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Author Topic: Making a Game table! [FINAL PIC!]  (Read 13870 times)

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Offline MrJuice

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #40 on: October 13, 2007, 02:11:11 PM »
A big canister shaker is around $12-14 CAN depending on the store.

Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #41 on: October 13, 2007, 04:17:37 PM »
That's not to bad.

Update!
Got 1 more can of spray paint as well as some 8 oz bottles of acrylic paints (browns etc.) for painting the board.
And i sprayed the rest of the board black (mainly the edges which i didn't have enough to do before).
Just waiting for it to dry now.

You think i should use a sponge brush or just a big old brush to dry brush the board?
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Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #42 on: October 15, 2007, 12:13:49 AM »
Update!
I painted basically the entire board.
Just have to do the base of 1 of the rivers. Thinking of what colours i should blend on the river floor. The middle will be black, but i am thinking greens. Any other suggestions for what to paint the rivers floor with (this is the one with no rocks or anything.. just a flat river).

http://www.40konline.com/mos/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=837&g2_itemId=31960

a quick pick a i took with like no lighting and just before the sun went down. The brown looks lighter in real life. Note the river in the bottom right. That is what i have to paint next.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2007, 12:21:00 AM by Chrono »
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Offline Kindred

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #43 on: October 15, 2007, 03:17:08 PM »
woodland scenics realistic water...

1- you get bubbles if you pour it too deep at once.
2- it does harden, eventually... it took me about 6 months to get a final hardened feel.

I like it...   but these days, I mostly use a two-part epoxy/resin...
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Offline Gerrie

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #44 on: October 16, 2007, 01:56:59 PM »
the painting looks very good on that table

Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #45 on: October 16, 2007, 03:35:27 PM »
thanks.
It looks a lot better in real life. But I am sure i will get a better pic of it next time i work outside.
Man I am frustrated with ebay right now. My trees still haven't come. And it is day 16 of the 7-14 day estimate. I doubt he screwed me since he is a power seller with 99.9% good respons and thousands of sales. And the flock isn't here yet either. But I wasn't really expecting it to be here this soon. But I just want to come home to find that one of the two got shipped. It would make me so happy :P

So until the flock comes i have little to do. Instead i went out to buy some nice new translucent aqua and yellow chessex d6s :P. They look so nice :D
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Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #46 on: October 25, 2007, 12:42:36 AM »
Okay. My trees FINALLY came after like 20 business days. They were smaller than i though when i pulled them out of the box. but after looking more at them and putting them beside a model i am pretty happy with them. The colour is very vibrant but i like that. gives them some pop... after all 40k isn't the most realistic game to begin with.
Um the trunks are made of wire and are about 3-4 mm in diamater. Is that possibel to pin still?
here are some pics
there are two types of trees. one slim, one normal. and the other one on the side was just a referance with some olds ones i had.

http://www.40konline.com/mos/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=99999999&g2_itemId=32187
http://www.40konline.com/mos/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=99999999&g2_itemId=32190
http://www.40konline.com/mos/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=99999999&g2_itemId=32193
http://www.40konline.com/mos/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=99999999&g2_itemId=32196
http://www.40konline.com/mos/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=99999999&g2_itemId=32199
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Offline Gerrie

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #47 on: October 25, 2007, 02:03:28 AM »
I think the only option you have to get those trees on the table is to drill a hole as wide as the trunk, and stick it in the ground...

Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #48 on: October 26, 2007, 06:09:54 PM »
Ya that might be the case. I am getting my friends pin vice tonight to try and see if drilling is possible. But after looking at trees i might have another method. Take some thin wire and wrap in around the tree since that is what the trunk is anyways just like twisted wire. So basically take like 3 strands and rap it around the tree a bit then at the bottom leave some excess wire to jam in the board. Then you would have to paint over the trunks and wire to hide it.
I will try every method. But ya i think in the end i probably will just have to drill a hole and stick it in the ground.

UPDATE:
Well I purchased two big shakers of woodland scenics static grass. The two colours i got were medium and dark green. Though i really don't even like the colours that much, i figured that they would be a good base for what i am planning. First off. I mixed the two and made a test patch area. It looks actually pretty good. But again for me, i am looking for a different colour so i am going to airbrush it. Like by all means it looks realistic, but I like the brighter and more saturated colours for 40k. So anyways, i made a test patch about 3" x 3" this afternoon. THen broke out my airbrush and sprayed it a very vibrant medium green, then highlighted with a pure yellow. Though it isn't dry yet. I am very happy with the results!! Essentially airbrushing the grass allows u to make it whatever colour you want. But i suppose i should wait till it is all dry to see what happened. So now i think i will start to flock the table.
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Offline CheeEEEse

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #49 on: October 27, 2007, 02:21:17 AM »
I use spackle to attach these types of trees to my scenery. 

