{"id":6320,"date":"2019-06-22T06:58:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T10:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=6320"},"modified":"2019-06-22T07:15:09","modified_gmt":"2019-06-22T11:15:09","slug":"the-paint-cried-out-stick-to-me-and-the-foam-whispered-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=6320","title":{"rendered":"The Paint Cried Out, &#8220;Stick To Me!&#8221;; and the Foam Whispered, &#8220;No&#8221;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_00.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve never been a gum-chewer. But in the last year, the gum needed chewing, so I got down to business.<\/p>\n<p>That isn&#8217;t a metaphor.<\/p>\n<p>About a year ago, someone offered me some gum, and I was intrigued by the vessel it was offered from&#8212; not a metallic bubble pack, but a plastic jar with a very interesting lid.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-6476\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_93-600x501.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_93.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_93-300x251.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The lid is a truncated hemisphere, but the flat cut of the top isn&#8217;t parallel to the base&#8211; instead it&#8217;s angled, creating an interesting shape. The flap at the top is a separate piece that can be <em>(permanently, and destructively)<\/em> removed, and there&#8217;s a satisfying row of parallel indentations around the edge. As it tends to do, my brain took in the shape of this lid and filed it into the Terrain Scrap Archives, a filing system in my brainmeats where I track &#8220;stuff I&#8217;ve seen that could probably be used for terrain, someday, maybe&#8221;. I didn&#8217;t immediately know exactly what use the lids would have, but I knew in my core that there was a piece of terrain somewhere inside it.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Once the idea was registered in my brain, I would periodically re-examine it when I saw the same gum containers at the grocery store. Over time, I came to a few conclusions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The lid&#8217;s main value would be as a mass-produced piece of machinery&#8211; not a terrain piece in itself, but a prominent accessory on a series of larger pieces.<\/li>\n<li>The large round shape lent itself to two main possibilities in my mind: a fan, or a door.<\/li>\n<li>Whatever they became, I needed a lot of them, so it was time to start chewing a lot of gum.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I let those gears turn at the back of my head for a while, and started keeping jars of gum in my car and at my desks to gradually grind through. By my quick calculations, I chewed 600 pieces of gum in service of this task. A high price, yes, but great terrain demands great sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t know what exact end goal this would all be applied to until I dropped into my local game store one day last Fall and saw a new set of PlastCraft terrain they&#8217;d brought in:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-6418\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01-600x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01-600x600.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01-624x624.jpg 624w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_01.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>PlastCraft does have some officially licensed Infinity terrain sets<em> (of which I am a pretty big fan)<\/em>, but this one was marketed as generic sci-fi. My personal theory is that it was an attempt to capitalize on the new-ish Star Wars minis game, as the griminess, geometric designs, and general tech level seem to be in keeping with that universe.<\/p>\n<p>I bought a half-dozen buildings from the set, but they obviously weren&#8217;t enough to fill a board on their own, so I knew I would need to create some additional pieces to fill out the board. I like to combine artificial and natural elements in my terrain sets, and the red dirt around the bottoms of the buildings seemed to suggest a desert or some dusty red rocks, so I figured that a set of big orangey rocks would make a good complement to the buildings.<\/p>\n<p>I could have taken that idea and just made rocks, but there was another idea that had been bouncing around my mental filing system for years that I thought might make things more interesting:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-6422\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_02-600x364.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_02.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_ref_02-300x182.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At the start of the almost-unwatchable movie Star Trek: Insurrection, the Federation sets up an observation post to watch a planet&#8217;s native society. Their facility is embedded in the cliffs around the town, and hidden by a holographic facade. At one point, though, a character partially decloaks the facility, leading to some interesting shots of the observation post poking out of the otherwise unbroken stone of the cliff walls.<\/p>\n<p>I always liked that visual, and it&#8217;s inspired a few terrain sketches over the years where I tried to embed machinery and buildings inside rock faces. None of them have come to fruition yet, but I decided that this project might be a good opportunity to deploy it on a small scale&#8211; not full usable buildings set in rock, but at least some bits of machinery embedded in the rock face to give it a bit of a sci-fi feel.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_01.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After a few weeks of brainstorming and sketching, I settled on a design that included some big mining fans, and decided that the time was right to finally deploy the gum lids I had been saving up. I had chewed my way through about a dozen jars over the course of a year, and came up with a design for a foamcore enclosure that would be capped at the top with a gum lid fan. A big part of selling a sci-fi future for me is repetition; manufacturing is only going to get more efficient as technology marches forward, so I like to design my terrain around the concept of &#8220;this seemed like a good design, so we made a thousand of them.