Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

REPAIR BAY
A guide by Leonard Dime, at Rapid Tabletop

Introduction
The Repair bay is a Patreon
customer commission, and
initially it was suppose to be an
Acheotech device tile. But in
general I don’t like to do the
exact same terrain piece again.
So I decided to make
something new. Also, not all
the pieces needed for the
Acheotech device was
available.

Keeping it limited
While the titel isn’t super
accurate, I am limited to a
certain amount of kits. The
ones sent to me by the Patreon
Customer. Now, it was a lot of
kits to be honest. So I was in no
shortage of materials. Planning
But I have learnt a lot from my Everything starts out with a plan. And I used in the past the
own Necromunda tiles, and 2D tiles from the Necromunda 2017 starter box. These 2D
wanted to save some of those tiles have some preset patterns for the walls and columns.
precious wall sections, and And I do think these patterns are really great, as they offer
also keep the tiles limited to great modularity and suits the needs of the rules of
the kits available to everyone. Necromunda. Classical shapes are L, U, I patterns. But the
So, this should keep the article most useful one I have is the X shape (cross section). Check
or guide a bit simpler to them out and use them as a guide how to plan out your initial
recreate without buying a silly approach to the terrain tile.
amount of terrain kits.

By Leonard Dime 1
Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

Basic Shape step

This is my fist step in building. I build up the walls and
columns and I do not add any details. This step shows me
when it’s done how much space I have to work with and
where essential details must and can be placed.

Preparing the parts

What I always do is that I cut out
and clean all the expected parts I
will use. And knowing this ahead
of time is simple if you have
selected a ‘Basic Shape’
explained here to the right.

Reason behind it this is to be able

to work fast, and if I need to add
or subtract anything, it will be a
fast process.

On top of this, I usually cut out all

the pieces from the sprue, thus Saving walls
preparing more parts and
A small trick to save some walls as they are in my opinion
materials for this or later projects.
scares compared to the columns. With a theme on the tile,
And this also saves space as
those pesky sprues take up a lot
and good planning, you can build half a wall (see picture).
of space. Then cover the other side with a theme, such as pipes, silos
and in this case a whole platform.
When cleaning the parts from old
lines, I highly and strongly
recommend Games Workshops
(or equivalent) Mould line
Remover. People say they use
their sharp hobby knife reversed
with the same speed. Well
perhaps they can, but most
mortals can’t. I use both a hobby
knife and a Mould line remover.

Mould line remover for larger

pieces and the hobby knife for
smaller or detailed pieces.

The time saved I can’t stress on

enough. It’s a life saver for me.

By Leonard Dime 2
Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

Use those extras Platform

The platform is an extra step. It is not really a part of the
Basic shape, nor is it fully a part of the ’Main theme’ step
(explained later)

Now, I know by now what I am going to make, and a platform

is needed. This platform will be crucial for my saving of wall
sections and setting the tone of the tile.

To make the
This is a very personal usage of
platform fit I cut
items. But you will eventually or
already, have your spare parts.
the edges
diagonally. The
A golden rule is to never throw one with two
away any bits or parts. You never lines is cut a bit
know when you will use them.
further in on the
I did throw away some of the top platform. Make
parts of the wall sections. But small cuts rather
looking back now… that was than large. Small
stupid. Today I use them as walls cuts can be
as with my train station (see that adjusted, large ones not so easy.
article how I used them).

But, in general you will end up

with extra bits. And when you Columns is
move onto other projects of another part I
similar structure, remember what usually get a lot of
parts you don’t use that much.
spare of. So I am
In my case it is the top part of the not afraid of
wall sections obviously, but also, I using them as
do have the platform with the supports. In
ventilation as a spare part. combination with
the platform with
Now knowing this ahead of time,
I can use this fact on a customers
ventilation, they form a perfect fit. All I needed to do was to
terrain kits. Knowing well that I make a small cut
won’t be using all these parts. So, on one wall so it
to maximise the kits sent, I can could slide into
freely use them and make place.
something unique. In this case it
will help me building a platform.

