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UPDATE: Just a quick note.
I'm using this topic mostly for showing my resale finds and sometimes what I turned them into. Hopefully it will give folks new ideas on what sort of useful second-hand toys and bits to keep an eye out for.
For more in-progress details, and lots of pictures of what I do with these finds, check out my P&M blog here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/651712.page

From my early gaming years in the 90's I've been heavily influenced by the terrain built from junk and old toys of Sean Patten as shown in Necromundicon.
http://www.ironhands.com
I highly recommend plumbing every depth of that site including -but by no means limited too- the Necromundicon and Votoms campaign sections. In the past 5 years I've finally taken these techniques to heart and built alot of my own terrain primarily from junk and old toys, mostly acquired through Thrift/Resale/Charity shops.

I've made other topics to discus my creations, but this will simply be a log of sorts showing my resale discoveries with some explanation as to why I purchased a given item and what particular use it has in terrain building. If I or others have used a given toy for terrain I'll try and link to the finished project as well.

As a brief primer, I use toys for terrain for the following reasons.

1- Pre-texturing. Most toys are already packed with the kind of surface details that really make a model "pop"
2- Time saving. In addition to being pre-textured (much time not spent greeblign), many toys are already almost ready-made as terrain and much time can be saved over more traditional techniques.
3- Value. Compared to virtually any other terrain product, used toys are perhaps the most affordable terrain pieces. Most of my terrain pieces cost less than the bits that might be purchased to greeble up scratchbuilt terrain pieces. It's rare for me to spend more than $8 (usually much less) on even the rather large pieces I use as the basis for my terrain projects.

Let's start big with the Fisher Price Geo-Trax Train station. An awesome piece that is chock full of good detail though it has some kiddish stuff (candy store wall, etc) that may need to be cut or ground away. I acquired this excellent complete version recently. The existing structure is perfect for adding a roof and I'll Sci-fi it up a bit with some deadzone panels. Should be a perfect second stop for my elevated train system.

As it happens, a couple years back I found an incomplete version (missing overhead structure, one stairway, etc) and I built it into this:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2014/09/terrain-triptych-part-3-elevated-train.html

Here's another one. This is part of some Matchbox road system that I picked up last week. At first it's not much, but then you look closer at all the detail and realize that once cut apart you cuold greeble an entire building just by chopping this up. Flipping it over shows even more interesting details. I can't figure out why they'd detail a section you'd never see, but it is certainly useful.

Of course you'd have to hack it apart. That's a minor hassle for someone with a razor saw and clippers, but if you've got a steel cutting wheel for your motor tool (I highly recommend the Dremel 543 cutting/shaping wheel) it's a the work of a couple minutes.

Notice the:
-Half open door with detailing on both sides
-Small riveted access doorways on rear
-Raised curbs with detailing that would make great vertical supports for something
-"51" industrial door on back side
-Other industrial bits and bobs

Stay tuned, I've got something really big for next time..

Fisher Price Parking Garage. Need I say more?

Some version of this toy was or has-been made for over 40 years. In fact, as far as I've been able to see, the core structure has been exactly the same for all that time. The base, signs and elevator details have changed and IMHO, it's the older one's you really want (80's and before), but regardless, it's the same building. Also, thousands of these were made so they are available rather often.

I found 70's example at my resale shop for less than $10. It was a real bargain because it was a bit dirty and much of painted the detail on the masonite base had been damaged. I've since disassembled it and will begin detailing it soon for a friend of mine who is painting a Necromunda gang in exchange. It will be built without a base so as to fit in a variety of games (modern, post apoc, Scifi, etc)

Here's two examples that have been converted by other wargamers. It's really spot-on for 28mm figures and 1/43 or 1/48 scale cars.

Dakka Member Depraved uses a newer example with a molded plastic base that he uses to great effect. Scroll down a few posts to see it with 40k miniatures.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/396886.page

The classic "Combat Zone Chronicles" gives us another example from a decade ago showcasing some witty signage.
http://combatzonechronicles.net/cozo8/parku.htm

And finally another, more recent builder who turned the elevator into a stairwell.
http://gamemayhem.blogspot.com/2015/05/scenery-parking-garage-in-progress.html

These are excellent toys for terrain!

I was in a Poundstretcher today looking at cheapo picnic bowls and mugs for domes, etc but a building like the Fisher Price stuff practically just needs spraying and weathering.

I had that Fisher Price Garage when I were a lad.

Man it was one huge finger trap, Classic 70's toy!

Not quite terrain, but I have two of these from childhood that will make it into a game one day as massive conveyances.

Kilkrazy wrote:These are excellent toys for terrain!

I was in a Poundstretcher today looking at cheapo picnic bowls and mugs for domes, etc but a building like the Fisher Price stuff practically just needs spraying and weathering.

