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I just finished these two drop pods. They took me about ten minutes each and are made out of cereal box cardboard. Does anyone want a tutorial or plans?
EDIT: Assembly instructions and layout below

Arcturus314

Not to be rude, but that looks cheap and quite frankly I don't like it. Maybe print out some paper-craft layouts and build from there, maybe even counts-as some crashed flyers or something, but please don't play with those.

Not too shabby. About the right size. No confusion about what they represent. Effort made to decorate them as the represented chapter. They do need some polish but are perfectly acceptable.

There are better card templates for drop pods that even LOOK like the GW ones hiding around on the internet. They take a bit longer to put together, and require a shedload of GW bits to make them look authentic, but they can be done.

Whilst those (yours) look better than pop can drop pods, I'm not a fan of them.

Despite all the flak that the others are giving you, I think they're just fine for what they're intended for. There are some other papercrafts on the interwebs, but these are quick and dirty and look a hell of a lot better than a pop-can.

I'd love to see whatcha got!
Cheers

Quite franky the shape is fine, the issue is detail. If you can make the detail on it pop out (ridges on the edges, indented door) it will look a lot better.

I will agree with vineheart01. I would also recommend finding ways to add surface detail. Whether it's through layering sheets, rivets, or bits I'd work at breaking up the largely flat surfaces you currently have.

I did not mean for these to be ultra detailed drop pod replicas, just something to stop all of the coke can drop pods, since these are so easy to make.

It's a great start and I applaud anyone who tries their hand at building one without instructions. Anyone can build the pods from paper craft designs, but this gives your army a more personal feeling. Keep up the good work. nothing wrong with aluminum can drop pods

Thanks!

Pretty good for a first attempt without any templates to go by. Another cheap method is using PVC pipe caps.

Anybody else remember the good ol' days of PVC pipe cap drop pods before GW made the plastic drop pod? I think I remember GW even showing off a beautiful Space Wolves army that used them in one of their catalogs or White Dwarf magazines.

Ten minutes from cereal boxes? Plus whomever builds one of these can add detail if they so choose. I do not understand the flak this poster is getting. Good for you for putting this out there. Not all of us can afford the real thing and these get the job done. Thanks

Dax415 wrote:
Ten minutes from cereal boxes? Plus whomever builds one of these can add detail if they so choose. I do not understand the flak this poster is getting. Good for you for putting this out there. Not all of us can afford the real thing and these get the job done. Thanks

You're welcome! This is exactly why I put these together, not everyone has unlimited time or money and I wanted an easy alternative to drop pod proxies like aluminum cans.

Are they somewhat of an eye sore? Sure. But are they cost efficient and accurately portray the model? Spot on. At a glance, it's a drop pod. Really, not bad for about 10 minutes. No harm in saving some money for a friendly game.

 Novelist47 wrote:
Not to be rude, but that looks cheap and quite frankly I don't like it. Maybe print out some paper-craft layouts and build from there, maybe even counts-as some crashed flyers or something, but please don't play with those.

This, honestly. If you start out boasting about how little time it took to make a proxy model you're probably doing something wrong. If you're going to scratchbuild something at least invest the effort to do a good job.

Dax415 wrote:
Ten minutes from cereal boxes? Plus whomever builds one of these can add detail if they so choose. I do not understand the flak this poster is getting. Good for you for putting this out there. Not all of us can afford the real thing and these get the job done. Thanks

The best and most useful criticism isn't always positive.

These seem like a good start, but they will need a bit of fleshing out before they look good. Sure, they're better than coke cans... but once you're making the effort to make your own anyway, with a little more effort you can improve it substantially, I bet. You certainly have the dimensions down well.


So far as those PVC & end cap drop pods that got mentioned, I love those. I made one as well and to be frank I think I like those better than the official models. The PVC endcap ones are what I visualize the Starship Trooper style, where the ship is a shotgun and the cap troopers in their pods are the shells.

tutorial or plans would be nice to se your thought processes about the modeling, could easily go into cardboard to flesh out more details.

