Working on Ultimate Dungeon Terrain & A Whole Day of Hobbying

Morning: Processing 3D Prints

Starting the day off with processing 3D prints. Everything turned out pretty good. There’s a little bit of a missing part, but I’m not sweating it.

The top of this colossal has already failed for me twice. I’ve literally used the whole bottle of resin just trying to print it—a little frustrating, but it’s been my fault, not a problem with the sculpt. I think it’s just been too cold down here. I have a heater going now and I think we’re good.

A Breakthrough Moment

Today is the dawn of a new day for the Hobby Nomicon—and I’ve felt like that every day for the last week. I keep having breakthrough after breakthrough lately and it feels really good.

I think maybe the last couple of years I was burnt out. There’s no maybe about it—I was definitely burnt out. But I didn’t realize just how badly. That burnout is finally starting to lift and I’m going back to feeling normal again.

I have so much clarity, so much creative energy. It’s all coming back to me. I need to really maintain a creative space because I think part of what’s causing my constant project hopping is that I don’t have a space to be consistent.

The Ultimate Dungeon Terrain Board

I’ve got my Ultimate Dungeon Terrain board. I’m really happy with how the dungeon side turned out. I made this right before I decided to start the channel.

The first time I played on it, somebody got fireballed. So this is the scorch marker for where they exploded—a memory of the very first inaugural run on it. Sometimes I look at it and I hate it, but the story behind it is pretty cool. I think I did a good job making it look scorched and burned.

But the back half—the outdoor half—got stepped on by the dog and it’s not done yet. Time to fix that today.

Texturing the Outdoor Side

We want to slam this full of as much texture as possible. We still have our basing texture that we made so many months ago—crazy to think about—that’s just been sitting. I’m never going to use this on bases ever again, but I think it’ll be perfect for this.

I went at it with a palette knife, got it pretty sliced up. After the basing incident of 2025, I don’t want to have to worry about it being too thin.

I’m taking the palette knife and smoothing it out, trying to make organic shapes. I don’t want any obvious palette knife strokes. I’m pushing this down pretty thin because a lot of the time we’re going to be in dungeons, so it has to rest flat still.

Adding More Texture

I’ve been saving this rock—maybe that’s a terrible idea, but let’s roll it through these pink areas to get more texture. Then I’m using an old ripped-up bath sponge from the dollar store, wet so it doesn’t stick as bad, just lightly tapping it. This adds more texture but also breaks up any palette knife lines.

For the remaining pink areas, I’m using old baking soda I’ve had for honestly 10 years. I just want a fine texture without having to go buy sand. Anywhere we see pink, we cover up with this.

Learning to Sculpt

While waiting for the board to dry, I started figuring out sculpting for the first time in my life beyond just basic gap filling.

I took this busted part off the misprinted arm. It looks gnarly because of the super glue, but I’m going to make some liquid green stuff and smooth over this gap. Again, this is not a tutorial—this is just me recording myself stumbling through it.

What I’m thinking is I’m just trying to smooth out his robot booty. I’m using isopropyl alcohol to try and thin out the green stuff. Just trying to reestablish what looks like a block—it’s all just circles and squares that give the illusion something is there.

This guy is always going to be special because he’ll be our benchmark. From the back, I think that’s pretty solid. The side is questionable, but from where I’ll be seeing it when I’m playing, I’m pretty happy.

Sealing the Board

On the garage floor now. I knocked all the loose stuff off and already sprayed it down once. This is our glue mixture—25% water, 10% isopropyl alcohol, and remaining Elmer’s glue. But now it’s 50% that mixture, 50% water. Pretty fine mist.

When this hardens, this is going to be hard as a rock. This is what used to be called scenic glue—very similar concept.

The Vulcan Finally Printed!

I finally printed this damn Vulcan on my fourth attempt. Look at how close we still came to failing! I had 750ml of resin and printed the top half of the Vulcan, the arms, the head, and a light warjack. According to the slicer I should have had plenty, but we almost failed because we ran out of resin in the tank.

That colossal misprinted four times for me—literally $40-50 in resin. Still way cheaper than buying it direct. Looks like we’re sticking with Crucible Guard!

End of Day

A whole day of hobbying. Doesn’t happen that much. Didn’t get any painting done, but got a whole lot of fun hobby stuff done. Thanks for watching and joining me today!

