Made from FOAM | Beyond the Blight

welcome to the world of aus a planet teaming with alien life otherworldly structures and every shape and size of robot today's project will take us from the realm a virtual space of industry and entertainment to the coastal area just south of pulsera where I'll undertake my most tedious structure build yet and as always we'll finish up with an original short story this is game builds and welcome to beyond the BL [Music] there's a reason I've never built a circular structure angles are relatively easy to measure for and produce but circles make things a lot more difficult for this structure though curves were exactly what I needed this is because for this build I was aiming for something that would evoke the aesthetic of a crudely constructed Hut but built from more robust materials like brick stone and Sheet Metal and I wanted the whole thing set on a beach a new kind of terrain for me because this is set in a coastal region frequented by storms the structure needed to be resistant to strong winds and flying debris the result was a domed tower with a wind turbine on its roof and an umbrella-like canopy that could fold and collapse the windows were shielded with rot iron bars and I was careful not to add any large overhanging eaves that might tear away in strong winds it's often said that there are two schools of thought when it comes to World building soft World building is much less concerned with the details resulting in a more fluid end product focused more on spectacle but riddled with inconsistencies hard World building on the other hand is a more methodical approach where one tends to obsess over the details it's probably no surprise that I tend to gravitate towards the second school of thought and this is not without its setbacks it's fairly easy to overthink tiny details that most people would find wholly inconsequential and this building's design is probably an example of that the counterbalance to my analysis paralysis of course is the pressure to post these videos regularly to YouTube which forces me to keep forward momentum and avoid getting too bogged down a DE details once the pencil sketch and the line work were finished I added watercolors sticking mostly to Browns Reds and oranges for the bulk of the structure due to the temperate climate and proximity to the ocean the structure would also need to feature plenty of rust stains and corroded metal for contrast I added medium and dark lime green to the roof sections and the doors and while this was entirely unnecessary to do I added AIT bit of a background to the artwork since a blue sky and a few fluffy clouds just felt [Music] right new ideas always require a certain degree of iteration for the Dome that would form the base of the structure my original approach was to Simply craft the thing myself from a template but it occurred to me while building it that using a plastic object here would prove a lot easier and sturdier so that's when I hit up my local thrift store it was surprisingly tough to find the exact shape and size I wanted in an appropriate material but I eventually discovered this plastic planter pot for only 9 an added bonus of this particular pot was the fake wicker texture which allowed me to number and divide the perimeter into equal sections making the placement of Windows a whole lot easier I measured and traced out a doorway for the igloo like entrance then the windows then cut everything out using my rotary [Music] tool it was at about this point that I realized the downside to this textured pot those ridges all needed to be sanded down for an even surface this wasn't especially hard but it did take some time and turn my entire Workshop into a styrene winter wonderland next came the curved entrance area which was simply cut from a short length of 1 mm chipboard then super glued in place as always when working with chipboard or any other paper material it's vital to seal each piece in Mod Podge otherwise it'll warp and peel once it comes in contact with any [Music] liquids this is a foam cutting table my newest tool in the workshop which was purchased specifically for this project in the past I've made Bricks by simply scoring and carving foam panels but that wouldn't work work here to cover my curved spherical structure in thousands of bricks I needed to lay each row of Bricks by hand and so I needed the Precision cutting abilities of a foam cutting table for the base layer of bricks which were actually more like large Foundation Stones I made each segment a separate piece but as I got to the smaller bricks of the main structure I realized I could instead cut large strips from Quin foam then score the individual bricks with an xacto knife it's worth mentioning that I'm using foam safe superglue for all of this as normal CA glue would melt right through the foam completely ruining the project this was a painstaking process that took hours to complete but the end result was a lot closer to my vision than I'd anticipated and in any case this was way better than having to lay each brick down individually I was also thankful I went with the sturdy planter pot for a base which made gluing a cinch and made for a very strong core things got a little trickier at the top of the the tower dome which had to transition into this odd stretched semispherical shapee to create that shape I did a bit of napkin math to determine the circumference of the needed form then sketched out the shape for the panels taking Hues from the tiny template i' made earlier to achieve the correct curvature after doing a test panel on printer paper I moved onto 1 mm chipboard cut out on my laser cutter and carefully glued the panels edge to edge because the bending of the panels put a lot of stress on the seams I also added some masking tape