foam layers stuck in and you can visualize the rest:

So when it’s done, it’ll be 6″ tall. I think that will give it enough presence on the tabletop. And no, the layers are not entirely made of bricks. As you can see in the top photo, there’s a square foam core in each one and a double row of bricks on the outside. Stacked up, you can’t see the foam core. Saves weight (and this is heavy already) and the trouble of making a stupid amount of bricks!

I’ve already gone through 4 (I think) boxes of Permastone. At about $6 each and $20 for the foam I bought, I’m at about $44 for this project. I think I’m going to need at least 2 more boxes of Permastone. Then there’s whatever I end up spending on finishing it – paint, detailing, etc. If I can keep it under $75 (the cost of a painted, finished pyramid by Stonehouse Miniatures that inspired me to do this), I’ll be happy.

And I’ve kept my brush warm painting some of the minis from the Cadwallon game for a friend. This bug-looking dude is called Drokan. I’m pretty happy with the verdigris effect I got on his bronze armor.

I’m probably getting into an upswing for painting, so more soon! See you in the New Year!

Pyramid construction zone

I’ve made quite a bit of progress on my Aztec-style alien pyramid of late. I finally got some styrofoam and got started on the building proper. I used up all the blocks I’d cast from the Hirst Arts molds. In doing so, I went through two boxes of Permastone, and I have another waiting in the wings.

The idea for construction is to make an inner core out of styrofoam, around which is a “skirt” of blocks 1″ high and 1″ deep. The Hirst blocks are 1″ x .5″ x .5″ so I need two rows to go around one sheet of foam.

These syrofoam sheets from the crafts store are 12″ square and 1″ thick. I bought three. If I had bothered to accurately do the math instead of just eyeballing it, I would have realized I only needed two sheets to make the layers I needed. As it turned out, I had one full sheet left over, and decided to add an extra layer (on the bottom) to my pyramid. So my original plan to make it 5″ high has now changed to make it 6″ high. Not towering but respectable.

Here’s the foam sheet I used.

This layer is 12″ wide with a 10″ wide foam core.

And a close up of the corner bricks.

Here are all the layers stacked up. The bottom 1st tier and the 4th tier are not dressed. The top tier is currently just a mock up. I’ll cut it down to a 2″ square and it’ll be 4″ wide when done.

And with Chthulu on top!

Here’s a 28mm Spug for scale.

So when this is all done, it will have dimensions of 14″ at the base, 4″ at the top and be 6″ high.

Now I need to make another stack of bricks, and start thinking about painting and finishing. Suggestions?

Aztech pyramid – progress report

I’m still working on my Aztech-style pyramid for our upcoming bughunt Stargrunt game. I’ve cast my way through another box of Permastone (which I really really like) and now have a small pile of bricks.

With a Deathwatch Space Marine for scale

While there seem to be a lot I would need many many more if I were going to build the whole pyramid entirely from these bricks. It would also turn out heavy as hell – this little block weighs roughly two pounds and would barely make even part of the whole thing.

So, my plan is to build a styrofoam inner structure, like a stepped layer cake, and simply put the bricks on the outside of it, resulting in a lighter and stronger piece.

What I need now (besides more Permastone) is a sheet of 1″ thick styrofoam. Anyone have any recommendations for where to get some?

Pyramid project kickoff

I cast up my first set of blocks for my Aztec pyramid project today. I borrowed a couple of Hirst Arts molds from a friend – the basic block set. While I work on the overall design I’ll be casting up a whole pile of blocks for this.

The Hirst Arts web site has a few recommendations for casting material, but I didn’t feel like buying the stuff online so I went down to Joanne’s and found some stuff called Permastone. It casts white, accepts fine details really well, and the blocks came out looking very sharp. I’m really pleased with the results. A 28 oz. box was $6.99 and I had a coupon for 40% off so I got a deal.

These came out better than I expected

Gonna need a lot of these

Really kind of surprised at how well these fit together

I’ll post more pics as the project goes along!

In the works

My project list has begun to grow again. I realized I would need to either build my own jungle temple for our Stargrunt bug hunt game or buy one. After much searching I did find a very very nice looking temple set that fit the bill perfectly, by Stonehouse Miniatures. The one I want is $75…

So, I figured I’d try building one first. I sketched up some plans, so my idea is firm. Then my buddy Chris suggested using the super cool Hirst Arts molds. I borrowed a set from him and I’m now considering my next step as a miniatures brick maker. If this fails or proves to be too much of a hassle, I can go with a faster and dirtier construction method (basically just building a couple of boxes and hitting them with spackling putty), or plunking down the 75 ducats for the Stonehouse model.

In other news, I’ve been inspired by Stephen, our most recent Stargrunt convert, to invest in the Spug Army Deal available from Rattlehead. The minis themselves are made by Spriggan and they do rock!

Actually, it was either $75 for the temple or for the Spugs. Deciding to build the temple and buy the Spugs was just me putting faith in my craft skills. We’ll see…