Bombshell Miniatures 36003 Wanda Whitestar

This 32mm scale pewter model is from Bombshell Miniatures and is part of their Counterblast line. Wanda Whitestar would work in a variety of sci-fi settings, but the retro hair style suggests that space opera might be the best fit.

With retro in mind, I decided on a paint scheme influenced by a piece of 1980s sci-fi. Specifically, the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television series. Many of the costumes worn by Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering were shiny, brightly colored, and form fitting. I picked the pink one as my inspiration.

Preparation
There was no discernible flash or mold lines. I glued the figure to a 30mm round plastic base, being careful to leave a little room between the base surface and the miniature's feet. This space would later be filled by the sand I used for texturing the base.

Zenithal Spray Priming
Tamiya Surface Primer L in Gray and White. This was less for the zenithal priming to show through and more so that I could have a guide for shading later on.

Skin Base Color Coat
A mix of Reaper 09047 Fair Skin and Reaper 09233 Bright Skin. Bright Skin resembles no natural human skin tone I've ever encountered. It works well for non-human flesh, though. In this case, I mixed it with Fair Skin to produce a slightly darker color.

Skin Highlight
Reaper 09047 Fair Skin.

Hair Base Color Coat
Mix of Reaper 09122 Terrain Khaki and Reaper 09139 Faded Khaki. This produces a color that works for dark blonde hair or light tan clothing.

Hair Highlight
Reaper 09257 Blond Hair.

Body Suit Base Color Coat
Reaper 09163 Cloud Pink. This is a medium tone pink.

Body Suit Highlight
Mix of Reaper 09281 Brains Pink and Reaper 09163 Cloud Pink. This produced a cotton candy pink.

Body Suit Wash Coat
The results of the base and highlight were brighter than I liked and the recessed details weren't as clearly visible as I wanted. I applied a light coat of Secret Weapon W025 Just Red Wash to darken down the color and bring out the details.

Jacket and Accessories Base Color Coat
Reaper 09088 Stormy Grey.

Jacket and Accessories Highlight
Citadel Colour Codex Grey.

Jacket and Accessories Wash Coats
Diluted Citadel Colour Chaos Black on the boots, gloves, and weapons to create a subtle difference in shade between them and the jacket. I followed up with a coat of Secret Weapon W001 Soft Body Black over the jacket and areas previously coated with Chaos Black.

Basing
Mix of sand, tacky glue, brown craft paint, and water in the recessed portion of the base. I painted the edge of the base with Citadel Colour Chaos Black.

Overall, I'm happy with how this one turned out. Although I am still debating the merits of hitting the hair and skin with a wash. It would bring out more of the details, but I don't want to change the colors as they are now.

Reaper Bones Nova Corp

These are another backer reward from the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter. I was supposed to receive one of each miniature, for a total of five. I'm not sure how I ended up with a total of nine, but I understand that this happened to many backers.

Expendable, not all that bright, and destined to be shot at.

SKU, name, and quantity of each miniature:

• 80011 Nova Corp: Guard x2
• 80012 Nova Corp: Soldier x2
• 80013 Nova Corp: Female x1
• 80014 Garvin Markus, Nova Corp Hero x2
• 80015 Nova Corp: Rifleman x2

The Guard, Soldier, Female, and Rifleman are all available from Reaper in sets of three. Garvin Markus comes all by himself. The sculpts are also available in metal as singles as part of the Chronoscope line.

The Nova Corp represents some kinda cyberpunk megacorp security force. I painted them up for Five Parsecs From Home as corporate security, planetary militia, local police, etc. They will also be handy as opposition in near-future role playing games.

These are intended to be used as a group against "hero" figures. Individually painting every detail seemed to be overkill. I used quick and dirty methods to get them ready for the table - lots of dry brushing and washes.

Priming and Basing
I fell back on my usual approach for Bones plastic for the most part. Reaper 09079 Deep Amethyst was mixed with FolkArt Glass & Tile Medium for priming. I didn't bother with adding sand of other material to the bases. Simply gluing the integral bases to previously spray primed fender washers and painting them later would be enough.