Transcript

Starting the day off with processing 3D prints. Everything turned out pretty good. There’s a little bit of a missing part there, but I’m not sweating it. The top of the of this model has already failed for me twice. Uh, and I’ve literally at this point used the whole bottle of resin just trying to print the colossal.

Uh, which is a little bit frustrating, but it’s it’s been my fault. It’s not a problem with the sculpt. I think it’s just been too cold down here. I have a heater going now and I think we’re good. But this the 50 mil has like a canister and it failed, but it’s pretty it looked pretty janky in the slicer.

So, I’m not going to try to reprint it. I’m just going to convert my own. But, uh, I’ve got that. I got this stuff printed. This stuff I printed yesterday.

I’ve got two I had other stuff on the plate with it, but not crucible guard stuff. Uh, I’ve got two heavies, the parts for a Toro. I printed three of the the arms for the guy that misprinted just in case. Uh, so looking good there. I don’t think I’ll probably need too many more heavy bodies just looking at list.

And it looks like a lot of the crucible guard jacks actually kind of suck in my opinion. So, we’ll wait. I’ll probably print uh I’ll definitely print like the arms and I’ll magnetize these, but I don’t know if I’ll print any more bodies. It’s trash day. It’s really cold.

Should have a jacket on. Okay, if the Vulcan fails this time, uh, I’m giving up on Crucible Guard and I’m going to play fifth division. All right, I got to have the Dolma wood mask from yesterday. You know, today it is the dawn of a new day for the Hobby Nomicon, and I feel like I felt like that every day for like the last week. I just feel like I keep really having like breakthrough after breakthrough after breakthrough lately and it feels really good.

And I think maybe the last couple of years maybe I was burnt out and I am I mean I was definitely burnt out. There’s no maybe about it. But I think I just didn’t realize just how badly burnt out I was. And I think that that burnout is finally starting to lift and I’m going back to myself to feeling normal again. And I feel really good and it’s just there’s so much I have so much clarity, so much uh like creative energy.

It’s all just like coming back to me. It’s all feeling really good and it’s making me really realize that I need to really maintain a creative space because I think part of what’s causing my constant product hopping is that I am like I don’t have a space to be consistent. I keep Hey. Hi. Uh I just I need to get consistent with it.

Let me put you over here. Hopefully you can see me. I’ve upped my tripod game. I’ve upped hopefully hopefully I’ve upped my camera angle game. Uh and as I’m cleaning and getting ready, uh I’ve made couple couple videos ago, couple days ago, I made the decision that I’m definitely going to start a miniatures company, miniature making business, a hobby business.

There’s two parts to that. Miniature making and business. I know the business part very well. I don’t know [ __ ] about making miniatures. So, we got to fix that.

the next 90 days are going to be hyperdrive for me. I really uh I’ve just been feeling so inspired and I’ve realized that I’ve just been telling myself my whole life that no, that cannot be what you do. You have to be logical and rational. The art cannot be what you do. And I sold my soul to the devil.

And uh I think I I I feel like I’ve gotten a second chance. I’ve gotten my soul back. I’ve gotten out of that contract. And now it’s time to to make the best of it. Okay, enough yapping.

Let’s actually get to making something. Uh, I’ve got my Ultimate Dungeon Train board. Uh, I’m really happy with how this turned out. Uh, I should have probably recorded it, but I was just vibing the whole time. I made I made this like right before I decided to start the channel.

Um, got some some water here. Uh, what I was going for here is like somebody or not what I was going for, but the first time I played it, somebody got firealled. So, this is the soap marker for where they exploded as a memory of the very first inaugural run on it. I think it’s pretty cool. Um, sometimes I look at it and I hate it, but the story behind it is pretty cool.

I think I did a good job of like making it look sy and burned. I don’t know. What do you think? Pretty cool. All right.

But the problem Oh, and I and I hid like little little kind of like Easter eggy things like swolls and I’m resisting the urge to cover it in dirty down moss again cuz like I said, it’s dirty down moss is a part of me. There’s a little blood pool and some guts right there. But the back half, the outdoor half, it got stepped on by the dog. But uh it’s not done yet. And then the rim edges, we always got to got to edge the rim.

It’s time. It’s time to do the back half today. So let’s get to it. All right. So, we want to slam this full of as much texture as possible.

