Have Stargate, will travel

A while ago, I wanted a cheap prop Gate to use in a game of Stargate d20 RPG (sadly discontinued by AEG).

So I hit the web and found several paper models, including a good looking one from Marco Scheloske.  Now I know that the symbols around the ring are not accurate and all, but it had potential and I liked it. To simplify things a bit, I printed the two faces of the Gate and glued them on foam core.  Carefully cut out, it's nice and sturdy.

Now for the Stand I wanted something a bit more durable than the paper one from Marco.  Then I remembered an article I read on the Reaper Miniatures website, The Craft - How to make a Field Stone Wall. Here's my adaptation of this technique to a stonework Stargate Stand.

First, I drew a plan of what I wanted.  d20 is played on a 1 inch grid, and it is reflected in my layout.

Stand template, incorporating a 1" grid.

Then using a large kitchen knife and an exacto blade, I cut the shape into a 2" blue foam insulation block.

Basic shape of the stand in 2" insulation foam.

Next came the drawing of the stones.  I drew at the top of the sides flatter stones that continued on the top of the stand to simulate large flagstones.

Outlining the field stones

Then came the cutting.  Each stone was contoured with a fresh exacto blade, in a rough V-channel.  Once this was all done, I used a small stone with sharp edges to texture the whole thing.

Stones contoured and textured.

After that, I painted the everything with DecoArt "Antique White" and then painted each stone black,

Stones pained black over "Antique white"

and drybrushed grey, with a black "magic wash".  I added a brown wash here and there at the base of stand.  I also added some static grass, which is shown in the last pic.

Grey drybrush, black wash and brown wash.

Here is the final stand, with the Gate and a force of Jaffas coming through, lead (from behind of course) by Apophis in his golden armour...

The completed stand with Gate and Jaffas

Finally, we never played that game of SG RPG, but it was of fun project and it makes a nice display stand for my Jaffas. I guess "build it and they will come" is not always true.