Saturday, January 14, 2023

Accommodation Block?

When I build a large piece of terrain I try to have a storage box ready and build the terrain to fit the box. The Tcherbevan International Airport air traffic control tower was a classic example. It needs to be turned upside down and shaken to get it out of its well-fitted box!

Just occasionally, though, the fancy takes me to go ahead and build something and hope to find a suitable box later. Such was the case with this industrial thingie for Rogue Stars games.


It was built over a weekend from bits of scrap material attached to the barrel of a toy gun from the local pound shop. I've added a Copplestone Street Wars figure to give some idea of scale.

The model is in two parts, the staircase:

and the main tower:


The two parts currently live in a rather tatty cardboard box that's slightly too short to accommodate the tower properly. The red insulating tape identifies this as part of my fantasy and sci-fi terrain selection when I'm pulling stuff off the shelves for a game.


My thought today is, "Can I build a storage box for this piece that will also function as a piece of terrain in its own right?"

My original vision for a Rogue Stars setting was of an industrialised planet where an underclass of criminals and ne'erdowells struggle for everyday survival while corporate drones speed by in their Škoda-Bentley electrocars on raised highways. Blade Runner, the underground scenes in Demolition Man, and the opening credits of Hill Street Blues were all in my mind.

So I could build some kind of industrial structure into which the tower and staircase will fit for storage or I could go for some kind of corporate office block accessed by raised walkways at first floor (second floor for our American chums) level. I'm thinking of something that would usually sit on the edge of the table forming a backdrop to the events of the game.

The next question is whether to build something using the existing box as a skeleton, needing to find a way to add some height, or to build a new box that's the right size to start with. Either way, any decoration on the outside of the building will need to be robust and capable of being dusted off when it's brought into play. I'm wondering about getting some sheets of EPS foam from Hobbycraft to form an outer skin?

I could imbed rare earth magnets into the exterior of the box to allow for the attachment of decoration that's a little more delicate.

The building needs to be about 33cm tall so I'm guessing four or five storeys high?

I'm taking a chance here by letting you know of this idea in advance. I'm hoping that will pressure me to persevere with the project. I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have for design and/or materials to use.

6 comments:

Tales from Shed HQ said...

Always like a new Industrial Thingy! Excellent addition to the Sci fi collection 👍

Counterpane said...

Thanks Richard.

Kieran said...

You could also try something like this, with pieces that fit inside each other to minimise storage. It does limit the shapes you can use.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=30183.0

Counterpane said...

Kieran,

Thanks for that link. Some good ideas there!

Neil said...

Does anyone else try to identify kitbashed terrain aetc because they have to know what tank/toy/domestic appliance/stationery was cannibalised to make it..? Nice piece of work though and I like your plan to have a bespoke storage box for each piece. Might have to borrow that one.

Counterpane said...

Neil,

Thanks for commenting. Yeah, I know what you mean. I always try to avoid using parts that are too obvious. For example, I'd avoid 330ml drink cans but maybe use the smaller ones you sometimes get fruit juices in.