Fantasy Football Grandstand

Details: Last Updated: Wednesday, 21 August 2013 17:31

Opening The Bag

Our plaster kits come in a tough heat-sealed polymer bag. Breakages are rare, but when they happen the main culprit are the arches. As you can see with this example kit there have been three breakages. Since this kit was developed we now design all of our kits such that an arch join always has a layer of bricks above it. This reduces the chance of breakage significantly.
The grandstand has three-tiers. Each tier is 6" x 1.5". This ensures that there is room for 4 x 30mm-based figurines on each tier.

Assembling The Grandstand

	First things first - take care of any breakages using your favourite super glue. Breakages almost always snap cleanly so the repair is quite simple. Using super glue ensures maximum bond strength with the least amount of glue. Super glue is thin so gluing the break won't add any unwanted size to the broken cast. The next step is to cheack each piece of plaster and make sure there is no unwanted excess plaster. A small square of 120 grit sandpaper can be used for this.
	To assemble the bottom tier, use Bondcrete (PVA glue with sealant qualities) to glue one of the 6" x 1.5" panels to the small arch cast. Then glue the 0.5" x 0.5" x 0.25" steps in position. The second tier is assembled by gluing the large arch piece to the underside of the second 6" x 1.5" panel. Then glue the 0.5" x 0.5" x 0.25" steps in the same position as on the bottom tier.
	Finally, the third tier. Six columns are included in the kit. You can glue them in pairs, back to back, in order to make three complete columns. Alternatively, you can just use half columns. Whichever you decide, glue the columns in the position shown at left on the underside of the final 6" x 1.5" panel.

Painting The Grandstand

	With any plaster terrain the most important part of the process is to undercoat. Plaster absorbs liquid rapidly. When that liquid is the acryllic in paint that means the pigment can appear patchy on the first coat (or the second...). The undercoat prevents this from happening to the subsequent layers of paint. The easiest way to get a complete undercoat is to use a spray paint, whether that's from a can or a spray painting setup. Getting paint into the deepest cracks of the plaster texture is difficult with a brush - and you really want to avoid those little white dots peering back at you from those deepest cracks in the plaster piece. For the grandstand use a black undercoat. I use Montana spray cans for my undercoats.
	After the undercoat comes the first drybrush layer. With stonework many colours can be used. Natural stone runs the gamut of colours from deep yellows to reds to blues and greys. Keep in mind that your black undercoat is going to darken your drybrush layers so you can afford to go a little brighter than the colour you are aiming for. In the photo at left a light, earthy brown has been used.
	Next is the second, and final, drybrush layer. This layer will be applied over far less surface than the previous drybrush layer if you want to use this layer to produce highlights. On the other hand, if you want the undercoat and the first drybrush layer to represent shadows, then this layer becomes the predominant colour and is applied more robustly. The choice is yours. You can see in the progressin of photographs here that the second drybrush layer has been applied across the entire grandstand. The first two layers create the depth.

Finishing Touches

If you want your grandstand to look like it has seen many a match then you can apply some finishing touches to give it that used look. The odd bloodstain or two. Moss and lichen in the stone cracks. Advertising and/or graffiti.

Complete

It takes four grandstands to run the length of the pitch. On its own each grandstand is quite basic. They are designed to be the start of a larger build. They are quick and easy to build and paint.
Many thanks to Alex and the Adelaide Dungeon Bowl Competition crew for the photos of their grandstand.