By Leonard Dime 3
Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

Access but not access Access details step

This step is really important for terrain features. And it takes
time and a lot of play testing to get it right. With walls cutting
off larger part of a tile, this could lead to some odd situations
if there isn’t a way to access it. Thus I always try to add what I
call access details. They should not be to many access points,
and the defenders, the ones inside, should have a better access
detail in my opinion. Not in all cases, but in general

As you can see from the picture below, on the outside there is
As explained here on the right, I a ladder, so attackers can climb up and attack. But at the same
start off with the access details time, from the inside there is a lift, granting faster access to
now.
the second level.
This stair case is actually
something in between. It grants
access to the platform but also
serves as a main theme of the tile.

I use my various steps to speed

up my process when building
terrain. The process or check list
ensures that I get all the basics I
need for a playable terrain piece.

So in general the access detail

step is a game balance step. How
to gain access to the various
points of interest of the terrain
piece.

In this case, the stairs don’t really

give you access to anything. The
platform is reachable by just
jumping up there. So it becomes
a main theme detail as it add a lot
to the overall appearance.
But, I add this already now, as
stairs are a part of my steps/
check list.
In Necromunda there are many ways to access different areas.
And try to use as many of these but scattered around on
different tiles.
Doors, these are usually set up by the players, but doesn’t stop
you as a terrain maker to put some on the terrain.
Ladders and lifts. These are good ways of getting fighters to
elevated positions and flanks.

Sewers, these are easily forgotten, but offer a huge (but risky)
strategical possibilities.

Ventilation pipes, a slow way to move through a wall, but can

offer a lot to the game if used right.

By Leonard Dime 4
Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

Repair Bay Parts Main theme step

For this tile I used a Dark uprising

box and small parts of a
alchomite stack kit and Galvanic
servo hauler kit.

Now, there will be a lot of spare

parts from these kits obviously,
and these will be used on the
other tiles to come. And this is a
very important to know as a
terrain maker. You can’t build one
tile or piece while kit bashing and
use most parts of all kits.
Main theme this time around is the Repair Bay. Important to
know is that adding the main theme doesn’t mean every single
little detail. Main theme is just the objects needed to make
the viewers understand to some extent what it is.
I added only four pieces of detail for this. 1. A pipeline with
controls. 2. Work bench. 3. Repair arm. 4. Work console.

As you can see here, I have used They are also placed in a position where most attention will
the repair arm from the servo be. Because of the L-shape, there will be most open space in
hauler kit, and the the computer the centre.
screen. Thats it! Is that worth
€XX? Probably not, but I know for
a fact the tI will use the other
parts on other terrain pieces.

And that is how you need to think

when making terrain. You can’t
focus on one terrain piece,
because the costs will run away
just for that one piece.

Instead think of several pieces,

and slam them into one huge
project instead.

By the end of this project, three

tiles, I will show what’s left of the
kits I used.

By Leonard Dime 5
Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

Structure paint Details step

And this step can either be really fast, or extremely slow.
Depending on your attention to detail and what you want to
accomplish with your piece. I have worked out a standard
pattern for my Necromunda tiles, and some will say that they
can recognise my work just by looking at the tile.

And that is because of my standard pattern I use. What you

will commonly see is the structure paint around objects
touching the ground. Railings scattered around and broken off
by distracting objects, such as crates and barrels.

But, what I want to say here, is that this step is where the
One of my ‘Signature moves’ is whole tile gets it personality. And it also gives you as an artist
the structure paint and how I use
a chance to add your personal flavour to the piece. Go wild
it.
here, and put your own touch to your piece.
You can make your own structure
paint with dirt and PVA glue, but I
buy mine from Vallejo.

I prefer black, because if damage

is done to the dirt and is pealed
off, only black will be seen
underneath.

Now, what I do with my structure

paint once I am done with all the
details, is that I put this structure
paint around all of the details.

This is because when I start

painting with the airbrush, I will
start with my tile. The move on to
the objects on the tile, such as
barrels and crates. But painting
these with the airbrush will
sometimes (always in my case)
add paint on the already done
tile.

By adding structure paint around

the objects, this doesn’t matter.
Because the last step is to paint
the structure paint. And any
misstakes done will be covered
up. If I get some brown on the
objects, this only adds to the
weathering.

By Leonard Dime 6
Rapid Tabletop 16 August 2020

Painting
As for the painting, I always subassembly my pieces. Usually in three parts when it comes to
Necromunda tiles. The tile, the walls and larger objects.

A painting guide will perhaps come later, but it will be very similar to the one I already have.

By Leonard Dime 7