First Dry Brush Layer
Reaper 09057 Ashen Blue. I left much more paint on the brush than I normally would when dry brushing. This resulted in a heavy layer while leaving some Deep Amethyst still showing in the recesses.

Second Dry Brush Layer
Reaper 09057 Ashen Blue mixed with Citadel Colour Skull White. This used standard dry brushing techniques to produce a highlight layer aligned with how light would hit the figures from above.

Weapons, Backpacks, and Bases
Citadel Colour Codex Grey. Used to provide some variation on the otherwise all blue color scheme.

Visor
Reaper 09079 Deep Amethyst. The previous dry brush layers covered up the visors, so I picked them out with a darker blue.

Flesh and Hair
I started by coating the exposed heads with Reaper 09110 Oiled Leather. One figure's hair was painted Reaper 09074 Palomino Gold while the other was left as is. I mixed the remaining Oiled Leather, Palomino Gold, and a drop of Citadel Colour Skull White to produce a pale skin tone for the figure I left with brown hair.

Wash
I used a mix of blue-gray wash I had left over from a previous project with a few drops of Reaper 09074 Deep Amethyst to tie it in better with the other colors. This mix was simply brushed over all surfaces and left to dry.

Base Detail Layers
Citadel Colour Chaos Black diluted with water brushed over the bases. The intent was to produce a dirty, oily appearance and fill in the recessed details. I might have gone overboard, but I don't feel that it worth the effort to go back and fix. This was a quick and dirty project, after all.

The paint job on these figures won't win any awards - I didn't post any close up photos for a reason - but that wasn't the goal. Their job is to get shot at by better painted miniatures. They'll be on the table exactly as long as the dice will allow.

Reaper Chronoscope 50028 Kirby McDowell, Space Privateer

Another metal miniature from Reaper's Chronoscope line. Kirby McDowell has the look of a 1980s action movie star. He's a big guy who favors casual dress and packs a surprise for those who underestimate him.

This is another experiment in painting highlights as an alternative to using washes for shading. As much as I like the ease of using washes, I like having more tools in my kit even more. The results were better this time. I only had to cheat once.

Primer
Zenithal priming with dark gray coat followed by white sprayed from the top.

Skin
Reaper 09260 Bronzed Skin slightly diluted with water to take advantage of the shading already in place. Using the diluted paint as a glaze over the zenithal priming worked well this time.

Pants
Reaper 09285 Demin Blue. Highlighted with Reaper 09057 Ashen Blue. I was careful to duplicate the techniques I used on Jessica Blaze and achieved the same results.

Hair, Shirt, and Boots
Reaper 09088 Stormy Grey. Highlighted with Reaper 09090 Misty Grey. This is the same combination of colors and techniques used on Jessica Blaze before I applied a wash to darken down the colors. The lighter initial results worked better here, so no wash was necessary.

Pistol
I painted this the same as the shirt and added a little Citadel Colour Mithril Silver to the raised areas. This draws attention to the weapon even though it is partly hidden away.

Base Texture
I used a backer reward from the Happy Seppuku Modelworks Base Texture Stamps Kickstarter to produce the look of the base. It is a flat silcone rubber sheet with various textures. I simply placed a little putty on a plastic base and pressed it on the sheet to pick up the desired pattern. In this case, I used Random Steel Plate. Regrettably, Happy Seppuku Modelworks seems to have closed their doors, so I'll have to look elsewhere for more base texturing tools in the future.

Base Painting
Reaper 09088 Stormy Grey. Reaper 09090 Misty Grey used as a highlight. The results matched the other gray areas on the miniature, but looked too faded for the base. I decided to cheat regarding my "no washes" goal for this project. A little diluted Citadel Colour Chaos Black brushed over the base darkened the color and filled in the recesses nicely. The sides were finished with undiluted Citadel Colour Chaos Black.

This experiment gives me another technique to use. There's nothing wrong with washes, but I prefer having more options when tackling hobby projects. And I'm another painted miniature closer to getting a game of Five Parsecs From Home on the table.

