# District terra wip



## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

So it's been probably years since I have put my face on these forums and it's probably time I get back to where it all started...

I've had some very hectic tournaments in the last few years, focusing primarily on CSM but moved the start of 2016 to the loyalist and superior codex of SPACE MARINES!

I've gone through a full circle event realising that as much as I do love Death Guard, they were not heavy on the chaos iconography like other chaos marines were so I went back and built a full army of loyalist kits with the preheresy scheme with a few worn out models but mostly basic painting on them.

I ran with this on the CSM codex for a good two years, heavily investing in vindicators, land raider and terminators to get my work done and I performed well most games but then the codex creep came...

Experiments with 4 Maulerfiends, Cypher in Spawn stars, and all the like left me feeling let down by the basic elements of the army and so the Emperors guiding light set me free.

The leap into using preheresy models came almost 2 years ago because of their rugged and tough appearance plus being expensive they were not seen often at tournaments in this area so I took to it quickly and they suited my painting style - fast and washy!

Within months I had made 50 marines and a few tanks as well as ordered 15 odd terminators, which is now in the 50 mark thanks to BAC and BOP box sets.

My shift in the hobby though turned towards the hobby, where I found solace those earlier years when things in life just seemed tough, warhammer and particularly the building of terrain gave me a reason to be excited for tomorrow.

https://www.facebook.com/DistrictTerra/

I put most of my stuff on here, been using it as a good creative release and have just in the last month moved in to a much bigger home where I can finally get some real work done and all those half finished projects can go to rest.




























































Just to make sure there is enough spam in the post.

I hope to reconnect again with those of you I may have lost, and make new friends along the way!!!

Introduce yourself either here or FB. 

Looking forward to a good reunion.


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## Old Man78 (Nov 3, 2011)

Some sweet terrain there pal!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Thanks! I got a lot to put here. I wish I kept a blog this whole time.

I have a small update.

I received a commission after selling some terrain to a customer and he had a close friend who was interested and got on to me straight away about creating a dwarf inspired set but changed his mind (thankfully before production began) to a snowed over industrial set and I fell in love and ran with the concept. I drew up heaps of sketches and saved picture after picture of reference for use and have started construction after a long and difficult move to a new home.

This building would be just for repairs and gearing up of the vehicles or machinery of war. The buildings are 6x12" with cuts down the middle so they can be split apart to cover wider areas or put together to form a cluster of industry.


A prep station with fuel tanks and the needed tools of war. The machine must grind on!


Because he was so keen and I had these lying around, I made customer objectives also for the set. 


More updates soon! I am really keen on this project as a whole. Painting will be so much fun. I have a lot of ideas.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Welcome back! It looks like the terrain is coming along smartly. And congrats on starting a cottage industry. =)


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## Chaosftw (Oct 20, 2008)

Ummm.... would you like to make terrain for my Tournament lol!! these pieces are excellent!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Kreuger said:


> Welcome back! It looks like the terrain is coming along smartly. And congrats on starting a cottage industry. =)


Cottage industry? Not sure what you mean by that ha. But thanks regardless. 



Chaosftw said:


> Ummm.... would you like to make terrain for my Tournament lol!! these pieces are excellent!


I could, the shipping would be killer though  I do this because I love it more than any other part of the hobby. I'm horrid at the game!

So I have some extra stuff to show for this set.



I have begun putting the texture paint around. It is good for hiding gaps in walls and 

I also use it for roughing up floors and walls to create texture where there isn't any. 







The devil is in the details with this one. I hope to really create something with a story for this terrain. An overrun facility with a hint of Genestealer Cult. 

Look for the next addition!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

omgitsduane said:


> Cottage industry? Not sure what you mean by that ha. But thanks regardless.
> 
> ....
> 
> ...


Hey, a cottage industry is defined simply as, "a business or manufacturing activity carried on in a person's home." Historically, this was wood working, furniture making, weaving, embroidery, etc.; this was a supplemental form of production following the main income for a household, which was usually farming. 

