Converting a toy Wooden Fort, to fantasy gaming use

[SgtSlag]

I bought a Marx Wooden fort set, which was sold with 54mm Cowboy figures, for use in my fantasy RPG games, and my 2e BattleSystem games.  It was a fantastic armature, but it needed some modifications to bring it up to proper gaming standards.

Originally, the catwalks on the insde walls, were just molded plastic, too narrow for figures on 25mm square bases to stand on, and they were warped, so figures would sometimes slide off of them, onto the fort's floor surface.  I cut some MDf into properly sized strips, Hot Gluing these on top of the molded plastic catwalks.  I cut up some bamboo barbecue skewers, to make wooden posts.  I made them long enough to support the catwalks, level and sturdy, all around the fort's walls.  These were glued into place with E6000 Glue.

I used a large sheet of MDF as a base, glueing the plastic Fort model to the textured MDF sheet.  This lasted for several years, before finally falling off.  To strenthen the bond between the HDPE/LDPE plastic fort (almost nothing adhered strongly to HDPE/LDPE plastics...), I Hot Glued square wooden dowels into the joint between the plastic Fort and the MDF base.  I also applied a fillet of Hot Glue, to furhter strengthen the bonds.

To make the model a little bit prettier, I glued some lichen tufts as shrubs, both inside, and outside, of the Fort.  there were no ladders to reach teh catwalks, so I printed some PDF ladders from an old WorldWorks PDF terrain set, onto full-sheet label paper, applying them to strips of MDF.  I used E6000 Glue, again, to attach these to the catwalks, on top, and the MDF base, on the bottoms.

The Fort was molded in brown plastic, so I painted the tops of the chopped logs, as well as the wooden dowels usde to attach the catwalk (in real life) to the walls.  I then brushed on some Antique Walnut Minwax Polyshades urethane-stain, as a wash (The Dip Technique).

Here are some photos of the finished Fort:  Photo 1; Photo 2; Photo 3; Photo 4; Fort in its first rendition state, in a game, with foamcore attached to the catwalks; another photo of the early version of the Fort, in game. Cheers!

[Mikai]

A really creative solution, thanks for sharing it with us! These half cut houses at the catwalks (I don't know how to name it, sorry), have they been like this initially or did you cut them for better access to that areal for gaming purposes?

[SgtSlag]

A really creative solution, thanks for sharing it with us! These half cut houses at the catwalks (I don't know how to name it, sorry), have they been like this initially or did you cut them for better access to that areal for gaming purposes?

I did nothing with them.  I could have built them up to be more realistic, but then they would be more difficult to use in a game.  I left them as they were.

I have discovered that HDPE/LDPE plastic figures (Army Men, Vikings, Cave Men, and this Fort...) bond best with Hot Glue, which is a type of plastic (not sure what it is, but it sure bonds to other plastics strongly).

Hot Glue is becoming my go-to Glue for all bigger types of plastic joins.  It is definitely my primary choice for my chipboard buildings (see other threads).  I work a lot with MDF bases for figures, and for buildings.  Hot Glue is superb for bonding metal, resin, and plastic figure bases to MDF bases.

I recommend a Hi/Lo Temperature Hot Glue Gun, with multi-temperature Glue Sticks.  The Hi Temp setting is best when you want the plastic Glue to flow better/faster, such as when you need to fill in a cavity.  The Lo-Temp Setting is best for most applications, as the plastic Glue hardens faster, has a much shorter work time.  Cheers!

[mikedemana]

Looks good. There are so many cool toys out there to repurpose as proper wargaming terrain. I've seen a few people do great jobs with the Playmobil gladiator arena, for example...

Mike Demana