&#8221; Driven by this principle, I wanted to repeat a near-identical fan design all around the board, but keep each terrain piece interesting and unique by varying the rocks each one is set into.<\/p>\n<p>Duplicating a design has always meant a lot of tedious manual drudgery for me&#8211; maybe they&#8217;ll be able to effortlessly mass-produce things in the distant future, but in the boring present, I usually have to make paper templates, manually trace them onto various materials, and then manually cut everything out for assembly. This process tends to be long and mind-numbing, but a recent acquisition has removed at least some of the pain from this process.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_02.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;ve mentioned in a few articles by now, I acquired a Silhouette Cameo CNC cutter last year. I call it my &#8220;knife printer&#8221;&#8211; you give the computer a design full of shapes you want to cut out, the computer translates that design into cutting instructions, and the printer cuts those lines into a thin material you feed into it. I was extremely excited at the possibilities this created for mass-producing terrain elements, but this enthusiasm was severely tempered when I discovered that\u00a0<strong>it can&#8217;t cut through craft foam<\/strong>. It&#8217;s designed to cut through various types of paper, and the thin craft foam that I use for most of my terrain detailing is just a bit too thick for even the longest blade Silhouette makes<\/p>\n<p>That disappointing discovery last year was enough to discourage me from using the Silhouette for any of my next terrain projects. But this new set demanded mass-production of a lot of identical piece, and I was willing to take another\u00a0 look at the Knife Printer to see if I could coerce it into being helpful.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the concession I made was to swap materials. Thick paper is pretty useless for most terrain applications&#8211; not thick enough to act as paneling, and not sturdy to build free-standing structures. However, since these fans would be encased inside the sturdy plastic gum lids and thusly protected from most impacts, I figured that I could get away with relatively flimsy construction on the fan blades.<\/p>\n<p>Having settled on this plan, I made up a fan design in Adobe Illustrator, then exported the design to the Silhouette software and cut the components out of scrapbook paper.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_07.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were three components for each fan&#8211; a circular backing piece, then the fan blades, then a front guard. The pieces were all sized to fit inside the gum lids. I mean&#8230; obviously. Kinda no point otherwise. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_03.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I cut a small notch in each fan blade near the central hub, which allowed me to bend each blade down a bit with the aid of a small pair of pliers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_04.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Because the paper I was using had very little thickness on its own, I opted to create relief within the piece by putting spacers between the layers. First up, I put a tiny piece of foamcore behind the raised part of each blade to let the blades sit out from the backing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_05.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I also put little blocks behind the guard piece to help them sit away from the blades.<\/p>\n<p>I annoyingly didn&#8217;t get a photo of the completed fan assemblies at this point, but you can see them a few pictures down. :\/<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_06.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At this point, I was ready to bring in the gum lids. The soft plastic of the flaps turned out to be extremely easy to cut with a knife.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_08.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The fan guards looked a bit plain, so I used the Silhouette to cut out some circular nubs to go over them. I cut these out of craft foam&#8211; which, as mentioned earlier, is too thick for the Silhouette to go all the way through, requiring me to retrace over every single cut to release the pieces. Which saves <em>some<\/em> time over manually tracing templates and fully doing the cuts by hand, but not a lot. :\/<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_09.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once I was happy with the fan assemblies, I sprayed them black and glued each one inside a gum lid.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Here you can finally see how the pieces look with the spacers in place&#8211; a big improvement over the flat paper layers).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_86.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Next up, I needed to build the enclosures to go around the fans. Starting from the basic shape in my sketch, I did a bunch of triangle math to figure out how long each of the various segments needed to be, and then used those numbers to build a template in Illustrator.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_87.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I printed the template out on cardstock paper and transferred it ten times to a sheet of black foamcore.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_88.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Each of the pieces was cut out with a utility knife; wedges were cut out to permit the various folds, in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G4WurIw7-kU\">my usual manner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_89.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Everything was then glued together with a hot glue gun.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_90.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I like stacking things in rows. &lt;3<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_91.