Elderwick Precipice

[Yugamu Tsuki]

I'm not mad.

 

At least I don't think I am.

 

Hear me out first: a module that is real horror show. First I fix the issue of what-can-one-do-with-the-blank-front as a sheer cliff instead of a flat wall, actually turn it into landscape instead of a border. Split down the center from the front to the back will be a ravine with water at the bottom hinting a waterfall at the front edge. A gothic bridge gaps the river offering the train safe passage. In the back I will have a conglomeration of gothic/baroque style buildings and spires like some stonework titan clawing out of Tartarus. A dull setting sun slowly sinks behind august clouds.

 

I'll  probably be using Fusion 360 to render the buildings and print them out on my Ender3. I know this will definitely not be a "normal" but I'll have fun every step of the way. It will probably wind up being a very vertical landscape and I think I know what I'll be spending my time on this Thanksgiving.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

During my lunch I'm going to head over the to Home Depot and pick-up a 2'x'2 (1" depth) sheet of pink foam board and start modeling the ravine.I think that will take the most amount of time to do and as long as I make it a little bigger I can always sand it down to fit in the module. I have a could rubber stamp chisels that I'm going to try to use to carve out the rock faces, I just need to figure out if I;m going for vertical rocks or long horizontal slab type. Getting riled up.

[Martijn Meerts]

As long as they're sharp, it doesn't matter what direction they go, they'll look sufficiently gothic 😄

 

[cteno4]

Extruded styrene foam is nice to play with like this, just really messy! As you work the loose foam particles get statically charged and stick to everything! And also good to wear eye protection. The particles don’t fly into your eyes much but if they do or worse you rub your eyes with stuff on your fingers the are really irritating as well as down the lungs. I’m always vacuuming while sanding or sawing it in the shop as I’ll pick it up on my hands a week or two later! 
 

you can really do some wonderful stuff and also add plaster or joint compound to the foam as well. Little bits of various 60 to 120 grit sand paper on your finger tip and folded make great shaping tools. Best knife for roughing stuff is a cheap scalloped serrated steak knife as it cuts well without a lot of dust. it paints well with good old thick and cheap acrylic craft paint as it coders the foam structure well.
 

We looked at using extruded styrene foam for 1:1 fake rock walls in some exhibits as it’s what Hollywood uses in movies a lot. We had a special effects guy come in and give us some tips on working with it. Amazing to watch what the chap could do in a few minutes with a steak knife and some bits of sand paper! Walnut shell sandblasting works great, but is really, really messy! In the end we had a system developed for casting real rocks with latex and making rough foam forms that were coated with about 3/4” of fiber reinforced concrete (fiberglass and epoxy in with cement) and before the face set you pressed on the latex moulds to get surface rock texture and small features. Kind of like folks do on train scenery using foam as a base and covering with plaster and pressing latex moulds on.

 

jeff

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Ok, the rubber stamp knife is just ripping the foam and making my life a whole lot easier since it's naturally getting "roughed up". I don't want to to any sanding or finishing until I have my box built so I can get the parts as flush as possible but I may be able to work on the front facing and the riverbed later this week. It was a good day all in all.

[cteno4]

Nice! Might just try some paint on it and may not need to sand! 
 

what’s a rubber stamp knife?

 

various kinds of serrated blades used in different ways can give neat effects. Do you now have pink dandruff?

 

jeff

[Yugamu Tsuki]

It's more of a "gouger" than an actual knife. It has several V shaped blades meant to to cut grooves instead of just a single line.

 

As for the dandruff, both me and the dog got off easy this time. Also, I now have a small bag of scraps which I may be able to use as rocks in the future.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Made a first draft of the bridge rails. Now that I know it can work I'll add design to the boring sides as well as wrought iron fencing between the posts.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Got a lot of rendering done today. Not real happy with the bottom portion as it doesn't feel like it matches the same style so I may go back and redo that portion. All I have left for the bridge will be the pillars but I don't want to do that until I have the box made and the ravine in so I can take proper measurements.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

For the background I am going to have a piece of wood I can paint on. I was thinking of doing acrylic to mimic oil painting but I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and make it outright an oil painting. Maybe add white gesso to prime the wood? It wouldn't have the "tooth" I like to paint on and be rather smooth (maybe I add salt or sand to the gesso). Since this is my submission for Kato's current T-Trak contest, mid March is the deadline so if I paint it in the next week or so I *hope* it will be dry enough to assemble by the due date. I'm thinking something like my below painting but in oranges/yellows with more prominent clouds vs. mountains and in a more acceptable scale.

[roadstar_na6]

That looks very Bob Ross-ish 😄

[Yugamu Tsuki]

58 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

That looks very Bob Ross-ish 😄

That's because it is lol

 

Joy of Painting got me the bug to do more than just watch (much to my poor furniture's dismay when I "beat the devil" out of the brushes).

 

Though I wish I could do buildings like Bill Alexander.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Yugamu Tsuki
Needed to include Bill Alexander

[Martijn Meerts]

Bob would've added a cabin that covered half the painting 😉

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Delay due to cut wood, an open back pick-up truck, and an unexpected rain. Going to need to go gangbusters in the new year.