the two Dome Hales were built separately then glued together and a plastic lid was added to the upper mouth to maintain a regular circular shape then it was all glued together and it was right back to gluing row upon row upon row of bricks next came the first pass of detailing and texturing the bricks first using this customized tool carved from a wooden dowel to recess some of the individual bricks for bit of variety some of the gaps were also widened with another carved tool after which I marked and cut out windows as you can see from this footage the underlying material was a lot flimsier than the plastic of the lower Dome structure but that did make it a whole lot easier to cut through as is so often the case with model making there are pros and cons to every material and technique and approach and it's often a matter of foreseeing the difficulties and weighing them against the potential benefits When mapping out each stage of a build the final step in creating the base structure was the jutting circular balcony a contour tool helped me to get the general shape which was then traced onto some chipboard to create a crescent shaped template an outer wall was added then the floor section and finally some clear plastic for the interior's window glass the balcony was then glued to the structure and it was only at this point that I realized my mistake in forgetting that the structure was not a cylinder but a slope Dome resulting in this unfortunate Gap I decided though that this was a problem the brick work would hide so after adding a better fitting roof section I simply bricked my way over the holes and when all was said and done it was onto the [Music] painting for this project I needed to get these bricks painted early on since there was no way I was going to attempt this with all the hardware and Machinery in the way if I could sum up my painting methodology in a word it's layers this is the key I found to all of my best painting schemes and it applies directly here starting with a base layer of Sandy colored acrylic paint this color gave the structure a warm coat to start with and helped to tie it in with the Sandy terrain later on I next hand painted each of the thousands of bricks alternating between various Reds oranges and brown BRS and mixtures of these colors further variation was added to this palette by slightly diluting the colors with water many of these bricks got multiple layers of paint in varying colors to add depth to the [Music] appearance with everything painted I sprinkled on some plaster of Paris brushed away most of the excess then sprayed it all with water after drying the result of this process is an old chalky grout stained effect which after drying could be reduced in some areas with a damp sponge to weather the bricks I used various oil and enamel paints like this rust streaks enamel paint from AK interactive I focused on areas that would naturally collect rain water and moisture as well as areas where I knew I'd be putting metal pieces later on like beneath these iron bars of the windows darker stains were added with this black Tama panel liner which which brought some beautiful contrast and really enhanced the realism and thus with the base structure adequately painted and weathered it was on to the many many pieces of Hardware first came the windows which were designed digitally to the dimensions of the actual model in spite of the concept art being done I'd grown a little bored of the straightforward design so I did a bunch of experimentation with more unique rod iron designs what I ended up with was a little simpler than any of these however since I realized that they had to curve horizontally to fit the Contour of the Dome after some tests on my laser cutter I came away with these iron bars which I thought found a nice balance of complexity and practicality the door seene here was designed in several stacked layers these were again designed digitally carrying Over The Motif from the windows for a unified look while also adding these decorative elements below the windows to evoke a sort of techno tribal appearance the first thing on my list of parts to 3D design was this bit of Machinery here these massive air scrubbers which have been mentioned in previous builds and stories help to filter out blight spores the design changed considerably from the original concept as I decided that I wanted bulky cylinder electrical equipment that looked more like jet engines than uninteresting air conditioning units for the intake fans I first created some cubes with beveled edges added a bunch of loop Cuts then extruded the faces inwards the fans were made separately with the blades being formed from cubes which were Twisted then subdivided for a smoother look these were then duplicated around a central cylinder I also made this vertical housing bit that would be used to attach the air scrubbers to the exterior of the structure and and to get the curve just right I took a picture of the structure and imported the photo into blender I then extruded some panels from the sides and added a bunch of bolts all of the handrails on top of the tower were designed to flip downwards into the structure so that the roof could collapse and flatten to accomplish this each handrail had to be a separate piece made from a curve beveled at its corners and then beveled again within the curv properties to give it depth and resolution the upper bar was thickened and a crossbar was added along with the hinge Hardware that would attach to the inner brick wall the climbing rungs to allow access up the side of the building were made in the same way and then it was on to one of the trickiest bits a curved walkway and handrail that wasn't in the original concept at all but I felt it was important to include this for practical access