Reaper Chronoscope 50132 Jessica Blaze, Smuggler

Jessica Blaze is a metal miniature from Reaper Miniatures' Chronoscope line. I bought this figure back in my "it looks cool, I must have it NOW" days of miniature collecting. After putting it off for multiple sci-fi games, I finally put paint on this model for Five Parsecs From Home.

I experimented with shading using highlight layers over darker coats. This technique requires more brush control than my usual reliance on washes. The outcome was mixed, so I ended up using washes on some areas to get the results I wanted.

Primer
The initial coat was a dark gray sprayed to evenly coat all surfaces. A second coat of white was sprayed from above. I recently learned that his technique has a name - zenithal priming. It gave me a better idea of which areas needed to be highlights and which would be shaded.

Skin
Reaper 98982 Golden Skin diluted with water to act as a glaze. The idea was to let the zenithal priming to show through. It didn't quite take, so I followed up with Secret Weapon W006 Parchment Wash.

Hair and Top
Reaper 09183 Cloud Pink. Highlighted with Reaper 09281 Brains Pink. The result turned out more pastel than I intended. Some Secret Weapon W025 Just Red Wash pushed the color over to the bright pink I was aiming for.

Pants
Reaper 09285 Demin Blue. Highlighted with Reaper 09057 Ashen Blue. This actually came out as desired.

Jacket, Boots, and Accessories
Reaper 09088 Stormy Grey. Reaper 09090 Misty Grey used to highlight these areas. The outcome was lighter than I intended. I used Secret Weapon W001 Soft Body Black to darken these areas and fill the recesses. A few spots turned out a little too dark, so I highlighted them with Citadel Colour Codex Grey.

Pistol
The pistol was painted using the same colors and techniques as the Jacket with one additional step. I lightly brushed on a little Citadel Colour Mithril Silver on some of the raised details to represent bare metal showing through the worn paint of a well-used weapon.

Base
I cut the miniature off its slot and glued it to a Champ Industries Industrial Design Base before priming. Even though I am happy with the brand of super glue I favor, I wonder if I should start pinning figures to such bases in the future. The base is painted with Citadel Colour Chaos Black. I diluted it for the top to fill in the recesses while not completely coating the raised areas and used it undiluted for the sides.

My experiment with not using washes turned out to need washes to get the desired results. Still, I did learn a thing or two that I can apply moving forward. And I have another sci-fi miniature suitable for Five Parsecs From Home painted and ready.

Cork Urban Terrain Tiles WIP, Part Two

I had a change of plans with this project. My original idea was to knock out one tile at a time with a post to match. However, I had a breakthrough last week and managed to finish the remaining tiles over the weekend.

The street is strangely quiet now, but I'm sure that will change as soon as I get more miniatures painted.

The major issue I had was figuring out how to cut the cork tiles cleanly. I hid the rough edge on the first tile with the pavement squares, but that wouldn't be an option for all the remaining tiles. More practice resulted in cleaner cuts, but it was still slow going. It was the discovery that I could sand down the edges for a smooth finish that greatly accelerated progress.

Counterclockwise from the bottom left: First street tile (with drain cover), flat tile, courtyard tile, and second street tile (without drain cover).

The Flat Tile
This is a flat tile to support large buildings and other terrain. While a solid cork sheet would be completely functional, I wanted something more interesting looking. I drew diagonal lines over the cork sheet until I found a pattern I liked and cut along those lines. Then it was a matter of gluing the cut pieces down, putting some books on top of it all, and waiting for the glue to dry.

The Courtyard Tile
This is an open area surrounded by a low border. Add planters and it can represent a park. Keep it clear except for a landed spacecraft and it becomes a landing pad. It is essentially a slightly more interesting looking flat tile.

The Second Street Tile

There are some key differences between this and the first tile. There is no drain cover to simplify assembly. The pavement is also streamlined. The result was faster construction, but the pavement on one side doesn't match the first tile. I'm fine with that, given how often I see mismatched pavement and roads while driving around.

Tiles with 28mm scale miniatures and some terrain.

Spray Painting
All of the tiles were spray painted using the same colors and techniques as the first tile.

