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The ancient race once known as the Necrontyr erected cyclopean
structures on hundreds of worlds. These Tomb Worlds are barren,
dead rocks... but the temples and pyramids still remain, tempting
explorers to cross the stars to plunder their secrets.
The Necrons hold a particular interest to
me. Always one for ancient evils and long-dead secrets, the
idea of a slumbering army of robotic
warriors awakening to do the bidding of their hungering gods, is
loaded with so much imagery that I couldn't help but make my
own
Necron scenery! Hopefully this article will give you some ideas
of your own.
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The first thing I ever do when I attempt to tackle a scenery project
is to look through the existing material for the army in question. Codex:
Necrons is full of evocative illustrations (see above left) and these
really help in the formation of ideas. After I was through perusing the
book, I considered what I really wanted to accomplish. The first thing
that came to mind was the 'creepiness factor' of a single Necron obelisk.
A huge edifice of questionable purpose would be really fun to make, and
simple because of its shape. I hit the sketchbook and roughed up a quick
set of drawings (see
following page). After I talked to Nick and brainstormed a bit, it
was time to get busy.
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The first thing I did
was to take my drawing, resize it to my liking and draw it out with
nice clean lines. Once this was done I could use it as a template.
By doing this, I could create a veritable army of obelisks if I so
desired. Since all the sides would be the same width, I only needed
to draw it out once. Here's a PDF
of the template (60K PDF) so you can cut out this whole step if
you'd like. |
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Once my template was
finished it was time to transfer it to the material that would make
up the majority of the scenery piece. I choose to use foamcore with
a thickness of 1/2". This would be durable enough that Iwouldn't
have to reinforce the interior. Using the template and a push/drawing
pin, I marked out each corner of the drawing. After this was done,
I connected the dots to make it a little easier to see what I was
aiming for when I began to cut out the necessary pieces. |
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In this illustration,
you can see how many of each side you'll need before you're ready
to assemble your obelisk. You will need 4 large sides, 4 small sides,
3 squares and 1 hollow ring for the indented centre of the obelisk.
You may have noticed that some of the pieces have bevelied edges.
These are to create right angles when you assemble your obelisk and
add a bit more strength and stability. These right angles are accomplished
by using a very sharp hobby knife and cutting only partially through
the foamcore. The unwanted foam is then ripped from your piece, leaving
behind the card on the opposite side. |
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After I had cut out all
my pieces, I selected one of the long sides and picked up my template
again. The Necron icon I had drawn would be difficult and time-consuming
to redraw on the foamcore. To avoid that inevitable horror, I simply
took a pencil and rubbed graphite all over the back of the template.
This would make it easier to transfer onto the foamcore. |
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