What I'll do is create a small, realistic looking mound of spackle, stick the tree into the center of it then apply an adhesive to where the tree enters the spackle.  For the adhesive, I use anything from wood glue to epoxy, depending on the size/weight of the tree.  Then I find some way to hold the tree up, either by carefully propping it up against something or even attaching strings to it to suspend it upright until the adhesive dries. 

With this method you obviously have to paint/flock over the top of the spackle with the tree attached, but so far it's worked wonders for me.

Offline custard

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #50 on: October 27, 2007, 05:11:38 AM »
I'm about 1/5 through making a few wood terrain pieces atm. I've got different trees to you, and am making mine removable, but thought I'd through my 2 pence into the pot anyway.  :)

I drilled into the trunk of the tree from below, and superglued a piece of wire into the offending hole. Then drilled a hole into the base for a piece of brass tubing with the same inside diameter as the wire, cover brass tube with spackle (obviously leaving the hole uncovered) then the trees can be placed into the tube as and where you want them.

Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #51 on: October 27, 2007, 11:43:22 AM »
Okay i just tried drilling the holes in the tree trunk with a pin vice. It is VERY difficult due to the fact that it is like a wire trunk which like forced to make the pin vice drill in wrong directions. Although i was successfull in making a 1 cm deep hole in the first one. It failed on the next 2 i tired since they trunk was thinner than that first one and i could start a hole on like a rounded bottom with out the drill bit slipping to the side and hitting my thumb :P. Although it worked for one tree i am having doubts if i can get it to work with a drill.

Cheese do u by any chance have pics of your trees? I would like to see how it looks with the spackle mound at the base.
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Offline hearingyourlies

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #52 on: October 27, 2007, 02:47:48 PM »
This is one HELL of an undertaking and it's coming out awesome! Good job.
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Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #53 on: October 28, 2007, 11:42:26 PM »
UPDATE!

Well I came up with the solution and applied it to the trees.  I took some thin wire i got from a RONA lansing. ( i don't have it on hand. but it is cheap and comes in a massive amount for my purposes anyways. aka enough to do like 2000 trees or something.) What i did was cut about 10" long segments, then fold it in half to make a "double wire". Then i would use pliers to hold one end by the top of the trunk (well right below the branches .. not the top of hte tree) and proceed to wrap the wire around the trunk till i got to the base. It creates a kinda spiral look around the trunk which is cool and perfectly believable in the exagerated world of 40k. Then with the excess wire at the bottom i would bend the two ends down. This gives u two like 3/4" wires to stick into the table. Two being usefull since it is a lot more stable than just one. And the length can be adjusted as u see fit. U can make it as long as you want hanging off the end .. or for the same matter as short as you want. Or u can wrap it around the tree more or less. So it is very customizable. All u need is the wire and some needle-nose pliers. Then after i finished doing it for the 60 trees i have, i stuck them all in spare foam and used a metal glue to fix the tree trunks to the wire. While this step isn't neccessary, because the wire alone will grip the tree trunk very well since it is tightly wrapped around it, and very stiff..  not to mention the slight varrying diameter of the tree trunk to allow the wire not to slip. I just wanted to be safe and make it as solid as possible. And it takes like 1/20th of a small tube of metal glue.. so it doesn't cost anything. So now I have all my trees ready to be painted (the wire is metal). I plan on just painting the entire lower trunk dark brown and then doing some drybrushing with lighter browns. More on that when i do it.

And I Flocked the entire table :D. Had to do it in 2 stages. First stage was where i was able to finish just over half of the table before running out of flock (2 full containers of woodland scenics stuff). There was tonnes of excess obviously, so i had to wait till the next day (today) when it was all dry. Then i brushed off the excess flock and got back like 75% of it :P . Then finished off the second half. And tomorrow or w/e i will brush off all the excess flock again.. leaving me with a LOT of left over static grass. (it is surprising how much can be recycled). Then i might do some touch ups here and there trying to blend the flock around the dirt patches to make the transition not as harsh. And after that is all done, i can airbrush the static grass, since i am very pleased with my test airbrush patch.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2007, 11:47:06 PM by Chrono »
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Offline Gerrie

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #54 on: October 29, 2007, 03:06:15 AM »
so what did you use to glue on the flock?

Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #55 on: October 29, 2007, 09:17:25 AM »
Watered down PVA glue. Seems to hold very well. I have been pretty rough with some areas to test it out, and it is nice and solid.
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Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #56 on: November 5, 2007, 07:54:02 PM »
okay well it has been long since i have posted.
Um I have been working on the table still here and there.

Update:
- Well the flocking was completed and i found that it looked good if u very lightly brushed glue away from the edges of the big glue blobs in order to blend the grass to the dirt. This is because the sharp line created by just grassing a big blob of glue looks a bit unnatural. It is still a very subtle difference but i think it looks better.

