Miniature Guard Tower and Stairs - Wargaming Terrain Tutorial - How to build Stairs for Terrain

[@metajock]

That is the best method of making stairs I've seen yet. Thanks!!!

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks James. Glad it was helpful mate!

[@poloshirtsamurai]

12:24 That's brilliant. I'm gonna keep that technique in mind, thanks!

[@RFDHobby]

Happy to help! This works out pretty well, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions if you decide to have a go. Thanks mate.

[@Fox01313]

Looks good! It looks like leaving the roof off next time will make building the tower interior a bit easier.

[@emerybusfield2941]

I imagine that a narrower version of the same jig could also be used to make ladders! Like most of the commenters, I'm definitely planning on making a jig based on your design, thank you so much!

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks Emery. I think certainly could be used for ladders, I'm also considering making it larger, to try and make stairs that can be used to place minis on, probably lose the scale, but it would be great if they were more playable. Thanks mate!

[@jasonstatham5879]

I'm loving that jig. Going to do it myself as I've struggled with stairs in the past and just resorted to ladders using toothpicks and stir sticks and a pin vice to drill the holes. (tape two stir sticks together, measure out your holes then drill through both stir sticks then glue in your toothpicks to the holes) .

[@barrymcdougall4139]

MIND BLOWN ON THE STAIR JIG!!!

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks Barry! It's turned out to be a handy bit of kit.

[@dedboi1376]

Thanks for another great build. I found your channel a few days ago and already watched over a dozen videos.

[@karldeverinne7877]

Fantastic...weekend project attempt sorted

[@RFDHobby]

Great to hear mate. Good luck with the build and thanks for commenting.

[@DMRaptorJesus]

Some nice techniques shown here, even if your not going to build the tower there's some useful tidbits in here.

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks for watching and commenting mate. Glad you found something helpful in there. Cheers.

[@whyisthereaholeinmybutt4274]

The stairs... IQ 9000 !

[@RFDHobby]

Haha thank you, it seemed so simple once it worked...someone must have come up with that somewhere before though. Appreciate the comment mate.

[@whyisthereaholeinmybutt4274]

RFDHobby well it’s my first time seeing it so all credit is going to you haha

[@RFDHobby]

@@whyisthereaholeinmybutt4274 thanks mate.

[@observer1033]

I've definitely taken something away from this build, the stair jig could save me a lot of time, ty for that.

[@RFDHobby]

No problem Mandy, thank you for watching and commenting. Take care.

[@doctordoubledakka3939]

super cool build

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks so much.

[@rustedrains976]

Amazing jig! Wonderful video.

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you very much!

[@docpepperclassic]

I’m totally stealing this method of making stairs for some shuttered windows I’m making.

[@RFDHobby]

Please do, good luck with your build mate.

[@rujv200]

I love that stair jig. Imma stealing it... I mean, I'll try to make one as well. Great video and great idea.

[@RFDHobby]

Oh please do! haha, Good luck with it, let me know if you have any questions at all. Cheers.

[@WePaintMinis]

I really like the very clear instructions in your video. Turned out awesome too.

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you. I had a lot of fun making this one work. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@johnkelley9877]

That is a neat tower and after watching you build it I can see it being used for 40k or historical wargaming. It looks very realistic and is just an excellent build! Thanks for sharing this.

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks so much John. Yeah this has come in handy for a few things. Glad you enjoyed it mate.

[@HouseOfChaosUK]

I've never seen stairs made that way but it's great as thank to a template every set should be the same. Pro tip

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks mate, yeah anytime you can make a template or jig to redo something like this for future builds it really helps. Appreciate the comment.

[@robot7759]

Nice dice tower 😊

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks, I don't know why I didn't think of making this work as a dice tower at the time. It would be so easy to make the adjustments for that. Really appreciate the comment mate. All the best.

[@timhyland6834]

So many good builds

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you again. I'm glad you're finding useful stuff here mate.

[@waaaghmaster1958]

that stair jig is amazing, going to try and make one tomorrow

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks man. Glad you enjoyed it, good luck with your build too!

