[LaserCutCard] Variable Geometry Scendship

[jherazob]

That's one smart idea. I need to sort my finances (i may or may not have gone on an ill-advised shopping spree this weekend...) and see if i get a couple, precisely my FLGS owner is a, ahem, "cyborg" fanboy (got the special edition codex and all), i may decide to get one of those obelisks and donate it to the store. Can't promise he'll get into reselling anything though.

And i want some of that scatter, that's always welcome in our tables.

[Lampyridae]

Those aircon units look seriously sweet on the table and are a fraction of the price of resin. Can't recommend them enough.

[LaserCutCard]

That's one smart idea. I need to sort my finances (i may or may not have gone on an ill-advised shopping spree this weekend...) and see if i get a couple, precisely my FLGS owner is a, ahem, "cyborg" fanboy (got the special edition codex and all), i may decide to get one of those obelisks and donate it to the store. Can't promise he'll get into reselling anything though.

And i want some of that scatter, that's always welcome in our tables.

[Claudius Sol]

Hmm... thinking of getting those aircon units...

[LaserCutCard]

We already have a set of standard shipping containers for 28mm games



These ship in a threepack and are $16.95 a pack (shipping is $2 worldwide)

We've just added three new sets to this range. These are all containers that have been converted to be houses, shops or offices.

Site Office Set



Shops set



Houses set



There is a lot more information here: http://lasercutcard.co.za/model-ranges/shipping-containers/ but all these sets are also $16.95 a set and shipping is $2 worldwide

If you want to see them in the store, that link is here: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/scenery/shipping_containers

[LaserCutCard]

We set up a 4'x4' table to test terrain density with the shipping containers we have and this was the result. We need to think about getting some bigger pieces if we ever want to offer an entire container board.



Some of the little "scenes" you can set up are really cool though...

[Icchan]

Needs a big warehouse type building. And bridges. You can never have enough bridges in Infinity.

[Icchan]

Something like this:


Just add doors and roof. Maybe some forklifts.

[LaserCutCard]

Dude... we need to employ you. Somehow

[Section9]

Wow, those are great-looking containers!

I think I may need to buy some, those are a lot cheaper than the MDF ones...

[LaserCutCard]

Wow, those are great-looking containers!

I think I may need to buy some, those are a lot cheaper than the MDF ones...

Thanks!

And the six-pack is even cheaper $25.50 for 6 containers, shipping is $4 worldwide

http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/scen ... 44mm-6pack

[Icchan]

Dude... we need to employ you. Somehow

Sure, why not.

[LaserCutCard]

If we ever need to do a container-themed table, we need a few large pieces. This is a CAD for a container crane that we are looking at.

[Errhile]

Well, I've worked in cargo forwarding for a while.

Container depots are basically loads of shipping containers, some buildings (offices for the clerks and off-duty rooms for workers) and some pieces of cargo-handling equipment. Be it gantry cranes (the one above is good for moving containers from train to truck, but not going to work with ships. You'd better look for something like this), regular cranes, reach stackers or big forklift trucks (big enough to handle an almost 30-ton 20' container). Also, vehicles capable of transporting containers - flatbed railway cars, container trucks, or however these low trailers meant for ship transport were.

Container ships themselves I consider to be impractical for tabletop purposes: they're damn big, even the feeders (small ships that take 160-200 containers...).

[LaserCutCard]

Well, I've worked in cargo forwarding for a while.

Container depots are basically loads of shipping containers, some buildings (offices for the clerks and off-duty rooms for workers) and some pieces of cargo-handling equipment. Be it gantry cranes (the one above is good for moving containers from train to truck, but not going to work with ships. You'd better look for something like this), regular cranes, reach stackers or big forklift trucks (big enough to handle an almost 30-ton 20' container). Also, vehicles capable of transporting containers - flatbed railway cars, container trucks, or however these low trailers meant for ship transport were.

Container ships themselves I consider to be impractical for tabletop purposes: they're damn big, even the feeders (small ships that take 160-200 containers...).

Thanks for these comments... you raise some excellent points.

The first thing we thought of initially was a container terminal at a port but as you say, the scale of things quickly gets away from you. The cranes meant for loading ships, the ships themselves, these are huge, even at 28mm scale.

There are also several other points that we always have to consider for any of our pieces.

Can it be made cheaply?
Scenery is not like the the rest of people's armies. It is almost a grudge purchase. So can we make it in such a way that it is not too much of an investment?

Can it be made to weigh under 300g and fit into a C5 envelope?
We ship all our products as flatpacks and they go in normal brown business envelopes. Because of this, they are classified as letters, not parcels and the postage is a lot cheaper. That's why our three postage rates are $1, $2 and $4 per package ($4 for a C4 envelope weighing under 300g)

As soon as we go over that, we have to either split the order in to two or more envelopes, or ship it as a parcel. The parcel shipping is $3 per 100g - substantially more. Thus far, every single one of our products is under 300g and we will think long and hard about going over that limit. It's fine to split a large order into several envelopes (we do that all the time) but we would not really like to split a single product into two envelopes.

Can it be made in such a way that it will last a long time, given that the tabletop environment is a rough place?
We have a very scientific way of testing the durability of our products.
Stage 1 is, the prototypes are given to my two daughters as accessories for their My Little Pony toys. The five year old is particularly rough. They always break but it is interesting to see WHERE they break.
Stage 2 is, after they are painted, they are donated to my FLGS. It's interesting to see how rough people are with scenery that is not their own. All the stuff on our site has been in use at a game store, getting table time once or twice a week, for six months. Some of it has broken and needed to be repaired and how it breaks feeds into how the new stuff is designed.