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>My overall concept for the board was that it was a mine of some sort. I don&#8217;t personally know a lot about mines, but I&#8217;m vaguely aware that mines fill up with various horrible gases that need to be vented out; I figured that these fans I was creating were the outer layer of such a ventilation system. To emphasize their connection to the tunnels below, I wanted to have a visible tube connecting the fans to the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The tubing I used is just some basic electrical conduit I picked up at the hardware store. It has an opening running down one side to let you snap it over whatever wires it&#8217;s protecting; I didn&#8217;t want this seam to be visible, so I kept it pointed toward the back (which would be embedded in the rock).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_92.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I cut these into short lengths, then hot glued them in place with popscicle sticks to hold them at the correct angle.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_10.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The enclosures and fans were being worked on simultaneously; this is around the point where both were nearing completion, and were looking pretty dang snazzy if you ask me. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_11.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Two things to note here: first off, I used more popscicle sticks and triangles of black scrapbook paper to fill in the gaps around the conduit. Second, the glue required to join all of this together was pretty heavy, leading to all of the enclosures being heavy enough in the back to fall over, so I added little stabilizer feet at the bottom to help them stand upright for the next stages of assembly.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_12.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With the individual components basically complete, it was time to start thinking about how this would all come together into finalized terrain pieces. My basic plan was to pose the fans together into various configurations, then use expanding spray foam insulation to create rocks around them. To support all of this, I used scraps of foamcore to build a really loose skeleton in the shape of whatever rocks I planned to squirt into existence for each one.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_13.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To keep the spray foam from making too much of a mess, I used more black scapbook paper as a backing sheet on each piece. This first piece was intended to have a flat edge to let it sit against the edge of the game board, so I folded the paper in half to create both a ground and wall barrier.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_14.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The skeleton was hot glued into place, and then I used a pencil to sketch out the vague outline of where I wanted the rock to sit.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_15.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As I was working through the early stages of this project, it occurred to me that the final pieces would be more interesting to play on if they were more than just big rocks; to help create more interesting play patterns, I also wanted to have short tunnels burrowing through most of the pieces.<\/p>\n<p>To keep the tunnels sized and shaped in a consistent manner, I built them into the rock skeletons using empty Knorr bouillon containers, of which I have <em>so, so many<\/em>. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve used them for a terrain project since the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=3176\">six-hour sewers<\/a> in 2015, so they&#8217;ve just been building up on my scavenged materials shelf. &lt;3<\/p>\n<p>The H-shaped support you see in this shot is something I tossed together quickly to ensure that each tunnel is raised a specific height above the ground, which would let me build standardized stairs and ladders that would work all across the terrain set, without each piece needing its own custom-fit ladders.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_16.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The tubes were embedded within the skeletons of most of the terrain pieces. The containers are just barely tall enough for an S5 silhouette to pass through when a flat catwalk is placed on the bottom.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_17.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Random progress shot. These two tunnels are raised higher than the earlier ones; these one would have ladders, while the lower ones would have short staircases.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_18.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I kept building pieces until they seemed to fill enough space on the board, which gave me seven in total. The 12&#8243; tiles on my kitchen floor are great for helping me visualize things like this. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_19.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Alright, time for the gross part. There have historically been two terrain materials I dislike working with&#8211; two-part resin that&#8217;s often used for creating clear pools of water<em> (because I can never get a complete seal, and it ALWAYS escapes and gets everywhere)<\/em>, and expanding spray foam. Spray foam is a construction material used to fill gaps and prevent unwanted air flow; it comes out of an aerosol can with a long, fat tube on the top. Two chemicals within the can are shot out at the same time; as soon as they mix, they react together, creating a bubbling foam that dries to the touch in about half an hour <em>(and then solidifies in a few hours)<\/em>. It has lots of applications in terrain-making, most notably for creating rocks and other natural substances in whatever size and shape you like.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_20.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>However, I kind of can&#8217;t stand the stuff, because every time I&#8217;ve used it in the past, I&#8217;ve accidentally gotten it on a table surface, my shoe, my shirt, my dog, or some other unwanted canvas. And once it&#8217;s on there, it does NOT want to come out, requiring a very fast application of acetone if you want any chance of dissolving it before it bonds permanently.<\/p>\n<p>So, this time I took no chances&#8211; I applied it in the wide space of my kitchen, with a dropcloth underneath, while wearing fully disposable clothes and rubber gloves.