How to make a crystal forest

[Vet Sgt]

How to make a crystal forest

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2397crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2398crop.jpg

[http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2396crop.jpg

This is amazingly easy to do, once you have the necessary materials. If there is any interest I will show you how I made these in the following posts.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN22811.jpg

[Vet Sgt]

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2318crop.jpg

The first crystal is made by a company called APM Corporation. They specialize in making plastic ice items, so if you are doing an ice planet then they will probably have everything you need. They can be found at http://store.plasticicecubes.com/sectionname.html I have used a shiny surface as the base because it greatly increases the light effects. The smaller crystals I picked up at the craft store. They come in several different colors, and two sizes. They are intended to be used in vases for floral decoration, but pet stores will also sometimes carry them for use in aquariums.


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2314crop.jpg

I painted them using a clear green acrylic paint made by Tamiya Color. If you can’t get the Tamiya paint or need a different color, then you could do the same thing using Future. If you aren’t familiar with what I am talking about then please visit http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html .


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2333crop.jpg

Here is what they looked like all finished. Since the crystals were all the same size, I had to cut some off of the bottom to get the different heights.

[Vet Sgt]

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2334crop.jpg

This one is the more traditional Necron crystal. It was simply made by cutting a clear plastic rod to length, then beveling the ends using a file. The acrylic paint fills in all the small scratches left by the file, so there is no need to buff or polish anything. The hard part is finding clear plastic rod that isn’t round. You could use square rod if you are willing to file all of the corners, but that would be a lot of work. Then I noticed the rods on my Venetian blinds. They are clear plastic, and hexagon shaped, exactly what I needed. A quick trip to the home improvement store yielded several replacement rods.



http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2402crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2394crop.jpg

[miteyheroes]

Easy and very effective! Thanks for the tips.

[Chaos Minion]

Very nice looking terrain.. Look fairly easy to replicate. Thanks. Now...how do you make that structure in the back of the last picture.

[RedScorpionsGirl]

I am curious, have you tried using the Tamiya Translucent paints (or the Lexan ones), to give it a slightly glow effect?

[Vet Sgt]

Very nice looking terrain.. Look fairly easy to replicate. Thanks. Now...how do you make that structure in the back of the last picture.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/P2010001cropweb.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/cropweb-1.jpg

Are you talking about this old thing? It’s just some scrap wood that I glued together and painted green. It did turn out nicely, but I didn’t take any pictures while I was making it.





I am curious, have you tried using the Tamiya Translucent paints (or the Lexan ones), to give it a slightly glow effect?

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2385crop.jpg

Please excuse the double image, but this picture was taken on top of a mirror in order to get the right amount of reflected light. The top four are the Tamiya Colors that I have. The lighter green one is painted with food coloring and Future. The clear one is unpainted and only included for comparison purposes.

This is the first time that I’ve used the future technique. Straight out of the bottle the Future has a very low viscosity and acts like a wash. If you let it air out for a while (several days in my case) then it starts to thicken up and acts much more like a normal paint.

[Mystery.Shadow]

Very nice Crystal Forest you have there.


Dang, and all this time I've been using those giant pencils that children use.

http://s10.thisnext.com/media/largest_dimension/656E16C6.jpg

All you need to do is cut the tip, cut to length, prime, paint and base.
The sides are already beveled!

[Tirion]

Very Nice!!!!! We need more terrian threads like this

[MarneusCalgar]

Good job!!!

[Gotthammer]

Thanks for the info :)

[Vet Sgt]

If anybody was wondering what size the crystals were before I cut them down, here are a few comparison shots.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN22961.jpg


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN22901.jpg

[N0rdicNinja]

Awesome! The two armies I play are Space Wolves and Necrons, so those Crystals will go a long way for me, I'll definitely be getting me some.

[Vet Sgt]

Here are a few more close up shots.


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2399crop.jpg


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2404crop.jpg

[Vet Sgt]

Since I also use this terrain set with my other armies, I thought that you might like to see a few non Necron table setups with the crystals.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2343crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2342crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2389crop.jpg

[Porty1119]

Why do those Tau look like some Battletech regiment's colors...

God I troll around on CBT sites way too much...

[Vet Sgt]

Why do those Tau look like some Battletech regiment's colors...

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to any colors used in any other game systems is purely coincidental.

If They look like they are painted in Battleletech color s to you it is probably because they are very common Autumn colors and any camouflage that is intended to be used in the fall will look something like it.

[Vet Sgt]

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_4992crop.jpg

I have been doing a little bit more playing with crystals lately, and these are my latest creations.



http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_4991crop.jpg

These ones were made by gluing some crushed glass together in clusters. It’s very simple, but it still gives a very interesting looking crystal formation.



http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_4993crop.jpg

[JxKxR]

That's pretty neat and I bet you could make some sweet arches and caves out of that crystal glass. Thanks for sharing.

[Vet Sgt]

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_5010crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_5009crop.jpg

These ones were made from the tines of some clear plastic forks. They look more like inorganic life forms than crystals, but they make for a very alien looking environment.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_5013crop.jpg

Any questions or comments are welcome, especially if you have an idea on a new way to use one of these materials.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_5007crop.jpg

[DrLove42]

Love it. Love that theres aleast one more person out there who realises not all battles are fought on imperial controlled planet earth clones...