Thanks!
There's tons of options for reuse of random domes and such. If I didn't find so many broken toys, that's definitely the way I'd go.
Here's a dude doing some pretty excellent stuff, mostly with tubs, card and wires.
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?;topic=86856.0

notprop wrote:I had that Fisher Price Garage when I were a lad.

Man it was one huge finger trap, Classic 70's toy!

Not quite terrain, but I have two of these from childhood that will make it into a game one day as massive conveyances.

Spoiler:

I had one of those transporters ! Might still be in my dad's attic. It's going to be a MASSIVE vehicle. IIRC, you can fit 2 or 3 Land Raiders in there. I like the idea of massive vehicles but have't done one yet, but I think you'll like the trains I'll be showing next week...

Also, I've got a partially completed 1/35 scale model of a Dragon Wagon Tank Transporter that's been on my shelf for years. Someday it will be my Mech Recovery vehicle.

 Eilif wrote:
I had one of those transporters ! Might still be in my dad's attic. It's going to be a MASSIVE vehicle. IIRC, you can fit 2 or 3 Land Raiders in there. I like the idea of massive vehicles but have't done one yet, but I think you'll like the trains I'll be showing next week...

It's like 2 and a half Land Raiders long, I'd guess. In-universe it would be like a full platoon carrier. 50 Guardsmen and half a dozen heavy weapon teams easily fit.

If yours is in good shape and/ or has a roof the same colour as the bottom, I'd recommend selling it off and getting yourself a thrashed one cheap on ebay.

Many's the time I wished I still had my GI Joe Whale...

Anyway thanks for the link to the Iron Hand site, I remember drooling over it years ago, nice to see it again.

And this thread needs more pics of finished projects!

Always on fleabay looking out for old plastics kits that sell for nothing but can be transformed into something sci fi looking.

Always at the aquarium shop buying bargain bucket stuff like plastic plants for jungle terrain and fish tank filters for making trees.

Always at the diy shop looking at pipes and chains.

Always have a draw full of the kids Lego and plastic toys that have broken

Lord Corellia wrote:

 Eilif wrote:
I had one of those transporters ! Might still be in my dad's attic. It's going to be a MASSIVE vehicle. IIRC, you can fit 2 or 3 Land Raiders in there. I like the idea of massive vehicles but have't done one yet, but I think you'll like the trains I'll be showing next week...

It's like 2 and a half Land Raiders long, I'd guess. In-universe it would be like a full platoon carrier. 50 Guardsmen and half a dozen heavy weapon teams easily fit.

If yours is in good shape and/ or has a roof the same colour as the bottom, I'd recommend selling it off and getting yourself a thrashed one cheap on ebay.

I'm not sure it's even around anymore, but even as a kid it was a resale shop find that only had the base and the "soft" cover. I often thought about rebuilding the front roof, but never got around to it. It sure was fun to fill it with Joes though!

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Many's the time I wished I still had my GI Joe Whale...

Anyway thanks for the link to the Iron Hand site, I remember drooling over it years ago, nice to see it again.

And this thread needs more pics of finished projects!

Iron Hands is still amazing even without recent updates. If you haven't been on in a few years, I highly recommend scrolling through the two massive VOTOMs campagins.
http://www.ironhands.com/votomsminis.htm
Really awesome terrain, that unfortunately is not detailed elsewhere in the site.

I'll be using my other urban terrain Showcase thread
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/651712.page
for finished projects and linking to it and to other folks' finished examples. I think this will just be a long list of useful junk/finds/treasures. Do you think I should have this moved to P&M logs?

darkness screamer wrote:Always on fleabay looking out for old plastics kits that sell for nothing but can be transformed into something sci fi looking.

Always at the aquarium shop buying bargain bucket stuff like plastic plants for jungle terrain and fish tank filters for making trees.

Always at the diy shop looking at pipes and chains.

Always have a draw full of the kids Lego and plastic toys that have broken

Sounds like good rules to live by!

Here's today's post. A plastic mountain.

There's a wealth of toy plastic train tunnels out there, many of which have good potential for wargaming use. I've made many foam hills, but I just don't think they have the durability of plastic. They almost all end up with broken bits or dents where the paint will flake off and show the blue or pink foam underneath. Plastic is far sturdier and often just as light. At this point I've been able to source enough plastic toys that I have almost completely stopped using foam-core or insulation foam in my terrain.

This particular example is from a KidKraft wooden Brio-compatible train set. Specifically the "60 pc Train set" https://www.kidkraft.com/60-piece-train-set-17981.html which happens to have some other bits that would be useful for toybashing. I only found the mountain though. It's notable for considerable size and large flat areas and even though it has a piece of track molded on the top, that's easily covered with plaster or -in my case- actual cement.

