144artist Populates the Damocles Sector or Creating a System Agnostic Science Fiction Miniatures Collection

As much as I love the bright colors of the varied pieces, a solid coat of primer really makes these things look like real buildings.  In addition I like to add a second dusting of something lighter as a base tone and it helps me see the details a lot easier.

Now that the plastic spools were almost terrain it was time to try something more rectangular and so went “digging through the cack”, to quote Magrathea.  I had four wonderful resin generators from Secret Weapon and some study plywood rectangles to start things off.  I knew I wanted to be multi-level with ample places to use the bridges I made (am making, to be honest) as well as offer a lot of movement and cover for minis.

Next I will be priming this creation as well as building a couple of “spools” from scratch.

The tall spool is painted and weathered.  The big spool is premiered and base coats have begun.  Of course I decide I need to build a few more things so the table isn’t getting cleared right away.  Here are a few close ups of the finished piece.  Now I have a generator to build.

The Tall Spool is pretty much just waiting for primer while the Big Spool has really come along.  When the offcuts pile gets too high I dig through it for parts to make catwalks out of.  Can’t have too many ramps/bridges.  I’ve been building most of the week and have to admit I miss painting minis right now.  This is especially acute as my Burrows and Badgers Kickstart rewards arrived the other day.

Back to the glue gun…

Now that I’ve got some MDF kits done and finally finished painting the Habitat Unit I could spend some time playing with some of my Bits Boxes as well as some of the bigger pieces I see as starting points.  I’ve had these big plastic spools literally rolling around the garage for years (as well as a couple more I can’t seem to locate yet) and am continually collecting bits.  Old plastic building toys and cheap toy plumbing are wonderful resources.  I didn’t get a scale shot of the tall spool before I started gluing things down but the Old School Space Marine in a couple Work In Progress shots is helpful.  As with the Habitat Unit, my collection of Trash Bash Bits doors and windows is proving to be a priceless resource.

How convenient that I have six cars and six color shifting paints.  Made decisions quicker and as these were the last pieces I had picked up in the Antenocitis Workshop sale I didn’t want them sitting around in decision purgatory.  I just can’t justify buying new things that become “future projects” when I already have tons of those and would much rather store finished terrain than packages of possibilities.  So with that in mind I worked through assembling what I now think of as Anten Base and spent three days cutting, gluing, and pealing TONS of tape. Finally I could get back to the painting table and these six cars were the first things I tackled.

I finally finished painting and weathering the scratch built Habitat Unit that had been sitting on my table for a long time, a very long time.  Fairly simple but I think it looks good.  The grit and grime really helps it look good. As I mentioned in a long ago blog post, I designed it to fit in with the piles of Deadzone and Makitainers waiting to become terrain (soon, my plastic friends, soon).  I think it will fit in well.  I know it looks good with the Antenocitis Workshop Tiny Traders I picked up so will need to make some more.  Next I want to play around with something more industrial looking.

I’ve gotta admit, I love pre-painted terrain.  Sure the pieces will look even better with some weathering on them but they are table ready and look great.  Once you build a couple they really start to go quickly too.  I really will have to pick up more pieces in the future.  Now I have resin cars to paint.