28MM Spacecraft Repair Unit

[Mason]

Another wonderful centrepiece for your gaming table.
 

[Hitman]

That looks awesome!! Nice detail and very user friendly. I bet it is great fun to use in games. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[axiom]

That's a fantastic set of terrain! I love the repurposed GI Joe playset...now to track one down?

Do you plan any gantries, cranes or similar?

[twrchtrwyth]

That's a great conversion of toy to scale model. 

[War In 15MM]

Thanks to all for the kind words.  Repurposed toys are alway fun.  Let me address a couple of questions/suggestions that have been made.  The Beast, you are correct in your memory of the toy... the sides were made to come down, but for this project I like the enclosed look so I kept the two sides up; there's still a lot of room for figures.  Another reason, though not key, for have the sides up is space.  I will have two of these on two end-to-end 5' x 7' tables (one on one table and one on the other).  My plan is to create an Eaves Downs Dock (I think the spelling is close) area that is 14' long and contains a community of perhaps 20 structures (including these repair units), and a docking area for at least 11 spaceships (hopefully 12).  James, I agree completely about the need for detail material like crates, etc.  My normal approach to a project is to paint figures first, then buildings, then vehicles and finally once I have the general look of the place add the detail.  I got a little out of order with this one because the urge to see if I could make these GI Joe playsets into usable repair units just was too much to resist.  I have already begun collecting detail pieces (removable) such as the Reaper welding unit and tools and crates and other assorted junk.  Jon, the GI Joe playset comes with an attached crane... it's shown in the first picture but because it's a straight on shot it is hard to recognize as a crane.  But in addition to the attached cranes I have lucked into two of the very large Thomas Train Cranky cranes (thanks again to the swap meet), and they will be repurposed for use with the repair units.  Thanks to all for taking the time to write.  Really happy you enjoyed it.  Richard

[supervike]

Really nice.  I love how innovative you have been with this.

Wargamers, in general are a pretty innovative lot.

[horridperson]

If you have two of the those to bookend your table the possibilities just became that much more interesting .  If you happen to have a crane rigging one on worm gear across the between the two walls would be pretty cool.

[blacksoilbill]

That sounds like it will be a very impressive table!

[The_Beast]

Two on a set up? (Almost said 'a table')

This isn't Sparta, this is madness!  

Doug

Edit: Just remembered, only one went to a friend who was going to use the whole thing in a project, though I never saw the results. The other one did get used, and played, but piecemeal.

[eilif]

Dang, that is awesome!

I just acquired the same set myself from the resale shop, but it was missing the centeral tower section.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/688498.page#8941093

I'm going to hack mine up, but I love that you took the "folded up" version and made it something truely huge.

Do you have links to the rest of your layout or separate spaceships and bases?  Where is this Swap meet you attend?

[War In 15MM]

Thanks to all for writing.  I appreciate the generous words.  My tables and terrain pieces tend to be large...very large.  If you have seen my Darkest Africa, Pulp Egyptian, Pirate or Victorian city galleries you will see what I mean.  I also tend to plan these things of many years and that is when most of the collecting takes place.  Once I get all the key pieces together I begin the painting, repurposing and building which depending on the project can last from 6 months to a year.  This particular collection will probably have me engaged until June 2017 and will involved two 5 ft x 7 ft tables.  ellif, as of this moment I have completed about 20 spacecraft, two spacecraft repair unit structures and about 120 figures, but the repair units are all I have photographed.  Normally I wouldn't have painted those structures at this point in the project, but I just got excited to see if I could make them look like what I hoped they could be.  I took a look at the one you got at the resale shop and while missing the upper levels you did get that wonderful brown piece which is really the most beautiful part of the toy.  As to where my swap meet is located, I'm afraid it is in Southern California which is a long journey from Chicago.  The local community colleges hold swap meets on their parking lots on the weekend, but only one of those swap meets really specializes in junk and that is were the treasure can be found.  Unfortunately the others have become little more than outdoor dollar stores.  Thanks again, Richard

[dwbullock]

Honestly, I have never seen this GI Joe toy.  Was scouring the interwebz to try and find it.  I had an older version of the GI Joe headquarters, but had largely gotten out of it when this one came out.

Looks great, though.  I have quite a few Joe pieces in use as space ships, industrial pieces, or 'scrap piles.'  Don't have a piece this large, though.  Would draw too much attention from the wife.

[War In 15MM]

dwbullock, it folds up so maybe your wife wouldn't notice.  A couple of the 1992 GI Joe Headquarters are on eBay, but with shipping they are $50 and more... probably more since shipping tends to read "calculate."  It is my good fortunate that for the last 15 or more years I have had a local weekend swap meet that has offered things like this to me for $5 or less rather than $50 or more.  The thing about the swap meet is there is no guarantee you will get a second bite at the apple if you don't buy it the first time you see it.  That is why my wife bought me a beautiful shed; she actually enjoys my hobby, but she doesn't want it all over the house.

[joekano]

That is a seriously cool piece of terrain!

[eilif]

ellif, as of this moment I have completed about 20 spacecraft, two spacecraft repair unit structures and about 120 figures, but the repair units are all I have photographed.  

Wow!  That sounds great.  Looking forward to seeing more.  I share your fondness for going big when it comes to wargaming projects.  
http://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2015/04/01/mech-attack-at-adepticon-2015/


I agree that the brown industrial part of the GI Joe HQ is by far the best section.  It alone would have been worth the 4 bucks I paid for the toy. As for sourcing California is quite a ways to go, but the truth is that local resale shops have provided all the fodder I need for large terrain projects.  My bins-o-toys are already overflowing...