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, with all of those precautions in place, THIS time it completely behaved and didn&#8217;t get anywhere. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_21.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Foaming up all seven terrain pieces took about an hour. The two different colours are ostensibly two different grades of foam&#8211; white is &#8220;normal&#8221;, while yellow is for windows. I&#8217;m sure there&#8217;s supposed to be some difference between those, but in practice they seemed pretty close to identical other than the colour. <em>*shrug*<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_22.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once the foam had set overnight, I tore the excess black paper from the underside of each piece.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s about it for the bulk rock construction. On the next page, we&#8217;ll start building the ladders and stairs, and learn some deeply frustrating things about the chemical properties of expanding foam. ~_~<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>Alrighty, let&#8217;s create some workplace safety hazards!<\/p>\n<p>The staircases I would be creating were a modification of the ones I came up with for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=2047\">my first Infinity terrain set<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/spacepanels_116.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back during that project, I had found that three steps were enough to cover a 1&#8243; vertical transition, and came up with a neat stair layout where the balcony and bottom step both wrapped around a much smaller hexagonal middle step. Not only does this look cool, but it leaves enough room for a 25mm base to sit flat on each step, and even <em>juuuust<\/em> enough room for a 40mm to rest without falling over.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_23.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I wanted the stairs for the Mars terrain <em>(as I had started thinking of this new set)<\/em> to be much narrower, but the same basic shape was employed. As with everything else I do, the designs were drawn up in Adobe Illustrator, then printed on cardstock and transferred to foamcore.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_24.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Supports go under the stairs&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_25.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;then the steps go down on top. It&#8217;s hard to see, but a tiny L-shaped support connects the bottom and middle steps.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_26.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>These were all measured in advance to cleanly go from ground level to a catwalk laid within the tunnel tubes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>On that note:<\/strong> I&#8217;ll post the PDF files for this project&#8217;s templates at the end, but it&#8217;s important to note that all of the vertical pieces were very specifically sized for this project&#8217;s dimensions. If you decide to adapt my ladders or stairs to your own projects, you&#8217;ll probably want to adjust the height of the vertical riser templates slightly so that everything links up correctly to whatever you&#8217;re matching them to.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_27.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Speaking of ladders&#8230; here are some ladders! I don&#8217;t have Illustrator files for these, because I drew the templates with a pencil and ruler while at my local store one Friday night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BONUS:<\/strong> Heh, they look like dicks. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_28.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Something new I did with this project was to incorporate magnets to attach pieces together. This was quite simple to set up&#8211; under the top lip of the stairs and ladders, I peeled back the paper layer of the foamcore, and then cleared a space through the foamcore to fit two small stacked steel washers. The paper was then glued back into place.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_29.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I annoyingly didn&#8217;t get a shot of the magnets going in, but it&#8217;s exactly the same thing&#8211; open the paper in the catwalks, drop in a magnet, then glue shut. I used 3lb rare earth magnets purchased from a local surplus store, which adhere very strongly through the two layers of paper.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_30.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Up to this point, the catwalks running through the tunnels had just been lying loose, but eventually I needed to glue them down. The interior of the broth cans is lined with waxy foil that glue doesn&#8217;t stick to well, so I cut a small area of the foil away to let me glue things directly to the cardboard underneath.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_31.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Basic construction was nearing completion, so it was finally time to glue everything together. The gum lid fans had a pretty huge void inside them, so I glued in some foamcore blocks so that they laid approximately flush to the outer rim of the lid. This let me attach glue to the foamcore <em>(which adheres beautifully)<\/em> instead of trying to stick to the thin edge of the lid.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_32.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A few boring assembly steps later, things were ready to paint. To start things off, I sprayed everything with black aerosol primer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_33.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Next, I came in with a can of Rustoleum colonial red <em>(ooh&#8230; maybe not a great reference in today&#8217;s political climate..?)<\/em>, which I thought was a really pretty colour. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_34.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once that was done, I brought the pieces inside to work on the stone with my airbrush. Almost immediately, however, I noticed that paint was chipping pretty heavily anywhere the terrain pieces brushed solid objects, or each other.