The finished wargame-able result can be viewed here.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/651712.page#8267863

fantastic idea for a thread.

Thanks!

And now for today's installment, the Creeply Crawlers Bug Maker! This seems relatively common and I've seen it in resale shops a couple of times since I bought mine.

This is one of my favorite finds. I think I may have heard it mentioned on another site as possible terrain, but I think I'm the first to actually do something with it. It's the perfect example of a piece that is covered in in excellent detail and is almost ready-made terrain, if one can just look past it's intended purpose. Behind a kids molding toy likes an amazing piece of sci-fi industrial scenery!

You can see what I did with one simply by removing the base and applying little more than the contents of a Mantic accessory sprue and a couple other bits.


One other trick to share. Toys often have annoying holes for the screws that hold them together. Sometimes you can leave them as vents or somesuch, but when they need to go away I've found two ways to quickly hide these.
1-Use a hole punch to punch out circles of blister packaging and glue them over the holes. There are several of these in the pics above.
2-A bit of plaster. I use this when the hole is over a more curved or complex detail bit. I usually can't sculpt it to match perfectly, but in this case it's better than a punched circle and industrial terrain is usually dented up anyway. You can see this on one of the coiled silver pipes above.

All right, Here's the next installment. I realize we've already had the classic Fisher Price Little People Garage, but here's another parking garage toy.
The "Fast Lane Street Linx Parking Garage".
http://www.toysrus.com/buy/race-tracks-play-sets/fast-lane-street-linx-parking-garage-5f622db-32715246


Whereas the Fisher Price Garage, is pretty clearly always going to be a Parking Garage, this piece is just oozing with potential. The key is to ignore the extraneous bits and look at the core piece. You've got an urban/industrial support system and 3 tiers of space too add too. All the base work is done for you, you just have to customize. It could be a multi-tier chemical plant, A building under construction, the basis for a Hab block, a section of underhive, etc, etc...

I happened across this piece and like so many similar finds, it was just the core structure without the ramps, roads, accessories, etc. That was really all I needed though and I built it into a building under construction that also doubles as a section of underhive for my necromunda games.

More pics and description here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/612801.page?userfilterid=24779

Some really good stuff here! I'm always a fan of reusing stuff. I have 5 bins full of random old toys and plastic bits then a tower of drawers beside that waiting to go into whatever the next project is. Most recently I used the parts from a kid-friendly fire extinguisher for a piece of terrain.


Turned out pretty well:



I think those of us who build a lot of terrain end up with a disease that causes us to impulsively pick up bits of trash and twigs and stone and so on "just in case".

Keep up the good work and posts!

Cool. I love seeing old brightly coloured toys become fantastic looking grim dark terrain!

EDC

Thanks Evilcheese!

TerrainWalker, I love that piece!
I definitely have the disease. My workspace is un-useable due to piles of old toys. Time to organize....

Fisher Price Parking Garage. Need I say more?

Good god, my Dad just rooted this out a month ago.
However it did not see my cutting tools, went to my niece instead

Great thread btw.

Wow, I really need to get my old toys out...

Here's today's find. "Tony Hawk Circuit Boards"
It's a skatepark toy system based around an industrial theme and having similar metrics (3.5"x3.5" squares) as Deadzone terrain and classic Necromunda bulkheads. Here's an example of one of the sets.



Yesterday I happend across two of the rectangle sections (of the style pictured above attached to a ramp section) at my local resale shop for fifty cents each! The plastic appears to be hard HIPS, or ABS. The orange floors can be separated and flipped over to hide the Tony Hawk logo. I've cut the end supports out of one to make a tunnel and two of the side supports out of another to make a sort of garage. No paint yet.

I'll be looking out for more of these. I don't have any of the ramp sections, but with the ramp itself removed and placed on the side of a building it'd make an awesome support for an industrial walkway. There are also some cool stair units and other potentially useful sections in the product line.

I have some of the earlier "Tech Deck" brand skatepark modules and they are similarly sized and useful, but they don't have the great industrial/rivet style detailing that these do.

Nice!

I found this on eBay the other day: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252380138393?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


A little pricey, but a gold mine nonetheless

That Skate ramp has alot of potential, looking forward to seeing what you produce.

EDC

 TerrainWalker wrote:
Nice!

I found this on eBay the other day: http://www.ebay.com/itm/252380138393?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


A little pricey, but a gold mine nonetheless

The hot wheels road system can be really useful. for wargaming. Even though it's for hot wheels, the double-wide streets can work for some 28mm. I saw it used in some of the IronHands.com Votoms campaign reports to good effect.

I have some, but my son claimed dibs on it. That lot above would be quite a bargain if someone lived close enough to pick up in person.

For today's piece, I give you the Hot Wheels Power Charger!

