Dunbrough and Gripenhem WIP log

Progress on LARGE terrain pieces seems to come in spurts; i.e, a small piece here or there, then a sudden gush of creativity...at least that's how it's worked with moi. The bridge is a BEAUTY; & the tower & rock formations are promising. Keep up the FINE WORK & enjoy the process.

Nice. I have been dreaming of doing something like this myself - a huge bridge with a guard tower. So I'll be all the more interested in seeing your approach to this.

Vagabond wrote:

It would be cool to make one gate of the city goes down under the waterfall!

Ooohhh, I second that!
Otherwise nice progress on the bridge, you've put much effort into carving the stone pattern all over it.

Love this, although it's not hidden it got me thinking of Nargothrond and Gondolin. I'm sure it will be stunning when done!

Wow! great work. Love the bridge, river and etc.

Vagabond wrote:

It would be cool to make one gate of the city goes down under the waterfall! Did you carve the stones on the bridge or you glued then on, cause it looks great?!

That's all carved foam. It's 3 pieces of .5" foam, sandwiched. The piece is actually really strong, it could hold a lot of weight if it ever had to.
Thanks for the feedback guys!

I got a fair amount of rock carving done this week. Which is mostly scoring the foam a lot and breaking off pieces of it from there. Lots and lots of filling to come. Now that I can see how the island is shaping up, I can start adding outcroppings of rock to break up the shape. I’ve also got to find a way to add a waterfall over top of a path, by popular demand. I think I know how….

LOOKIN' GOOD! I love the spiral stair cases; AND the rock formations are taking shape WONDERFULLY. GREAT WORK!

Excellent progress.

Sorry if this has been asked already but I couldn't find it, what colors do you use for your roofs? They look much better than the regular fantasy red/blue roofs.

qazbnm wrote:

Sorry if this has been asked already but I couldn't find it, what colors do you use for your roofs? They look much better than the regular fantasy red/blue roofs.

I don't use any specific colors, I just mix up some blues or greens with black and grey. A darker version of the standard colors basically. Then I drybrush with barnwood or rotting flesh for highlights, goblin green for moss, and distress with straight black.

Ok, I'll try mixing some darker green then! I just have to get some more crafts paint as using my regular paint is just tooo expensive. Thanks!

This is kinda small, it’s going to be a gate in the stairs, which will run up the side of the island. Maybe a tower on one side. The small gate was inspired by the gate at Burg Eltz. I’m really quite happy with the woodgrain on the door.

Beautifully detail! And the foam really works well as wood.

Joao

You did a FINE job on the wood grain. This is going to be a most impressive Gate! GREAT WORK!

Quote :

I’m really quite happy with the woodgrain on the door.

As well you should be!

Hej hej hej, you seem to be the greatest foam-wizard, its totaly awesome what you can perform with a bit of pinkish o blueish foam and a little tool, quite impressive!

Wow. That looks really good.

From now on I'm calling you The Foam Artist! Really excellent work wit carving the foam!

Carving up the other side of the island. I score the foam a bunch, and break off whatever is left. Very messy.


Also build the staircase which will lead up to the main gate on the plateau of the island. This one starts with a whole lots of little foam blocks. I glue them one on top of the other, up the side of the island. I’m at a break point now while I add in the lesser gate, half way up the stairs. The stairs will all be blocked in to look as if they were carved from the island itself.

EXCELLENT PROGRESS! The striations in the rock formations is a FINE effect; AND the flying staircase is IMPRESSIVE. GREAT WORK!

Apparently, Grippenheim means roughly "Flu City" in German, as german speakers keep telling me online. Am currently looking for new names for flu city.

Now that you've mentioned it, the Grip was a popular way of describing a respiratory condition, possibly the flu, when I was a Boy. That aside, have fun with the renaming...I always get a kick out of coming up with new & usually silly names.

Wow, great advance, it´s getting better and better, MORE!

So I think I've decided to change it from Grippenheim, to Gripenhem. Small change, but in straight up Swedish, it means Griffon Home. I hear in German, Gripenhem sounds a lot like "bitch and stitch", so I guess that's the tavern named then!

I wanted a staircase this tall, and this long, so I cut a block to that size, and then sliced it into step height pieces, glued them into a staircase. I blocked it under as I went, otherwise I could really only do a few steps at a time, and then let them dry. Everything behind the first gate will be walled in, including the second set of stairs. At the top of the steps will be the main gate, and then the city itself. Pretty soon I'll be ready to fill all of these cracks and make this thing solid.