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If anyone is interested, I've got a log of my gaming-terrain-suitable resale shop toy finds here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/688498.page
Alot of it is stuff that is no longer produced, but it might be good for inspiration and it has alot of links to finished products using toys.

 bantha_beast wrote:
Looking for the 'arvus lighter' i ran across this from Fisher Price.

Spoiler:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fisher-Price-Imaginext-Alpha-Walker-Dinosaur-Robot-Action-Figure-Play-set-/401086169746?hash=item5d62994292:g:faQAAOSwT5tWQcsF

Would be a good start for some sort of techno war mammoth or something orky. Or as a large patlabour type mech for your anime inspired sci fi skirmish game.

And it can actually walk!!

I really like that. Reminds me alot of the old Void 1.1 Tiger.
http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Products/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=217_218_42
Swap the tusks and horns for guns, cover the red standing spot and cut down the balcony and top and you'd be ready to go.

I've got a boat from this toiy series (Looks kind of like a landing craft) that I hope to convert some day.

Girder and panel is a nice system. A few things to note.

1)It's made of polypropylene so superglue or epoxy is necessary for gluing and basing and Krylon Fusion and Camo paints are by far the best I've found for priming.

2) It can function in different scales depending on what panels you use. The picture that Grump posted above shows alot of panels that are much closer to 28mm than HO. However, some of the power city panels have doors that are somewhere between to HO (1/87) and 1/64

3) The power city structures do not provide enough panels to cover all the sides, but they are just paper so you can easily copy and print as many as you want.

I did a very brief review of the stuff and it's measurements here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2014/08/terrain-triptych-part-2-power-station.html

And here's a building where I used it.

http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2014/09/more-terrain-small-chem-plant.html

That Tomica stuff is pretty cool!

I've ordered a fair number of Plarail items from HLJ and Hobbysearch for my son's Thomas trains which were started from the blue Tomica track system that has since been replaced in the USA with different track.

Maybe it's time to start looking at the rest of the Tomy/Tomica line.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Thomas, ug.

We have 3 different Thomas sets in different scales and mediums, wood, Tomy Prarail and not-Legos.

Japanese kids' magazines come packaged with DVDs of cartoon samplers including tons of ads of course. Kyoto Secunda Prime studies Prarail commercials and pamphlets the way I used to study Star Wars and GI Joe toy catalogs. I remember having dreams about building a whole city out of SW playsets.

DNA huh.

Ha!

We managed to keep it to two types Tomy Plarail and the die cast metal ones. I convinced him to give the metal ones away to friends with younger kids but I kind of like the Plarail system. He's already begun to leave the Thomas engines asside and use the 3 Japanese style "real" trains I bought him and the PlaRail system is so large with such cool options. Far better than the playset based stuff that Fisher price now makes here in the USA where the Trains are still rougly PlaRail compatible but the track system is completely different.

Good suggestions. I've got alot of quite small scaled matchbox vehicles that I've grabbed as civilian vehicles for my 10mm stuff. Sometimes they even have a scale on the bottom. I should really post some pics of them.

Here's some matchbox choppers I found that look great for 10mm and might pass as 15mm
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/501554.page

The ATAT Looks like it might actually be near-perfectly scaled for 28mm. I'm not going to pay that, but if someone were running a 28mm SW convention game it might be worth it.

For wargaming, the real SW toy gems are in the Micro Machines and Hot Wheels miniature line. Lots of ships there that -depending on the model- might scale well for X-Wing. With almost every notable vehicle being available in two different scales, you're very likely to find a close match scale-wise.

If you want to do 28mm, check out the Revel model kits. They vary in size and scale, but there are quite a few that are close enough to 28mm to look good as scenery on the table.

Dang, I want that copter! Just the perfect amount of realism and sci-fi mixed.

I got word on another forum that this older snap-tite kit is about to be re-released.

Unlike the newer, smaller, and less detailed Snap-tite AT-ATC, the AT-AT is 1/53 and measures over a foot tall!

Some folks are selling NOS examples from years ago here.
https://www.amazon.com/Revell-AT-AT-Imperial-Walker-Snaptite/dp/B001MDV1MK
Prices are way too high right now, but there's some info about the size. Based on the price of other models, this one may go for less than $50 if it gets released in the states!

Went ahead and ordered one of the "SWAT" cargo copters. It's only 9 bucks from Walmart with free in-store pickup. Too good to pass up.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
post some scale shots eilif if you wouldnt mind

I'll definitely do so!

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Eilif wrote:

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
post some scale shots eilif if you wouldnt mind

I'll definitely do so!