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_35.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Terrain chipping is an expected hazard, but this was unique and worrisome. Not only was it happening IMMEDIATELY after application, and under the barest hint of physical contact; but when it did chip, the paint was lifting ENTIRELY away, leaving no residue of any kind behind on the foam. This basically told me that the spray primer I had used had ZERO bond to the spray foam, which in turn meant that the chipping I was observing was only the start&#8211; unless drastic measures were taken, half the paint was likely to chip away inside of a month.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_36.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Just to be safe, I sprayed some thinned Mod Podge over everything, which I hoped would form an armored shell around the entire piece. It wouldn&#8217;t make the paint stick to the foam, but hopefully the shell would have enough structural integrity in and of itself to sort of hold the paint together into a form-fitting balloon.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_37.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was scheduled to help run a tournament the next day, so I used the opportunity to set the terrain up for a stress test&#8211; I wanted to see how much wear and tear the set took from being packed into bins, unpacked, played on for three rounds, then packed up and unpacked again.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the podge would hold..?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_38.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>HAHA NOPE<\/p>\n<p>The chipping was certainly <em>reduced<\/em>&#8212; in that it now took a direct knock to create a chip instead of a light brush against skin or fabric. However, this still resulted in dozens of small and medium chips across the set, so it was clear that podge alone wasn&#8217;t the solution I was after.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_39.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I showed the damaged pieces to various friends and local store owners, but none of them immediately knew how to solve it.<\/p>\n<p>A brainstorming chat with one particular store owner yielded some suggestions I could at least test. The first was that I might simply not have put <em>enough<\/em> podge over the pieces&#8211; podge dries into a very thin skin, so if I was expecting it to provide structural support, I probably needed to layer it on a few times. I did some tests on scraps of foam and found that white glue and podge yielded fairly similar results, so I used the cheaper glue for my tests, laying on three successive coats<em> (letting each one dry before applying the next one).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The second workable suggestion was to apply a candy coat of gloss varnish. The idea was the same as with the glue\/podge, except that it would be much faster to apply (and&#8230; <em>might<\/em> be stronger? I don&#8217;t really know the physical dynamics of gloss varnish shells).<\/p>\n<p>I did four tests&#8211; gloss over paint, gloss under paint, glue over paint, and glue under paint. The results weren&#8217;t terribly encouraging, but the glue-over-paint test did have the&#8230; if not &#8220;best&#8221;, then &#8220;least bad&#8221; result. I could still make chips with a sharp knock, but it was a fair bit more resilient than before. I figured I could just be incredibly gentle with it, and that might be enough.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_40.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Crossing my fingers and praying to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/?p=2299\">Space Jesus<\/a>, I applied two coats of thinned white glue over everything, then optimistically proceeded to further paint layers.<\/p>\n<p><em>(By the way&#8211; if it sounds like all of this was a quick experimental process, that&#8217;s only because I&#8217;m skipping most of the details. In reality, the time span between the first discovery of the paint chips and the application of the sprayed glue was two and a half of the most depressing and discouraging weeks of my terraining career, and I was an annoyingly mopey Potato to be around throughout. ;_; )<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_41.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Deciding that it was as safe as it was going to get to move forward, I started applying additonal paint coats to the stone. First I did a hard under-spray of very dark <em>(almost black)<\/em> red.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_42.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I then did a very light dusting of vivid red from the top to establish a highlight.<\/p>\n<p>At this point I loved the colours I had applied, but I wanted to blend the stone one step higher into orange, and everything was far too smooth&#8211; I needed to sponge on some texture.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_43.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back in the day, you used to be able to get awesome organic sponges from paint stores, but after visiting half a dozen of them and speaking to a few salespeople, I&#8217;ve learned that sponge texture has gone out of style, and stores no longer stock them. I tried to explain that sponge texture never goes out of style in the terrain community, but my compelling argument did not seem to sway them.<\/p>\n<p>Lacking this, I looked around various stores for some sort of substitute, and ended up finding a squeezable sponge mop that seemed like it would do the job. It took quite a bit of work with heavy pliers, but I was able to pull the metal bracket apart and free the trapped sponge within.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_44.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To getting a convincing stone texture, you don&#8217;t want to use the flat exterior of the sponge&#8211; you want to tear it with your hands to create an uneven surface from the interior.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_45.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sponging is pretty straightforward&#8211; pick up paint, wipe most of it off, then dab a few times. I&#8230; may have dabbed a bit hard on these ones. ~_~<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_46.