~J.R.R Tolkien
It’s Saturday morning afternoon; the sun is shining. The dishes are done, bed made, laundry put away, and coffee has given me entirely unrealistic expectations of productivity. First and foremost, I should work some ongoing loops and free up some space, if only in my cranium.
Mimic Roulette turned out to be a good project on a number of levels. Next time I will skip the cardboard supports and square the corners better, but they turned out ok for winging it. Tbh, the best part of the project is probably that it forced me to fix my rotary tool. I used it to cut samurai armor plates from a rubbermaid trash can a while back, and the drive shaft seized at the end of the project.
Back then I didn’t have time to stop and mess with it, so I shoved it in a toolbox and mostly forgot about it. If I needed one, I borrowed it from the shop, which is probably where this one came from. Anyway, it turned up during the move, and I refused to throw it out without at least attempting repairs. And shoved it back in a toolbox for 8 months.
Once I glued the chests, the idea of hand sanding was fairly repugnant, so I figured I’d fix it, or finish breaking it and order a new one. It was a pretty easy fix, and it definitely needed some cleaning, but it’s back in business, if a little beefy for the current uses. Definitely worth the popsicle sticks and super glue it took to catalyze my sorry ass. The chipboard banding is OK, but next time I think balsa wood or flat toothpicks. I should order some flat toothpicks.
So what mistakes does that leave… I tested a couple of connection systems but the hinges I ordered are too stiff for this weight. I tested the corners, but I don’t trust my half-assed measurements to read square interchangeably. I’m thinking 3mm magnets recessed in each lid so that they sit flush with the lip, and then two interior edge side supports per base, each topped with a small strip of nickel, also flush with the lip. If that works, its on to wire brush texture where needed and paint, leaving the contents for another day.
The AT-ST is mocking me from the Shelf of Shame, but if I really wanted to weather it, I would have. One of these days. The project I haven’t been able to get out of my brain is Jeremy at Black Magic Craft’s Shipwreck Cottage, which reminds of the final time I submitted my synapses to a Sierra game.
I didn’t cut my hull supports particularly well, either in design or actual cuts, but I muddled through. I redid the last few beams, but the return on time investment was minuscule; I could barely tell the pictures apart. May as well let it ride.
Since I’ve decided to mount it as a diorama, I feel ok about using joint compound to fill in the gaps in the hull, but I can’t decide if I want to sand down the beams. I feel like they should be sanded down (e.g. seaworthy), but also that it’s a metric shit-ton of time in a dust mask for an effect that doesn’t add much to the aesthetic and will probably be blocked by rock and half covered in vegetation anyway. Moss and vines of which would be much easier to adhere to a tiered surface than a smooth one. I guess that settles that.
I went ahead and put the front facing on. I want to put one round riveted portal in the top portion, semi recessed but protruding from the wood. The door will get cut in on the lower right, with a rectangular latticed window recessed under the cross beam on the left. Maybe in green.
I cleaned out the supports on my Kraken. I need to decide on a resin and how deep to pour things. Should I paint the bases to match the seabed? Should I elevate the base above the sea floor for a deeper pour? Should I leave it on the bottom and submerge it even more? Cover the bases in seaweed? Should I remove the bases entirely? Much to consider.
I haven’t started painting my freshly based Warcry terrain. Some of that is due to the ongoing build on my table, but at least some is my choice of color scheme. I love it, but it doesn’t feel like terrain. I don’t want the terrain to compete with the warbands for attention. Or make my eyes bleed in combination. Maybe I’ll unleash it on the Kraken instead… For now, I need to start somewhere before initiation paralysis solidifies. I found a tutorial of Lee’s over at Tabletop Skirmish Games that I want to check out; seems as good a place to start as any.
Speaking of games, I also need to paint my Gloomhaven mercenaries. I couldn’t commit to a party combination, shocking I know. In the end, I went the Princess Bride route and dubbed my party Buttercup. Better buck the fuck up Buttercups, shits about to get real.
- Indigo -> Scoundrel
- Phyllis -> Brute
- Celia -> Tinkerer
Ha-ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia,” but only slightly less well known is this: “Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!”
~Vizzini, The Princess Bride
What does that leave… The cyberpunk / sci-fi build stuff. That’s primarily stalled over lack of greebles, but I do have a couple of old cell phones and a pocket watch that are ripe for the cause. Possibly an old keyboard as well…
- Magnetize MR
- Add portals to SSR
- Paint Warcry skull bridges (2)
- Paint Gloomhaven party (3)
- Collect Greebles
- Organize raw materials and collected trash
- Order resin
I worked on MR after the dentist on Weds and I was too numb to blow away the sawdust, not that it kept me from trying like a moron for almost an hour.