15mm Sci Fi project: Eden- new painted figures 11/11

[scatterbrains]

Gamers who sculpt their own minis absolutely blow my mind! Impressive work they look awesome!

[CookAndrewB]

Again, thanks all. The sculpting bit has been very fun. Probably easier in a sci-fi realm since I can make whatever weird thing I want and they are all just aliens 

Today is part 2 of floss containers as vehicles! BAM!


I may go back and add stuff to this in the future, but since I'm on a time crunch to get some bits on the table, it is good enough!


I sawed the flip-up lid back to allow some of the natural contours of the floss box to be seen. That accounts for the recess where the cockpit is located. Interestingly enough, the cockpit is part of a cover for my electric toothbrush that I sawed in half (not a fun process, probably won't do it again) and then trimmed the lid back to fit.


It has a light bar, but I'm not totally sure whether it is a police vehicle, or...  Time will tell.


I'm falling behind on my hobby goals for this week. It has been a ball buster at work with a huge data migration and some shenanigans in my personal life. Nothing tragic, just frustratingly time consuming. So... I might reconsider my gaming options for the weekend. Push it out a week, perhaps. Or maybe I'll just see how far I get and figure it out from there. 

Have a good weekend, all!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Very creative.

[CookAndrewB]

Very creative.

Thanks. I am really just thinking of them as a smaller version of the old school deodorant grav tanks 

[War Monkey]

Yes, I like it very much, emergency  vehicle would be nice.

[CookAndrewB]

Well, I took some time to organize my figures last night and my "limited space" for figures and objective markers for 15mm Sci fi is just about full. So, now I have some considerations to make. Looking at space, I don't really want to expand beyond my current storage capacity. It will likely alter what I make for my game, moving forwards though. If I am to stay within some space limitations I am going to be up against a few considerations, very quickly. Choices will be:

1) Figure out what storage space there is and build within those parameters. Not a bad thing, really.

2) Replace something old with something new. I'm slightly less excited by this idea, but it could be a possibility AND I have some bits that are better than others. This might be the way to go about figure sculpting. Replace store bought stuff with hand sculpted until all of my figures are hand sculpts. A little at a time, over time. Might also happen with some terrain, but for the most part terrain will be...

3) Refresh, update, and upgrade. Take what is there and make it better. This might mean that I also start working on purpose built interiors for buildings as getting "drop in" stuff pulled out of storage will free up space as well. The initial idea was to have the ability to play with a variety of interiors while not having to build a ton of stuff, but now I'm free to build more little bits. Variety isn't as important to me as I can swap terrain pieces around, even if they largely have built-in interiors. Starships might be slightly different, but maybe not. Those might have a mix of some rooms that are clearly staterooms/storage holds, and others that can be changed up as multi-purpose rooms.

I got in a game last night. I should have some terrain builds and battle reports posted later in the week.

[CookAndrewB]

Woof. This week has SUUUUCKED. Not a lot of time to get on here and post, but I did get my game in (yay) and I did manage to get a few new terrain bits created for the game.

I'll leave my overall game map as a teaser for some more detailed battle reports and terrain updates.


Maybe more tomorrow? I don't know. It will be sporadic for a while.

[War Monkey]

I would maximize  my storage space, there are many clever ideas out there, I am always looking on Pinterest  for ideas to maximize my space, like floor to ceiling  bookshelves.

I don't know what kind of space you have to work with, My wife and I are looking at a new place where I can have a game room in the basement, and I have plans and ideas of building my work bench under the stairs. My gaming table plans has shelves  built under it and a modified  pool table light mounted under shelves suspended  from the ceiling  with rods, and one whole wall will be floor to ceiling bookshelves, now with a set up like that I will need to get more stuff to fill the shelves. 

I like your table set up and I can see some new things you have done, I can't  wait  to hear you game report.

[CookAndrewB]

I'm in the process of working out storage space for my terrain. Figures are in a single cabinet, and for now that is about all I want to work with. It really has "plenty" of space so long as I don't become an obsessive packrat. (too late? )

Terrain is all going in these glorified milk crates I have. They are big enough for some very big pieces. Floor space in them is probably 18" wide, 24+" long and 8" tall. They stack, and lock together when stacked, so they will be a perfect solution for my basement shelves. Eventually I want to clear some space down there (there is space, I just need to move things around) and game day would involve grabbing the box for 15mm sci-fi ground terrain, or 15mm spaceship tiles, etc. Then I can pull the drawer from my figure storage and have everything I need to set up a game in under 5 minutes. I'm a ways off right now because I'm still in the thick of generating terrain that fits the new storage solution. It should be a thing of beauty once I'm done! You know... in twelve years or something

[War Monkey]

For figure storage I use "Plano" brand tackle storage boxes with adjustable  compartments, I glue magnetic  strips  to the bottom which holds my figures in place  cause I mount them on washers then I just label the box as to which kind of figures that are in the boxes, Zombies, Pulp and Sci-fi using sub categories as well, Sci-fi Aliens, Sci-fi creatures and so on, which all stacks really nicely.

[CookAndrewB]

Another mini update. These alien plants were pieced together from three different aquarium plants. Love the bright colors.


I had considered dropping in a little sidewalk, which is why they are so nicely spaced. Then I forgot after I had already started smearing goop on the base. Darn. Maybe I can go back and try to do something later. 


Hopefully next week will allow for a little more display of my creations. Honestly, hobby time has been fine, but computer time has been pretty strictly work time this week. Yuck 

[War Monkey]

Nice work, those plants might make for a nice alien jungle.

[Brummie]

Love your plants I'm gunna very much have to copy that idea and the floss container vehicle looks great! I've always been too lazy to try and scratch build but looks like I'm just gunna have to give it a shot.

As for storage space, there is always a way to make it more efficient surely?

One issue I found is for unpainted figures I can literally store all my stuff in a 3 foot by 1 by 2 area (wonders of 15mm and 6mm). My painted stuff though is super inefficient as I bought wooden tool boxes from IKEA so I have figures that could be easily stacked on top of one another multiple times over.

[CookAndrewB]

I'm sure there are more efficient ways to store things. I'm working on it, but my minis are crammed into foam insert trays in drawers, and I don't think there is enough room to double stack inserts? Maybe there is... I'll have to look at that tonight. Certainly 15mm insert trays don't need to be so deep, and right now they are in trays meant for 28mm. So where two 28mm figures fit, I can get 3-4 15mm guys depending on the size of the base.

Enough talk of logistics! Let's get onto some of the new terrain. First up is the engineer's workshop space. No interior yet. All the lab equipment is out for polishing? Who knows.

Top view.


I wanted something that wasn't so box shaped. That will probably come back to bite me when I go to put in the interiors later 

So the plant tucked into the corner is what was leftover from making the tall yellow grass stuff. A big fat yellow jungle plant looking thing.

I did put a couple posters in the workshop so far. The one that Super is standing next to is a "Know your turrets" poster from Portal.


Floors were just etched with a burnishing tool to give my wash somewhere to settle. It isn't a deep track but it helps keep things tidy. Poster by the door is an Aperture Science poster.

These plants were the precursor to the other plants above. They had less diversity to them, but ultimately I liked them the more I mashed stuff together.

Wall height, as with my other playable interiors, is 20mm.

[scatterbrains]

That laboratory is looking promising!