Scratchbuilt 15mm Spaceship [Updated Jan14]

[Warren Abox]

So I'm making the leap to 15mm figures, and in honor of the occasion building a large rocket ship for the little dudes to fight over and in.  Here it is in all its foam-corey glory:



Here you can see a 15mm figure standing on the small landing on the left for scale, along with some of the detail.  The plan is to install ladders at the edges of each level leading down to the next (larger) level - except where that guy is standing.  There will ladders to the small landings, and then stairs down to the next level.


Top view shows the ship is divided into thirds, like so:


And here's the pattern for the walls of this beast:


I'll post shots of the detailing process as it progresses.  The hope is to get most of the basic wall and floor details done over Thanksgiving so that I can turn my attention to furnishings like planters, chairs, control consoles, and so on in the weeks to come.

[Mr.J]

Wow! This looks cool, very impressive and a great idea. I'll be following this closely.

[Amalric]

Great idea

I look forward to following your progress

Thank you

[Elbows]

Love the general idea...not a fan of the pulpy shape...I assume this is for a retro-pulp 1970's sci-fi-ish game? 

[smokezombie]

This looks like its going to be fantastic! I feel myself being pulled into 15mm too.
Verry much looking forward to seeing this take shape.

[Warren Abox]

Love the general idea...not a fan of the pulpy shape...I assume this is for a retro-pulp 1970's sci-fi-ish game? 

It didn't start out that way.  The shape of the rocket is a result of a number of factors.  I wanted to make sure the thing would fit into a 40-quart plastic tub, so knew that it couldn’t be more than 21” tall and about 15” wide.  That meant tall with round floors to maximize the flat playing surface.  The other issue at hand is literally hands – being able to reach the entire playing surface without banging things around.  That’s why there is so much distance between the floors.

I also wanted to use ladders without individual hatches as much as possible, too.  That means that the ladders drop off the edges of each floor, but that would lead to a ziggurat shape if done for each floor.  Instead, I’ve got those two little landings to take figures down to the first floor, which is smaller than the one above, and that leads to the general spade shape of the ship.

The original plan was to make this a standard gritty, maybe gothic, maybe traveler-esque rocket, but after building the bare bones, I realized the same thing you did – this thing screams ‘pulp’.  So now I’m looking at clean lines, soft colors, and figures that are more retro-sci-fi than current sci-fi. 

Still haven’t decided whether to go 1950’s retro or 1970s retro.  The derth of 1950s style in 15mm is making the decision easier, though.  So far I haven’t had much luck finding starship crews in the pulpy Buck Rogers style.  I’ll get back to you when I see what I can come up with.

[Elbows]

Roger that.  Don't take that as any form of insult, just what I see when I look at it.  Goons in hard hats with laser blasters and such.

Definitely keep us posted as you keep workin' on it.

[fastolfrus]

If you are going for the 1950s:

http://spaceshipaway.org.uk/

[dijit]

I think there's a lot of potential in that concept. I've been thinking alot recently about making a vertical gaming board to utilise wall space, rather than table top space and I think you may just have added a little more to the idea.
Great concept, and will be looking forwards to seeing how it gets finished.

[Warren Abox]

Detailing is just about done at this point.  Well, the surface detailing anyway.  I've got to get the walls and floors detailed and painted first, then I can build, paint, and finally install furniture away from the walls.  Any furniture installed at this point will just block my paintbrush and make it impossible to paint the inside of the furniture.

Example of the floor coping:


Ladders made from zip-ties.  The space cow is standing in the med-lab.  At this point
it has cabinets and not much else.


The kitchen.  Or is it a galley?  Either way, don't serve steak while this guy is on board.
Might be a relative.

[Warren Abox]

Had to take a break from the big stuff this week and put together some small stuff.  Don't know about you guys, but I need to actually complete some things once in a while in order to feel like I'm making progress.  With that in mind, here is some furniture I whipped up this weekend while waiting for the base coat on the tower to dry:

Meditank:


Greenhouse:

[Major_Gilbear]

I really, really like this! Very imaginative, and very nicely detailed too - well done Sir! 

[fafa]

It remind me a toy, in the star war range, sold in the 70's witch was the same in Death Star version...Do you see what I mean?...

http://www.toyark.com/star-wars-kenner-toltoys-death-star-playset-3403/

[Warren Abox]

I remember that toy.  Hadn't thought about that in years.  I really like the dome-style construction.  If I make another one of these things, I'll have to remember that.  I actually stole the idea from Jim Wallman's Starship Marines game (PDF Link to rules: http://www.theuniverse.org.uk/rules/sm/starshipmarine.pdf).  If you look near the end of the rulebook, there are a couple of shots of a tower that's at least 8-levels tall built similar to this one. He used printed floorplans on each level (the better to have lots of internal walls and cover), where mine has less walls and details, but is a full 3D gameboard.

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

[Mako]

That looks great!

I really like your concept, and design.  Reminds me a bit of the starship I used to play in at the park, though it had a slide from the top to the ground outside.

Might consider adding a fireman's pole, for emergency egress, if gravity is available.