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once the white paint had dried, I took out my airbrush and sprayed a thin coat of orangey yellow from the top. I didn&#8217;t bother covering the sides at all, as the next stage would address them.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_47.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I then came in with a more reddish-orange spray to complete the effect. To be honest, this wasn&#8217;t exactly what I was trying to accomplish, but I may have accidentally created something even better than my original vision. SO PRETTY. &lt;3<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_48.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was pretty happy with the rocks, but still needed to paint the machinery. I picked up a roll of special masking tape at my local dollar store&#8211; it&#8217;s a roll of normal beige masking tape, but with 6&#8243; of brown paper attached down one side. This seemed like it would be very helpful in masking off the red stone without the need to stick tape all over the entire surface.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_49.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the relatively straight edges of the machinery, it was pretty easy to get everything masked off. The brown paper was large enough to wrap most of the way around each piece.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_50.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once they were all masked, it was time for paint!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_51.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I wanted my machinery to be off-white to match the Plastcraft terrain, so I sprayed everything with an appropriate shade of&#8230; I dunno, eggshell?<\/p>\n<p>Also: it was late.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_52.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once the spraypaint dried, I went in and added dark red shading from underneath with my airbrush.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_53.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This was followed by what I must admit were some fairly messy layers of off-white and pure white from the top.<\/p>\n<p>I then pulled off the tape, and it&#8211;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_54.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/media.tenor.com\/images\/0952f5a6391256217c4134416e729032\/tenor.gif\" width=\"600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/media1.giphy.com\/media\/3o6ozBuRepNC1dLD0I\/source.gif\" width=\"600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>ALRIGHT.<\/p>\n<p>FINE.<\/p>\n<p>I DIDN&#8217;T WANT TO DO THIS.<\/p>\n<p>BUT I GUESS I DON&#8217;T HAVE ANY CHOICE.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK MARK ZUCKERBURG FOR HELP. &gt;:(<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-6460\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_01-600x1000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_01.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_01-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I made a post in the WGC Terrain Builders group on Facebook, and bared my pain to the world. The first few replies seemed to miss the P.S. about not wanting to strip back down to the bare foam, but their suggestions are valid for future projects.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-6461\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_02-600x453.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_02.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_02-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>However, eventually, an angel descended from Terrain Heaven, and spoke two primordial words of power.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-6463\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_03-600x79.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"79\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_03.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_fb_03-300x40.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t know exactly what that was, but a quick Google search told me that my divine quest should take me to the hardware store.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_55.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Turns out, it&#8217;s&#8230; floor sealant? I think?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s&#8230; I don&#8217;t know. It&#8217;s a paintcan full of translucent white liquid.<\/p>\n<p>Smells pretty nice.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_56.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It goes on quite thin. It dries clear in about an hour, and is ready for a second coat after 2 hours.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_57.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was a bit worried early on by this crackle texture that appeared when it dried; however, this only showed up after the first coat, and disappeared following subsequent coats.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_58.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I wasn&#8217;t sure how many coats would be needed to hold my suicidal paint together, so I did an experiment&#8211; I divided my test rock into four strips, and applied zero, one, two, and three coats <em>(respectively)<\/em> on each strip.<\/p>\n<p>Then, I got out my tool box and performed some percussive investigation. &gt;:)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_60.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<table class=\"results\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Test<\/th>\n<th>Coats<\/th>\n<th>Result<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td rowspan=\"4\">Poke straight in with a flat screwdriver<br \/>\n<em>(front of rock)<\/em><\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>Goes straight in<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Goes straight in<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>Center resists. Corners poke in.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>Take three tries, pressing hard, to break at all. Even then, only one corner breaks.