Friday, March 05, 2010

Small Warmachine Terrain Projects: Oil Drums and Coal Bin

As promised, I am posting some more small terrain project ideas for your Warmachine battlefield.  Let's get this clear first, I love much of the professionally made terrain bits out there by companies like Pegasus Hobbies(great barrels, crates, etc.).  It's not my goal to reinvent the wheel but to conceive of novel terrain 'bits and pieces' that fit the Iron Kingdoms setting. 

First, my "Khador Oil Drums"...
I thought to myself, do all oil containers have to look like the classic WWII(and beyond) oil drum?  Who's to say the nature of containers isn't a little different in the Iron Kingdoms?  I saw some "Candle Cup" wooden bits at Michael's and envisioned something different...
 
All these odd-shaped wooden bits needed was a lid and a little bit of detailing to become Khadorian oil drums(I bought a bag of wooden circular shapes on the cheap- the small rounds were perfect lids for my drums)...
Using the simple glue drop method(as the rivets had to be small), I envisioned lids securely fastened on top of the drums...
I painted up the drums with a gunmetal color and a little rust effect.  To make the rivets a little more distinct I decided to highlight them with  a copper paint.  The variation in the foreground is a variation of the concept- a seal "wooden" barrel using strips of paper as metal framework.  You can also see(barely visible), on the right I painted the word "oil" in Khadorian in an off-white background.  +4 cover for the Trencher Chaingun Crew!...
For my second little project I decided to make a "coal bin".  I mean, in a world of steam-driven machinery, surely there must be ample reserves of coal on hand!  I mainly used the same materials that you can see in my tutorial on fence-making.  I built an "x"-structured frame for the bin with matchsticks to begin(on a foamcore base). I added small pieces of wood to these frames(as shown in the second pic) to create an even edge upon which to attack end caps of "metal".
 The main planks of the coal bin are the craft sticks/coffee stirrers cut to fit the frame.  Just use some white glue and drop them in...
The end caps to the coal bin represent sheet metal and are made from plasticard(actually inexpensive "For Sale" sign plastic).  The rivets were made from modeling putty, but you could use the leather punch or glue drop method if you prefer...
I textured the base using sand and used cork bits as my coal load(use model railroad coal or whatever you like).  I actually filled the bed with some spackle(filler) and just placed the "coal" on top- so I didn't need as much cork material in the end.  I did a quickie paint job and my coal bin was ready to provide cover...
I also thought it would make a great scenario objective- maybe the warjacks need to resupply on coal during combat or they shut down by a certain turn- just an idea.

1 comment:

  1. That's a pretty nice use of some of the wooden bits at Michaels. I might try adding some water effect (or maybe even just glue) and try some barrels of Menoth's Fury.

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