Community Showcase: Lance Cardinal

Today I am highlighting an amazing artist that creates wonderful miniature scenes. Lance Cardinal has a great collection of themed projects he has built including Dr. Seuss, Evil Dead, Little Shop of Horrors, Nightmare before Christmas. Here I am showcasing his scratch built Muppets Theatre Playset. From his posts the Palisades brand produced the Muppet characters and a number of stage scenes. Each were wonderfully detailed and accurate to the TV/Movie versions. The backstage playset was not produced, so he took it for himself to visualize and craft this wonderful piece. Enjoy and be sure to check out his other works...

View the finished model

View the making of this

Twelve Days of Christmas / Wargaming Style

For the wargaming modeler in all of us,
I introduce to you the 12 Days of Christmas...

On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

 One can of Testors Dullcote!

On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Two Tubes of Green Stuff,

On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Three Color Shapers,

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Four Tree Armatures,

On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Five Golden Demons, 

On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Six Ounces Clump Foliage,

On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Seven Sable Brushes,

On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

 Eight Vallejo Washes,

On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Nine Needle Files,

On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Ten Scenic Bases,

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

 Eleven Band-Aids,

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... 

 Twelve Spruces of Minis!

Haqqislam W I P

I thought I'd give you all a little update on the infinity stuff I have been working on, I'm not super stoked on the paint jobs, but i think the are progress, and I am getting better (at least I hope). I also made some mine counters camo tokens and E/Maulers.

Carnival of Chaos -=- WIP -=- Part 5

The Plague Cart for my Carnival of Chaos Mordheim warband is built finally. Yay! Here are some shots of it before it got a spray of primer.If you've seen the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, then you will be familiar with the cart's design. Since that is my source of inspiration for the piece.

The first thing to note is that this is an extra large "cart." I am not sure of the feasibility of using it as a vehicle in the game. Many people do use rules that allow for movement and to carry guys. But due to it's size, both to get around terrain and being an extra large target, I think I may opt to use it more as scenery. It is up for debate if I can include this in my list and receive the benefits from it. Ideas are welcome.

 

 As described before, I built the cart completely out of plasticard. The wheels are from a Scaven vehicle. I have added some nurgle rot with green stuff around the cart. I wanted some, but not too much. Like the fiction for CoC says, the town's people welcome in the Carnival only to realize their true intentions too late. 

 The driver is from the Dark Age range of figures. He originally held a spear and shield. Those were shaved off and his arms positioned to hold the reins for the horses.

 The main characteristic of my plague cart was a fold down stage. I had seen this on a few other models people had built, but not to this scale. The whole side of the cart is hinges down to form the stage floor. Magnets keep the door shut, and fold out support lowered to help support the stage.

The interior features some green stuff drapes that carry the performance/circus theme inside. A stove and misc stuff are there. I dropped a fish in there being a repeating theme in Mordheim. A few models can fit inside with the door shut.

 The back of the cart features lots of stuff stowed away. Plus some things trying to escape...

I hope you like. Cart has been primed along with the whole warband. So it is all ready for some paint. Cheers for now.

Tutorial: Wood Texturing on Plastic Card

A Guide to creating wood texture using plasticard.

I've found using plasticard is a good alternative to balsa wood for building. Large panels of it can be created, and overall strength is higher than gluing wood together. Below is a guide I created based on how I used it to construct a Mordheim Plague Cart for a Carnival of Chaos warband recently. Technique can be done on a small scale to create wood flooring for bases or smaller projects.

Step 1: I measured off a square of 3mm plastic (maybe 4 inch square) and cut it out. (This particular piece of plastic is from a display sign made of PVC) Then measured and marked off parallel lines with a 4mm spacing for the individual planks.

Step 2: I use a utility blade for cutting. Be sure to keep the blade sharp. A dull knife is not your friend. I pre-scored each parallel plank line with the blade, then used a pointed jewelers file to widen the gap between each plank.

Step 3: Here I have begun the scoring between the individual planks. When making the cross cuts to end each plank, be sure to focus on keeping them as random as possible. You don't want them all to line up. So varying the lengths helps alittle.

Step 4: Here you see I am laying in the wood texture of the individual planks. I push the file straight in to create some random knot holes. You can see a few to the left before the texture is done. Then I drag the tip of the file down each plank to create each texture line. Go from top to bottom, and keep it moving around. Trees are living and naturally have variation. Push hard enough to score the plastic, but not deeper than the lines between the planks.

Step 5: Here are a few final pieces constructed. If you look closely, you'll notice 2 small nail holes at the ends of each plank. I used a very small drill bit to drill shallow holes to simulate the nail holes. Hope this helps.

For the Glory of Menoth!

Check out this Menoth Battle Engine taken to the next level.


Check out the progress on this model here

He started out with creating a clear resin base and illuminating the underside with LED's. The model is also hollowed out with LED's all that flicker like fire. WOW!

 

BTW, he has made casts of this base that he is selling.

Build a Better Hill

3T-Studios doesn't like ugly hills, and neither do we. Check out his guide to correct this problem plaguing our gaming tables. Here's a hint, step one is toss our current hill terrain....

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