to some of the control boxes on the structure's exterior once everything was was printed separated cleaned and sanded I assembled the air scrubbers and this ladder bit I also made some grating from chipboard to cover the fans though this would all need to be painted separately before gluing everything was then carefully laid out on a sheet of cardboard so that it could be primed I've mentioned this before but my go-to priming paint is now just regular cheap rattle can paint that I warm up in some warm water for a smooth fine application it works great even for these small highly detailed [Music] pieces for the balcony's roof I first traced out a shape directly onto some foam made a rough cut out on my foam cutter then went in with a razor knife carefully refining the shape to fit the roof with that in place I glued in a bunch of shingles these had to be specifically design for this project and I did several different designs with gradually tighter curves as they approach the top of the roof [Music] for the tower's Lookout I grabbed the diameter with some calipers then mathed out the circumference which I used to create this ring and wooden platform satisfied that this was a good fit I then created some more brick strips for the inner wall then got to adding a floor and laser cutting an access hatch and a center hole for the roof pylon a tank wheel made for a nice support for the pylon which was an acrylic Rod covered in a rubber pen grip and a Bendy straw a few weeks prior I'd purchased a helicopter kit from eBay hoping to Kit Pat the propellers into the turbine fins but after putting this monstrosity together I felt the end result looked way more like a quaint Dutch windmill than anything suited to my world so I went back and designed some three blade rotors and blender for the collapsible roof I designed and laser cut these panels then glued them up and coated them in mod podage finally the gearboxes and nay cells for the turbines were kit bashed almost entirely from gundam Parts the 3D printed rotors and these chipboard details really helped to bring it all together and all of it was attached with this modified toy dart with a square styrene tube acting as a Cross Beam [Music] as always I saved the base for last I opted to go really large here as I wanted some empty space to the left of the structure the idea is that I'm going to come back later and add something else to this area in a future build though I'm not yet sure exactly what that will be if you have any suggestions let me know in the comments scraping the foam with a wire brush helped the foam safe super glue to adhere better to the surfaces and once glued I added some more variation to the topography adding a more gradual slope and a foot path to the entrance you can't have a beach scene without some palm trees and these guys were some of the cheapest I could find they didn't look like much out of the box but with a little bit of leaf trimming and some sanding to the trunk to remove excess plastic and the paint job to follow they came out looking a lot more realistic the final step for the base was to give it a Sandy texture which I achieved with plaster of Paris mixed with glue water and a little a little bit of sand this batter was spread evenly over the entire surface and as it dried and hardened I added a few Footprints approaching the doorway and that was it for building let's move on to the painting and the [Music] story from a top the bastion's lookout deck she peered down at the two men who made the approach up her beachfront she was curious but cautious alert but unafraid her structures appearance suggested barely maintained decrepitude but this was a facade she' purposely cultivated for the better part of two decades flaunting shiny technology or expensive defenses was a sure way to attract the wrong kind of attention especially out here on the coast where pirate flotillas hovered above the shs on Stolen Repulsor engines and could descend on a coastal town at any moment stripping it of its valubles like Coral sharks cleaning the flesh from a fallen carcass she thus taken great care never to allow her service autoa to scrub too much of the rust off her railings she upgraded exterior Machinery exclusively under the cloak of night and switched on her turbines only to top up her immense Bank of scavenged batteries which lay in a tangled Nest on her observation deck she opted however to keep the puff generators running around the clock those airbag like mechanisms that converted fluctuating air pressure into electricity and helped keep the system to a mercifully bearable temperature were necessary The Men Who now approached she noted did not resemble Bandits or Pirates or even prison escape EAS but lowly fishermen in heavily weathered waterproof bibs any nearby ships on scans she asked with an earshot below her stood her automa unit a scrappy lanky robot that was her only companion out here he watched from the balcony window and she heard his fingers dance over the console Keys as he gathered data affirmative long range scans show a Repulsor equipped vessel 10 km to the north H just out of our line of sight shall I dispatch a drone yes pull the vessel's name if you can and the size of its crew message me the response avoid vocal communication once the men reach the doors I want to see what they'll do if they think I'm alone understood came the response this time piped directly to her messaging console as plain text she confirmed receipt of the message and waited her eyes followed the men as they made their way to The Rusted Emerald doors and buzzed the intercom they did not notice her watching from above what do you want she asked her voice emitting from a small speaker above the door as strong and clear as a schooner Bell oh said the older of the two men