Invasion project (mesaan boss update 17may)

[beefcake]

After deciding to stick to fantasy miniatures and not buy any more sci fi miniatures again... I just spent a bunch on some sci fi miniatures. I was intrigued by the many UFO xcom enthusiasts here and had thought of beginning my own UFO project. After looking about for some miniatures to use as the old school xcom game miniatures and still thinking, "an I'm not going to start a sci fi project" hasslefree sent out there newsletter and, being starwars day today, they had a sale going. S I had a quick peak and saw the mesaans and thought they would make great chrysalids! Then I thought, hold on, these are quite cool minis but I only need one or two for an xcom game, why not buy a whole bunch and use them as proxies for a space hulk type game. So I bought 8 of them and 2 leaders. These will probably be expanded on over time. Combined with the shipping containers I have just made I started thinking I could make a space hulk game in a shipping yard. The containers would work well enough to block line of sight just like space hulk and create an interesting looking game. I also really like the look of the khurasan 28mm troops and combining that with the APC they have that will be the good guys. Still to buy them yet. I figured that if I make a few office rooms they can be rooms just like in space hulk too. I already have some plans for making some in mdf.
Objective markers could be easy enough. Rescue the trapped humans instead of retrieving the CAT (that was the name sent it?) anyway that's the plan so far. I'll probably adapt the rules a fair bit. Now what I need to do is dig the rules out and refresh myself.
For those of you that didn't see my shipping container thread here is what they look like in bare resin. I have two almost painted up and will post pics of them when they are done.

[beefcake]

Here's the first container painted for this project. I reckon about 20 of these should be enough. I have another five ready for painting.

[dijit]

Tose containers look great! I think the concept has a lot of potential, looking forwards to more.

[Jonas]

Interesting ideas and great looking containers.

[Machinegunkelly]

Those are nice. Cointainers have been on my wish list for quite some time but I´ve never come around to actually getting myself any. Have fun painting them and good luck with your "not" UFO project.

[tomogui]

Oooh nice beefcake, I didn't see those containers before. Looks like you've done a lovely job sculpting 'em. Paint work is excellent too.

You could probably flog these pretty effectively if you could be bothered; at least enough to make your costs back. A lot of people seem to want containers for sci-fi.

Are you going to use grid-based movement or a measuring system? You could keep the Action Point system of Space Hulk while dispensing with having the squares actually marked out on the floor. Just have 1" move = 1 Action Point or whatever.

Lots of potential here!


 

[beefcake]

Thanks all.
I'll probably keep to squares and make some sort of mat for them.

[gi6ers]

Looking good.

[Machinegunkelly]

Have the Mesaans arrived yet? Have you painted them? How do they measure up to other minis? Hows the painting of the containers coming? Have you got any humans yet?

Or to sum it up. Hows the project coming along?

[beefcake]

No Mesaan's yet. I have 6 of the containers painted. I'll need to post those pics when I get home. In fact hopefully the Mesaan's will be there today. THen I can use a pic of them with the containers. I'll put a pic of the containers with the gaming field I made for slaughterbowl just to make it look a bit nicer. I'll probably make a large board for this some time as well. Or just put together a few small boards.

[mindfad]

do you have a writeup on your molding technique. Im been seriously considering makings some custom terrain and makings molds of them. Been reading lots of people hows to, to decide if i ultimately want to. Your pieces look really really good. Also do you make copies of everything regards of cost are do you figure out a cost per piece?

[beefcake]

The molding is quite easy, but a bit time consuming.
I have an adjustable molding box that I bought for about $60 which was a waste of money to be honest as you could get similar results with laminated mdf just as easily.
It's basically just 4 l shaped wall sections (the L being the shape when you look from the top when you are using it for molding). I set the box to the size I want and tape up the inside to stop any seepage, there's probably a different way to do it that may work better.
Then I put some double sided tape on the bottom of the object I'm molding and carefully place it in the centre of the molding box. This is generally only if it is a mold that I need one side of. You can do it without the tape but some objects may float like the containers definately would have. If it's a doubled sided mold you want to make get some oil-based clay so you can press it into this and make it fit into the molding tin with no gaps around the edges (a hard job).
Then mix up the silicone and pour it in.
If you're doing it double sided you remove it, take the clay off and put it back in the molding box and do the silicone again (usually a bit of clean up is required though).

I haven't read about how to do this at all really, except for the small tip sheet that came with the silicone. Pinkysil which I use sets in about half an hour. I'm sure others could direct you to a better way.

I sell pieces every now and then and factor in the resin and silicone costs and then a bit on top of that to pay for more resin and silicone and to give me some extra cash for miniatures, my best selling things are my pillars and stairwell. But basically I just like to make casts of them whether they will sell or not if I want a few copies. I started making a chaos dwarf army with some dwarfs I made up. Then I got bored of them and sold the ones I had made and the molds too. I need some more resin too so I can make some molds.

[mindfad]

okay thanks. always helpful to hear from lots of people. some guides recommend legos for a buildbox and i have quite a few so i thought id make the box of that. Wasnt to worried about selling really. Just if I cud actually make something worthwhile that i scratch built myself i would think it would be easier to just make copies.


Ill have to look in that material you use for your molds. Have you ever used hydrostone or any of the "harder" plasters for your terrain pieces? Resin is so expensive like to not have to use that and use the "hard" plaster if possible. ~35 bucks for 50 lbs. They do seem to work well overall for hirsts arts molds. Findings the plaster locally is always a problem however.

[beefcake]

No I've never tried that but I may look into it as well. Sounds like a much cheaper option

[beefcake]

The containers are all painted and customs did a poor job checking them. Full of illegal immigrants.

I have another 4 of the small ones as well and one dog like beast called a mawe. All from hasslefree.