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So here's a bit of found item terrain for you, looking for advice to flesh it out and finish it up.




Plague 3rd gen for scale, he's not massively different in height from a space marine, though probably a bit taller.

What does this need? Some kind of pipes or tubes maybe? A control panel? A port or other means of access for filling/removing the contents? Something else? What could I use to make this look more complete? I sprayed it to this point 'cause it looked funny with the battlezone bits just tacked on It is meant to go along with the kind of terrain nearby in the pictures.

Thanks for looking, if you do have a good suggestion for something to add, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to execute it too

Looking good so far. Maybe add a few small pipes, on the top and some kind of control console or box that would supposedly house the electronics or the pump. Maybe also add a nice wheel for a shut off valve. Or you could make a larger pipe coming out the top and doing a 180 to go back into the ground.

Definitely add some labels when you paint it. I've always been a fan of the almost unnecessary "No Smoking" written across the giant oil silos if you were going for something hazardous. Water towers always have some cute icon of the area like a bird or an orange or just the name of the town.

Post what you end up doing!

Get it metalliced up then a shed load of rust, wear and general grime. Salt method the paint/rust maybe. I love worn down industrial terrain. And yeah some hazard signs.. Toxic/flammable/explosive/nuclear?!

Oooh, thanks guys, Both of you have given me some food for thought, getting some direction in my mind. Of course I'll post the finished product. Now to decide if I want to paint the whole thing gunmetal, or paint it grey like the buildings with large patches of exposed metal after the gray paint wore off which would be in turn covered with large patches of rust... Also to track down a control console and maybe a shut-off valve and some pipes to dry fit.

Starting to think maybe hazard signs like toxic waste, or perhaps rocket fuel

Right now, the tank looks 'off' because it has no seams or rivets or panels. Tanks that big will generally have some of at least one of those. A big tank isn't made in one part like a smaller container. If you can add that with GS or plasticard, it will both break up the outline of the model, and make it look more appropriately scaled.


Once you get it painted, bird droppings streaking from the top would also make it look grimy and unkempt.

Hmm, not a bad idea at all... Will have to look into some rivet techniques, I don't mind adding them but I need to use something a little bigger than what I usually do or I'll be at it all day.

I'm kind of going for something quick, but you are right, it's too flat and smooth for the most part.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So here are the suggestions so far (well, before rivets) incorporated to the best of my abilities:





So we're coming along. I may look into these rivets and then call it 'good enough' after they're down. I also now have plans to include a fence with a gate to expand this into a 6x6" terrain piece for use in whichever game. The signboard was necessary, in the corporation controlled worlds of the Warpath/Deadzone/Dreadball universe ad-space is probably worth more than human life!

The little square on the control panel will receive a tiny printed bit of paper with some kind of little screen going on. The two vertical slits will just get hand painted to show two important levels (pressure, and fill level maybe?) being tracked.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys, it's been quite helplful!

Looking great.

Ideas.

Outflow pipes need to be close to the bottom.

Access hatches.

Simple visible filler gauge.

Banding around the thing. Just some card strips, I can't believe I am saying this, but for your aesthetic I would go easy on the rivets.

Add platforms for the access hatches, with one near-ish the top, just little balconies. Ideal for snipers in game.

Sorry just ideas.

Looking forward to what ever you do.

Ideas are awesome, all shall be considered!

How about a railing up top? If you can get some 1/2" hardware cloth (welded galvanized steel square mesh), you could easily cut two strips to run from either side of the ladder to the billboard. 1/2" is great for 28mm scratchbuilders to have around, anyway, as it works for both railings and ladders, depending on how it's trimmed.

Cut flush above two horizontal wires and you get railing like this:
TTTTTTT

Cut in the middle on either side of a parallel pair and you get this:
#########
Fold the excess on the edges down 90 degrees and you've got a steel standoff ladder, ready to be tacked on to any vertical surface.

Graffitis! Like <bla bla> territory keep out! or something.

@Oadie YES! That's what I'm talking about. I knew there was a good/easy way to get a solid railing around it but I was drawing a blank. I've been working on minis and scenery kits for too long I will have to look into getting some of that stuff, it seems pretty versatile. Thanks!

@Erik_Morkai That isn't a bad idea, I'll have to see how much bare space I have left after I implement all of the warning labels and official posters and such. Could certainly work something in, maybe the Dreadball Xtreme logo

Well it's been almost two weeks, I bet you guys thought I forgot all about this thing. Fortunately, I did not. I just took a break to paint another Deadzone Marauder, and generally be slow about things due to the increasing ambient temperature.

But I did manage to get the piece finished today. Thanks to everyone who gave criticism and advice, I used some of it and filed away the rest for future projects I decided against any rivets, bands, or anything fancy like that since I wanted this to be a fairly quick piece. The coffee container also had its own mold lines which I've taken to viewing as the seams an actual container would have. The posters and warning signs were scavenged from the internet, a few come from compilations and a few were found solo. The smoking alien billboard was a rough paintbrush hack job consisting of an old Joe Camel image, a stock photo of the Mantic DZ Sorak, and so on. Once I get around to figuring out the GIMP, I may replace the billboard. The photos don't show the name at the top well, it's nicstix, silly future name for cigarettes.

Ok right pictures:


wip after the airbrushing


wip after the dipping


Slightly blurry final shot of the front


Sorak Steve says nicstix are better than sex!









And some fun shots with some minis:







This Sorak is not amused. He's preparing to demo charge the offensive billboard.

I'm gonna do a little practice on scraps first, but I still plan to put a little tagging on this piece. Maybe the logo for Mantic's Dreadball Xtreme will get tagged onto one of the empty spots.

I'm pretty happy with the results. This didn't really take terribly long to make and paint, it looks gritty and run-down. It's got convincing railing (excellent tip, already thinking up new projects specifically to use the hardware cloth ), a serviceable ladder, meaningful warning signs and posters, and so on. I'm gonna touch up the light to look a bit more like glass when I get to where I'm doing a round of such detail work on my accumulating terrain pieces. I'm going to make a bit of a fence to go with this though I'm making it separately so it can be used with different pieces on a whim. Not sure if I'll get around to that terribly soon, but if I do before the threadomancy threshold, I'll dump the shots in this post. Pretty much everything I'm working on will show up in my P&M BLOG, so feel free to have a look.

That's come out awesome Grim. Awesome weathering and nice use of decals.

Thanks . I'm happy with it in terms of the amount of time required to get it where it is. I should be able to complete a decent amount of scenery with a similar time investment.

Looks amazing, great job.

Thanks!

Haha, that's awesome. Nicely done.

Well, I said I would post any further found item terrain if I came up with something before the threadomancy threshold... so I'm back with some pill sorters turned dumpsters. This will be nothing new to folks following along with my P&M blog, but a lot of people don't do that so here's another chance to share pictures First, a couple of atmospheric shots of the chemical tank now that it's had a little blood added:


Somebody didn't make it up the ladder...


Looks like they wouldn't have been safe anyway.

And now these:



Completed with blood and rust.


A shot before the dipping, rusting, and bloodifying. Gives a better sense of scale and usefulness, I think.


And their humble beginnings. Hate to think some poor individuals aren't getting their meds straight since I bought pill sorters they could have been using... but these toy soldiers may DIE without proper cover!

Your excellent use of these has caused a massive sales boost to these containers. Several of us have gone and bought. They look perfect.

Startin trends, its a thing I do. Well, not really . But several varieties of them are just about right, and can come pretty cheap. Their success has me looking at everything twice now, and visiting the dollar store frequently in hopes of more finds.