Project Hulk
Click on thumbnails for larger images
For a tutorial on casting blocks using rare-earth magnets, see the Magnetic Tutorial page!
Project Hulk began just over two years ago in 2006 when a buddy of mine
suggested that he would be running a mega-sized game of Space Hulk at our
local HMGS flagship convention,
Advance the Colors. For some time I'd been using the
Hirst Arts fieldstone tower molds to make prizes and such for our local
Hordes of the Things competitions, and I'd really been wanting to start
a large-scale terrain project of some sort. It only took one quick mention
to realize that this was the perfect opportunity to do something on an Epic
scale and use these great molds. The goal was to create a set of generic Science-Fiction tiles using
the Sci-Fi molds which would allow all of the games available in the
Space Hulk game (plus expansions), but which could also be used as a
generic laboratory set, or underground lair, or industrial satellite. Over two years later, the terrain has finally seen the gaming table,
and I'm enormously pleased with the results.
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Design |
Each of the pieces was tentatively prototyped using sample blocks from the various Sci-Fi molds - then extensively worked up in Google Sketchup. This allowed me to tweak the design throughout the process and keep things like walls and corners consistent in various configurations. The blocks were cast primarily from Sci-Fi molds #270, #271, #272, #273 #277, #301, #302, and #303. Certainly I could have reduced the complexity and used far fewer molds (some are used only for a few decorative pieces, others are planned for use with future projects.) But, these things are like popcorn, and once you get started it's difficult to exercise restraint. The most important decision up front was the size of the floor tiles to use. At the time the project started, Hirstarts did not have a 1.5" tile mold available with the Sci-Fi patterns. After an extensive analysis of overall size of miniatures and maximum size of most Space Hulk battles, I came to the conclusion that 1" squares wouldn't leave near enough room for the miniatures, but that 2" squares would cause the Space Hulk missions to be too large for a 60"x30" table. So, one of the few custom molds I had to make was for the 1/5" floor tiles. Suffice to say, my mold was far lower in quality than the later Hirstarts mold (#277), which came available just prior to making the final-phase Rooms. There were very few other custom molds made for the project. I did make a special "corner block" for the corners and dead-end caps which merely cut a corner off a standard 0.5" cube block. Some of the more heavily-used blocks were also molded, in particular the sloped blocks that can be seen along the edges of the corner and the base of the corridors. Just a few extra molds saved a lot of time in the casting process. |
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Construction |
I wanted a high quality dental plaster for the project, but at the same time wanted to strike an economic balance. Die-Keen was by far the best quality choice, but it was extremely expensive ($75 for only a 25lb box, without shipping.) In the end I chose Excalibur (by Garreco) because it was both much cheaper ($35 for 50 lbs) and also available from a local dental supply (thus avoiding shipping charges.) Though it has bubble and bubble texture issues more than Die-Keen, it's still very workable and much stronger than Plaster of Paris or other similar options. In the end, the occasional bubble or rough texture actually helps improve the overall look of this project, though, giving it a more dilapidated feel. Probably the most difficult hurdle came from one of the project's more advanced features. The openings of every corridor and room have rare-earth magnets cast straight into the blocks, with polarity allowing them to mate each piece with its neighbor. This allows them to stay aligned and attached, but without the connection being "rigid" and susceptible to cracking or breaking under stress. This was a great deal harder than it sounds. First, custom RTV molds were made which had magnets cast straight into the rubber, so that the total numbers of each polarity would be equal and the blocks could be easily cast with the magnets inside (rather than drilling the blocks and adding the magnets later.) Second, the size of the magnets had to be carefully chosen to provide enough attractive strength given the inexact positioning at the connection point, while not being so strong that they would crack or rip free from the cast blocks. After a lot of testing, I decided on 1/4" diameter, 1/4" long magnets spaced inward from the edge by a small 1/8" round cylinder magnet as a spacer. Similar magnets, 1/8" in diameter, were also cast into the blocks which form the tops of the doorway points and the doorway arches. For assembly I used Aleen's Tacky Glue exclusively. The stuff worked wonderfully well, and once fully dried and painted the glue bond joints were actually stronger than the plaster itself (as confirmed by accidentally dropping a wall onto concrete.) |
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Finishing |
For painting, I used Behr interior acrylic paint from the local Home Depot, thinned to roughly 2 parts paint 1 part water. There were two reasons for this. First, the paint was much cheaper, and a single quart provided more than enough of the three primary colors to finish the entire project, with a good deal left over. Second, in the event that I should later expand the project, I wanted to be able to use the original paint chits to match the colors accurately. The colors used were:
I felt like this combination of colors, dark reddish brown with a light greenish/grey drybrush gave the sort of "Rustoleum" rusted industrial look that I wanted. Plus, the colors can be used in a wide variety of other scenarios (Dark Ash with a Sandwashed Driftwood drybrush makes a very good stone color, for example.) Washes were applied after drybrushing to give a very runny, grimy look to the pieces. These were done with a thinned-down 50/50 mix of water and Kiwi shoe-polish (black for the floors, brown for the walls.) the floors and the piping on the external walls were then drybrushed lightly with a steel gunmetal hobby paint. The bases were cut from 1/2" thick "blue foam" insulation from my local hardware store. I cannot praise this enough for terrain basing. It's easy to work with, resilient, and takes paint very well. Just don't use any kind of spray on it, it melts and pits badly, even with a layer of acrylic paint to protect it. |
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There are a number of rooms planned as an expansion during 2008/2009,
some specifically for Space Hulk, others for use with games like
HeroClix, GASLIGHT, MDRG, etc. These include a large multi-level cargo
hold, a pair of cryogenic chamber rooms, an engine room, a control
room, a reactor room, etc. The current set of Space Hulk tiles doesn't quite cover all of the
Deathwing missions, and the large rooms and corridors from Genestealer
aren't represented, so it's likely at some point that I'll fill in those
gaps with new pieces as well. The next large-scale project is going to be a set of generic cavern
and dungeon tiles done in a similar fashion for a number of miniatures
campaigns we have coming up. I'm also hoping to get a chance to make use of the great Egyptian
Temple and Pyramid molds to do interior and exterior Egyptian-style
buildings. Best beware, the Nazis have discovered Tanis!
Please send any comments/criticisms/corrections to webmeisterzeke@att.net
This page was last updated on July 2nd, 2010 at 06:20 PM