[@echodelta2426]

Great looking tower Shawn. Love the idea of making a jig for the stairs that can be reused to make more stairs later.

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks again. It is really handy once you have it setup, even though its just cardboard and matchsticks, I've reused mine a few times now with no issues.

[@MirKoTrio]

Really liked the jig, thank you! I’m gonna try it out!!

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks Mirko. It can be a bit fiddly at first, but once you get it sorted its great. And don't be too focused on getting the stairs too perfect in the jig when you're glueing up the first couple of times, after a test run or two you'll realise that a slightly crooked stair here or there doesn't show too much once you have it all together. Good luck mate.

[@barryloughran3632]

Amazing. Can you do Ladders? I've made a tresses tower with a hatch on the inside, but no idea how I get my soldiers to get to the top.

[@RFDHobby]

I did some super simple scale ladders for a fire escape on a build on this : kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKTRoGuwe990irs some people seemed to think they weren't very good, but I think they looked fine for 28mm scale. It would really depend on the look I wanted, but I would be fine with matches and toothpicks (or skewers for larger size) to make ladders, even though it might be a little off for 28mm.

[@shotgunreaper]

That was really neat, I'm only starting out in the miniature hobby and painting my first ever set of wargaming models but I've seen how creative the tables can be and I'm glad your video popped up when I searched for 'wargaming terrain'

[@RFDHobby]

So glad you enjoyed it mate. It's a really rewarding hobby. Good luck with your painting, and I hope you give terrain building a go. It's really not hard to get started, and a great compliment to your minis, even if it's just for displaying them on the shelf.

[@worldhistoryminiatureshous9757]

Love your inspiring video . Will pick up few things for my dioramas . The tower is outstanding .

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it, and found something helpful. Cheers.

[@johnphilippatos]

Hey Shawn, I followed your instructions on your stairs' template and then improved it a bit and it turned out perfect. At first, I don't use wood stirrs but old cable ties, as the diorama I'm building is trully trash made. Instead of the cardboard for a base, I used a piece of broken mirror, which I cut square and sanded at the edges to prevent any accidental cut on my fingers. I used the mirror as I don't use woodglue, but superglue instead, so I wanted any mistakes to be able to be corrected quite easily, as I could always remove something that wasn't glued properly, just by using a scrapper and scrap the mirror clean again, perfectly flat and undamaged. For the spacers I used the sticks of used ear cotton swabs, 3 sticks per spacer glued together and forming a small triangle, two for the base and one on top. This provided the exact angle I was after. You can also use old pen ink tubes, or lollipop sticks instead. I cut the stairs from the same cable tie in order for all of them to have the same width, and at the same length of course, and put them on the template at the angle, using the wavy side of the cable tie as the stepping surface, as the stairs will be "metal" so this surface might as well be the "anti-slip" surface many metal stairs have. In the end, after I had glued the steps to their railing (which were two more absolutely straight pieces of cable tie of course, one for each side of the steps), I cut very small pieces of plastic in order to use them as supporters and glued them underneath each step, one at every connection to the railing, so as to provide the glue more space to be attached to. This last step strengthen the whole construction to no end. Man, you can't possibly imagine how good it turned out to be. Each step is perfectly allign and the whole stairs is also super sturdy, thanks to the plastic and the superglue. Thanks a ton!! Keep up and Stay Safe!!

[@RFDHobby]

Wow, this sounds great John. I'll have to revisit my stair template and try this out. Sounds like it worked perfectly. Thanks for letting me know mate. Really appreciate it!

[@johnphilippatos]

@@RFDHobby Yeah it did!. I'm off to begin trying your radio towers. Thanks!