Uh, we still have our basing texture that we made uh so many so many months ago. Crazy to think about uh that’s just been sitting. So, I’m going to mix it up. I’m never going to use this on bases ever again, but I think it’ll be perfect for this. All right, there we go.

Went at it like a alleycat and he got it pretty sliced up. Uh, this should be fine. I probably, if anything, it’s a little overkill, but after the basing incident of 2025, I don’t want to have to worry about it. So, uh, what’s next? All right, we got this.

Um, the paint is kind of separating, but that’s again, that’s fine. I’m gonna stir it up and just start slathering it on. Is this one jar? Actually, I don’t know. We’ll see how this is after I get it spread out.

All right. So, I’m just taking the pallet knife and just smooth it out. All right. As I’m finishing this up, and I just tried to make it, let me get you out a little bit more. I just tried to make it in organic shapes.

And I don’t I don’t want any pallet knife like obvious pallet knife swatches. And I’m so I’m pushing this down pretty thin just because one it’s a lot of the time we’re going to be in dungeons, right? So it’s going to have to rest on this flat still. And I just want to make sure there’s no obvious pallet knife strokes and we’re going to do a lot more work to this. But I just want to make sure that there’s no huge clumps.

Actually, I got an even better idea. I’ve been saving this rock. Maybe that’s a terrible idea. Let’s just do we’ll push this in some through here. Not on the the full balloon.

All right. This is like a old ripped up bath sponge from the dollar store. And I got it wet. And we’re just going to lightly tap it. And getting it wet makes it so it doesn’t stick as bad.

And I’m just coming back through. One, this adds more texture in, but it also it’s going to make sure any line it breaks up any pallet knife lines. I just dropped off the last round of eBay orders at the post office, which was crazy. Line was out the door. Uh, luckily I just dropped my [ __ ] off.

I don’t know what people are doing that don’t know that you can just do all that online these days. But anyway, uh, about to get some Benny Lucetti’s pizza. It’s awesome. Bring this home to the kids. Make them do the pizza dance.

Just look at this. Just look at this massive slices. Okay, I got to I got to get back home now. Back home. Going to eat pizza.

going to finish up like the day job, the client work for the day and then get back to it. Uh, also before I left, I built all the crucible guard stuff I had printed, but I realized that that jack actually a ton of that jack did misprint on the backside. So, uh, going to learn how to sculpt today. This is going to be the tell if my wife is still watching these, but uh, I accidentally dropped this in the washer and I I ran it [laughter] ran inside the washing machine. Uh, luckily it was empty.

I had it upside down trying to get more out and just forgot. [laughter] I don’t know if you can tell from this dusty cover, but everything’s looking good so far. So, I think I think hopefully I mean, we still have uh six almost 7 hours to go. So, there’s a lot of room for failure, but in the parts that have been failing, it’s bed adhesion from I think this the resin being cold. And now that the heater is running, I think we’re going to be good.

Back in the dungeon, bellies full of pizza. Uh, I realized that I think I have some old sodium bicarbonate somewhere and I can use that instead of sand and it’ll do the same thing I want it to do. So, looking for that. Here we go. I’ve taken this all off.

Everything on here is locked in place. It’s pretty dry. Uh, you can see we actually got a pretty high raised edge here. Oh, guess it’s all locked in. So, [snorts] we’re gonna have to spit that out, but that’s okay.

So, now I’ve got my my rock, and I’m just going to roll this through these pink areas to just get some more more texture in here. All right, so this this is just uh it’s baking soda and old baking material. I’ve had this for honestly like 10 years, seriously. So, it’s pretty old. I’ve got some silica gel packs in here.

Um, I just don’t want to have to go buy sand and I just want a fine texture. So, I’m going to use this instead of having to go out and buy sand. And I’m going to do the edge, too. But anywhere where we see pink still, we want to cover up with this. And we also we do want to work it in to the other areas.

All right. So now I’m going to come in and just sprinkle this on our glue areas here. I’m going to shake it off over a big sheet of paper and it’ll go back in this box for another day. And next time it’ll have these gray rocks mixed in and I’ll just keep building up the various textures in here. All right, so waiting on the board to dry.