What kind of texture paint are you using? 

I would also suggest using spackle or wall and joint compound to add a layer of texture to the foam core walls, then use white artists gesso to seal it and make it more rigid. 

Happy terraforming!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Kreuger said:


> Hey, a cottage industry is defined simply as, "a business or manufacturing activity carried on in a person's home." Historically, this was wood working, furniture making, weaving, embroidery, etc.; this was a supplemental form of production following the main income for a household, which was usually farming.
> 
> What kind of texture paint are you using?
> 
> ...


Ah that makes sense. I get it. I am using texture paint from Bunnings (a big hardware chain in AUS). I will be using it to slightly texture the walls and bring rust and grime to gear joints and machinery also. Works a treat.

Have another small update.


A crate of goods for the front line/guerrilla army (ironically the genestealers)





And the second building taking shape. This one I wanted as a sort of small refueling station/oils/change that kind of thing. Some minor work to be done but coming along well!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Small update.

I recently got hold of a LOT of scrap and cut off pieces from a friend and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them at first until I realised how easily I could make practically anything given the inspiration.


I made this! A printer it will work as, for the GSC in this sector. Having captured the printer long ago they pumped out propaganda and started turning the masses against their own government.


A corner of one of the buildings I've made. This pipe or canister, whatever it may be has ruptured and genestealer Jim has found a comfy spot to rest his genestealer head.

The body underneath has a Tyranid adrenal gland on the back of it's head, a form of aggressive psych-domination through parasites but the victim didn't live through his transformation.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

The printer room currently looks like this.









I've added some pieces to the edges of the room to give it more of a lived in feel.









And the three that I've currently got working on. The blue stuff is texture paint which is invaluable!


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## thebuilder (Jun 20, 2016)

I really love this, i've saved a fair few pics for my own inspiration.

One niggle: would the guns really be packaged as loaded? I say clip the magazines off.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

thebuilder said:


> I really love this, i've saved a fair few pics for my own inspiration.
> 
> One niggle: would the guns really be packaged as loaded? I say clip the magazines off.


Thanks! inspiration is the best part of putting your work out there. Getting people to think outside their box or maybe try something that's never really occured before.

There are a few guns without magazines lying around, the magazines can still be in the gun and it be packaged empty but I get your point.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

I have begun work on a very big part of this project. I am lucky that with my measurements quickly taken once the walls went up that I can fit in there exactly as I meant to.


























It was a pretty tight fit, and there is a lot of work to go into making the racks look good but there is always time.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

And lastly is a shot of everything so far that I've made/collected for this racking system.


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## Brother Dextus (Jan 30, 2013)

All this looks great!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Brother Dextus said:


> All this looks great!


Thank you! I got a lot more to come! Been very busy as usual!

I built a printer out of leftover MDF scraps from miniaturescenery.com They've been beyond useful!









Also made some other unknown-use machinery haha. But it fills the space well.










and the factory as it was when I left it.


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## steamius (Dec 9, 2010)

Thats some great detail work!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

steamius said:


> Thats some great detail work!


Thank you. There is a lot to go still! 









Starting construction on the elements of this piece. Just some machinery in this building, nothing too fancy.









I didn't get any progress before I ended up finishing this. So I took some before and after of the buildings for spraying.



















Moving on! More updates soon.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

I made up some posters, as I love the trash and well-lived in look of the terrain I've made in the past and especially for a genestealer cult propaganda factory it should really be making plenty of paper to push forth the message.

A couple of serious ones, dictating the cult as the champions of the people, fighting an unbearable tide of hatred and tyranny in the form of imperial forces.




















And one with a bit more fun to it.









I began laying down the colors for the machinery, I went with a sort of straight-laced green as having worked around the stuff before its either that or a very olive color. Loved the results so far.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Small update just some layers of paint down on some of the larger elements of this piece.








chimera WIP









Rhino WIP









Printer WIP


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Mid way through this project I was approached to finish a display board for a tourney only a few weeks away and felt compelled as I already had a great idea in mind.