Finishing Touches - Roads
I wasn't quite happy with the roads, so I brushed some FolkArt 479 Pure Black over them. This validated my choice of using spray paints for most of the painting. The cork, even though it was already coated with Krylon, absorbed far more paint than I expected. The result was a nicely coated black surface with no cork showing though.

Finishing Touches - Concrete Surfaces
The next step was a light dry brushing with FolkArt 480 Titanium White over all areas except for the roads. A few spots came out a little too light, so I stippled a little FolkArt 479 Pure Black over them. The result is an uneven gray color that suggests wear and staining.

All three stackable buildings. Ready to block movement and lines of sight.

Bonus - Stackable Trash Bash Sci-Fi Buildings!
These were finished at the same time as the tiles. I placed the stickers in different patterns to vary their appearances slightly. Otherwise, they are identical to the first. And they still stack for storage and transport.

Canon, Horror, and Star Trek Adventures

Does the spirit of Halloween fit in Star Trek Adventures? Can a horror story be told in the Star Trek setting? Well, various Star Trek series have aired ghost stories, zombie stories, and a Halloween episode. So I'm going with yes to these questions. Here's a look at how some episodes have handled horror and how the resulting canon can be applied in a Star Trek game. As with the Year By Year posts, I start with a summary and put my comments in italics.

Ensign Shay finds herself with a zombie problem.

"Catspaw" - TOS

A literal Halloween tale by Robert Bloch. It has all the tropes - a spooky looking castle, a black cat, a witch, a dungeon with a chained up skeleton, and enough cobwebs to make this viewer want to reach for a duster. Of course, the magic using antagonists turn out to be aliens using advanced technology in the end. It's still Star Trek, after all.

This episode uses the visual language of Halloween IN SPACE! This is the shortest path to pulling off a Halloween adventure. Just take the kind of movie starring Vincent Price, set the story on a distant planet, and say "aliens did it" to explain the use of dark powers in a sci-fi setting. Maybe even decorate the game room with paper bats, cotton cobwebs, a plastic skull, and hand out candy. Just don't try using candy as tokens. They just get eaten.

The aliens in this episode answer to the "Old Ones" - a term also used in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" for a different alien race. It is likely deliberate on the part of Robert Bloch, who wrote both episodes. A gamemaster might be tempted to throw in a reference to the Cthulhu Mythos just to see the reactions of the players. Alternately, just put some tentacled horrors in the adventure like in "Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 2" - PIC.


"Wolf in the Fold" - TOS

Another episode penned by Robert Bloch. Scotty takes shore leave on a poorly lit planet with foggy weather and becomes the suspect in the murders of multiple women. It is eventually revealed that the murderer is actually Redjac - AKA Jack the Ripper. Redjac is a formless alien entity that feeds on fear and can possess humanoid bodies and USS Enterprise's computer.

Redjac ended up getting beamed into space with a transporter set for wide dispersal. The plan was for Redjac to starve from being unable to feed after getting strayed over thousands of kilometers of vacuum. However, there's nothing stopping a gamemaster from coming up with a way for Redjac to survive and menace the player characters. Imagine the fun if Redjac takes over a holodeck or EMH!

My favorite bit of this episode is hearing John Fiedler delivering lines written for a serial killer in the voice of Piglet.


"Beyond the Farthest Star" - TAS

USS Enterprise investigates mysterious radio emissions and encounters a 300 million year old alien derelict orbiting a dead star. Kirk and company discover that the crew destroyed their own vessel to prevent a threatening entity from using it to reach other worlds. Naturally, the entity ends up on USS Enterprise and makes trouble until the crew figures out how to get rid of it.

The basic outline of the story is a staple of sci-fi horror. Follow a vague signal. Find a weird looking derelict in a creepy location. Awaken something that should have been left alone. Everything else is details. How well equipped the characters are to deal with the outcome determines the level of horror.


"Schisms" - TNG

A literal alien abduction episode. Members of USS Enterprise-D's crew experience a lack of sleep and other psychological issues. Investigating turns up physical evidence, like Riker's arm having been removed and reattached. The culprits are solanogen-based lifeforms from a tertiary subspace manifold who favor hooded robes with a metallic sheen. The crew figure out a way to cut off contact, but not before a hapless crewmember dies.

