Here is the finished Quest idol chamber tile. I've still work to do on the Idol of Be'lakor, he's getting some OSL treatment at the moment. I'm pleased with how it turned out in the end and it was relatively cheap to make.
• I started with small blocks of extruded polystyrene, that blue or pink foam us modellers like so much. I've a load of this in the loft, but I actually bought these squares from eBay as my foam cutter is out of action. The blocks were slightly uneven, but a quick trim and it all fit snuggly together. I used a PVA sealant on the blocks before glueing down with superglue. I then coated it all with PVA ready for primer.
• I then used a GW movement tray, cut 25mm squares for the steps and the shape for the dais. Although I discovered that the company I bought the room tiles from actually cast single and double tiles now.
• When it came to undercoating I was a bit worried the PVA may not have fully sealed the poly and it would start dissolving when sprayed. Thankfully the glue did its job. I sprayed with black in the shadows, brown across all surfaces, and then white where the light would be cast, to hold a rich yellow when it came to painting.
• The chaos cross on the floor was simply a greenstuff mold press of the old plastic chaos star from the 90's GW chaos kit. If you want to be really flash you could use etched brass from the FW renegades kit. I will try that when I get my hands on some of the etched brass.
At this point I was a bit worried the PVA may not have fully sealed the poly and it would start dissolving when sprayed. Thankfully the glue did its job. I sprayed with black in the shadows, brown across all surfaces, and then white where the light would be cast to hold a rich yellow.
- Painting the tile -
• I used a variety of techniques, but the main one I borrowed from James Wappel - which is the shaded basecoat, it's pretty vital to the look of the tiles. The principle is the first coat is a very basic and tidy covering of how you eventually want the tile to look. The rest is just highlighting, shading and some extra time spent adding interesting accents.
• Don't underestimate the use of 'dry brushing' - a disingenuous name that I would prefer was called 'slightly moist brushing' you have to be careful with how you load your brush, avoid applying paint for too long as it dries out and becomes dusty. Build up the layers from your basecoat and the more layers you have the more depth.
• Draw the paint into the shade and gradually make your way into the light. Simple as that. Most of the tiles I've painted were around 90 mins work, this took around 2.5hrs.
- The brazier is from the Skaven screaming bell kit -
