Model Showcase: Chapel (Games Workshop Terrain)

The keystone of my diorama is complete!

Finally wrapped up. Plowed through most of the paint in a weekend, happy to be done with it, and proud of all the experimental things that went right. I got into such a groove I neglected to take a lot of in progress shots once paint started flowing, but I'll explain what I can here after the fact.

Here we have the primary shot. You can see the flames I did with the Water Effects more clearly here than when they're lit up. The basic idea is that the LED, wire, stems and all, are sculpted over to look like torches, then drilled and fed through the façade of the house. The wires were then taped up the side inside the walls with more foil tape and fed through the styrene ceiling I mentioned earlier in the blog. In this shot you can also see the final version of the creeping moss I put to hide the seams. The clay sculpt was a rough in, I painted it dark green and then brushed on some PVA glue and sprinkled some turf on it, and voila, the easiest seam hiding job ever.

Here is the same angle, but now lit up! The LEDs play through the clear-ish Water Effects, with transparent paints to simulate fire. The paints don't show up when the LEDs are lit, but now even when they're off, it will still look like fire.





From this angle, you can see the door sitting ajar, and the shadowy figure in the attic, both of which are also lit up. I used the same technique in both...a piece of clear styrene sanded with rough grit sandpaper to make them "foggy." The attic piece makes it seem a little spooky while toning down the LED behind it, while the front door piece is designed to hide the blank insides of the piece while letting some light through.  Pictured below is a close up of the lit torches and the inside of the door. The inside looks like you're seeing the white backdrop, but in actuality its sanded styrene.

Here's a closer look at the shadowy figure, based off the classic Nosferatu silhouette, because its classic and creepy, why not?

Finally, the finishing touch was to make stained glass out of the windows on the back and sides. I accomplished this by gluing clear sheet styrene on the insides of the windows, then adding several coats of Tamiya clear colors in repeating patterns. They're lit up by the roof light inside the Chapel, which is pointed at the front door, but I have a piece of foil tape put up above the door frame on the inside which reflects the light back out to the sides and back as well.

In the pictures below, you can see the styrene replacements I did on the bar of runes below the stained glass. The diamond shapes were originally shaved off to allow better access to fill the gaps in the bar, then replaced with strips cut back into the original shapes.

And just like that, she's done! One of my favorite pieces ever to paint, mainly because it was one of those that seemed to go "right" at every turn, and in this hobby, that's extremely rare. However, the fun isn't over, now its on to creating my orks!!!