Similar Hot wheels car launchers have come in a number of designs and names over the year, but they are mostly similar in that they have a pathway through the middle and come in an industrial looking body.
Here's what they looked like when new.


Like many of my other favorite pieces, they require almost no greebling. Here's what mine looked like before painting.

All I did was:
-Open them up and take out all the gears and such
-Covered the openings inside the trench with some mesh
-Covered the roadway with a bit of diamondplate plastic
-covered the on-off switch with two random bits.

The final result is this:


Lots more pics here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2014/08/terrain-triptych-part-2-power-station.html

An in-progress, pre-paint constuction post covering this, the train station and the Fast Lane Parking Garage can be seen here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2014/08/toy-bashing-urban-terrain.html

Lastly, here's another, earlier version of the charger (not sure what it's officially called) that I also found in a resale shop.

Not as nicely detailed as the other, but still a very nice starting point and it's probably going to be a bit easier to put figures on top of.

Looks like I let this topic slip a bit, but here's today's installment.

Thomas and Friends Take-and-Play Buildings.

Sodor Shipping


Sodor Oil


These are from a few years back. The current range in stores isn't as suitable but these older ones are quite common used and scale up pretty well for 28mm. They may even be cheap enough to make them worth buying from ebay. There are a couple others that would work especially well including the Engine Wash, Coal Loader and Engine Works. Depending on what your needs are, they almost be used as-is with a few minor modifications and a coat of paint.

Of course I chose to modify mine a bit more heavily...


More pictures and a converted Geo-Trax building here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2015/07/terrain-for-mattias-part-1-negotiation.html

That's fantastic repurposing. I regret selling all my lads Thomas toys now after he'd out grown playing with them (he's an x-box fanatic now...)... We had that set and many others that would have made perfect terrain pieces !

Welp! Looks like I need to raid my local Op Shops for toys!

Great work

Thanks Blimey and Ruglud,
Glad you folks liked them.

We gave away my son's Take-n-Play Thomas also, but I kept the good bits for myself! I raid his toys less often than you might think though. I usually give him the good stuff and keep the broken and oddities for terrain use.

Today s Toybashing find is ERTL Farm buildings.

These have been made in a variety of forms over the years and are still made today. The most usefull types are the non-barn outbuildings which have a very nice industrial park look to them.
Sometimes they are sold just as "ERTL" sometimes as "ERTL Farm Country"
One of the most useful ones that is the "Engine Shed and Lean-To".

A similar set without the Lean-To is currently available if you want to pay retail
http://www.3000toys.com/ERTL-John-Deere-70-Piece-Farm-Playset/sku/ERTL46276
but there are alot of others as well. Most share the same modular assembly system so they can be combined in various ways. They are made of styrene so can be easily glued and modified. Also, they are molded to represent metal siding and roofs so they have lots of ridges that look wonderful when drybrushed.

I found a set that was similar to the sets above, but not quite the same. I made 4 buildings out of it. Pre-paint pics, construction tips and final versions can be seen here.
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/10/quick-and-easy-28mm-warehouses-from.html
ERTL calls them 1/64 but it's works great for 28mm (aprox 1/56) The only give-away is some small molded on doors that can easily be covered over or just ignored.

Here's an overall shot of the 4 I made and a converted Walthers HO train engine shed with 1/48 cars and 28mm figs for scale.

A brief diversion. Here's a resale find that is not entirely terrain related, but still gaming related and quite common.

Board games...
Hear me out, board games are an excellent source of counters and boards for other games.

Lots of war games require counters of one sort and I envied my friends set of colored cubes that he uses for many games. Then I came across this for $1.99

It's a 1963 copy of RISK. I wouldn't normally break up a vintage game like this, but the box was damaged, the dice weren't original and the cards and most of the plastic token boxes were missing. However it did have a very nice set of painted wooden cubes. Enough to fill this box and another compartment of oblong wooden markers in the same colors!

Though I said it's not terrain, the truth is that these actually could have dozens of uses in terrain building.

It also has the charming 60's board that looks more like a geography game than a military game. Note the very happy dolphins and the sailor cap topped whale! It's got just the right amoun of kitch so I'll probably hang it on my wall. The pic below is not mine. Mine is in much better condition.


Of course as well as abstract tokens, board games can also be great sources of miniatures (Battlemasters, Heroquest, etc...) more detailed tokens that can even be minis at small scale (Other Risk games, Axis and Allies, Shogun, etc...) and dice, even the boards themselves are useful. Boardgame cardboard is thick, multi-layered, and great for basing or building terrain. It is also great for making your own board games. Here's 3 quarters of a Trivial Pursuit board that I glued "Gaming Paper" hex paper (basically thin wrapping paper) too , flecked on a bit of white paint and spray varnished for a nice sturdy spaceship board. The odd size is because it's an add-on to another similar board made from an Axis and Allies mapboard.