Hot Wire Foam Factory Pro Scroll Table Kit

http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/home.php

Hot Wire Foam Factory makes some of the best foam cutting tools on the market. They appeal to the
crafter and hobbyist to the professionals. They have been in business since 1991
and their products are reliable and very affordable.

Their tools are used by many people who work in movie and stage design.
Disney, Six Flags Amusement Park, Fao Schwartz, Knott’s Berry Farm, and the TV Show Deal or No Deal are just a few
in the industry that use their products.

For scenery makers, their products will make doing some difficult shapes and cuts very easy.
If you have never been to their website you should take a look.

One product I find myself always using is the Pro Scroll Table Kit.

The kit includes:
Scroll Table, Stationary and Travelling Fence, four precision 8” cutting blades, 4 Pro Blades, Nails, Pro Power Station and
a 90 minute Instructional DVD.

The table measures 12″ X 13″ and is made of industrial strength ABS, but what makes this cutter unique is the
adjustable cutting arm.

The arm stands at 10″ from the table which makes it very useful for cutting thick pieces of foam.

The arm swivels from left to right which makes cutting almost any angle easy to do.
Simply place a protractor in back of the wire and figure out the angel you are going for.
You can change the angel by
adjusting a screw on the back.

Attaching the wire to the table is easy to do. Just hook the wire to the bent screws on the top and bottom of the table.
The screws thread help to hold the wire in place and are also useful in changing the angle of the wire.

The stationary fence guide is useful for making straight and angled cuts. The fence can be adjusted and locked back in place with the clamps in the back.

The traveling fence is used for making more complicated cuts. Simply position it anywhere and guide the foam along it.
The fence also has holes so you can insert pins to secure the foam to it.

The kit comes with the Pro Power Station, which by itself is $100. The power station is great because it runs most of their tools,
which will prevent your power strips from filling up with lots plugs and adapters. The power station also has an adjustable temperature setting,
allowing you to cut fast by giving more heat or having more control by adding less heat.

Here are some of the different kinds of wires available for the Pro Scroll Kit.

The Pro Scroll Kit is extremely useful for any scenery maker. It makes cutting large walls, straight cuts, and angled cuts all really easy.
I was able to make an Egyptian obelisk in less than 5 minutes. Using just a foam cutter would of taken a lot longer and been much more complicated.
Sure it’s possible to make things without it, but the scroll kit makes it a million times easier
saving you lots of time.

Terranscape has a beautiful set of modular river pieces available to wargamers. Currently, there are 12 different ones available. The pieces range from 6” to 12” long, and 3” to 5” wide.
The river pieces have a very natural feel to them. The banks vary in width and have nicely detailed rocks embedded alongside them. Another aspect I like is that the side profile is very low, which prevents it from looking like two speed bumps holding in water.
The river is not only nice to look at but is very affordable. Prices start at $4 for an 8” (unfinished) piece. Terranscape also sells finished terrain pieces for not a whole lot more. The attention to detail on the finished pieces is great. The blend of ground foams and static grass along with various brushes and reeds makes the setting look very natural.

I received a set of these rivers and chose to finish it a bit differently to have it match my ice terrain. After a quick wash with soap and water I set the pieces aside to dry overnight.

I started by painting all of the river pieces. I dry brushed the ground work in various shades of brown and then painted in the water.

To make the ice, I mixed up a batch of clear resin and added some colouring to tint it.

pic22

This was then poured into a pan coated with mold release.

When the resin cured, I began to break it apart into smaller pieces.

Next, I glued these pieces to the river.

Then I applied vegetation matching my ice terrain to the sides of the river.

For snow, I used Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow. I mixed this up with PVA glue and water. I applied this mixture along the sides of the river and in between the cracks of ice.

After drying overnight, here are the finished pieces.

Review- Easy Mold Silicone Putty

http://www.eti-usa.com/index.html

Easy Mold Silicone Putty is a terrain maker’s dream come true. This product is ideal for making quick impression molds. There have been so many times I wished I could easily duplicate a part that I had made without going through the hassle of mixing up rubber and building a mold box.

The silicone putty retains excellent detail, does not shrink, and is very flexible. It is also non-toxic and can be used for food related applications.

The putty is very easy to use. Quickly mix equal parts A and B (work fast because you only have a 2-3 minute working time).

Press the putty onto the item you want to duplicate. Make sure you completely cover the item.

Set it aside to cure for 25 minutes.

After the putty has cured, remove the item and prepare the mold for casting. I sprayed the putty with Castin Craft Mold Release, which is an odorless and solvent free conditioner.

Then I mixed up a batch of Castin Craft Casting Resin and poured it into the mold. A handy chart on the back of the container will tell you how much catalyst to add per ounce of resin.

Once the resin cures you have an exact copy of the original part.

Easy Mold Silicone Putty is available in ½ lb. and 1lb. kits. Store it properly and it will keep for 6-9 months.

It is easy to use and very handy to have in stock. I would highly recommend adding this to your arsenal of tools.

Table Top World Abandoned Factory

http://www.tabletop-world.com/

The Abandoned factory is a fantastic 15 piece polyurethane resin kit from Table Top World. The building is very realistic looking and has tons of character. The casting quality is very good, and the molds have captured the tiniest details. The wood grain and stone texture are very pronounced. Normally, I would expect to find some air bubbles where the rivets are, but on my piece there was none.