The thrilling part of all this, is I get to build, experiment with and design some of my dream boards and at the end of it all I don't have to store it at my house. Haha. It's win win!

So this board was for a smallish Nurgle CSM army, a few squads of marines, minimal vehicles, a daemon prince and a TON of zombies.

I opted to give the board some height to put the more sturdy elements of the army a more important representation on the board.

And so begun construction....








WIP









Slow Progress









Laying down some minor details.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

I have been busy laying down some texture paint to create flow on the river section and also got started building the top piece for the board.









Another view of the board.


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Maximum likes. Wish I had have found something like the clips you're using for your pipeline before I started building mine!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

ntaw said:


> Maximum likes. Wish I had have found something like the clips you're using for your pipeline before I started building mine!


Part of the advantage of working in an electrical wholesaler! I found these clips and made sure I remembered them so I could buy some when the time was right. I've bought so much stuff from work to use for terrain haha.


We have SO MUCH to catch up on...

The palette is looking rough after the painting...










Sneaked in some pipes for the bluesteel table while mid painting of this nurgle board. A lot of fun to make. It almost feels like lego it snaps together so well.









And the final result!!!




























The resin didn't pour as cleanly as I would have liked. I will have to spend some time learning how to properly use this material in the future.

The rusted effects add so much to it, the work put into the broken pipes and roofs makes a good system for this particular Death Guard army to place their troops in a tiered system to show off the biggest and baddest up the top.


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Looks amazing, the rust effect is clutch. Well done!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

ntaw said:


> Looks amazing, the rust effect is clutch. Well done!


Years of Death Guard has given me a particular skill set 


Straight back into working on the bluesteel project. The buildings are really coming together with the subtle olive greens and steel.


























Also found time to whip up some quick propoghanda posters to go with the set. These will be everywhere!


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## Brother Dextus (Jan 30, 2013)

those posters are pretty damn good! do the 'daily cult' pages have actual articles on them?


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Brother Dextus said:


> those posters are pretty damn good! do the 'daily cult' pages have actual articles on them?


Not individually written no. I knew they would end up too small and weathered to be any use trying to read but for what it's worth they contain a section from a Vietnam veterans depiction of war which I thought was fitting.

So we have some crates and are doing some real work on the scatter pieces for this set currently including this cold fella.









All the scatter pieces together. There may be some not shown but its an impressive amount of portable cover.









And the warehouse wall itself with the racks.There was a lot of stress with these but they came out alright in the end. Very pleased with the result.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

The printer and the last run of "The Daily Cult" that never made it to retailers...


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## DaisyDuke (Aug 18, 2011)

Dude you've got all kinds of awesome going on here. Your pipes method looks really effective. What do you use?


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

DaisyDuke said:


> Dude you've got all kinds of awesome going on here. Your pipes method looks really effective. What do you use?


thanks! I work in wholesale for an electrical company so I get to see a lot of really cool stuff and buy it at good prices for my terrain. These are clipsal mountings for 25mm conduit and I bought them a long time ago because I knew one day they'd be useful for just a day like this!

A bit of a throwback on this one.

I made this piece, planned it for PAX2015 that my gaming group ran to show off 40k to new and old players and we needed a story and some pazzaz to it all.








This was the fated warpgate on the planet Deathguard legions and Imperial Fists faced off on. 

The crystal at the centre between the wraithlords is the objective, whoever holds it wins at the end of the game.

But then the eldar arrive...

I had bought a Farseer, a Fire Prism, and 2 squads of Wraithguard that pop out to protect their web world.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)




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## Moriouce (Oct 20, 2009)

Nice done! How does that crystal look when lights out?


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

That's an amazing piece of terrain, but the star field paint job on the wraithguard carapace is stunning.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Khorne's Fist said:


> That's an amazing piece of terrain, but the star field paint job on the wraithguard carapace is stunning.


