Terrain PDFs: TechnoCube and City Block Templates

We had a bit of trouble getting the files for the Bostrian buildings uploaded.  Here they are now, along with the files that we used for the windows and doors on the "container" buildings last year.

Bostrian Techno-Cubes
Doors and Windows (blank)
Doors and Windows (filled)

Technocubes from Bostria

Terrain is on of the challenges and joys of the Infinity hobby. You need a decent amount of it and it needs to be different than 40k terrain - which is readily available.

When I first started looking at this game, something caught my eye. It was these green technocubes made by Bostria on the Infinity forums. They were smooth and high tech, and the green was very pleasing to the eye -  just like Infinity. 

I looked them up on-line but could only find templates for one of 3 different models, but I found all of the wall texture files. After about a year of meaning to do something, my office was throwing out a whole bunch of foamcore and being the dumpster-diving terrain builder that I am, I plucked out the choice-pieces and brought them home to begin my work. 

You really need a T-square and very sharp exacto-knife for this kind of thing. And you've got to have patience and go slowly. Measure, then measure twice. Cut once lightly, then again twice more very gently to get straight even lines on your foamcore. Then you have to measure out your sides and print your wall textures to fit. It can be slow going and it's precise work. I'm not sure if this is less effort than painting them yourself but it requires far less skill. Anyone can make these. There are no special skills required. 

Final pics will be posted, along with instructions and image files for the wall textures. 

Techno-crates

I finally finished the batch of techno-crates that I started many months ago.  They actually turned out better than I expected.  They're almost too pretty to run on the game board.  Anyway- after distributing a few to the other RP dudes and keeping a few for myself, I decided to cast as many more as I could before running out of resin and/or burning out the mold.  I've got a few left and I'm offering them for sale via Remote Presence.  Shipping/Handling between $3 and $7, depending on quantity and delivery location.

The photo pretty much sums it up.  If you are interested, you can email me at kkovarcik@gmail.com.

Weekly Infinity Update

What've I been up to?

After Adepticon, I got bitten by the building bug big time.  Also got bit by another sort of bug that caused persistent and uncomfortable respiratory issues (but we won't go there).  As a result, I didn't really make any progress on any figures.  Right now my workbench is covered with two magnetized IG Hellhounds, an IG Demolisher, an IG Valdor, 5 Future Cars, and 10 Technocrates.  So- in regards to the Infinity stuffs...

 The Future Cars from Antenocitis Workshop (see earlier post) were coated with Mr. Surfacer 500.  This served to even out any imperfections and also provide more tooth for the subsequent coats of acrylic paint.  Resin loves to chip off weak paints (read- without solvents!).  After the Mr. Surfacer I went ahead and used a brown gradient for all the windows.  It took about an hour, start to finish, with my airbrush and Tamiya acrylics.  Each car was then sealed with Testors Glosscoat.  The windows were then masked with painter's tape and the Spinners painted with Taimya spray blue and the Future Car painted with Tamiya Mica Red.  The Spinners then got two lighter highlight coats of blue.  As expected, once the tape came off, so did some of the paint beneath.  Fortunately it wasn't too bad and I was able to touch it up.  I've only pulled 5 of the cars out of the 10, and right now I'm adding black washes to the panel lines and black paint as a base coat for the tires and undercarriage.

The technocrates are proceeding pretty well.  I'm something of a perfectionist (read- anal retentive) so I really want this to come out nicely.  As with the Future Cars, I scrubbed the crates prior to priming.  Since they're less delicate, I literally scrubbed them, using a toothbrush and Simple Green.  Then I washed them in soap and water.  Then I hit them with Mr. Surfacer.  Then I used Armory Black paint.  Overkill?  No.  After airbrushing the basic grey color and some blue/gray highlights on the top panels, I masked off areas around the horizontal panels with low-tack painter's tape, airbrushed the colors I wanted, then CAREFULLY removed the tape.  Result?  Still lost a few chips of paint even after all the prep work.  Honestly, just a few tiny specs, so I can say I'm "OK" with it.  I'll probably have to airbrush the short ends the same way as the long panels, but that's for another day.  I'm thinking- decals for logos and insignia, but here's what I have thus far.

The photo shows my resin crates under the papercraft templates.  I've got about 20 resin copies that I'll be offering for sale in the near future.  My hope is to have the cars, the crates, and all the other bits and pieces of terrain ready for action at the NOVA Open.

Container Buildings Showcase

or "But WAIT- there's more!"

Once all the buildings were done, I realized that there really should be some form of external traverse, so it was off to the hobby store to pick up some Plastruct ladders and stairs. You can see in the photos that there are three different lengths in order to be more useful.


