Merlon's not quite 40K SF thread

[warburton]

Nice work!

[Merlon]

Thank you, compared to many of the contributors here, my skill is at the "keep inside the lines when painting" level.

I am more comfortable building things. Found these two friction toys on Amazon for a tenner - lovely big chunky tyres - some kind of heavy duty carrier beckons.

[Merlon]

Proof of concept models for alien fauna, sort of "inspired by Joshua trees".
Twisted wire armature, two coats of matt medium and sawdust. Then paint and top with 2mm static grass.
Time about thirty minutes total, plus drying time after each episode of activity

[Pattus Magnus]

Those look great! A simple idea but the final pieces look quite plausible. Not necessarily alien, either, there are several kinds of actual desert plants (including the joshua trees you mentioned) that have a similar structure to those.

[snitcythedog]

Those trees are great!!  Well done.

[Merlon]

Thank you both.
I was lead to believe that once one retired, all those hours you toiled each week would become your own to enjoy upon your hobbies. Alas, as always, that is not the case. Cracks in brickwork, sticking doors, making things for reenactors all combine to eat that time.

Still made a little progress was able to make a few more Joshua trees, learning how to streamline production. Have not properly based these yet, these are "stock" to add to any bases that need them. The eternal question of course, how many trees is enough?
 

The campaign I make stuff for will apparently have  a mining camp required in November. So I wanted to make a look different from the Nubian Vault building previously made.
So I took inspiration from Axiom's Necromunda bulkhead buildings.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=69196.1425

A sort of company storefront with vending machine

Other building will no doubt follow.

[axiom]

Love the building! The serving hatch gives it a lot of narrative potential.

[mikedemana]

Great kitbash of a building! Definitely looks the pieced together part!

Mike Demana

[Merlon]

Thank you both
Had a bit of a disaster last week, Commissar Bob (I know it is a Mordian Lieutenant) who often appears in my photos simply disappeared without trace. 
A sort of sentimental figure, I did not paint him, he was given to me years ago by a friend who died in an RTA about two weeks later.
Luckily I was able to locate a copy of the figure on eBay. Not the best paint job, it will have to do for Bob II

[Ragsta]

Sorry to hear that, mate. Replacement looks good, hopefully he reappears too

[dwbullock]

In my experience, things always reappear when you buy a replacement and remove the tag.

Hopefully Bob is just under the couch.  Replacement looks good, though.

[Merlon]

Thank you for the kind words, hopefully the original figure will turn up. Amazing how attached to a chunk of metal one can become.
So spent the end of October in the Netherlands, helping to build some 1/1 scale wargames terrain for De Slag Om Grolle. Trouble is the mind is far more capable than the body, I still ache. But I came home with lots of good memories


As previously stated my painting skills leave a lot to be desired, but I have managed to finish four buildings for Tuesdays game. Further tweaks of the painting will no doubt occur.
Firstly the company store, somewhere I have some cockpit decals to add to the vending machine on the side of the building.


A building which will represent the winding wheel over the shaft, it can also double as a gateway into a compound in the future. Next task is to scratchbuild some mine tracks into the shaft area.


A slightly upmarket hab unit, that might double as a shop.


Basic hab unit


As they are all built around old Necromunda bulkheads they stack together very well to make more complicated terrain. A very small area of a sub hive, might make a useful backdrop for future photographs.

Got another 28 bulkheads cheap in eBay auctions -under two pounds each- so more buildings may yet emerge.
Keep on buggering on.

[mikedemana]

Those look great...I like the effect they give of a futuristic but run-down town or city...

Mike Demana

[Merlon]

Thank you for the kind words, I need to do the models justice with a better paint job in due course.

My turn to host a game this month, a smaller game as some were down with snuffles and sneezes.
So the gist was that construction of a new building had disturbed some of the local wildlife, which now were using the building as their nest. The players had to deal with the creatures - "Just another bug hunt".

So first thing was to build a building that could pass for a building site or indeed one in heavy disrepair.


Nothing suggests a building site like a cement mixer, so I dutifully scratched one up. Just some more scatter terrain.
A more appropriate candidate for extreme weathering I cannot think of, basic undercoat to start.


The descriptions given in the briefing were of the juvenile rockworms, no mention of the adults was made. They came as a bit of a shock later on. There were random assigned points on the board where the tunnel exits were, a slightly more agressive version of spot the ferret.


More pieces of ground clutter for a shuttle bay, Greenhaven is not blessed with the best of facilities
Trailer is based on a Dutch multi function trailer. 400 Hz power, hydraulic function test, high pressure air for both test plus tool use. Finally an extendable light mast to keep the buggers (sorry engineers) working at night.
Of course some kind of vehicle to tow it was needed. So I made a rough terrain forklift to act as a tractor. Sort of based on the Steinbock vehicles used by the Swiss Army in the 70s and 80s.
 

[Merlon]

So playing with milliput, old plastic packing, sawdust and wire, to see what alien plants can be like. For ninety minutes work, plus drying time, turned out not too bad. Learnt a lot doing them, later versions will be tidier

Spent the other day suffering death by courier delivery, So spent the afternoon with a small craft tray of bits. Amazing what you do with two Vicks nasal sticks and scrap plastic card. A low volume rare gas extraction plant, for an objective.

As I am building a Sci-fi settlement set in an arid area. I thought it best to be a beneficial overlord and build some air conditioning units for the buildings.
One tip I learnt a long time ago, when doing resin casts, always have other moulds available for the excess resin.