The chopper I've actually seen in the store. It's big enough for 40k, though a bit undersized from what it should be (if that makes sense). At 28mm it works as a smallish cargo chopper carrying a bike or two or 10 men, while at 15mm or 10mm it would work best.

Good to know. That actually sounds perfect to me. I won't be using it for 40k, but for my mech attack games. IMHO, aircraft need to be smaller-than-scale or chibi-in-proportion to work in 28mm or they usually end up way too big. A properly scaled Skycrane would take up a quarter of the table. It's the same reason I think that trains compressed for 0-27 curves work better than true scale "0" trains.*

I'll do a full review when it comes in. It really doesn't look like there's much to be done to it to make it sci-fi ready.


*Speaking of which I should have an update on the sci-fi train soon....

Anyone need some ALIENS?
https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Select-Colonial-Marines-Builder/dp/B015R6PUVK
It's basically the ALIEN version of plastic army men. 17 aliens and 18 Colonial Marines for $15 bucks.

The Marines are around 1/32 but the aliens look right -if a bit chunky- for 28mm.

THere's a good review of them by INL gameshere:
http://www.inlgames.com/alien.htm
From which I stole the pics above.
Being soft plastic, they'll have to be cleaned really well and some plastic-spcific spray paint would be advised as a base coat, but even if you have no use for the marines, less than a buck each for ALIENS is pretty good and they come in 5 different poses!

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Then there's a battle suit

https://www.amazon.com/Corps-Elite-EXO-Battle-action-figure/dp/B0173VM0LK/ref=pd_sbs_21_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HNG1CEHR2CZRDP6CPXPT



Probably about Knight sized

I've seen alot of "the corps " stuff around here. Generally they're way too outsized or cartoony to work well with 28mm, but the Sub and Dual Rotor Chopper do have potential for spacecraft.

Most interesting to me, that Exo suit could be quite good with a bit of modification to the legs (either mechanisms or just some plasticard to cover it up. How tall is a Knight? The Exo suit probably isn't bigger than 6 inches tall.. Looks like it can be found for a bit cheaper if you shop around and there is at least one other Torso sculpt that looks pretty cool.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172440770048?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

That plane reminds me of the Timmee Toy Hercules I had as a kid. A bit too big as a C-130, but could be a passable as a C-5 Galaxy with propellers...
https://timmeeusa.com/products/jl-timmee-c130-hercules-upc?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=20025076929&gclid=CM2SibSI79ACFQ86gQodbTIMaQ

The snap-fit 1:53 AT-AT is avaialble now, though it's about 100 bucks.
https://www.amazon.com/Revell-06715-Star-Wars-AT-AT/dp/B01D4QFVC8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504491492&sr=8-1&keywords=1%3A53+at+at

It's a reissue of an older kit, but it's a pretty good looking set. I'm not sure if it's a regular release in the US and the price is solid, or if it's an import and a US release would be lower in price

I just picked this up Gryffindor tower playset yesterday.


http://metalsdiecast.com/portfolio-item/nano-scene-harry-potter-gryffindor-tower/

It was only $25 at WalMart.
It's essentially one sided, but has alot of potential for placement in the corner of a small Frostgrave or Mordheim board or for an RPG encounter.
I'll do up a proper review of it this week. Also wouldn't be a bad way to display some fantasy figs.

It's scaled for the $1 Nano Metalfigs which are about 38mm sole-to-eye and though the figures are not great on detail they would be fine for some cheap, light wargaming.
Already did a review of them here:
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2017/08/02/cheapskate-gaming-1-harry-potter-and-superhero-nano-metalfigs/

Kid_Kyoto wrote:That does look useful, how bad is the back? Would paint cover the unfinished nature?

Look forward to seeing it with some figures for scale.

Unfortunatley it's half-hollow plastic. I'll take lots of pics when I do my blog review.

As an estimated scale comparison, the figs in this picture with their thin bases are just a smidge taller than heroclix on their bases.

Anpu-adom wrote:Glue 4 of them together? Leave out a wall or two on each side?

possible, but the two walls are different sizes. Maybe with some filling. It really is best I think as a corner of a table or with an entire second wall built behind it.

One thing though is that it is really sturdy. The pieces fit together so nicely and snap so tight that I don't think I could take it apart without breaking it a bit.

 Easy E wrote:
That is a good find.

Not a toy, but for an aquarium....



and



I have seen them in person and they are the perfect scale for 28mm figures. Good for Frostgrave, Of Gods and Mortals, Song of Blades and Heroes, etc, etc.

Those are great. We used that same round piece s a few years back for a Song of Blades and Heroes game.
Here's the batrep that one of our members did in a narrative style.
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2014/05/15/the-beacon-of-raggid-holf-song-of/
At least two other pieces of aquarium terrain in there too.