And here is the diagram. I just want to clarify: These are NOT the main drop pods in my army. They are just quick and dirty drop pods for a friendly game, for example when you like the idea of a drop pod army but are not willing to commit 2+ hours or $30 per drop pod.

Assembly is really easy. Just make 4 of the side layouts, and use the tabs and glue to attach them together. Fold on the dotted lines. The top and bottom of the drop pod are just 1.5" by 1.5" squares. Then, attach the fins with hot glue (or however you want) in an X shape. Finally, spray paint the drop pod and glue on the chapter symbol.

I'll have to give these a try at some point. They seem fine for testing out a DP list and for friendly games.
If/when you go for more detail, try doing separate doors. Even glueing a door-shaped piece in the door areas would add a lot of detail to these.


_e

Excellent, thanks for the template, mate! I'll have to mock up a couple of these for little skirmishes.


If people haven't already gotten the point - which they haven't seemed to yet - these aren't a scratchbuild to become a regular in your army. We've already established that there are more detailed models and plans throughout the internet. These are meant to be a stand in when you don't feel like using a coke can, but don't want to quite go balls out and scratchbuild a few fancy pods.

 erick99 wrote:
I'll have to give these a try at some point. They seem fine for testing out a DP list and for friendly games.
If/when you go for more detail, try doing separate doors. Even glueing a door-shaped piece in the door areas would add a lot of detail to these.


_e

It is really easy to make opening doors. Just cut a hole in each side for the door and leave a hinge at the bottom, but make sure to spray paint the inside.





Automatically Appended Next Post:

 SweaterKittens wrote:
Excellent, thanks for the template, mate! I'll have to mock up a couple of these for little skirmishes.


If people haven't already gotten the point - which they haven't seemed to yet - these aren't a scratchbuild to become a regular in your army. We've already established that there are more detailed models and plans throughout the internet. These are meant to be a stand in when you don't feel like using a coke can, but don't want to quite go balls out and scratchbuild a few fancy pods.

Nicely worded

Looking good dude, ive seen people with the official templates make terrible looking drop pods before. They are simple and to the point, as you said for friendly games you don't want to field all the real stuff. As mentioned before you can make them pretty but for the purpose they have been made spot on.

I'm sorry to say that in a world where nerd is king a quick build will never be right for them.

Keep up the good work chap.

Absolutely fine. A lot of people in my club used cardboard drop pods for a long time. They eventually replaced them with the official model over time but they still worked perfectly fine for their purpose. As will yours.

Those look fantastic to proxy D-Pods to play with and get used to before making the model plunge. Good work sir!

They look fine, nice to see them done in the proper colors!

That being said, having cleaned, assembled, and painted 20+ GW drop pods. I don't think its fair that I have some compulsion that won't allow me to field something far cheaper and easier to build. You're obviously cheating.....

They are not bad for a temporary stand-in, but they really don't look all that good. Why not just spend the 30 bucks and the real ones that actually look good?

 Barksdale wrote:
They are not bad for a temporary stand-in, but they really don't look all that good. Why not just spend the 30 bucks and the real ones that actually look good?

Mostly because I have 4 units that need drop pods and I don't have $120 to spend on testing out a drop pod army.

I honestly think these have so much potential. Add on some rivets down the sides, some chapter specific symbols and of course some purity seals and I think these would be great.

And Barksdale, I can appreciate the sentiment but drop pods are ridiculously expensive, and can often double the cost of starting an army - especially over here; $55 for a pod, or use some cardboard and bits and buy a squad instead. I know what I'd choose.

EDIT: the only issue I can see with these is being flimsy compared to a plastic equivalent. But this could be solved simply by layering the cardboard.

For a quick job, these are fine. You can easily tell they are pods, they have chapter icons and colours, and the size looks good. I'd much rather see these coming down on me than Cola cans.

If you are looking to improve them in future, then I'd suggest grabbing some plasticard and building up some layers, it will improve both the detailing and the strength of the model. It does cost a bit more, but it's still only a fraction of the cost of GW DP.

Good stuff, and don't be deterred.