Well, since no one else has deflowered the BFG terrain board, I guess it's up to me. Some of you may have already seen this on TMP or SCN, but if not, here it is.
This was my attempt at making a Ringworld/Halo for the tabletop. It has no real value except as scenery, much like any custom planet. It was made using the inner hoop of a wooden 4" embroidery hoop, available at Michaels craft store for around $2.
I started by texturing the inner side of the ring with spackle (the paste used to patch holes in drywall). I tried to have a good variety of mountains, ridges, and flat spaces for water. Two coats of white primer followed once the spackle was dry. I used solid colors for the base -- dark blue, dark brown, etc. Then Iightened the paint by cutting it with white and did successive layers of drybrushing. The forests were made using a stipple method, while the bodies of water were lightly drybrushed with white to give them some depth. I finished by drybrushing the peaks of the highest mountains/ridges with white to make snowy peaks.
The whole ring got a coat of Dull-Cote, then I glued on a strip of printed circuit plastic sheeting I liberated from inside an old Dell keyboard. I figured that a lot of renderings of Ringworld/Halo showed all kinds of industrial greeblies on the outside of the ring, so I used the printed circuit sheeting to make an effect of that nature.
The ship in the picture is Brigade Models' Dortmund-class battlecruiser, included for comparison. Sorry that the photography is gawdawful -- I think my Kodak digicam is on its last legs.
I have a bigger hoop at home that I'm considering what to do with. What to do, what to do...