So I started we’re going to figure out sculpting for the first time. in our lives be beyond just basic gap filling. I took this busted part off the misprinted arm and it looks kind of gnarly now because of the super glue, but I’m just going to make some liquid green stuff and like smooth over this gap and I think that’ll be good enough. And then we got to figure out something for right here. Uh I only have 70% isopropyl alcohol right now.

All right, we’re going to let that sit for a second as I want I don’t want the other green stuff to go hard. Uh, dang. The foot’s messed up right here, too. It’s crazy. Okay, so again, I don’t really know what I’m doing.

I just got a glove on so I don’t leave fingerprints. And I think I there’s actually I’m going to have to make my own sculpting tools. I’m realizing which I’m kind of looking forward to that. So again, this is not a tutorial. This is just me recording myself stumbling through it a little bit.

Uh, so what I’m in my head, what I’m thinking is I’m just trying to smooth out his butt, his robot booty. I’m using that that’s isopropyl alcohol I just mixed in to try and thin it out some. And I’m just trying to reestablish. I think it’s a block. And again, thing works.

So if there’s it’s all just circles and squares. think you know I think if we’ll [laughter] give the illusion that something is there. All right. Now, this gu is always going to be special because he will be our benchmark of going back and saying, “Hey, we didn’t know what we were doing and we did this. So, uh, look, I’m happy with it.

I’m happy with it. Look at that. Look at the chassis on that boy. Okay. Uh, we can Whoa.

Maybe we can smooth this out just a little bit. I think it’s going to be good enough for tabletop. So, here’s where we’re at. I’m really proud from the back. Like, when I look at it this way, I think that’s pretty solid.

The sides the side is pretty questionable, but looking at it from where I’ll be seeing it when I’m playing, uh, I’m pretty happy with that. So, and from the front, like, it’s totally fine. Okay, now I need to wrap up uh with actual work for the day. I think that’s going to be it. Uh a whole day of hobbying.

Doesn’t happen that much. Uh didn’t get any painting done, but got a whole lot of of fun hobby stuff done. Uh I’m going to spend the rest of the day working and learning more about sculpting because I am pretty sure that’s the path for me. The next the next great challenge of my life. Um, I’ll I’ll check back in before I actually upload the video.

Uh, hopefully everything prints on the 3D printer. I’ll show you how that goes. And I’ll show you how the final board looks. Uh, what I’m going to do tonight, uh, let it sit for a couple of hours, knock all the everything loose, and I’m going to water down that glue that I made a ton, and then spray it through a sprayer bottle, and that will make it so it just like mist everything down and like locks it in place uh, and seals it. And then, uh, tomorrow spray paint it, and then we’ll get it painted.

And tomorrow is tomorrow will probably be a ton actually. No, tomorrow’s client office day. Uh but the rest of the week there’s going to be a ton of painting. Okay, so now we’re on my garage floor. Uh I knocked all the loose stuff off.

I’ve already sprayed this down once. So this is our glue mixture that I made earlier, which is like 25% water, 10% isopropyl alcohol, and whatever remaining percent Elmer’s glue. But now this is like 50% that mixture, 50% water. And you can see it’s a pretty fine mist. And I’ve already sprayed it once.

I just wanted to show you what it looks like going on. Now when this hardens, this is going to be hard as a rock. Uh this is what used to be called scenic glue. Uh very similar to that concept. So some spots here like where the purple uh where the pink still shows through, we’ll cover that with our flock material.

But I’m pretty happy. Like it’s pretty crazy the textures we’ve already got. It looks like a bunch of mount of dirt. Pretty excited. I finally printed this damn Vulcan on my fourth attempt.

And look at this. Look at how close we still came to failing. Uh it’s crazy how like this was almost I had 750 ml of resin in here. And I printed the top half of the Vulcan, the arms, the head, and a light warjack. And according to the slicer, I should have had plenty.

But uh obviously like we almost failed cuz we ran out of resin in the tank. Pretty insane. But at the end of the day, that’s a colossal. Uh that it misprinted four times for me. So it it was literally like I don’t know $40 $50 in resin.

Still way cheaper than buying it direct. So that part’s cool. And I guess I can keep printing them. I’m going to have to get some more resin before I start the the big the tanks, the railless interceptors. But I’m happy to finally have it.

Looks like we’re sticking with Crucible Guard. Thanks for watching and joining me today. It’s like a whole day uh a whole look kind of into my day today. So, if you’re still here, really appreciate you. Thank you so much.

C is Mara.