Finally got my reviews up for the Harry Potter
Gryffindor Tower https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2017/10/09/review-harry-potter-hogwarts-fun/
and 20 figure pack. https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2017/12/11/harry-potter-nano-metalfigs-update-20-pack-and-next-releases/

Really fun and affordable stuff for those wanting to try HP wargaming and willing to do it in 38mm (aprox 1/43).

AndrewGPaul wrote:There are LEGO wargaming rules floating about the Internet already.

There are, but if it's Brikwars you're talking about, they're more fun to read than to actually play. I've had alot more fun using Song of Blades and Heroes for LEGO battles.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Anyone need Necromunda Walkways?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSPCVWL/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A356B9SKXB6KHX



8" long, 3" wide, so too narrow for most 40k vehicles (great for Epic!) but decent enough for infantry. 2 for $10.

Nice.
I have one or two of those. They originated in army men playsets. They're nice, but they are made of polyurethane so be sure to use some krylon camo (with "fusion") to prime them.

 Skirmish Wargames wrote:
Just spent a whopping $3.50 at Goodwill for these bad boys. Looking forward to breaking them down into component parts and repurposing into grungy wargaming terrain.

Excellent finds! I recognize the launcher but what are the other two?

If you need some inspiration for what do do with the power launcher, here's what I did with a very similar example.

https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/2014/08/30/terrain-triptych-part-2-power-station/



Making terrain from junk toys is probably my favorite part of this hobby.

Cool blog by the way. My club has a very similar approach to wargaming.

 Skirmish Wargames wrote:
Your repurposed Hot Wheels launcher is crazy good. Thanks for the inspiration.

The big purple and orange thing I got at Good Will is actually a ShrinkyDink oven. The blue robot is marked Tomy and Disney (in very small type), but that's all I know about it.

Thanks for the info. Two more things to look out for at Goodwill!

 porkuslime wrote:
I wonder what scale those robots, monsters and fairies are in...

Hey Porkuslime, long time no see!

I wonder also. $17 is probably a good deal, but just a bit outside of the impluse buy range for me. If anyone does pick these up I'd love to see some scale shots. Especially the robots, I'm loving that turtlebot!

Kalamadea
That SW Trainer/Building is kind of amazing. I'm going to look around here for one. My kids can wear the headsets and run around with their lightsabers.

Red Harvest,
The fairy/pony set for playing fairy meat is actually a pretty brilliant idea. I seem to remember someone here or TMP or LeadAd was asking about Fairy Meat last year and though the rules are available the figures are OOP.

'Kyoto,
Thanks for that. That does make the robots bit more tempting.

There are some usefull toys in the Power Ranger lines. Two of which I'm at-this-time finishing turning into spacecraft for an Adepticon "Mech Attack" Scenario.

"Mission Response Vehicle"

More pics here:
http://linearranger.com/OverdriveToys/OOToy18.htm

It's on OOP toy, and you have to scratch a roof of some kind for the middle cargo area but you can find used ones for around $35 shipped on ebay.

Pyramidas.

Review and pics here:
http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/deluxe_pyramidas_carrier_zord
Wierd looking I know but imagine it without a head lying on it's back. In that position it has a nice downward swept nose awesome starting point for a big blocky spacecraft or sci-fi bunker. As-is incomplete versions on ebay go for about the same price as the Response Vehicle.

I'll post finished pics to my blog and project log after Adepticon, but for now let your imagination run wild...

If anyone is interested I put up the first post about my most recent conversions of toys into 28mm spacecraft.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/120/651712.page#9884265

 Easy E wrote:
This maybe the wrong place, but here are a couple of rulesets that use Toys as the main gaming components.

Gaslands- Osprey
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/12/review-gaslands-osprey-games.html

Total CARnage- Blood and Spectacles
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/04/total-carnage-battle-report-killem-all.html

Fairy Meat-
https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Meat-Miniatures-Scott-Leaton/dp/188918215X

Green Army Men: Plastic Men, Steel Resolve- Blood and Spectacles
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2018/03/wargame-design-green-army-men-plastic.html

Brikwars-
http://brikwars.com/rules/2010/cover.htm

Free Wargames using Army Men-
http://freewargamesrules.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Search?query=Green+Army+Men

Are there others you guys can think of? I am sure I missed tons!

Those are some very good suggestions. For toy gaming I often recommend looking at simple wargames that are well proven even if they aren't listed for "toys". As an example, Brikwars is designed fo LEGO and is a really funny read. However in play it is rather klunky. Song of Blades and Heroes on the other hand is written for miniatures but is an excellent choice for skirmish gaming with LEGO which I've done on a couple occasions.