Rather than make the ladders permanent, I carved out "hooks" from styrene sheet, making the ladders much like what you'd see on a large motor boat. They're removable and slide on and off the roof top ledges very easily. I'll probably paint them, eventually.


At the Home Depot one afternoon, I decided to check out the plumbing isle. They have a large number of metal and PVC fittings that have terrain potential. I picked up a pair of PVC pipe end-caps for about $3.50 each. Once painted and given a bit of greeblie plumbing, they look quite good. Also, they're very sturdy.


In order to not lose my mind entirely, I asked OSH if he'd be willing to paint up the wall sections that I'd built earlier. He agreed, so I whisked them up to his place on the weekend. There are close to 25 segments, but it should be an easy job. As fate would have it, he managed to snag a very large painting comission the next day, so the walls will wait.


To add more color, I ordered some transparent flurorescent acrylic sheets for use as holo-boards and force-field walls. I'll post those next time.

Container Buildings Completed

or "I'm not dead yet"

So four months have passed sice I posted progress pics of the g*ddamn buildings I've been working on for my own collection and for the NOVA Open Infinity gaming. Personally, I am pleased with the results, but I am just about burned out on terrain. The first 3 were very entertaining, the next 3 were fun, but by the 18th it was getting annoying. And the walls? Don't even get me started on the walls. You know how some things "drive you up the wall"? Yeah- I had to build my own walls for that. As for the driving, I ponied up for some cars from Antenocitis, but that's for another post.

After staring at the originals, I decided that the tan colors lacked visual interest, so I re-masked the windows and misted over the base coat with a lighter color. Still unsatisfied, I added additional masks of squares and rectangles to creat various panel effects.

OSH and I had a terrain day that helped hammer out the 8 units for the NOVA Open. He got to play with his new airbrush, and that allowed us to add even more color variations. Still in the tan-to-gray palette, though.

After all the paint was dry, I penciled on a single mid-hight horizontal line on every unit, then slapped on a few stickers (posters, corporate logos, etc.) and custom decals (building numbers) printed out on an inkjet printer.

Terrain: Habitat and Office Block

Or “Windows? OMG! They have windows!”

UPDATE: I've uploaded a PDF file for blank windows and doors that can be used for masking templates and filled windows and doors which have blue gradient fills and can be used as basic stickers.

Since moving from one milieu to another often entails a change of scenery (ha ha), I felt that the usual Ruins just wouldn’t cut it for Infinity. To remedy the situation, I started making some nice clean walls. What good, though, are walls if you don’t have something to put them around? Here’s my answer:

Always looking for cheap terrain options, I found some 8”x5” acrylic boxes at the Container Store near my office. They were on sale for about $3 each, so I snagged six of them and decided to create some intact buildings. With complete walls. And windows. So totally not 40k.


The first step was to invert the lid and box, then superglue the two parts together. This means that the top of the box is now the bottom, and the upended lid is now the roof. In one move I created a taller building with a slight railing around perimeter of the roof.

The second step was to add some sort of dividing structure in the middle of the long walls. In my example, sheet styrene runs vertically and is then capped by a length of half-round rod. I had to remove two-inch lengths of the lip (now at ground level) under the original lid in order to make room for eventual door placement.


The next step was to create a simple Adobe Illustrator file for windows and doors which was then printed on to self-adhesive label paper (about $1.50 per sheet from Staples). Once printed, I cut out the windows and doors, scored around the curved corners of the windows with a very sharp knife, then stuck the windows on the boxes. The idea was to use the windows as masks for the forthcoming spray paint. When I had all the windows attached, I finished scoring the outlines of the windows. The partial scoring was done before placement so I could get the control needed to follow the curves. This also allowed me to not have to worry about the windows coming completely apart as I peeled them off the backing paper.

I spray painted the exterior of the boxes with Rustoleum Fossil, then added some highlights with Gloss Almond. When the paint was dry, I added the stickers for the doors. Once the doors were securely attached, I hit the whole thing with dullcoat to both kill the gloss and protect the finish.


The final step was to go back and remove the windows/masks. This was tricky, since I only wanted to remove the “glass” parts that I had scored earlier, yet still leave the window frame attached to the box. It was a good idea, but in practice the stickers came off very slowly and left a LOT of adhesive behind. I managed to use rolled up duct tape to essentially remove adhesive with adhesive, but it took a long time. Fortunately, I had MST3K to keep me occupied. When the last traces of adhesive were tacked up, I went back with a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol for a final cleaning.

The units are stackable, and look good for tabletop use. You can see through the windows, and that means we can declare them as open LOS, obscured LOS, or no LOS. I may hit the units with highlights later on, but I’m going to have to get the adhesives out from under my fingernails first.