Imperial Red Inventions: Chapel of Quietude Part 1: Planning

I have wanted to make some terrain since I started the hobby and now I am ready to jump right into it. I've realized why I've seen so many fellow hobbyists involved in so many projects, it's invigorating to start something new. I personally have to vary it up to keep myself interested; I paint then I'll write fluff then I'll paint again. The process has repeated many times and now I'm just going to throw a third piece in there, the Chapel of Quietude.
Lets start with the inspiration.

Inspiration #1

Deeply impressed by Ron's "Cities of Death Cathedral" over on From the Warp. His project acted as the real life example of an awesomely large terrain piece that wouldn't cost me a fortune. It conveys the exact feeling I would imagine seeing a huge Imperial Cathedral would impose and I can only hope my Chapel will duplicate this feeling, whilst being its own creation. As I've warped the design of his cathedral into my own creation, I once again gain more respect for his abilities in all aspects of the hobby. He has definitely been my greatest 40k mentor without even knowing it. So on the off chance you read this Ron, thanks a ton.

Inspiration #2

I watched the Ultramarines movie the other day and this chapel from the opening scenes of the movie made me want to recreate it for my DIY Chapter, The Guardians of Silence. Its sheer size is imposing and it clearly shows the character of Games Workshop's golden child chapter. My design definitely borrowed elements from the idea this image represents.

Inspiration #3

This picture comes from the eagerly anticipated fan film, Lord Inquisitor. I found the image randomly going through google images looking for some ideas. The floor gives the feel of the entire room and its what I imagine the floor of a Space Marines Cathedral/Chapel would look like, a piece of art. I plan on recreating a floor that looks similar to this but with the Guardians of Silence logo.

The big driving force behind making this terrain piece was so that I would be able to get some photographs of my mini's that wouldn't just have the background of the carpet or my workspace. Granted there are a lot of cheaper, less time consuming ways of going about that but this project gives me the opportunity to make some terrain. So this project will be stretching my abilities since I want it to look great both as a backdrop and as a piece of usable terrain.

Alright so now you have seen some of my inspirational photos for this project, its time to talk about the plans. I've been furiously scrutinizing as many of the details of this build as I can in hopes of saving myself some trouble later on. I have also bought some supplies which include 1/2" foam sheathing from Lowes, a new hobby knife (one of those extendable razor blade things), extra blades, and some plaster. I will probably have to buy more supplies but for now that should be enough.

This thing is going to be huge, it'll be roughly three feet long, two feet high, and 1.5 feet tall (at the higher points). The 1/2" foam will be used for the walls and flooring, I plan on mounting it on some plywood I found in the garage. I want to plaster the whole thing so I can add a lot of details into the walls and base, but I'm not sure if I'm going to for fear of it cracking or crumbling with use. I also need to look into the details to see if plastering the whole thing is an option even. I'm not too terribly worried about weight though, so that won't be a concern. The main building part of the chapel will only be 8 inches in height, with the forward and aft wall being 16 inches tall. The roof will be removed since it will obviously limit the project if I put one on, although I have thought about making it removable (probably won't since this is already such a large project).

The front will will hopefully be the "Ooooo..." piece of the project, if I can get it right. The idea is to have large doors, 8" wide x 7" tall, they will most likely bear some sort textured artwork in gold on them. Alongside the doors will be two simple hanging banners bearing the chapter logo and aquila. Above the doors will be a balcony and above that the chapter logo made 3D. That's right, it'll be a large 3D characterized horned owls head with a pair of "architectural wings". The eyes of the symbol will hopefully glow purple if I can get the lights figured out right. The interior will also be lit with a strand of Christmas lights I bought at the store the other day on the off chance I found a terrain project I can use them in. They are purple led globe lights with about 3.5" between each light and will be built into the walls at the 6" mark. They will also be used to light up a few of the detail pieces I will be adding to make the chapel unique to my chapter such as a bowing owl centerpiece for the raised section of the floor and to highlight the back wall's aquila.

The raised section of the floor (4") will span the entire back wall and go out 12" with 6" wide stairs on two sides. In the center of the stairs will be a pulpit and below that will be the centerpiece bowing owl. The back wall will have a large aquila lit from the floor by the purple lights, which will hopefully look pretty cool. As I said earlier, the floor will have a large encircled chapter logo painted on it and most likely sealed with something glossy as the floor in the picture was. I could go on about details but that should be enough to give an idea of what I'm thinking.

We'll see how it goes. I will be working all next week, literally 5 days straight, so I won't be able to start on anything. But next weekend the wife and kiddo are out of town and I'll be pushing to get a lot of it done if I can. Updates are sure to come once I get started.

In other news, I moved my working area to a new, hopefully more permanent spot in the house and thus far I'm liking it.

Right between my two bookshelves in the room we call the library, works perfect. Over heard there is a large 6 foot aquarium fixture that gives me some seriously good light. I need to make a paint rack (hmmm...)