Dungeon Extras

Not had much time this week to work on the many projects I have on the go at the moment, just had time to add a few extra accessory pieces for the dungeon set.

Having left the inside archways clear of wall filler, so that initially I could add back in the original cut out arch shapes also disguised with wall filler to block them up as either solid walls or secret doors, I took advantage of the easy to cut exposed polystyrene.

I cut a channel up both sides of the arch way using a sharp craft knife, making the channel thick enough to slide a piece of card into the slot.

Having cut the card to size I then covered the card with strips of thin wood – back to using the coffee stirring sticks. Once the first layer was dry, I attached a few additional pieces along the top, and sides, and down the middle to give the effect of double doors. These were given a black under coat with acrylic paint and then painted up with a brown colour layer and a quick white dry brushing to add aging.

I repeated the channel cuts in one of the other archways and again cut a piece of card to fit. This time I stuck two thin strips of card down the middle of the base card then covered the card with a piece of foil paper.

I stuck this down, allowing the strips of card to bulge through to look like iron work. Along the top and bottom I glued additional pieces of silver foil, this time with a pitted effect already in the material to look like huge hinges.

Once this was dry, I painted the whole thing with black paint then dabbed it off using a piece of kitchen towel – this gave the whole mottled effect. 

* Can you guess where the two pieces of foil came from?

Finally I made a rock fall piece to fit into one of the archways. This was made from one old wine cork – the old cork kind not the new modern plastic corks.

I broke the cork into pieces and glued it together in a heap shape using a piece of card as the base.  Make sure that any flat sides are on the inside and that the rough broken parts are facing outward.

As you can see this still need to be finished off with a touch of paint to blend it in.

Full set of pieces for the dungeon archways

* The iron door covering came from the top seal of a Pringle’s tube – silver side out

The pitied foil was from the edge of a dissolvable aspirin strip.

Scenic Terrain – Rocks

Ok, a quick post tonight. I recall saying recently not to throw away that tub of dried up wall filler you found at the back of the shed when you went looking for something to build the castle ruins with.

When I went to start these building projects I did just that, went to find some previously bought filler only to find it had dried out and formed a solid lump in the bottom of the tub.

Just before I threw it out a thought struck me and I turned the tub upside down and struck it with a hammer, knocking the solid lump out. It fell out and broken into three large pieces and several smaller fragments. I collected up the larger lumps and the best of the other pieces.

Having come from the bottom of the tub, the pieces all had nice flat bases to them.  This meant they sat nicely on the table, and from the front had great rock structure.

The backs were smooth from the tub walls, but never the less; they formed great free-standing corner rock pieces for quick distribution onto the game table as rocky terrain.

I gave the pieces an undercoat with black acrylic paint then later once that had dried I used a black/white mix in various shades of gray to colour and highlight and a hint of brown in flashes across the rocks to appear like seams of other rock (or maybe even fool’s gold) in the structure.

One of the smaller pieces had a nice round dip in it, this I filled with a bright blue paint to look like a small rock pool. This took a bit longer to dry.   

I might even go back and use some of the water effect material on them later to really bring up the effect. (If I do I’ll let you know how it works out.)   

   

All in all, rather than throwing away what was going to be wasted wall filler, I ended up with extra rocky terrain for use in our underground cavern adventure.