- Man i really found out how hard it is to get excess grass off the table. I swept it a million times and vacuumed it 3 times!! And while it would seem that all the excess had come off. All it takes is one brush sweep off the edge and u can see the little fibres flowing off the edge. None hte less on the table it looks the same.. it is like there is inifinite grass or something.

- The solution to this grass which is for all purposes not going to move but techinically will if u quickly sweep a brush over it, was the paint. So ya, i airbrushed the entire table. Man this was a lot of work. But surprisingly didn't take as much paint as i thought it would. I used less than 2 oz of green airbrush paint and about 1 oz of yellow. I first airbrushed all the grass green, trying to control the spray and block off non grass areas with a piece of paper as i went around the board. Then i went over the grass on the table with a yellow, making the grass more ... yellow ... :P. I tried to make the edges of teh large grass patches more yellow than the centres. as if the grass was dieing as it went towards dirt. However this was done very slightly.  Um. What i learned is that is that it is a big process, and messy, and with the green paint my airbrush kept getting clogged so i was getting frustrated since i would have to dissassemble it and clean it all out. But just water down the paints more so u can avoid this. And no matter how hard u try u will get paint on areas u don't want to. I really didnt' want to tape off the hole board since a) i don't want harsh lines, and b) it would take SOOOOO long. So after i was done i retouched all the rocks and dirt where green had over sprayed.

- I also got around to painting the base of the shallow river. I just blended browns from the edge to black in the centre (for the illusion of depth). This was so easy with an airbrush, though still could be done with a brush just with much more effort.

- once all the paint dried the grass would no longer come off when u brushed at it. ANd it is still fuzzy dispite what people might think abuot painting static grass. (well i mean u need to use an airbrush and not a brush.. but it still is static grass and not just a mess of fibres and paint).

- The reason the grass was painted again was because it needed to match the trees i had and the woodland scenics stuff which is amazing for quantity isn't the nicest stuff, and has a very dull colour.

- I also put all the trees on the table! :D This step was fun since it made such a big difference in the look of the table. I simply took a hammer and a thin nail and would hammer two small holes into the table (a hammer and nail was needed to break through the very tough and strong sand/glue mixture on top) into which i would just press the two wire ends sticking off the bottom of each tree.

- Oh ya :P the tree trunks were all painted brown such that the wire was silver anymore.
- The trees seem to hold very well right now but i may consider glueing them. But I am considering leaving them as is sicne they don't move at all, and i can still techinically move them around, since the holes i push them into are SOOO small u can't even see them incase i move a tree. Like had a LOT of trouble finding hte holes i hammered to put the wire into. Especially since they are in static grass which easily masks the pin holes.

- planning went into the tree placement for cover and game play. ANd i had 12 trees left over which i used on the board for more decorative purposes making sure the table seemed more evenly covered.

NEXT STEP
- water time :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
SWARMDAR ARE COMING!

Offline Col.Chaos

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #57 on: November 7, 2007, 09:43:32 PM »
    Looks great can't wait to see it finished.  You have inspired me to start building my own table thinking some kind of chaos themed terrain!

Offline Chrono

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #58 on: November 8, 2007, 01:53:24 AM »
ya it is very close to being done now. Today i put up some barriers at the river ends so that the envirotex i pour in won't leak off the edge. I did this buy attaching styrofoam with packing tape on it (shiney/slippery side facing teh river edge) to the edge of the river. Now sicne the table is being supported by 4 lawn chairs in my garage and is 1 m off the ground at least i can't like have something pushing against it to keep it there. So i ended up taking a thing piece of wood maybe 1/3 of an inch and nailing through the foam to the board. So it is Board - foam - wood. THe reason i didn't just nail straight into the foam was because the wood spreads out the force over the entire foam and doesn't allow the nail to get pushed indefinitely through it like foam would. Hope that explained it well enough. I can try again if it is confusing.

Then i put glue between the tape edge of the foam and teh board / river edges. So seal the tiny gap such that the envirotex won't dissapear over night on me on to the floor.

Oh and i came to a funny realization the other day. My board kinda looks like a really nice park :P. Not the most wargame like outthere. But then again i wasn't really going for the war torn terrain at all in the first place. But i think the main reason it looks like a park is because the grass is such a lush green as are the trees, and the dirt path could just be something people walk or bike down :P. lol. But i still like it, am not going to change it to make it look war torn. I will eventually post pics when i am done. But i am glad that his thread has inspired u to build your own table. It is a lot of work but really cool. And i have a feeling it will be quite a challenge ot get into my house :P IT IS HUGE!!! (but i measured the clearance and it technically should be fine).
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Offline Kindred

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Re: Making a Game table!
« Reply #59 on: November 8, 2007, 08:51:40 AM »
I always bulid my boards in 2'x4' sections that "join" together (the pink rigid insulation has interleaving edges)
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