After three coats of Flat Black latex I let it sit for an evening. The next few coats were a mixture of Arena play sand and the same paint. I mixed them in a small plastic container until the paint had a slight texture to it.

The first texture coat was applied in long strokes to keep it consistent. I then went over it again with a thicker coat in the areas with less texture. The third coat was thicker still applied over the edges and random spots.

This may sound like a lot of work, but in fact the first one was almost dry when I got to the last section. I did them all together in an evening in front of the tv :)

The following day I loaded up the acrylic caulking and started pouring the lava. I found it easiest to make a smooth coat then pour another bead of caulking and layer on top of it. Also, it helped to add another bead around the edges and use a smaller brush to fill the gaps. This also helped keep the flimsier sections from peeling up.

For texturing I took a 3" brush (dry) and pulled the lava up. By moving it in certain directions it adds to the detail and continuity of the board. Like the original tutorial said, I took care to make the lava "flow" in a certain direction. Pressing the brush down firmly will make it look like the lava is flowing faster. Smaller vertical strokes makes the lava look like it's bubbling rapidy.

And what would a board be without some terrain pieces! For these I used the same glue for model basing and some fine sand over it. Once the board is finished I'll go back and make some more dynamic terrain :)

The Next update will be detail painting :)

Here's an update on the Lava Board project. Unfortunately the foam board didn't take to the MDF very well. With very little effort it peeled off. Not a big problem, lol, it just adds time to the process.

Taking some advice from a friend I painted the bottom of the board with a few thin coats of Flat Black. This took me about two episode's worth of the Office Season 5.

After the paint dried I repeated the gluing process. This time it took almost 3 cans of adhesive, but I didn't want to take any chances. Make sure to give the corners and edges a generous amount of glue.

Repeating the process I laid the boards on each other face down and put plenty of weight on them. I let them sit for 24 hours before touching them again. This time, fortunately, the boards held and it's off to the next step.

The next update will have the painting and texture process. :)

There's a great tutorial on CoolMiniOrNot about making your own Lava board. I've been wanting to make my own for a while so I thought I'd follow his steps.

Here's a pic of his finished LAVA board!

What I like the most about his board is the added detail to terrain pieces. This, in my opinion, is what separates it from your run-of-the-mill gaming board. He also did a great job explaining the process and materials used.

Materials:
3/4" x Foam Board
Foam Cutter = $8, but we paid $4 from Michael's coupon
2x4 MDF boards = $2.18 a sheet from Home Depot
Locktite caulking x2 = $3 each. Already had a few of these.
Acrylic caulking x2 = $2-3 @ Walmart
Caulking Gun = $1 Again had this laying around
Hot Glue Gun (Optional) = $3 for gun + $7 for 100 sticks
Black Latex Paint = $1-10 @ Home Depot/Walmart
24oz paints = $1 from various craft stores.
Paint Brushes = $1 from dollar store
Batteries, D cell for foam cutter x2 = $5 (cost more than the cutter)


1) I started with a 4x8 foot sheet of foam and cut it into 2x4 sheets. Three sections are going to make up the board while the fourth piece may be another section or maybe for terrain pieces.

2) After a couple doodles I decided on a design and sketched it out. My only dilema, as a chaos daemon player, is having enough room to deep strike my units. Unlike the other board I opted to not make a volcano in the middle and instead added a lowered section of terrain.

3) Cutting the foam. Pretty straight forward. It's about as difficult as cutting butter with a warm knife. I moved the wire in a sawing motion to add some jagged edges to the lip.

4) Adding a little detail to the terrain. The 90 degree angle didn't look right for this board (maybe an ice board) so I wen't over it again at a 45 degree angle. This gave it much better detail.

5) I numbered the sections so I wouldn't forget where they went. Good thing too since I had a fun time trying to get them positioned correctly, lol.

6) With everything cut it was time to glue the board in place. I loaded the locktite multi-purpose adhesive (it's just what I had in the tool box) and got to work. Pretty straight forward, just pull the trigger and keep the glue about 1-2 inches from any edges. Keep a nice bead going and cover the board evenly.

7) The three sheets were stacked on a flat surface with the mdf board facing up. I placed plenty of weight over it and let it cure for 24 hours.

With an Orky Bunker in the works I wanted to try my hand at some more Ork terrain. I've always wanted to make a tower with the Orky "laughing skull" on it. Also, why not make a 2nd floor for a Big Mek to stand and shoot.

Materials Used
(4)1/4" Dowels
22 gauge Floral Wire (aluminum wire)
Hot Glue Gun
DVD case (from a crappy movie)
cardboard
scrap foam board
(3) popsicle sticks
(20) Push Pins
Burlap strands
Misc Bits

Pretty simple. Four dowels glued together at the top, then wrapped with floral wire. Yeah I know my work area is a mess.

Jumping ahead a little... I took an old DVD case and cut the top and bottom parts of the face. The wall and floor surfaces area cardboard. Everything was glued into place with hot glue.

The top floor had to fit a Big Mek with S.A.G. I didn't have one available so I used a Dreadnaught's dimensions instead.

Next, scraps of foam board (from the Big Ead Bunka project) were cut and glued to look like support beams. Once that dried a few push-pins were added to give it that "riveted" look.

The 2nd floor needed a little more detail so I took a few strands of Burlap and wrapped them around the beams. Finally some misc bits here and there :)

The top smoke stack is some cotton glued to a gatorade cap. Originally I was going to make a Grot's nest up top, but it took up too much room and detracted from the face. Instead, I glued the smoke stack on and ran some cardboard around the edge.

After undercoating it black It was masked and spray painted section by section: Brown on the poles, Red on the Banner, and White on the face, grey on the smoke stack.

There you have it; a quick and easy Waaaaagh! Banner. I think I'll end up making four of these for Planet strike and use them as corner sections for walls.


Question: How do you make your rivets/bolts for your minis? Do you use pin heads or a different method? Any input is appreciated :)

Kastle Waaaaaagh Skull!

If you're as old as me you probably remember the cartoon He-man. I always wondered how nobody figured out Prince Adam was also He-Man. I mean WTF? The look exactly the same and are the only two guys in land with the same Jim Carrey Bowl Cut! But I digress...

As our combined terrain has accumulated, I noticed a lack of anything Orky. I decided it was time to finally sit down and start making some Orky stuff. After skimming through some old White Dwarf magazines and terrain pics I came up with a game plan: an imperial weapon's cache that has since been taken over, stripped down, and rebuilt by the Orks. Ok maybe it's not completely original but it'll work :)

The idea was to make something big enough to hold LOTS of ork boyz. It also had to be tall enough that multiple groups could occupy it. Three stories came to mind. May as well make it look like a face!

The biggest challenge was making it look organic. I decided to build it in layers starting with the building walls, interior, then layering the Ork panels and so on.

It was time to salvage materials. I went through the house and stripped anything that wasn't nailed down. I might have over done it, though...nah you can never have too much scrap! What's the old saying? One man's trash is another man's treasure.

For the flooring I just cut popsicle sticks and glued them down breaking a few for good measure. The grating on the top floor are old soldering boards and the cables are made from stripped ethernet cables, tied down to eyelet crimp connectors.

I took the torch and started "Mean'in" it up. A couple holes here, a few burn marks there, and some misc battle damage

For the spikes I took old sprue pieces and carved them to a point. They work great since they are light but durable and aren't sharp. In fact, I brought this to a game last week (painted up) and my friend thought they were rusted nails lol.

to be continued...

Ok... I had to throw this in. This is a He-Man parody dubbed to the song What's Going on? by 4 Non Blondes. EPIC! haha. Watch the cook at the end, LMAO!