Although I do get a hefty Command and Conquer vibe from all this Tiberium laying around :P

[Mystery.Shadow]

The Plastic Forks idea is genius! Pure Genius!!

What are the low-crystals made of? Fork 'bodies'? Got any close-up shots?

[Vet Sgt]

That's pretty neat and I bet you could make some sweet arches and caves out of that crystal glass. Thanks for sharing.
Yes the crystal glass has a lot of possibilities. My next experiment will be to fill a mold with it and then add clear resin to hold the glass in place.




Love it. Love that theres aleast one more person out there who realises not all battles are fought on imperial controlled planet earth clones...
Although I do get a hefty Command and Conquer vibe from all this Tiberium laying around :P
Exactly, it’s a Science Fiction game shouldn’t we be playing it on alien worlds?
I have actually never played command and conquer. Is it the color that is similar or is it the shape?





The Plastic Forks idea is genius! Pure Genius!!
What are the low-crystals made of? Fork 'bodies'? Got any close-up shots?
http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_5013crop2.jpg

The low-crystals are made the same as the others, just at half of the length, and with fewer tines.

[MasterSlowPoke]

How do you play all of those crystal growths?

[DrLove42]

Exactly, it’s a Science Fiction game shouldn’t we be playing it on alien worlds?
I have actually never played command and conquer. Is it the color that is similar or is it the shape?


http://images.wikia.com/cnc/images/3/30/Tiber.jpg

Quick lin to what Tiberium looks like.

Not saying its a bad thing that theres similarities, i love your stuff! Inspiration to do my own custom scenery...

[Vet Sgt]

How do you play all of those crystal growths?

I play them just like I would a patch of woods on a traditional gaming table. However I do play with woods that are a little denser than most people play with. The small ones are basically just for looks, and get scooted to the side when they are in the way.



Quick lin to what Tiberium looks like.
Not saying its a bad thing that theres similarities, i love your stuff! Inspiration to do my own custom scenery...

Thanks for the link to the picture of the Tiberium. Looks to me like it would only take a slight change to the shape of the tops on the ones I did, and you would have it! I’m glad that you find it inspirational, and hope to see what your version ends up looking like. Are you going to go with the more traditional green flocking on the bases, or try something else?

[Mystery.Shadow]

The low-crystals are made the same as the others, just at half of the length, and with fewer tines.

Was referring to the 'green rubble' at the bottoms.

[Vet Sgt]

Was referring to the 'green rubble' at the bottoms.

The “rubble” is made from clear acrylic pebbles that can be found in the floral decorating section of your local craft store.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/DSCN2370crop-1.jpg

[Vet Sgt]

The Large Crystals

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/100_6481largecrop.jpg

I finally got around to making some tree sized crystals! Now I truly have a crystal forest and not just a bunch of crystal bushes! Crystals that will provide cover for my vehicles are always useful to have on a Tau battlefield.


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/100_6477crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/100_6476crop.jpg

These were actually very easy to make however they did require a lot of time to do.


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_6396crop.jpg

I started with some wooded crystals that I made to be about six inches long. The larger crystals were made from ¾ inch stock, with the medium ones being made from ½ inch. Yes the thinner ones are actually made from pencils. The ones I made have eight sides and the pencils only have six but you would never notice it without my pointing it out. I also used a saw and a sander to “sharpen” them so that I had the required angles on the ends. All of the sides were kept strait and smooth to keep the molding and casting as simple as possible. Since six and eight sided objects didn’t match up perfectly I had to use a little clay to fill in the cracks.

[Vet Sgt]

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_6403crop.jpg

Next I made some very simple one part silicone molds from them. The crystals were coated with petroleum jelly to act as a mold release, and to give them a uniform surface texture since the pencils were painted and the wood was bare. I kept the side walls of the mold at about a quarter of an inch to half an inch in thickness. This enabled the molds to be durable enough to survive the casting process multiple times while still being flexible enough to get the casting out.


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/Necron/100_6400crop.jpg

Then I began casting up a lot of large crystals. Once they had hardened I cut them to different lengths and at different angles. By gluing the four pieces together in different ways I was able to get a greater variety of shapes.


http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/100_6471crop.jpg

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/af50/gartheng/100_6475crop.jpg

[Emerald Rose Widow]

What did you do to cast the crystals

[Vet Sgt]

The first step was to pick what type of resin to use. Clear resins usually have one or more problems that can be very difficult to deal with. Many of them take a long time to cure, use complex mixing ratios, or need to be de aired in a vacuum chamber. Since I was painting the crystals anyway a translucent resin works almost as well as a clear one. So I used a translucent casting resin. I used a Smooth-On product (Smooth-Cast® 325 Colormatch™) but any similar product from any company should do the same thing. Since these were very big crystals and were going to use up a vast amount of resin, I added clear plastic beads to the molds to reduce the amount of resin required for each casting. Other than that it was no different from any other resin casting project.