taking a step back as he gazed up struggling to locate the source of the voice as he shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun I'm tarini alwat captain of a bon gual up the coast from here this is my crewmate can you verify she queried with a silent message to her automa the Drone still hasn't reached the signal Commander it's flying against a strong headwind came the text response tell me your business here captain alwat and make it quick I'm terribly busy we were told you may be able to assist us with an operation said the second of the two men stepping forward who are you and where did you hear that my name is SM poo and we received our information from the back of a worker in the shallows of ludonna a woman trading information pointed us in your direction she pondered this it had been unwise to let the scavenger on that Walker repair her automa but she'd been out of options she needed those repairs without her automa she was practically helpless and besides the cost had merely been a retelling of the tower's story it had seemed a fair fa trade at the time but now she wondered Bon guali confirmed by the Drone a Repulsor equip Market parked in a tiny clearing just Inland from the coast 10.3 km North only one crew member visible messaged her automa what assistance do you require she asked of the men we've heard that you may be able to help facilitate a diving operation the captain prompted div what for well to answer that we would need to speak privately the captain said smiling broadly as he clasped his hands in front of him the nearest settlement is dozens of kilometers away there are no inhabitants within listening range even if you screamed your request there are always listening ears even invisible ones said the second man pointing up at the sky with a furtive glance we are no danger to you have your autoa unit search us if you like stunned she said nothing so The Wanderer had told them about her automa too what else had she revealed fine we will continue this discussion in the antichamber but I warn you the last band of men who came here under false pretenses did not leave on foot there was a buzzing noise and the groan of sliding steel and prying at at the doors the men let themselves in and gasped the anti chambers's walls were strung from one end to the other in every imaginable variety of wire and cable and piping large bundles of cable as thick as tree trunks erupted from crude holes bored into the inner wall which kept the visitors from the atum all around them was the hum and Grumble of Machinery the hiss of Pistons the gurgle and rening of gears and a suffocating heat that radiated from Beyond the inner door brought a greasy perspiration to their faces no one can live in a place like this tarini whispered uneasily looks more like a nest than any kind of home Mick mumbled back movement in a corner over their shoulder caught their eyes as a tiny arm unfolded from the ceiling a glass ocular rotating at its end to study them an automa emerged now from the atro door scann them for weapons and then just stood there waiting well aren't you going to let us in or have you brought us this far to roast in our own juices tarini said impatiently we can discuss your proposal just fine from here came the woman's voice clear as ever ah very well tarini huffed nodding to the other man who was unsure of where exactly he should be looking seeing as there were m multiple sets of eyes watching him we are in need of a submersible drone why what are you looking for in these Waters something sunken that was assumed lost but we believe we've found it then go to a shipyard find a crew hire a team there must still be remote sub Pilots somewhere along the coast prohibitively expensive most of the Yards have shut down and what makes you think I'll be cheaper because we have something that you need Mig said a grin beginning to form on his face how would you know anything about my needs we know what you are we had our suspicions from the way the scavenger described you Elusive Lady hermit on the coast who never shows herself and relies entirely on her autoa but coming in here here seeing this place has confirmed those suspicions what do you want from me the voice snapped the composure cracking this isn't sustainable the heat radiating from your core is immense we know you've riged your air scrubbers as process coolers but in another few years with the greenery shriveling up along the coast and Rising temperatures it'll be too hot for you to function I'll find a way we are the way the captain cut in the bali's computer systems were taken offline in the last storm it's all archaic anyway it needs to be automated with a modern AI something that can connect to the SAT link and navigate these Gastly storms and we need your drone expertise you can help us to find what we're looking for you get a brand new body and we get our treasure a long pause and then the tower's AI asked what about my automa standing before them the automa looked up to one of the oculars then back at the men we'll make him a member of the crew tarini said smiling so what'll it be then how about a brand new chance at life on the Seas see the world fresh breezes cooling your processors yes the AI finally responded a million times yes thank [Music] [Music] you thank you all so much for watching and a very special than thanks to my patrons some of whom participated in a recent Community project to build their very own structures on Aus my upcoming beyond the blight novel is still well underway and I really enjoyed combing through all of your test reader submissions until next time this is game builds over and out

Channel: gameyy builds

Views: 38,862

Keywords:

Id: 6xMN_KQuhus

Length: 27min 19sec (1639 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 09 2024