Bishmeister

I'm in, as always.

They hold up just fine, you can make moulds last longer by using silicon mould release spray or by dusting with talcon powder, I don't bother though.

Booya, here's to another epic RAW.

This is the one event a must attend this year, what can I do to secure a ticket?

I'm very interested in this but will have to confirm closer to the date.

See you there folks, now packing Da Bloo Moon Forest Fungus Boyz for the journey.

Could you reserve me a ticket please?, I need to rearrange some bits and bobs so I can attend this. I will buy my ticket asap.

Skaven Blood Bowl Pitch & Modular Sewer Terrain for AOS This blog will document my progress in building a Skaven Blood Bowl pitch which will also be part of a larger modular sewer complex for Age of Sigmar. I will also discuss some of the model making techniques, tools and materials used during this project. I find the idea of building a Blood Bowl pitch incredibly appealing. It's a relatively small project that has the potential to look great. It can also be extended with the addition of a stadium with grandstands and scoreboards. In choosing to build a sewer themed pitch for Skaven this also lends itself to be the initial part of a larger project to build a sewer themed 4'x 6' AOS board. I first played Blood Bowl way back in '88 when I first became aware of Games Workshop and tabletop Wargames. It was actually the Blood Bowl miniatures in White Dwarf 108 that started my interest in the hobby. I had a few games with a friend and subsequently purchased Dungeon Bowl but never really amerced myself into the game. This latest release has piqued my interest as it has a lot of nostalgia for me, it's easy to get into and has the potential for lots of cool updates based on previous incarnations of the game. I've chosen Skaven as I've wanted to paint them for a long time and I think they look so cool. This also gives me a chance to make a start on a project that I've been thinking about for some time. Whilst at the Realms at War AOS event in Cambridge I had the opportunity to catch up with @Wayne kemp, the Skaven Master, and discuss what would be the ultimate AOS table/terrain. When I posed this question Wayne was very eloquent in saying that the ultimate AOS table doesn't exist as everyone has a different idea of what would be the ultimate. His ultimate table would be a Skaven theme, probably sewer themed whereas he said @Dan Heelan would probably prefer a Lizardman theme. I really liked the idea of a modular sewer themed board for AOS as this has the potential to be a multi-system board, possibility of being used for other games, say 40k. I'm not a 40k player but have been collecting Genestealer Cults which lends itself to this sort of environment. I've also wanted to build an urban board for some time. I came across this amazing blog, http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?176894-Magnetized-Modular-Sewer-Cavern-Board-(WIP) , some years ago and have wanted to do something similar ever since. Unfortunately the blog seems to have stalled but there's plenty of great inspiration in there. Building a modular sewer themed board also gives you the potential to build a multi level board which seems to quite popular in AOS at the moment. So my initial plan is to build a sewer themed Skaven Bowl Bowl pitch. Fortunately each half of the pitch fits into a 2'x2' square allowing me to use the two halves as separate modular AOS terrain. The design will be based upon a Victorian style brick sewer with lots of arches and pipes for added Steampunk Skaveness. The pitch will be elevated on a plinth that rises out of the surrounding sewer which contains industrial pipe machinery. The bottom half of the drawing below illustrates the brick and pipework design to be used on the sides of the plinth whilst the top shows the top of the plinth with the pitch squares. I always use squared paper to draw designs for model making projects. I find it makes it a lot quicker and easier to draw, particularly when drawing buildings. I next had to decide what materials I would use for the construction. I wanted the model to be lightweight and durable as it would need to be transported from place to place. I construct nearly all my architectural terrain pieces using sheets of expanded pvc. I have used this for decades, it is lightweight, strong, easy to cut, glue and sand. It also comes in various different thickness from 1mm to 30mm. You can also score texture into it's surface to create different textures such as wood grain, brick or stone. However for this model I would he using it soley for the structure and the paving of the model. The base / flooring is 5mm, the walls are 3mm and the buttresses and pipe shelf are 8mm. I wanted to give the sides, which would be made up of brick arches, more texture and depth so I opted for blue foam (styrofoam). The tools I use for working with expanded pvc are; technical pencil, cutting mat, Swann Morten scalpel, engineeers square 7" & 5", steel rules 6" & 12", sanding block 400 grade, superglue and zip kicker. For expanded pvc thicknesses greater than 5mm I use a circular table saw for cutting. I've not used blue foam much but understand the principles of the material. When creating brickwork in foam I would usually use a biro and draw the brickwork straight on causing the brick work to be engraved. Whilst this can look good it can be inconsistent and can look untidy. This is a reasonably lengthy process due to hand drawing each piece and I wanted to have identical brickwork on each arch. So I came up with the idea of printing each styrofoam piece. I can't imagine this is an original idea as it seems so obvious however I have not seen anyone else doing this. The idea is based upon the original printing process of block printing developed in the middle ages. Styrofoam is a soft material that can be indented, so I created a 'negative' brickwork mould in which a piece of styrofoam can be pressed into using a press. The mould was made from a base of 3mm expanded pvc, the brick design drawn on then the mortar was added using 1mm styrene strips. 1mm expanded pvc was used to build up the sides to hold the styrofoam in place. The styrofoam was cut into strips 9mm thick using a bandsaw which were then sanded smooth to a depth of 7.5mm and cut to size to fit the mould. As you can see from the pic below I used two blocks of wood and some clamps to create the press for the mould. To create depth to the walls I printed smaller pieces of foam to be added to the arches. The printed pieces were then cut and glued. This worked incredibly well, was very quick to use and I was churning out brickwork styrofoam like a Victorian workhouse. This was helped massively by @Mitzy for supplying me with a massive chunk of blue foam. I created another 'generic brick' mould to use for any plain areas of brickwork I would need. To add a little variation to the brick depth I depressed some of the bricks using a piece of plastic. For the pipework I used Hirst Arts pipe moulds 320 & 321 which are fantastic quality. These are quite expensive but having a mould means you can have as much pipework as you like. I used 'low odour' fast cast polyurethane resin as I wanted it to be very durable and Quick to produce. Fast cast resin has a de-mould time of approximately 30 mins. I would need a lot of pipework so I ordered 1.5kg of resin. The two moulds would give me a variety of pipe pieces in two different pipe diameters. This should give me enough variety to make the pipework sufficiently interesting. Here's a wip pic of half the pitch. The space to the right of the pitch will be the dug out area. The squares on the pitch will be paving and the different zones are divided by gutters recessed into the pitch. The pitch will also have drain covers. More progress soon. Thanks for reading. Bish