The episode plays on the fear of something happening while a person is asleep, unaware, and helpless. The aliens live deep in subspace and cannot exist outside of it. However, they can create spatial ruptures to create a pocket of normal space in their reality. This is how they were able to experiment on members of USS Enterprise-D's crew. Although they were initially drawn to USS Enterprise-D due to modified sensor emissions, they could find other ways to access the normal universe.


"Sub Rosa" - TNG

The one where Doctor Crusher falls in love with a ghost residing in a family heirloom. Who also had a relationship with her grandmother. On a colony intended to recreate the Scottish Highlands, including foggy weather and stone buildings. The ghost turns out to be anaphasic lifeform who bonds with those of compatible biochemistry and can effect technology like weather control systems.

An anaphasic lifeform and host can be used for similar ghost stories or to explain hauntings in the Star Trek setting. Anaphasic lifeforms are vulnerable to phasers, so a direct confrontation should be avoided until the climax of the adventure.


"Empok Nor" - DS9

The one were Garak hunts and kills the rest of an Away Team aboard a station of the same design as Deep Space Nine, except that it's even more poorly lit. O'Brien, Nog, and four expendable crewmembers are sent off in a Runabout to salvage Cardassian spare parts. Garak is along since the Cardassians are poor sports and tend to leave booby traps behind when they abandon a facility. One of those booby traps takes the form of Cardassian soldiers in stasis chambers, who awaken and menace the Away Team. Even worse, the soldiers were given a psychotropic drug that amplified their xenophobic tendencies. Garak is exposed to the drug and kills everyone who isn't a recurring character.

This one turns a familiar character - who is already known to be dangerous - and turns him into a threat. This is just one of many Star Trek episodes that explore this territory. A gamemaster has a decision to make early on when using this idea. Use a NPC that the players value enough not to immediately rid themselves of when they present a threat. Or see if one of the players is game to become the antagonist for awhile. Just make sure that there are no hard feelings later if using the second option.


"Dead Stop" - ENT

A clean, well-lit automated repair station with user-friendly interfaces turns out to have a dark secret. Surprise! After running over a Romulan mine in the previous episode, Enterprise NX-01 has a gaping hole in the side that the crew can't fix with the resources at hand. They find out about a repair station, which automatically reconfigures for the ship and crew when they approach. Captain Archer agrees to trade supplies for the station's services. Things go well until Mayweather is found dead. The body turns out to be a copy and the crew finds the real Mayweather hooked up to the station's computer. The other people who are there are too far gone and can't be disconnected. They grab Mayweather and blast their way to the end of the episode.

Horror stories don't need to take place in gloomy locations that haven't kept up on maintenance or their lighting bills. Sometimes a mysterious lack of people is enough for a sense of unease even in the brightest places. As for this specific location - the episode never reveals who built the station or why. And the station was last seen repairing itself.


"Silent Enemy" - ENT

Enterprise NX-01 encounters a ship of aliens who act like jerks - opening fire, boarding the ship, shrugging off attempts to drive them off, and only communicating with demands for surrender. The crew gets them to leave only after hastily cobbling together space guns and figuring out how to overclock phase cannons.

This episode emphasizes that the Star Trek setting isn't a safe one outside of settled space. The aliens have their own agenda and are operating on their own schedule. They aren't interested in mutual benefit and have all the power early in the story. This creates a tension that is emphasized by the crew's efforts to craft an effective response to the threat. In later periods, this role can be filled by the Dominion or the Borg, but a mysterious adversary works better to play up the fear of the unknown.


"Impulse" - ENT

The one with the ship full of Vulcan zombies. It turns out to be the effects of Trellium-D. The substance insulates against the anomalies of the Delphic Expanse, but is also a neurotoxin to Vulcans. It initially removes emotional inhibitions and soon leads to insanity and violent rages. The neutral pathways of Vulcans exposed to it long enough eventually degrade to the point they become shambling wrecks.