Thank you!!!! I spent soooo much time on the faces trying to get them just right. It was some of my earliest airbrush experience so it was difficult to get the airbrush to play along.




Moriouce said:


> Nice done! How does that crystal look when lights out?



I don't have any photos or anything at the moment but I may try and scrape together something next time I'm out there.

So we have got the snow down on some parts and it's looking crisp.

I'll let the photos do the talking.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Some of the buildings put together now. The posters are looking great on the walls and floors. I'm trying to make it look as though these were just as much rubbish as they were helpful.

















There is still weathering and plenty more to do. I try and put a lot of depth into washes on the finished pieces because the mix of tones really appeals to me.


The machine shop is by far my favourite part of this. Down on the level of the models this looks like it was a once busy factory churning out weapons and gadgets for the cults.









An overall view of the pieces that were made for this set. A lot has gone into this in terms of sweat and blood and just hard work. I am so happy and it's not even finished!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

A few shots of the factory again to get this started.

We are calling this bad boy done!!!!!!!

















And set up as a complete board with all the smaller pieces.


















The pipe section is a little hard to see but I had fun with it in that it actually comes apart in a lot of places for you to build in a series of different ways.








A cold marine stares through the ruined walls of the factory looking for targets.










Squad Sarge leads his troops into battle trouble ruin and wreck!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

I didn't quite like the board that I had for the terrain so with a couple of cans of spraypaint I flipped over the icy blue and turned it into a winter-scape.

















AS you can see it adds a lot of depth to the finished product.








Wrecked tanks lie dormant after battle in this frozen landscape.

Also made a forklift for the warehouse as a last pieces to tie it in.








This kit was available from miniaturescenery.com and I also bought the girders you see in the warehouse from them.










Subtle blue washes around the engine components didn't come out as much as anticipated but I'm happy regardless with this entire set.


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

The board is much better. While I get the frozen icy effect you were going for, it looked more like something to play naval games on. The new paint job suits the terrain much more.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Khorne's Fist said:


> The board is much better. While I get the frozen icy effect you were going for, it looked more like something to play naval games on. The new paint job suits the terrain much more.


Yeah the board was more to mimic a frozen lake than an actual snowy landscape so it needed to change. 











And all packed up! two big boxes full of goodness.

For more pictures I have a facebook set up under https://www.facebook.com/DistrictTerra/ and we appreciate all feedback, all comments and even criticisms of our work. Would 

love to hear from you there.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

After a long hiatus we are back with more!

Had been sketching stuff out for a little while in prep for a crashed space hulk board.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Construction has been a difficult issue. Making sure the foamcard is cut to the right angles so it can slide down the angled walls of the space hulk.

The customer had this hex piece of foam laying about as he wanted his army to be able to connect with other display boards down the road.









Details inside the rear. From the start I wanted this to be a very open piece so there is more room for the customer to keep his models. It adds another dimension when you come around the side and see a unit of scouts hiding out behind the walls of the hulk.









The whole thing came together really fast once I had the floors erected. trying to get crisp straight edges has always been difficult for me with the tools I have but I was really happy with the flush top of this.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Details on the internal floors. Lots of fun widgets and mechanisms purchased from a mate of mine who does laser cutting @ miniaturescenery.com 

The door details were really fun to try and find pieces that would form a mechanism to close and open the doors.









I have filled the bottom up with expanding foam so give the impression of wind swept sands into the cavity below the crashed ship.









I've been told that Range https://www.therange.co.uk/ in the UK has the foamboard as well as Hobbycraft.


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## Brother Dextus (Jan 30, 2013)

The range has some great stuff. Hobbycraft and the range and screwfix are my go to places for terrain bits. 


Dolls house?? Looks like a bombed out noble house to me! 
Plastic radiator pipe?? Looks like toxic sump outlet!