Hi Folks, I've been working on this model for quite some time, possibly a year or so. This is often the case with me in that I am very good at ideas and starting projects/models but struggle with completing them. I like the idea of the Squig Mangler but felt that it didn't quite look crazy enough. So I started to add fungus brew laced fanatics to the model. The fanatics are in perfect poses to add greater dynamism and movement to the model. As you can see from the picture below these were mostly metal models which increased the models weight considerably. I added an additional seven fanatics and some weapons on ropes and chains for some additional carnage. Painting this models was a real challenge mainly because all the fanatics were glued into place prior to painting, which is why I procrastinated for so long in painting it. I rarely do 'sub assemblies' because I like to have the models built, it can take years before I paint them, and the glue bond is much stronger without paint on the model. Firstly like all my Squigs I use an airbrush to add the blue basecoat, this consists of three shades of blue. The whole model is sprayed a mid tone, the a lighter zenith spray then a darker nadir spray giving the model natural highlights and shading. I then base coated and washed all the other elements to the model, this was an enjoyable challenge. Next I started with highlighting the blue areas and realised that the Squigs have a lot of detail on their skin, a bit like reptilian skin, so these 'scales' were individually shaded and highlighted which took an age. After the blue areas were completed I took a break for a few months and worked on other models. Finally I tackled the rest of the model and added a blue toadstool to the base. I wanted to give the model a bit more height to make it comparable to the other large monsters being released for other armies. Painting the toadstool blue was a deliberate nod to the origins of the Squigs and keeps the blue theme dominant. Aquarium foliage was added to tone down the blue of the toadstool and continue the jungle these. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of painting this model and am pleased with the final result. Just one more Mangler to paint for my army. Thanks for reading.

Thank you all the positive comments and encouragement. This model turned out better than I had imagined. I started this over a year ago, was unhappy with how it looked and put it away. I revisited the model recently and started over, sometimes its best to just walk away and come back fresh. @Tommy the jungle foliage comes from aquirium and pet shops. Sometimes cheap homestores have bits in now and then, I keep my eyes peeled for bargins and variety. Good luck.

With this model I wanted to make it as different from the original Forgeworld model as possible. So it seemed obvious to have its mouth filled with squigs at the point just before spitting. Looking at the original model it is based on a frog or toad with a lot of loose skin around its throat, which when full would be greatly expanded. So I set about converting the model buy chopping away the mouth and resculpting the lower half of the face. I am happy with how the squig turned out and thought that it still needed some converting so I cut the grot off the top and added him to a flying squig, something that I had wanted to built for a long time after seeing Ricky Fischer's conversion years ago. Sculpting the throat asing lots of balls of green stuff to ensure an even sculpt. Comparison with the original model. Squig faces yet to be sculpted. The finished model with a crew of four which were included on the scenic base as the crew and squig are counted as one model. This was great as it facillitated the narative. Squigs sculpted to look as if they are trying to escape from the squigs maw. I used green stuff to make press moulds from the squigs' faces supplied with the model, these were then cast in green stuff and blended into the Squig Gobba's throat. Thanks for looking. comments and feedback always appreciated.

@Shyvax I went with he big mushroon on the base as I wanted to raise the model up and change the angle so the face is seen more easily as the original model is almost facing the ground. I think once it is all painted and the base is complete it will look more aesthetically pleasing. Thanks for the praise.

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement and suggestions folks. @Dezs the squig colour in my army but I appreciate your suggestion of making it warmer, I may add some purple washes into the recessess to giv more depth. Thank you for heads up on the fishing minis.

I've always loved the Forge World Colossal Squig model and it seems to me to be an absolute must for the Moonclan Grot Squig army. After building the model I felt it seemed a little bland and it didn't seem to fit with the hectic rabble that I envisioned Moonclan Grots to be. I like the idea of the crazy grots eating too many mushrooms and trying to out do each other in dangerous shows of bravado. I also find it difficult not to kitbash/convert models to individualise them to my army, so I set about adding on some bits and pieces. The old metal Fanatic models are perfect for adding a bit of humour and momentum to any squig. I also added some grots from many different decades as a bit of a homage to the Moonclan Grot/ Night Goblin range. With the addition of lots of chains & balls and chains I was slowly building a narrative that hinted at the method of controlling and directing the movement of the Colossal Squig. Total weight of the model so far is 368g, a true heavyweight Squig. and with base coat, washes and some highlights on the Squig itself. This is a real challenge to paint albeit very enjoyable. A very old fanatic model becomes the proverbial carrot on a stick. Some work on the base. The idea is that the Squig has just landed on a massive mushroom and has broken it, I had planned to have a grot fishing sitting on the mushroom being catapulted in the air but not sure now. I also wanted the base to be very robust to support the weight of the Squig. The Squig, mushroom and base are all pinned with coat hanger wire. This is currently where the model is at, plenty of work left to do. I will upate this post as progress happens. Thanks for looking.