Firestorm Armada Dollar Tree Scratchbuilt Freighter

Last week I wrote about a 6mm sci-fi terrain piece I made using handgrenade squirt-'gun' party favors that I had bought on a recent trip to the local Dollar Tree store. Today I am gong to show a Firestorm Armada scale freighter I made using the these same party favor grenades. Shown below with a US quarter for scale

For the hull, I used the handgrenade pretty much straight out of the package. I removed the squirter handle and the cap that inserts in the water well. Then, once again, I raided the bits box to get suitable spaceship 'looking' parts.

The exhaust is a pony bead glued to a goblin shield. The bridge is the front end of a Space Marine bolter. The laser port is a seed bead. The top tower is the water well cap (turned around and covering the hole it went in.). And the two side fins are the muzzles off of Kroot rifles.

Once all the parts were glued on I sprayed the model with black primer. It is shown below next to a Firestorm Armada Sorylian frigate to give a sense of scale.

I then painted the model. I first gave the whole thing a coat of dark navy blue, then painted it with GW Shadow Gray. I then washed it with dark blue ink, and then drybrushed highlights with Duncan Decorator Acrylics Slate Blue. the final touches were to pick out some detail in metallics and then apply a couple decals. The results are shown below, again with a FA Sorylian frigate for scale.

6mm Science Fiction Temporary Encampment

Whenever I go to the Dollar Tree store, one of my favorite places to browse is the Party Favor section. There is almost always some interesting pack of small disposable toys that inspire me by their shape. On my trip earlier this week, I discovered these small squirt-'gun' style hand grenades, shown below with a US quarter for scale.


When I first saw these, I noticed that a number of packages of them had ones that had split into their two halves simply through the rigors of shipping from China. I noticed how a grenade half looked a lot like a Quonset hut, and I began to get the idea that they might make the basis for a neat Sci-Fi building. I assumed that they would be easy to divide into halves with a hobby knife at home since a few had divided on their own already.

My hopes were realised and the hard plastic grenades split apart with a modicum of effort by placing a hobby knife in the seam and hitting it gently with a small hammer. They must have been assembled with small quantities of cheap glue. In the picture above and below, you can see the halves glued to a standard sized CD. I have added some plastic bits from the bits box to create various sensors, and communications arrays.

My next step was to spray the piece with black primer. Again shown with a US quarter below.

Then I painted the buildings with progressively lighter shades of khaki drybrushing.
Shown below with some 6mm Epic Eldar figures (unpainted) for scale.

And finally I terrained the base using purple sand and various clumps of foliage. Again shown below with 6mm Epic Eldar figures.

This was a quick and simple project that I think most folks could do. I completed it in a day, with the longest periods of time being the waiting for the glue and paint to dry.

This Month's Painting

August turned out to be a slow painting time for me. I only got a handful of figures done. There just always seemed to be something else going on.

I've been working mainly on Kroot/Parrotmen for my Fall-In Venus game but I did, however, manage to get a few other things done too.

First up is my first foray into a tentative 'Lacepunk' project. This is a Laughing Monk figure called "The Scarlet Woman" that I picked up in the discount bin at the local gaming store. I painted her up as Betsy Ross- Revolutionary War spy and adventuress. The red, white and blue scheme was a lot of fun, and I figure she can always double as French if need be.

Next up is a set of Parroom Station Landship Crew. This is a nice set of four figures that contain: a commander talking into a communications tube, a fellow shoveling coal, one pulling a lever, and one using an oil can. I got these in the Historicon Flea market, and while I have no immediate plans for them they are good basic all purpose figures that are nice to have in one's collection. You never know when you need to have some crewmen to set out on the table. I decided to give them a nondescript uniform so they could pass for whatever nationality I need them to be. I also gave them a plain brown base so they would fit in equally well on the ground or on a deck.