The point here is, can that crane be made in such a way that when some ham-fisted troglodyte whirls around and smacks it off the table onto the floor, it will be fine.

We have also considered the forklift and even have a cad for it somewhere. We can easily make it - we make a whole range of vehicles: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/vehicles

But it's one thing to make a vehicle that costs $19 when that vehicle is going to be driving around winning you the game and another when it is going to be a piece of scenery. So we would need to look at how to make it as a simpler model so that it looks good but is less detailed and cheaper to make.

After all of this, the crane: we'll probably make anyway. Some ideas are just too cool not to happen. Even if it ends up only on our table, it will be worth it

[Errhile]

Well, equipment is huge especially in the 28mm scale. I've recently written down quite a rant on that

If we assume that 28mm is equivalent to 1:56 scale, then our tables represent fairly small patches of realistically scaled terrain (about 60x60 meters, unless I got my maths wrong).

Conclusion: it is not very possible and very impractical to make realistic-sized wargaming terrain in 28mm scale.
Therefore - don't make it more realistic (than needed for suspension of disbelief). But make them fun!

[LaserCutCard]

Well, equipment is huge especially in the 28mm scale. I've recently written down quite a rant on that

If we assume that 28mm is equivalent to 1:56 scale, then our tables represent fairly small patches of realistically scaled terrain (about 60x60 meters, unless I got my maths wrong).

Conclusion: it is not very possible and very impractical to make realistic-sized wargaming terrain in 28mm scale.
Therefore - don't make it more realistic (than needed for suspension of disbelief). But make them fun!

You speak words of wisdom

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[Lampyridae]

I dare you to do the Rodger Young...

Looking forward to assembling the skyscrapers. I will take pics and post it up in a review article soon!

[Morze]

One possibility of making bigger pieces to container based scenery is to make stacked containers as single piece. Saves some material(even if the inner parts need some supporting structure) and don't fell apart as easily in heat of battle as pile of regular paper containers.

[LaserCutCard]

We've added three new products to the ‘$1 shipping’ category in the webstore. All three of these items will ship anywhere in the world for only $1


New vents and aircon pack that gives you double the number of aircon units than what the old pack did for only $2 more: $10.50


Container accessory kit that adds steps and walkways to your container layout: $8.50


Crates and pallet basic set… two large, two small and two pallets: $8.50

All the items that ship for only $1 are here: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/one-dollar-shipping

[Claudius Sol]

I don't think I can hold off on ordering these things for much longer...

[LaserCutCard]

I don't think I can hold off on ordering these things for much longer...

It's all part of the nefarious strategy - at some point we're going to wear you down.

[Claudius Sol]

When that time comes, I will gladly fall into the darkness.

[LaserCutCard]

We’ve been asked several times to look at doing 10mm scale buildings for games like Dropzone Commander and we’ve finally decided to give it a try.

I've posted these here because a) these buildings were originally designed for Infinity and b) they look so darn cute in 10mm scale




These are early tests. These are the straight 28mm scale files shrunk down and cut. There are huge gaps or overlaps as the 28mm files were carefully balanced to take into account the thickness of the card, which is now hopelessly out.

Nevertheless, I think these show that we have something we can contribute to the 10mm arena – all we need to do is recalibrate the files.


Futurehab #1: the shop (see the 28mm building here: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/scen ... cifi-store)


Futurehab #2: the corner bar (see the 28mm building here: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/scen ... corner-bar)


Futurehab #3: office block (still in testing – http://lasercutcard.co.za/2015/02/futur ... ower-wips/


Futurehab #4: office tower (still in testing)

[jherazob]

I've posted these here because a) these buildings were originally designed for Infinity and b) they look so darn cute in 10mm scale

Agreed, i have zero interest into getting into yet another game, and much less with minis so damn tiny, but man i keep being tempted by the terrain, i'd love to have a "big" cityscape displayed somewhere at home and those tiny cute buildings would look awesome

[LaserCutCard]

Since it is Tuesday and since we are trying to have something new every Tuesday, today is the day of the skips and bins



The “urban scatter” set has been renamed “skips and bins”. It has gone up in price $2 (from $5.50 to $7.50) but it now has an extra skip in it (which is the most useful piece in the set)

It ships worldwide for $1 and will love you long time.

Direct link: http://www.lasercutcard.co.za/shop/scenery/scatter/skips-bins

[VisOne]

That is a great little piece of kit as is the Crates and pallet basic set they help fill tables out with much needed cover and really give life to the table at the same time. So you're winning both functionally and aesthetically.

[LaserCutCard]

We occasionally get asked “yes but how strong is the card?”

A picture is worth a thousand words so here’s a quick 2000 word essay entitled “How strong is our weakest model (the picnic bench)?”

How strong is our weakest model (the picnic bench)?

[MARC C]

Great demonstration!
What is the thickness of that card? 0.100" or 0.125" ?

[LaserCutCard]

Great demonstration!
What is the thickness of that card? 0.100" or 0.125" ?

Umm... 0.04" i think.

If an inch is 25.4mm then this is 1/25.4 thick (1mm)

The legs are double this but the top is 1mm