Zombies are also featured in "Second Contact" – LD. Borg drones generally act like the "bionic zombies" that Lily Sloane calls them in Star Trek: First Contact. It's relatively easy to expose a crew to some substance or virus and kick off a zombie adventure. The questions that the gamemaster needs to address are how many hits with a phaser set to stun are needed to incapacitate one and how hard is it to come up with an airborne cure and spread it through the life support system?


Note that this is not intended to be a complete list, only some cherry picked examples. Any favorites or good examples I missed? Feel free to comment!

Alternative Armies EH03 Space Brain

Took a break from terrain making to paint up one of these little horrors. Besides, the month of Halloween seems like a good time for this B movie escapee. I had to improvise a stand for it, but I think it'll do.

Space Brain on patrol.

Alternative Armies offers these in packs of five and as suitable for a range of scales. They are very large for human brains in 28mm. However, they should work fine as big floating cyborg brains extracted from a dying species of mutated alien overlords even in 15mm. I acquired my set as a freebie with an order I placed in June 2021.

Stand
I had no flight stands on hand that would work with this figure, so I ended up cobbling together one from a paper clip, some air drying clay, and a 25mm slotted base. The assembly was spray painted with Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Flat Black and textured with a mix of sand, PVA glue, and brown craft paint. The small hole sculpted into the bottom didn't seem quite deep enough, so I drilled it out a little more to be sure. The miniature is secured to the stand using Gorilla Super Glue.

Zombies hunting for a feast. I better get to work on the rest of the set - it looks like this Space Brain could use some reinforcements!

Primer Coat
Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Flat White. In retrospect, a neutral color might have been better for painting gray matter.

Brains - First Coat
Reaper 092881 Brains Pink. A bottle of this stuff has been knocking around my paint collection since I got it as a backer reward from the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter. With a name like that, I couldn't resist using it for this project.

Brains - Wash Coat
Citadel Washes Baal Red. The pink turned out a little too pale and the details weren't coming through. A red wash shaded the overall color and settled nicely into the recesses.

Cybernetic Bits - First Coat
A mix of Reaper 09038 Rainy Grey and Reaper 09037 Pure Black. This mix produces a very dark gray that I used as the base color for the mechanical elements.

Cybernetic Bits - Second Coat
Reaper 09038 Rainy Grey. This medium gray was used to highlight the upper and raised surfaces of the mechanical elements.

Cybernetic Bits - Wash Coat
Reaper 09255 Black Wash. Some of the gray ended up in the recesses, obscuring those details. I used a black wash to reverse the effect.

Rosie sneaking up to perform percussive maintenance on this Space Brain's cybernetics.

This figure was a welcome break from terrain making and a reminder that I need to paint some sci-fi miniatures as well. Of course, a set of these could work as weird aliens for a Five Parsecs From Home game. Maybe as proxies for Converted or Abductors?

Stackable Trash Bash Sci-Fi Building

This is made from a piece of plastic packaging I saved awhile back. It caught my eye due to its blocky, industrial-looking shape. A couple more turned up later and I also noticed how neatly they stacked up inside each other. I stored them away until I started my most recent project - cobbling together enough terrain to play a game of Five Parsecs From Home.

Rosie dabbing in real estate.

My goals for this project were:

• Retain the ability to stack the finished pieces. This would greatly enhance the ability to store and transport them later.
• Minimal resources. That meant using what I had on hand and not spending too much time. Good enough would be good enough.
• Compatibility. They had to work with the terrain mats and tiles I had or would have ready. Muted, neutral tones would work best.

Retaining the ability to stack the finished pieces meant that my usual approach of putting glue all over something and rolling it around in my bits box was right out. Any bits sticking out too far from the sides would get in the way. The exception was the small surface on the top. There is a small gap between the pieces there when they are stacked. This allowed for thin parts to be glued to the top.

How many previous owners has this place had?

Preparation
I roughed up the packaging with a sanding pad to insure good bonds with the glue and paint I would be applying later. All surfaces were also cleaned with warm soap and water.

Assembly - Top
Some digging around in my bits collections turned up a couple of parts from a Hexagon Construction Set and a key from a USB keyboard. A test fit verified that they would not interfere with stacking if placed on top of the piece. My initial attempt to attach the parts used hot glue, but I found that Gorilla Super Glue provided a stronger bond.