[@RFDHobby]

@@johnphilippatos Excellent. Good luck with the towers. Let me know if you make some more improvements to those as well haha. I'm still looking for cheap and easy radar dishes for the towers... :)

[@johnphilippatos]

@@RFDHobby Hey Shawn, update on the radio tower. It is also created from plastic cable ties and supperglue and I reinforced it the same way I did with the stairs, small pieces of cable tie glued in the joints to provide the glue more space to do its work. I also added two cross shaped supports, one a bit under the top and the other, one centimeter from the bottom. They are also made of ties, 3 for each support, glued together to creat a thick piece. It turned out to be so sturdy, you can hammer a nail on the wall with it. The dimensions I used are 19cm height, 3cm top and 5cm bottom. I used the same pattern for all sides, like you do in your video and not 2 normal and 2 mirror images, as I observed that actual electricity towers are build using the same pattern on all four sides. I also made a small platform for the top, using a strange piece of foam board I found inside the packaging of my Samsung TV. It's very sturdy and it is not destroyed by the superglue. I also glued on top of it some wooden sticks from ice creams, cut in shape to pose as wooden boards and I sealed them together with a perimeter of cable tie. Remember, this is a trash build after all. It is not complete yet, as I'm working on the speakers which I want them to be from plastic too. I'm also thinking about a radar dish. Maybe an old spot light bulb will do the trick. But it has to be from the really old ones, the ones that were not sealed with glass in front. My next project will be a shipping container. I'm off now to watch that video for the thousandth time... I sent you some pictures in your mail, from what I have created so far inspired by your videos. I am really thankfull mate. Get better soon.

[@RFDHobby]

@@johnphilippatos Thanks John. These sound awesome. I'll try to check out the email tonight. The shipping containers are a really satisfying build, and I need to build some more of them as I've given most of mine away haha. Can't wait to see your builds mate, I'm really keen to hear how you go with the radar dishes, it's one thing I haven't been able to find something that works, (and is cheap obviously haha) :)

[@pageantofinertia]

Great result on this :) is there a good reason you didn't build the wall before the clay dried though? Always seemed like the way that made the most sense to me, but I haven't done it: wondering if I'm missing something obvious.

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you for your comment. Honestly I don't have a good reason for why I built it that way. The previous sandbags I had made were done with the same dry clay sandbags, which I found easy enough to work with, so I didn't change the process. I'm not an expert at all in working with clay, so there is very likely better ways to do this, but this seemed to work without issue.

[@guerrillavanilla]

Awesome tutorial, dude. Subbed

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks very much mate!

[@BrendanPace]

Awesome! 🤙

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you.

[@philRminiatures]

Inspiring and fantastic work, have to try something like this for my 15mm...Superb, truly superb!

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks again Phil. Really glad you like it mate. I really enjoyed this one too, so much so I made 2 :)

[@jimpyre5038]

Awesome work! I’m a new fan.

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks Jim. Glad you're enjoying the videos mate.

[@leeswift2367]

Hi m8 Awesome work just wondering what did you use for the curragated roof please m8 Cheers Lee

[@RFDHobby]

Hi Lee, Sorry, I realised after the fact that I had skipped this detail in the video. This piece is just some corrugated paper from the craft store, it comes in handy for anything like a corrugated steel look that you might be going for. I hope this helps, let me know if you need any more details mate. Cheers.

[@leeswift2367]

@@RFDHobby thank you for the reply mate much appreciated 👍 🙏

[@jagelsdorf1385]

It’s a shame you didn’t show the painting in this one! And as many have already said- the jig for making stairs is simply ingenious. ;D I will have to modify it a bit, as I prefer much larger steps.

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks mate. I'll likely post a separate video of the painting process sometime over the next week (I made 2 of these), I just didn't want the video to run too long. But it's coming. As for the stairs, I agree, while they aren't very functional for the minis, they look pretty cool and about right for the scale. But I'd love to see you make some larger sized stairs for one of your build videos in the future!

[@NatesMiniatures]

A lot of work on this one, could use the same thing for making fantasy towers with brick as well :O

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks Nate, I can see me using these stairs for many builds in the future. Cheers.

[@onkelgroen]

Man, I really want to try some stairs, but I'm pretty sure the wife would find me in the morning, just a mess of glue and little bits of coffee stir sticks... :D

[@RFDHobby]

haha yep. I've been there. Stairs is what I would use my 3d printer for if I had one :D

[@Anaris10]

Well done!.

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks very much.