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"odd\">\n<td rowspan=\"4\">Half-circle knife cut<br \/>\n<em>(back of rock)<\/em><\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td rowspan=\"3\">Cuts. Flap peels up and stays.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"odd\">\n<td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"odd\">\n<td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"odd\">\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>Cuts. Flap peels up, but falls back.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td rowspan=\"4\">Beat the s**t out of it with a heavy tape measure<br \/>\n<em>(top of rock)<\/em><\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>Shatters. Flakes off.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Cracks slightly, but pieces stay attached.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td rowspan=\"2\">Fully intact after three beatings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"even\">\n<td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The results were <em>incredibly<\/em> encouraging. I went from utter despair to cautious confidence in the span of 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>May the blessings of Space Jesus fall ever on His most faithful servant, Gregory. &lt;3<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_61.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Thusly armed, I began the process of armoring up my brittle rocks. Every one of them got three layers, which took about half a day once you factor in the drying times.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_62.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As I headed to bed that first evening, I was a bit worried that the Polycrylic was still white in some of the deeper crevices; however, by the next morning, it had dried fully clear, albeit quite shiny.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_63.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And the important part: when I brought it out into the wild for its latest stress test, it came home in the same state it had left in, with no new windows to the soul-rending yellow void torn in the surfaces.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6472\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/finally.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I initially projected one weekend for the painting stages of this project; in practice, after all the nonsense with the foam, it took a month. I was super burned out by the end of it, and ended up cutting some detail painting that had been planned because I just didn&#8217;t have the <a href=\"https:\/\/butyoudontlooksick.com\/articles\/written-by-christine\/the-spoon-theory\/\">spoons<\/a> at that point&#8211; notably, the fans were left simply white instead of having bits picked out in dark grey.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever. I cannot stress enough how good it felt to finally put it behind me and move on LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE. ;_;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_77.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The last major task to finish the set was to put some texture onto the machinery and walkways; I intended to do this largely with custom papercraft textures.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_64.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here you can see a test print of the interior skin of the tunnels, which I printed out at home to test the size before having it printed properly in colour a bit later.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_65.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For the stairs, I wanted to paper over both the stepping surfaces, and the edges. To facilitate the latter, I carefully measured the length of each face and noted them down on a copy of the template I had used to cut them out.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_66.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I rigged up strips of corresponding lengths in Illustrator, then printed them out to confirm the lengths; a few of them were slightly off, so I went back and made adjustments to my file before starting the heavier graphics work.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_67.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I took those templates and moved them into Photoshop, where I created the final textures. Attaching the test pieces had taught me where I needed to leave gaps in the folding tabs to avoid bumping into the support underneath the stairs. I continued using the colour palette set by the Plastcraft buildings to keep everything visually tied together.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_68.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I followed similar processes for the ladders and the flat catwalks, then had everything printed up nicely on 65lb cardstock at Staples.<\/p>\n<p>Note the red rectangles, which are a reproduction of the doors from the Plastcraft buildings; all of those kits come out of the box with only a single door, which tends to create very boring terrain. I wanted to add one to two additional doors onto each one to create more interesting movement flow during games.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_69.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The stairs and ladders already had their pieces sized to fit, but for the catwalks, I had just made long continuous strips, with the intention of cutting segments to fit each individual piece&#8217;s lengths and angles. To do this, I simply held each catwalk against the strips and marked cut points with a pencil.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_70.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>My preferred method for gluing papercraft onto foamcore is to apply white glue<em> (or Weld Bond, if you can find it)<\/em>, then spread it flat with a paintbrush. The cardstock I print on is sturdy enough to avoid wrinkling when it touches the water-based glue.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_71.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The same applies to the sides. Note that I applied strips of black construction paper over the sides of each catwalk before gluing on the final papercraft, as I wanted to make sure the glue had something to stick to on the sides <em>(as it doesn&#8217;t adhere well to the raw interior foam)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_72.