stark1261 Posted October 20, 2018 Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 I have been working on this project on and off since 2012. Finally really getting somewhere! The idea: hill components that can best together to hide lines to look more realistic. An underlying geometry that assists assembly but organic surfaces. the quick story: designed geometric parts long ago, then printed , made molds, cast, then sculpted. Was planning to pour cast in resin, but decided to scan and digitally finish so I can print. Status: prints working. Should have my first hill all printed tomorrow. here are progress pictures from my 3 d printer. https://imgur.com/a/aEu0aKE the circles are 30mm to accept inserts to really help customize hills each time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted October 20, 2018 Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 Looking good! Maybe consider some 50mm holes as well, since I know of at least a couple of places that do modular terrain with the openings and inserts based on 50mm circles. Or not. It's your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted October 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 Thanks, I thought about and tried 40mm but found I was getting collision with the Hill portion of a lot of the pieces (I have 8 different pieces that can go together already) Depending on what I want to do I could always re-scale but wanted to get a prototype printed and eventually painted so settled on the 30mm for this pass. Also I have some flat pieces and at 30mm you can have 3 inserts. Definitely something i can revisit but in the effort to get my prototype of something that can gain some height and build with I went with the 30mm for now. can you PM me the places that do modular terrain you know of? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted October 20, 2018 Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 OK, yeah, if they don't go any bigger without messing up the overall form, that wouldn't work so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted November 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2018 Ok attempting to post updates weekly to keep this project moving. I have completed several components. Below is the components I have printed, less small pieces and hidden pieces that make up hill structure . Next images are three basic hills I can now make. Everything has openLOCK clips to snap the base foundations together, so you can jam two hills together in multiple manners. this week the goals for the project are: A) finish a 30mm insert (rock, stump, or flat) B) finish the alternate end cap piece I have some photos of a hill and all it’s pieces assembling but not sure if people would want to see those 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted November 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2018 Well not gonna have much progress this weekend as the smoke in the Bay Area has me and family pack up to head for clean airs so we are up in the mountains. Starting to look at painting options. I did a text hex and half of it was coated with lodge lodge half was just plain raw print. Just did three colors white/lt gray/dkgrey mixed and slapped on then some Declan mud on ground over it. Likely I will dilute the Declan mud next test. You can see the dry brush shows a bit of the layers if you zoom in. Through some googling I found some options I will have to test after family depart from thanksgiving. Here is the list of things I will try, if anyone has done one of these or another option let me know your results! 1) xtc 3d by smooth on, two part filling resin 2) combo of satin spray clear and a spray primer applied under a fan. Internet poster swears by it! 3) two coats lodge podge 4) rustoleum automotive filer primer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generalripphook Posted November 20, 2018 Report Share Posted November 20, 2018 I don't know what half those words are for those options but the hexs look good. How does the flat peice sit between the other ones? Is there a lip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted November 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2018 No lip, print tolerances have been the pain but, everything is at .16mm tolerances to snug fit but still come apart on adjacent parts. Right now the lip has no greater than 1mm differential with regards to height, unless intentional designed to be a stone sitting above the “grade” of the hex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted December 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2018 Well busy fall and holidays keeping me from the progress I would like. I finally finished the first stump insert for the pieces. 30mm across, snaps right as expected with tolerances. and the phot is upside down...oh well. I am currently trying to decide to if I want to go with a snow themed board or summer themed. Here is my test piece with unpainted insert for winter theme. And with tree! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted December 28, 2018 Report Share Posted December 28, 2018 1 minute ago, stark1261 said: and the phot is upside down...oh well. Australian trees! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted December 28, 2018 Report Share Posted December 28, 2018 Looking good! I'm always a fan of winter themed stuff myself, and that test section looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted December 28, 2018 Report Share Posted December 28, 2018 It occurs to me that if you designed some 10 mm scale buildings and what have you that fit in those tree stand slots, these tiles would make great boards for Battletech, Team Yankee, Epic 40,000, and other such games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted December 28, 2018 Report Share Posted December 28, 2018 On 10/19/2018 at 7:50 PM, stark1261 said: Depending on what I want to do I could always re-scale but wanted to get a prototype printed and eventually painted so settled on the 30mm for this pass. Also I have some flat pieces and at 30mm you can have 3 inserts. It also occurs to me that 32 mm isn’t terribly larger than 30 mm, which would avoid the clipping issue, but it is also a very popular size for miniature wargame figures bases... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted December 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 Finished another component insert. First rock insert. I printed enough inserts to plug up all three basic hills. Then I played around with components to combine two of the hills just to demonstrate how you can snap parts together. I have a two foot ruler off to the right tonhopefull help with size. next steps are a) flat insert b) component that allows flexibility to combine the basic hills, you may have notice how I had to use another flat hex, I don’t have an edge piece to create a concave intention yet so will be getting that modeled up! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted March 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 Did some painting! with tree inserts Rocks instead 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 That is looking awesome! Props on sticking with this project for so long! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 I have been making steady progress, debating where to go next with the project. I thought I should post some more finished components assembled into hills. Three hills The next two two shots are an attempt to show the modularity of the design. Each hex can have its edge pieces stripped off and then clipped to another hex. Two hills, notice flat hexes in background. Four flat hexes added to middle, you could put them together without hexes , just remove edges and clip together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted April 4, 2019 Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 Starting to look like enough to actually use for something. Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 Thanks WestRider! I am thinking of seeing what I can make on a kill team like board. that or a 3x3 frostgrave. Here is a shot showing the vertical elevation the single step pieces I have painted can achieve. I am painting some dual step pieces tonight. The pieces can tessalate along all three axis so I am hoping to get some fun tables to play on once I finish out the dual step pieces. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted April 6, 2019 Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 That's a pretty good climb there! Cool to see the "cutaway" view and how the supporting layers lock together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted June 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2019 Been working on a storage system for the painted hills. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted September 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 An update! So integrating some feedback from people who have had their chance to get hands on them. “Can it be a Table?” And “the angle of the scatter piece bases aren’t aesthetically pleasing.” (thanks jmgraham!) well i am nearly done with table idea and have started rounded edges for the area terrain feature. I had to make a bunch of edge pieces, then, as is typical for this project screw up the tolerances, and fix! Here are table progress shots! Thoughts? table is 30”x24” 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted September 15, 2019 Report Share Posted September 15, 2019 That is looking really good now it's enough to really see the whole form of it. The smaller bits were cool to see, but like this, it comes together better as a whole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Glacius Posted September 16, 2019 Report Share Posted September 16, 2019 Can you do the scaling height on something like that, or is that for a flat table only? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stark1261 Posted September 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2019 Height goes up, that was the key to the idea. I already have some prototypes that step up two standard hex heights per hex the immediately pictured above all step up one. I designed an internal “frame” hex that is hollow that supports and stacks up or laterally in a nice lattice. i have been working on some model pieces to allow me to set on edge at say 7 inches and then the other side will fall to the 1/2” most of the table above is. the picture below has a two level hill on the left, the little out crop sits on top of four frames, the outcropping on the right back has a single hex at the second level.(in progress to paint all the silver pieces) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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