-If you have Robot toys, Mech Attack is a good option. http://armorgridgames.blogspot.com
-The Panzer 8 series of free games are wonerfully simple and versions exist for many different genres.

Anyone looking at any kind of toy gaming needs to look at Sean Patten's free wargame rules at http://www.ironhands.com (aka Necromunicon) They are almost all quite simple and many blur the lines between games created for toys and games created for simple wargaming He's got games for
-Star Wars Galactic Heroes (or any other kind of SW toys)
-Gundam
-Votoms
-Toy Cars
-Spaceships
-and others...

I've used the "Starcrashers" rules to play with toy spacecraft several times with my son and we've really enjoyed it.

 Skirmish Wargames wrote:


Halo Nano MetalFigs (plus Desert Batman with a rifle). Just 97 cents apiece at the local Walmart vs. $6 apiece on Amazon. (Huh? Weird.)

Very cool to see Halo getting a Nano line. I had no idea there was such a thing! No surprise about the prices though the same thing happened with all the other Nano Metalfigs lines. One buck each at Target or Walmart (Walmart seems to have a deal to get them a couple months before anyone else) and 4-6 bucks or more at various resellers.

I have a bunch of the Harry Potter Nano Metal figs that I hope to game with some day. Here's a trio of reviews I did on the figs and playset with comparison shots to wargaming figs.
https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/tag/harry-potter/

Could you give us a sole to eye measurement on the Nanos? The HP figs were pretty solidly 38mm which made them bigger than most figures, but the line is big enough that you don't necessarily need them to compatible with other lines and you could also fudge it a bit with some 34m+ miniatures lines. If the Halo figs are that height it would probably be just fine as you expect guys in futuristic armor to be a bit bigger than average.

A height on a couple of the transformers would be cool too if you can.

Thanks so much for that compairson shot and measurement!
I was ok with the HP figs being big but if theHalo figs are 38-40mm I'll probably skip them as all my sci-fi figs are aroun 28-30mm. Still it's a cool toy at a good pricepoint and there's alot of potential there for wargaming with kids. A batch of Halo Metalfigs and a bag of plastic aliens and you've got a wargame!

Robots look look to be in the 60-80mm range. I haven't been following the movies, but the new style of transformers look pretty cool even perhaps as non-transformer battlemechs. I may keep an eye out for that at resale shops.

 JoeRugby wrote:

 Eilif wrote:
Thanks so much for that compairson shot and measurement!
I was ok with the HP figs being big but if theHalo figs are 38-40mm I'll probably skip them as all my sci-fi figs are aroun 28-30mm. Still it's a cool toy at a good pricepoint and there's alot of potential there for wargaming with kids. A batch of Halo Metalfigs and a bag of plastic aliens and you've got a wargame!

Robots look look to be in the 60-80mm range. I haven't been following the movies, but the new style of transformers look pretty cool even perhaps as non-transformer battlemechs. I may keep an eye out for that at resale shops.

If the halo Spartans are 38mm tall they would be spot on for 7 foot tall supersoldiers to fit in with your 28-30mm minis.

( 28-30mm scale being about 1/56, and 7ft in 1/56 is 38.2mm)

Good Point. I didn't realize that HALO soldiers are so tall.

Not seeing your picture...

chromedog wrote:Anyone mention the "Tech deck" toy skateboard terrain yet?

I use it on my infinity table. Got a stack of it when a local chain store had a clearance sale (2 for 1) and they were marked down, too.



The boxes are stackable storage boxes I got from a $2 shop ($2 for 6 of them).

I have some of the Tony Hawk "Circuit Boards" version which is similar but has a metal look for the walls that is VERY necromunda. I think I showed some earlier in this thread. I'm using some right now on a comission job.

I have some of the Tech Dech stuff but haven't used it yet. Looking at how you have it, I might stop over thinking it and just give it a quick-paint job. It looks great on your table!

Azazelx wrote:Has anyone tried these out to see how they scale to our typical models?
https://www.amazon.com/BMC-Bombed-French-Farm-House/dp/B000ST0OVS/ref=lp_17002099011_1_12?srs=17002099011&ie=UTF8&qid=1527139123&sr=8-12

I have one, it' is BIG.
If you cut one centimeter off the bottom ege and moved the second story floor up about a cm it might work. Would probably still look big, but if you glued a 28mm'ish lattice over the big windows to scale it down a bit it could probably pass as a ruin of a grander sort of home that might have very tall ceilings.

That Thunderbird toy is 16 inches long. That might not be far off for full on 28mm!

I'm downsizing my toybashing junk but man is that tempting!