[@GraydonMiller-v2f]

Just curious, can you build the ships like pirates or other kind of war ships ? Thanks

[@ecyor0]

4:05 7 months late on this, but those are used those to hold together large burgers/paninis/sandwiches etc (blunt and flattened at one end so you don't stab yourself in the face/push it all the way out the bottom)

[@RFDHobby]

oh cool, I was wondering what they're for, they have come in handy in a number of builds now, and I've ended up grabbing extras. Thanks for the comment.

[@wapitistablecrafts5515]

Nice thing you did there. I`ll try one myself

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks for watching mate. I have a couple of these now, they look great and it's nice to have some high ground on the table :)

[@wapitistablecrafts5515]

@@RFDHobby I already made 2 of these, thanks allot for the tutorial.

[@RFDHobby]

@@wapitistablecrafts5515 it's awesome to see someone have a go at these tutorials, and thanks for the comment. If you feel like sharing some pics of your builds or have a chat about them, you can head over to my facebook page - if you're nervous about sharing it, don't worry, it's pretty much only my wife and I that like that page so far hahaha. But I'd love to see it. Have a good one mate.

[@wapitistablecrafts5515]

@@RFDHobby thanks, I will defenetive do it. It is always nice to get some feedback. And thanks for taking the time to answer to the comments.

[@RFDHobby]

No worries at all. I love to chat terrain and hobby, and get feedback on what I'm doing as well. Look forward to seeing some of your stuff.

[@LockwoodsWorkshop]

Awesome tutorial!

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you mate. It was a lot of fun, and really satisfying build

[@videosofsquirrels8495]

So good!

[@RFDHobby]

Thank you for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@rathakanapathippillai7160]

nicevid what scale is this?

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks Ratha. This one is built for roughly 28mm scale.

[@sigurdbjohansson]

That's a nice jig you have there :D

[@RFDHobby]

Thanks. It's come in handy a few times now. For a piece of cardboard and some match sticks, it's holding up surprisingly well too :)

[@sigurdbjohansson]

@@RFDHobby Definitely gonna use my saturday making one. Never thought of your concept. So simple and effective!

[@RFDHobby]

@@sigurdbjohansson awesome. Good luck on your build. Happy to help, and glad you enjoyed it.

[@myfriendscallmelefty8934]

Did I miss the part where you made/added the corrugation for the roof? where did that come from?

[@RFDHobby]

Yeah sorry about that. It's just some corrugated paper glued onto the foam board I placed there. You can see this same stuff in the shipping container build and in the 'Getting started' video I did. I completely missed this quick step in the video...

[@myfriendscallmelefty8934]

@@RFDHobby Thank you, Love the video! I'll be sure to check out some of your others

[@RFDHobby]

@@myfriendscallmelefty8934 no worries mate. Thanks for watching, just let me know if you any other questions.

[@johnathankonandreas6074]

what kind of foam is this?

[@RFDHobby]

This is foamboard, or foam core, just with the paper removed. Great for this type of build, and handy if you don't have a wire cutter to make your own thin sheets from xps.

[@pitotony1496]

I realize this project and I am very happy of the result so thank you very much. I'd like to send you pictures so can you give me a mail please. I am working on a project of elevated railway and I really like your style and we use the same materials so your opinion will be useful for me because I wand to add details. I am French my name is Tony iam 37 years old and I practice hobby since nearly 3 years and I try to improve. Take care and get well soon. See you later

[@RFDHobby]

Awesome, I'd love to see some pictures of what you're working on, it sounds really interesting. You can email me at [e-mail] . Look forward to talking with you more Tony.

[@pitotony1496]

@@RFDHobby Great! I send you pictures tomorrow

[@pitotony1496]

@@RFDHobby hello I have send you 2 mails maybe 10 days ago and I have no answer... No problem maybe you don't have time for the moment but I said myself maybe you didn't receive my mails.. Have a good day see you later....

[@RFDHobby]

@@pitotony1496 Hi mate, I'm so sorry, I've been away to attend a family wedding this past week. I have replied to your emails this morning however, let me know if you do not get them. You're work looks amazing mate. Can't wait to see more. Keep the pictures coming please!

[@pitotony1496]

@@RFDHobby Great. No problem I will be very happy to share my work with you. I think I will send you news pictures before the end of the year. Take care of you and have a good holiday season ✌️