Medea Refinery, WIP Part 3

Another weekend’s progress on the Medea Refinery terrain set. These two buildings go with the previous builds:

I’ve got 4 square feet covered with this set now, so two more large pieces or three smaller ones should cover a standard 40k table very well.

Initial layout sketching; the piece on the right has not gotten more attention yet.

Initial layout sketching; the piece on the right has not gotten more attention yet.

Building a ladder.

Building a ladder.

I have a tutorial here on how I’ve been constructing ladders for this set.

Printing some doors and other pieces (not all for these builds).

Printing some doors and other pieces (not all for these builds).

I designed the majority of the 3D printed pieces used here, half of them specifically for these buildings and the others as generic bits. The other three printed pieces I found on Thingiverse (the door hatch, ground hatch, and small circular hatch).

Gluing on rivets and widgets.

Gluing on rivets and widgets.

The green aquila is an acrylic cut from Greenman Designs. I picked up a bunch at NOVA a few years back specifically to use like this, as details above doors.

The silo (left).

The silo (left).

The silo (right).

The silo (right).

Outlet valve piece, shaped to fit the silo.

Outlet valve piece, shaped to fit the silo.

I designed each of the bright orange 3D printed bits on this silo. The mechanical box is a generic bit I’m using in a couple places. The other three were specifically designed for this piece, they’re shaped to fit the curve of the silo. I’m pretty happy with how the output pipe in particular came out, though I need to work on the valve handle. Fortunately it’s very identifiable as-is. The silo itself is half of the main booster fuel tank from a space shuttle model I’ve had kicking around forever, with the cap from a jar of Gatorade powder providing the pedestal base.

The pipeworks (front).

The pipeworks (front).

The pipeworks (back).

The pipeworks (back).

Details of the pipe and tank tubing.

Details of the pipe and tank tubing.

The pipeworks building came out very well. I changed the composition at the last minute as this diagonal layout just looked more interesting. The change cost me the space for a little fenced-in mysterious patch of grass I was going to have, but was definitely worth it. The pipe itself is just PVC plumbing pieces, with some Plastruct bits glued on and tape wrapped around to add detail. The green barrel is from a Tamiya 1/35 Allied Vehicle Accessories kit. I was glad I had that on hand, as the wood barrels used on the other pieces are much larger and would distract from the building. I especially enjoyed designing a printed part to be a collar ring and arm holding the nasal spray bottle as some kind of tank hanging off the side.

Just a couple more pieces to make, and then a couple guys from the club are coming over this weekend to hopefully get it all painted!

Medea Refinery, WIP Part 2

Continuing on my Medea Refinery terrain build for our LibertyHammer event, I’ve finished up Smelt Furnace #17 to go along with Primary Pump Station A1. I’m pretty happy with it and think it will serve well as a big LOS blocker with a good amount of detail. Hopefully the remaining pieces for this terrain set come together much more quickly. They currently consist mostly of random interestingly shaped trash and won’t be as detailed.

Front side.

Front side.

Back side.

Back side.

The furnace was made by a combination of throwing rubbish together, traditional scratchbuilding, and 3D printing. The foundation and major heat sink are just trash packaging foam. The big smoke/heat column is plastic trash from a broken pool filter. I hope to make an insert for it with billowing smoke out of dyed cotton balls but have not started on that yet. The ladders were constructed as described in this tutorial. The small antenna cluster, tank stand, and rooftop mechanical box are 3D printed parts I designed, available as free downloads from those Thingiverse links. The other printed parts are downloads I found. A walkthrough of designing and printing 3D parts based on the antenna cluster is posted here.

Rooftop orbital antenna.

Rooftop orbital antenna.

Rooftop local antenna cluster, not glued down yet here.

Rooftop local antenna cluster, not glued down yet here.

Side louvers, constructed the old fashioned way...

Side louvers, constructed the old fashioned way…

Side inlets/outlets and machinery access.

Side inlets/outlets and machinery access.

Product and supplies ports and some ribbing on the structure.

Product and supplies ports and some ribbing on the structure.

Some kind of doodad on the roof.

Some kind of doodad on the roof.

Getting into using 3D printed parts for this terrain was interesting, and somewhat bittersweet. Though not astounding, I think I have above average scratchbuilding skills when I set my mind to it. But I can easily see them atrophying a bit as I drift into making more and more elements on the printer. Still though, you do need good fundamentals to pull it all together, and especially to make big pieces. And certainly there are a lot of things I can model and print much faster and better than I can construct by hand, let alone downloaded pieces.

More to come as I wrap up this set over the next week for a club terrain build/paint workday over Memorial Day weekend!

Medea Refinery, WIP Part 1

I’m working on a few new boards for our LibertyHammer event next month. First up is the Medea Refinery. I just finished building the centerpiece, Primary Pump Station A1. A detailed tutorial on building the ladder—trickier than it sounds!—is here.

Hardboard terrain bases cut and sanded.

Hardboard terrain bases cut and sanded.

Laying out major pieces for Primary Pump Station A1.

Laying out major pieces for Primary Pump Station A1.

Building a ladder.

Building a ladder.

WIP machinery building.

WIP machinery building.

Primary Pump Station A1 all ready for paint.

Primary Pump Station A1 all ready for paint.

Machinery building details.

Machinery building details.

Machinery building details.

Machinery building details.

My tool pile at the end of this build.

My tool pile at the end of this build.

More to come!