The first thing to catch my eye was the stonework. The lads at Table Top World build the master model stone by stone, and bypassed the easy route of using textured plastic sheets. There are even missing bricks and sagging sections along the walls, which really show the building’s age.

There was very minimal cleaning required, and all the pieces dry fit perfectly. After a quick wash, I let the pieces dry over night.
The building goes together very logically. There are clear demarcation lines for the ramp and smoke stack, and the pipes connect to the flange parts on the wall and boilers.

The kit gives you two options to attach to the pulley. You can either attach the bucket or the basket of ore. I opted for the bucket and drilled two holes to insert a piece of wire. Then I connected it to the pulley system.

The completed building measures approximately 8” X 6” X 8”. I should also mention, the windows of the building are filled in and can be painted to look like glass or left black. I used a rotary tool to remove the glass so I could light up the building. This building was fun to build and to paint. If you are a terrain collector like me I would highly recommend picking up one of these.

AJS Metals Miniature Skulls

http://www.ajs-metals.com/

AJS Miniatures is owned by the famous Andy Slater of TerraGenesis fame.
These skulls work well for converting miniatures in the 28mm scale. They come 12 to a sprue and are cast in white metal. For Warmachine, it would be easy to do a head swamp and convert a miniature into a Cryx Thrall. For Warhammer 40K, the skulls could adorn the walls and doors of buildings.
These skulls are very handy to have and I would recommend adding them to your bits collection.

Precision Products has a wide variety of textured styrene sheets. The sheets come in a 16″ square size, big enough to do most things with and are only $8 each. Most of the sheets come in D, G, O, OO, Ho scales. The samples they sent were too small to do anything with but the below pictures show roofing tiles, siding, walls, and ground work.

www.appliedimaginationinc.com

Savannah Grass mats
The Savannah Grass Mats are the most realistic looking scenic grasses I have ever seen.
The grass tufts are laid out sprouting in random areas from an arid, sandy looking soil. The mat is very flexible and
can be glued down onto
any surface. The grass is a blend of 4mm size static grass and comes in 12″x19″ mats.

These mats don’t come cheap, but will look awesome on scenic bases for your commanders or for top notch terrain.
The mats come in four colours: Sring Tone, Summer Green. Late Summer, or Autumn Brown.

Buffalo Grass
Buffalo Grass Tufts are little clumps of static grass. Each clump is either a blend of 2mm-4mm, or 4mm-6mm
static grass. The tufts look like they have dead grass shafts from the previous year’s growth, and fresh grass
blades sprouting up from the base.
The clumps come attached to a clear backing. Each clump can be peeled off and glued or you can cut the clear
sheet into any shape you want and glue it down. Using Buffalo Grass will add a natural, dried,
arid look to areas of your layout.

Each package contains one 6″ x 9″ sheet of short (2mm-4mm) tufts and one 6″ x 9″ sheet of
medium (4mm-6mm) tufts. There are over a hundred tufts in a pack.

All of the Silflor Grass Tufts can be ordered from Scenic Express

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/default.asp

Scenic Express has an impressive assortment of top of the line miniature landscaping supplies.
One of my favorites from their catalog are the Super Trees.

The Super Trees are the natural branches of a plant related to the Western Sage brush.
These branches make the perfect armature for scale trees in almost any setting. To make these trees, soak
your branch in matte medium, then sprinkle leaf flock on them and hang them up to dry. Save any of the parts that
break off, as these small branches work well for little bushes and other plants you will find in the understory of a forest.

If you want to vary the look of the trees, you can airbrush or spray paint the trunks and branches. You
can also
mix the colours of the leaf flake flock to make a more natural looking tree.

The Super Trees are expensive, but well worth it if you want a realistic looking setting. These trees are
fragile
and probably won’t stand up to the rigors of gaming terrain. However, if you play with people who will be
careful of the
terrain (like me) then by all means use this stuff, I do.

Scenic Express sells a kit that has everything you need, and makes approxiametly 15-18 trees.

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/default.asp

ProCreate Terrain Putty is an easy to use two part epoxy based putty.
Just mix equal parts hardener and resin and it’s ready to go. I recommend using gloves since the
putty is sticky.

This product has several uses, from sculpting to simple casting using one part molds.
The putty contains no solvents, will not shrink, and will stick to almost anything.

I chose to use the Terrain Putty to fill gaps in a mountain I was making because of its light weight.
Once mixed it had a dough-like consistency. After applying it, I used water to smooth the transitions between
the rock faces. The putty is firm enough to hold its shape and I was able to to use it to make some small ledges on my
mountain.

You can buy and find more information on Procreate Terrain Putty here

http://www.kraftmark.biz/kraftmark.terrain.html

The completed mountain can be seen here

http://senjistudios.com/?p=1066

Depron is one of my favorites things to work with when making buildings for wargames.
You might not know the name, but you certainly will recognize it. This is the stuff fast food containers and meat trays are made out of.

Depron comes in 9mm, 6mm, 3mm, 2mm and 1mm thicknesses. It can be easily cut and shaped. You can texture the foam sheet by drawing on it with a ball point pen.
This material is excellent for making brick walls, cobblestone streets, etc…

http://www.rcfoam.com/