Assembly - Sides
My solution to detailing the sides was using some self-adhesive warning labels I found awhile back. They add details to the sides without protruding far enough to interfere with stacking.

Finished piece and the next one with the bits used for detailing.

First Spray Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Brown. This coat was sprayed for full coverage on all surfaces.

Second Spray Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Khaki. Sprayed at an angle from the top to produce highlighting on the upper and raised surfaces.

Drybrushing Layer
FolkArt 480 Titanium White. This is an off-white paint with a gray tint. The stickers were too flush with the sides to catch much paint from a light drybrushing. I ended up using more and more paint to make these details visible. The more aggressive brushing did generate the worn appearance I was going for on the finished piece.

Wash Coat
FolkArt 221 Real Brown mixed with Liquitex Matte Medium and diluted with water. Brushed over all surfaces. I wiped off the excess and pooling with a dry cloth.

"Yard" Texturing
Mix of sand, tacky glue, and diluted FolkArt 221 Real Brown. FolkArt 480 Titanium White brushed on to the mix after it dried for contrast. I decided to texture the surface around the building to create a "yard" surrounded by a low fence.

The test piece stacked under the others.

Overall, it's not bad for a quick and dirty project. And the test piece still stacks under the others! I'll use the same techniques on the other two, but I might experiment with overlapping some of the stickers to simulate patchwork repairs to the walls.

Cork Urban Terrain Tiles WIP, Part One

This is the first part of a project I started years ago. And "started" means "bought the materials, stored them away, and forgot about them" in this case. At the time, I didn't have a pressing need for modern or sci-fi urban terrain tiles. Now I want to get a game of Five Parsecs From Home on the table. So I dragged everything out and got to work.

Rosie inspects a new section of city, still under construction.

The concept is inspired by a couple of projects I saw online several years ago. One was on a now-defunct blog and the other was a post on The Miniatures Page. Both used 12x12 inch cork sheets attached to vinyl floor tiles. In both projects, additional cork tiles were cut down and painted gray for pavement and sidewalks. The lower cork tile surface was used for the roads. The cork, once painted, had a texture resembling concrete or asphalt. The vinyl floor tile acts as a rigid backing.

This is the first 12x12 inch tile. It contains an asphalt roadway, pedestrian sidewalks, and pavement for buildings. The plan is to make a total of four tiles - two with roads and two with plenty of space for buildings.

Examples of the materials used for this project - floor tile, cork tiles, blue foam packing pieces, and grating piece.

Base Layer Assembly
The vinyl tiles are rigid and self-adhesive. I just had to remove the protective sheet, align a cork tile, and place it down. It spent some time under a few books to make sure that the adhesive had a good bond.

Street Size
How big to make the road? I prefer terrain suitable for multiple scales. In this case, I wanted something that would work for both 28mm and 15mm. After checking the measurements of various scale vehicles, I decided that a surface 4-5 inches wide would do. That width would simulate a single lane, one-way street at 28mm and a double lane, two-way road at 15mm.

Pavement Assembly
To provide a raised surface for buildings, I cut another cork tile in half and glued it on top of the initial cork tile with tacky glue. The assembled piece spent more time weighed down while the glue set.

Sidewalk Assembly
I had some blue foam packing material that would work as pedestrian sidewalks along the street. They just had to be cut down to fit. The grating is more upcycled material. It had a hook attached, so it must have spent time hanging off a display rack at some point. I cut the hook off and used the rest as a drain cover. The piece is a little larger than the sidewalks, so I cut some additional parts to extend the walkway on that side of the street to match. Everything was glued down and spent their share of time weighed down under books.

Side view showing the layers of materials used for this project. I'll need to touch up the spots where the masking tape removed some paint.

Painting - Base Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Black. I choose Krylon Camouflage over the usual ColorMaster Paint + Primer since I know that the former works on wood and other porous surfaces and wasn't sure about the latter.

Painting - Pavement, First Coat
Krylon ColorMaxx Paint + Primer Matte Deep Gray. I covered the street with masking tape and sprayed everything else gray to simulate concrete.

