From ChrisW - For Tamsin: her challege to me - The Mountains of madness (600 points)

 

[I am writing this on Friday March 4th, hence the future tense when describing how it will be built]

Update, this will take longer than hoped (but as I feared) see this post on the 15th.

Flashback to Earth and a project that has been hanging around for a few weeks, not worked on all that time, actually it has been left to gather dust most of that time. But, the gears in my head have been grinding away thinking about how I will complete this thing. Oh and just to be clear I really have no actual plan, no sketch or anything, just kind of winging this.

I am making two mountain halves, [actually I guess they are quarters] on two separate panels. The plan is to have them combine on the edges to form one mountain [two different configurations], or they will be set up to create a valley in between the two mountain halves. I started off thinking I would simply stack sheets of styrofoam until I had reached a reasonable height. However it occurred to me that it might well eat up most if not all of my styrofoam inventory.  So, maybe I should try some other method...

Everything laid out

I took the four L shaped pieces of styrofoam (see above) and turned them on edge (see below).  I cut them at an angle so that at some point they might look like a peak. Then I started to add in some off cut pieces around the perimeter.

The frame goes up

I started to realize that I was building a hollow mountain and that maybe I should try to do something with the interior. So, in the photo above (and to some extent the photo below) you can see that I cut out some panels. When the two mountain are placed together the holes line up so that figures and scenery can pass between the two halves. They are also designed to be reached from the outside edge. On top of that, the 'roof' can be lifted off to give additional access. 

Sides have been added

You can see the start of a path that will wind along the outer edge of one mountain half culminating at a plateau (the plateau is the lift off roof mentioned before) The peak (in the background) will have a few steps that will allow figures to 'climb' to the top. I plan to cover both mountain halves with plaster cloth to which I plan to glue precast bit of plaster rock faces to any flat surfaces.

The peak will rise 16" to 18" from the top to bottom. The area at the foot of the mountain is roughly 18" by 18". While I have been working on four base panels that are each 2' by 2' they shall be finished after the challenge.

[UPDATE] The pointy peaks stayed for quite a while but were finally cut down as they just were not working for me. I also cut down the slope of the side panels. My 'plans' changed as the build went on as I saw what I was building.

On top of building this mountainous monstrosity I hope to populate this scenery with some cold weather explorers. 

[UPDATE March 20th] I am beat, the mountains will get done, but I am pretty close to saying that will be it, time to rest.

WIP as of Thursday March 10th 

Interior work, steps & bridge roughed in.

 

More ledges

Top of the path view of interior

'Secret' cave to be, mostly, covered up

 As of Thursday March 17th

Filling in with plaster cloth

Same location but with cover in place

[UPDATE March 20th] This plan changed, the shaper sheet did not work out for me so in the end I cut out a pattern from thick cardboard and installed a flat cover with 'rocks' stuck on. It looks better than it sounds and does blend in well.

Changed my mind about the tunnel new cover will be required

Getting closer...still not figured out one of the mountains...

I finally came up with a mountain top that I could live with, at least for now. It has a winding path, a tunnel and a cave entrance. It is a very much more of a gaming looking mountain than based on reality, but this is for gaming not a model train layout.

Saturday/Sunday at 1 AM, dry brushing done, small rocks and dirt added will apply wash Sunday morning. [poor picture the bits fit better than seen in photo]

High noon Sunday March 20th finally done. Sprayed last night with a variety of grays, browns, tans, beige, yellow and white. Sunday morning went at it with Sepia and black washes and reddish brown wash. Some rust powders also used. A spray bottle was used on an area before the wash was applied, then brushing and sponging used to mix/blend the colours. All combined it creates interesting tones.

I used a lot of gravel and some hobby ballast at the base of the rocks and throughout the surface. I had thought about adding snow, but even at this stage I am uncertain what I am building, a snowy high mountain, a mountain path in summer, just a high area. So if I decide on an alpine mountain, maybe I will glue on some snow. I suppose I can just sprinkle it on and sweep it off as required, nothing permanent.

The inside caves are pretty barren, but that is so that I can add scatter terrain as needed. I have the scatter terrain, but again ran out of steam to do it for this post.

