Time for some more "Tabletop Terrain". This was a rather large set piece that I made for my friend, Steve. After I had made the Lava for Jaye, I wanted to go to the other extreme. By the way, the really cool photo of the glacier above (in the background) was taken in New Zealand by my daughter, Jenni. (She and her boyfriend, Brad, were touring, hiking and climbing there in 2007). Thought it added a little drama...thanks, Jen!
The set was made in two sections, each about a foot wide and two feet deep. I designed it so it could be repositioned for multiple game scenarios.The rough sketch below is where this project started. I soon realized that I my design was a little overly ambitious, so I simplified it some during the build (eliminating the "beach" of icy water).
Here's the basic shape of things, before I started carving more details into the pink (and blue) styrofoam insulation. I used hot glue and "super 77" spray glue to build up my layers. I kept the ice bridge as a separate element...so it could be relocated on the plateau, or not used at all.
I coated everything with artist Gesso mixed with sand, then built up several layers of icy blues and white with acrylic paint.
In keeping with the design of my original sketch, there's a removable roof to access an "ice cave" at the top of the stairs.
As the images below show, there's a "secret door" inside the cave...it leads down a tunnel and comes out onto a ledge on the back side of the cave.
Below are a few "floaters" I made from scrap pieces of the foam.
Even though the Ice Canyon ended up being a bit more involved to make than I expected, it was a fun project.
That's very cool! I have an army of dwarves and something like this would be good terrain for them. I really like the modularity and versatility of it and it looks great, too! At first look I wasn't sure where the background photo eneded and the terrain piece began. Thanks for the inspiration! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your nice comments, Fitz (and I like Badgers, by the way..nasty little fighters)!
ReplyDeleteI have a several more terrain pieces that I'll be loading up later on. I'll be showing more of the building process on some of them, too.
Stay tuned!