Painting - Pavement, Second Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Khaki. The gray areas looked a little flat. That's fine for the grating, but I wanted the pavement to look a little more interesting. I masked the grating and sprayed the sidewalks and pavement to provide a little more color.

Top view, pulled back to show the whole terrain tile.

Evaluation
So far, so good. Removing the masking tape also pulled off a little paint. A close inspection also revealed a few places where the spray paint didn't penetrate into the recesses of the cork. I'll have to be a little more through with the following tiles.

Finishing Up
The next step is to touch up the bare spots with black or gray, as needed. Then I'll finish up by brushing on a medium gray to highlight the edges of the sidewalk and add a little more texture to the flat areas of the pavement and road.

The Next Tile
I'm still undecided on whether to make another street tile or a flat one just for buildings next. The second street tile likely won't have another grated drain cover. I have another part for it, but matching the sidewalk to the first was a little too fiddly. I'll also have to think about how to add some detailing to the flat tiles. I could just glue a couple of tiles together, paint it, and call it done. However, the result would be a little dull looking. Maybe the second drain cover can go on one of them.

Hexagon Construction Set Sci-Fi Industrial Towers

An inventory of my 28mm sci-fi miniatures and terrain suitable for Five Parsecs From Home revealed some gaps. I have plenty of sci-fi miniatures for a crew, but would have to proxy some of the aliens. Likewise, most of my 28mm terrain is fantasy, so I need more sci-fi terrain if I wanted to set up a table. I considered going with 15mm, but ran into the opposite problem - enough terrain, but a lack of miniatures. Besides, I could also use 28mm sci-fi for roleplaying.

Sarah keeps an eye out while Rosie performs percussive maintenance.

Fortunately, I have some solutions for my sci-fi terrain shortage on hand. There's the Power Plant Construction Set featured in a previous post. I also have boxes of materials to scratch build or trash bash something together. And I own two Hexagon Construction Sets - the remains of one with some choice bits still on the sprues and an unopened box I bought last year. Like the Power Plant Construction Set, these are made by Tehlog in Russia and distributed by Pegasus Hobbies in the USA.

Wanting to save the unopened box for later, I dug through what was left of the other one and cobbled these two pieces together. My goal was for the completed pieces to look like functional parts of some industrial system. There are features that look like hatches for accessing internal components to perform maintenance and repair. The sides have ladders to climb to the upper parts. The safety railings also provide plausible cover for any figures placed on top.

Sarah: "Did you hear that?" Rosie: "WHAT?! All I can hear is ringing! I've been hitting this thing with my wrench!"

The paint scheme is the same as the one I used for the red areas of the Power Plant test piece.

Underlayer
Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Flat Black. An even coat on all visible surfaces.

Base Color
Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Matte Poppy Red. This is a bright red on its own, but is significantly darker when used over a layer of black. This layer was sprayed down from above. This leaves some of the black underlayer showing for a shading effect.

Dark Wash
I applied a dark (gray-blue) wash mix on all surfaces and wiped off the excess with a sponge. This produced a further shading effect.

Brown Wash
The final touch was applying a brown wash mix using the same technique as the previous step. This gives the piece a more weathered appearance.

"Bug Spray" joining Sarah for some target practice.

These work as generic 28mm sci-fi terrain and should fit a variety of game settings. I might go back and add some weathering later, but they look good enough for now. Besides, I need to get more stuff like this finished so I can get a game of Five Parsecs From Home on the table.

These items are Mark I and Mark II McQuary-Mead Industrial Infrastructure Support Units. These models reliably serve many frontier colonies and installations, although they have been superseded by more advanced equipment in more settled areas. They are commonly used in atmospheric processing or temperature control systems. The Mark II can be distinguished from the Mark I by the additional equipment module. The improved range of features and performance of the Mark II come at the cost of higher operating expenses compared with the Mark I

These specific items are part of a larger shipment of recovered equipment sold off as surplus. The anti-corrosion coating are intact, although there is some surface discoloration. Each unit sold comes with an inspection report from our factory certified technicians. Our agent would be happy to discuss providing a service agreement during the sales process.

- Kessler's Upcycling Sales Catalog