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>TAB-CUTTING ACTION SHOT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_73.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The template would have been easier to assemble overall if I&#8217;d arranged the file a bit differently&#8211; instead of putting the faces in a strip separate from the flat step textures, I probably should have rearranged things in Photoshop so that each edge was attached to the top of the step, and all of them bent and tabbed down.<\/p>\n<p>This, however, would have taken an additional thirty minutes or so of Photoshopping, which would have been a tragedy of incomprehensible proportions, so I left them in strips.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_74.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Not only did this make things harder to assemble, it <em>also<\/em> left ugly gaps at the edges.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t cut corners, kids.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_75.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t want to create detailed textures for the front of the ladders that would necessitate cutting out the spaces between rungs, so I just painted these with spraycans. One shot of red paint from underneath<em> (pictured),<\/em> then another shot of off-white from overhead<em> (not pictured).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_76.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After cutting up the tube skins and dry-fitting them, I realized that I had made them too wide, leaving them poking out the ends of the tubes. I debated whether there was an easy way to fix this by covering the protruding bits with black paper or painting over the back of the paper, but ultimately decided that laziness had been the deciding factor on a few too many decisions already, and ultimately chose to alter the template in Photoshop and re-print everything <em>(new version on the left)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Aaaand&#8230; that was pretty much it. It took way longer than I intended and almost destroyed me emotionally, but I finally had a set of presentable and fairly durable rocky bits to complement my new Plastcraft terrain. \ud83d\ude42<br \/>\n<a name=\"painted\"><\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_94.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_95.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_96.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_97.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_98.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_100.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_99.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So, okay. You know how I was really excited about the Polycrylic finally fixing all of my paint problems? It mostly did, but it left one kind of strange problem in its wake: the paint surface is very slightly peeling in a few spots when two terrain pieces sit against each other for a while in the storage bin. You can see a good example of it at the top left of this image&#8211; see that white spot? That&#8217;s the layer of white paint I sponged on. Over top of it, I airbrushed some orange paint, then coated it with glue and Polycrylic. And for some reason, when these pieces lose paint now, they very specifically peel off (1) the polycrylic, (2) the glue, and (3) the thin airbrushed orange layer; but this <em>always<\/em> stops at the sponged white.<\/p>\n<p>I have absolutely no idea\u00a0 why this is happening, and especially, why it&#8217;s happening in this specific way. But after all the misery I went through on this set, I&#8217;m considering this paint peel issue to be a VERY MINOR PROBLEM. I&#8217;m going to make some adjustments to the storage bins so that the various pieces don&#8217;t touch each other (probably wrapping each one in thin cloth), and then I&#8217;ll make whatever minor repairs are needed, and then that should be fine. I would be so much more upset about this if I hadn&#8217;t been losing entire chunks of paint straight down to the foam three weeks ago. ~_~<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, that&#8217;s the individual pieces. Let&#8217;s take a look now at how it looks as a finished board.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> the first half of these photos shows the rocks being very shiny, as the Polycrylic creates a very glossy finish. I corrected this by spraying everything with some Testors Dullcote, so the latter half of the photos are much more matte.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_78.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_79.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_80.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_81.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_82.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_83.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_84.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_85.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s it. It was a dark tunnel, but we got through it. Happy potato. ^_^<\/p>\n<div style=\"background: #def; border: 1px solid #abc; padding: 10px; font-size: 14px;\">\n<p>The papercraft files and the Silhouette cutting SVG files I used for this project can be found here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/mars_files.zip\"><b>Mars Templates<\/b><\/a> [ZIP, 20mb]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yeah, the actual reusable files this time around are a bit thin. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>-Spud<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve never been a gum-chewer. But in the last year, the gum needed chewing, so I got down to business. That isn&#8217;t a metaphor. About a year ago, someone offered me some gum, and I was intrigued by the vessel it was offered from&#8212; not a metallic bubble pack, but a plastic jar with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-space-men","category-terrain","wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6320"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6498,"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions\/6498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.captainspud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}