With passage,

or without passage. Maybe a secret passage

Now you see it...

...now you don't

Underground passage

BEAR FAMILY

Part of my plan was to visit the far north, that did not happen! But here are some residents anyways.

 Left over from last post just ran out of time and energy to finish these caravans in time. So did so this week.

 

Final last two figures.

The points

• 30 points for the challenge XII Star
  
• 40 points for two Gypsy caravans
  
• 475 points for the mountain(s) 
• 17.5 points for family of four polar bears
• 10 points for 2 x 28mm Lady with strange baby and dog
  

   Total points 572.5

Mountain measured by sections 

42" wide 19" tall 22" deep

 

• Mountain 1
  
• Base 15" x 15" x 6" =               1350 square inches
  
• Top 12" x 12" x 8" =                 1152 square inches
• Mountain 2
  
• Base 18" x 18" x 6" =               1944 square inches
• Mid level 11" x 8" x 5" (avg) =  440 square inches  
• Top 6" x  6" x 7" =                      252 square inches

Total 5138 square inches/216 =  23.78 cubes = 475 points

Fond farewell

So this is my last post of this challenge (or penultimate if we are to do a wrap up post) and I guess I am going out with another big bomb, sorry! I am apparently quite compulsive when I get into a project, honestly cannot help myself at times. 

When I started this event I first reviewed what I had painted during this time period last year, and from that rough calculation I estimated what I thought I might be able to achieve and so came up with 1000 points. I apparently cannot estimate all that well. This has also continued on each post. I have laid out plans of what I would paint for each week, and almost every week I overestimated what I could get done and struggled to accomplish what I actually painted.  Tamsin can attest to how late my drafts were submitted each and every Tuesday. As I said to her, I became too fixated on doing everything that I wanted to instead of just painting what could be reasonably done.

Today's project is an example of that hubris. Once my desire to do a mountain was out there I could not turn back, but really this was a CHALLENGE. But without the Analogue Painting Challenge I would never have been this productive. I tallied up points equivalent for all of last year and all of the year before just to see what my productivity was in past years. Well for all of last year I painted 1945 points worth of stuff, and for 2020 it was 1257 points. Compare that to the three months of this challenge!! In short there has never been a time when I was able to get this much stuff done and it is 100% due to the challenge.

So thank you Curt for letting me participate, thank you Tamsin for your patience and assistance & thank you to all who participated in this challenge and to those who left comments of encouragement. I have no expectation of being able maintain this level of productivity, I truly require deadlines to be productive and boy was this challenge motivating!!  I will be forever grateful for this opportunity.

 Thank you!!

Alphabet Challenge completed! 😁

Final Sarah's choice entry final count [109]

Two more to round out the challenge. Betsy the and baby C, and mamma polar bear.

 

 

 

Squirrel count [13 in total]

Previous weeks

1. Super heroes
2. Epic 40K
   
3. Sci-Fi Robots 28mm
   
4. Dystopian wars
   
5. Dr Who                                                                                                                                            
6. Pulp
7. All Quiet on the Martian Front  
8. Back of Beyond   
9. VSF 
10. Victorian Horror/Chaos in Carpathia 
11. Prisoner of Zenda
12. Post apocalypse                                                                                                                            New this week
13. Himalayan/mountain adventure scenery

Well, I tasked you to "build us a stupidly, bonkersly, improbably, ginormously, titanically huge mountain" and you have done so! With a cave system as well! 

That is a fantastic piece of terrain and well worth the wait. And some great figures and Romany caravans to add to the post.

I'm going to do a bit of rounding up, because why not? That was a huge effort to build the mountain alongside your enormous figure painting plans.

It's been fantastic (and, admittedly, sometimes anxious) having you on Team Tuesday. I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed taking part and hope to see you again next time!

Tamsin

EDIT

Thank you for the comments and indulging me in my crazy build. "WAIT" seems to have been the operative word for me throughout this challenge as I never had anything ready for you early in the day. At least I got a little better after the first few weeks. Thank you for the rounding and thank you, once again, for everything.