Looks good. The use of straws is great; those things are soooo useful! 
Making it on a slant looks complicated. Most of the boards I've done are flat, with a piece of scenery stuck to it; like a gun battery or other GW terrain. 


Are you painting this up as well?


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Brother Dextus said:


> The range has some great stuff. Hobbycraft and the range and screwfix are my go to places for terrain bits.
> 
> 
> Dolls house?? Looks like a bombed out noble house to me!
> ...


I was really apprehensive about using straws as they are not exactly a sturdy material but they're usually nestled within a few other elements on this build so they shouldn't shift around. Any that do or that I suspect will move become superglued to the board instead of PVA.

We will be painting reaalllllllllllly soon. 

We begin with the blue texture!!!!

This is rendering paint, as I get a lot of questions about it and it's changed the way I do hobby. No lies.

It's a thick texture that you can paint on wherever you need it, add grainy rocky desert or even thinned down can create small rusting effects. I have used it on every piece I've made since we got it and I don't intend to go back to sanding with PVA ever again. 

















The sand will help cover the unsightly expanding foam, plus protect the actual soft foam edges from damages during spray.









Because its painted on, you can use it to create drift and flow through the areas you want it quite easily too!


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## Brother Dextus (Jan 30, 2013)

What is this blue texture paint - I thing i now need some!!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Brother Dextus said:


> What is this blue texture paint - I thing i now need some!!


It's a rendering paint used for the outside of buildings.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

We added a lot more work to the front of the board for the models to blend in with, plus the customers basing is very debris heavy.








Back of the board needs attention too!









We got around to spray painting finally. The assembly coming apart for ease of painting was a great idea. I'm super happy that it actually worked as well as I hoped.


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## Brother Dextus (Jan 30, 2013)

booyah! looking good man. 
Why is the gun barrel not sprayed, out of curiosity?


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Brother Dextus said:


> booyah! looking good man.
> Why is the gun barrel not sprayed, out of curiosity?


No real reason. Just hadn't sprayed it at the time. We got it in the end 



We began with trying to shade areas I felt would have a lot of sand coverage and flow from the winds as well as obviously painting the sand itself. Very dark at first.
















Laying down some basic colors other than sand. The purple strip was to help establish the space hulk as part of the customers army as he has a purple themed Blood Angels legion.








Gradually getting lighter as we went on.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

It all starts really coming together at this point. Weathering powders, tones with the airbrush, grease and oils and machinery colors.








The gun carraige I was really proud of, the movement of it also adds a lot with the gun being able to rotate and elevate.









Very dark and grim looking pipelines with gauges and sanded internals.


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Looks amazing. Great job!


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## Ring Master "Honka" (Oct 31, 2011)

i was just looking through this plog.

i love all this scenery i want to one day build a snow board but unfortunately lack time/space/skill to do it.

this is great keep it up i must see more.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

ntaw said:


> Looks amazing. Great job!


Thanks! we have so much more to update. 



Ring Master "Honka" said:


> i was just looking through this plog.
> 
> i love all this scenery i want to one day build a snow board but unfortunately lack time/space/skill to do it.
> 
> this is great keep it up i must see more.


We have a lot of updates coming and one of them is a big snowy board. I'll give you a little teaser on here.









Head on over to our facebook if you want to know more! facebook.com/districtterra

We are a long way off however getting up to this. We have a few smaller projects to go I believe.  stay tuned!


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## Brother Dextus (Jan 30, 2013)

Sploosh!


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

Brother Dextus said:


> Sploosh!


Thanks Pam!

More painting work. Refinement and other painting effects to be done to bring the grimdark up a few notches so its seen.








A nice angle shot here from the side and getting a little into the depth of the actual ship.









A closer shot with the rusting on the backs of the pipes and layers of dirt we piled up.









Internals of some compartments. Really happy with the hundreds of straws that died for this board and the MDF bits haha.









Some work on the cannon emplacement. Absolutely stoked with how this turned out. Couldn't have been more pleased.


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