Tabletop gaming is an interesting area of model making. Many of the techniques from model railroading have taken root in this genre. What is tabletop gaming modeling? It's the creation of miniature models for games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, . The inclusion of models enhances game play and makes the fantasy world of these games more immersive. You can see from the enthusiasm of the community that this style of model making is very much alive and well.
I particularly like that it's a model genre that yields impressive results with a minimum number of tools and supplies. Much of the raw stock for these kinds of models is junk or cast-off pieces. We will see some interesting examples later on.
To start out with, I would like to share a few articles that I think would explore this type of model making in more detail.
Rising 376 feet above the streets of Florence, the amazing red brick dome designed by Flilipo Brunelleschi is as much an architectural marvel when it was finished in 1436 as it is today. The ribbed octagonal dome and strong graphical use of marble makes this building stand out in the Florence skyline. Our paper model is not nearly as large, but still as beautiful. For this activity, build this paper model of Florence's cathedral. You will find the sheet and all the necessary supplies in your SMM kit. Also, enjoy these videos about the cathedral the importance of working with easy and inexpensive materials for model making. Paper Modeling Skills About the Dome
Often in model-making we take something large and make it smaller. If we use a scale like we did on the pervious TinkerCad project, we are reducing an object with a 1:12 scale. In this video, special effects artist Frank Ippolito (IG: @frankippolito) is taking a character from a video game and making it 1:1 scale. Capcom, a video game company, hired him to make this dragon and he and his team need to figure out how to create this monster. As you watch the video, pay attention to some of the things we have discussed in class. Even at this early stage, you will start to recognize terms and techniques. After you watch the the video above, answer the questions below: 1. What scale does Ippolito make the background he is using to plan this project? 2. What is the little statue of the dragon called? 3. Why did Ippolito have it made? 4. What is photogrammetry? 5. What kind of farm is inside the dragon? Why did they pick that particular foam? 6. How many weeks did Ippolito have to ...
For Project 10, we will be scratch-building a spaceship. This is an exciting process with a lot of steps. To make this easier, I will be splitting this into a number of steps. We'll finish each step before moving on to the next one. Step 1: Spacecraft Model Making The model makers who make spacecraft for film and television are responsible for creating details that bring to life these futuristic vessels. It's a challenge and there are some examples in the history of film and TV that stand out. These videos are all about the special effects and techniques of making model space ships. Step 2: Scratch-Building How To We are going to mostly follow Adam Savage's techniques for making model spaceships. He did two builds exploring the techniques in a lot of detail. Watch both of these videos to gather a more complete understanding of the process we will be using. Step 3: Working with Styrene Working with styrene is different than working with any other material we've enc...
