"Help me design laser cut scenery kits and WIN!!" Topic

I'm looking for suggested components to help with the next of my Laser cut scenery kits.

I'm attempting to make kits that are laser cut from plasticard (styrene) and can be assembled to widely available household items to make cheap but moderately detailed and robust scenery.

As an example my first kit is at the test cut stage and is based on a Pringles Tube.

Full details here … link

I'm trying to make scenery kits for the amazing World of Twilight Game worldoftwilight.com

Available from Hasslefree miniatures link

Best suggestion WINS a FREE KIT

Neat! I like your designs and the idea of flat pack kits of parts.

Armorcast for years has had bases and tops for turning soda cans into scale storage tanks. I'd say those would be the most universally available items world-wide.

Chris

I've been using "Crystal Light" Powdered Drink container tubes for my 15mm terrain.

Perhaps a "Top-and bottom" kit that turns it into a tower with base building and Landing Platform/Observation deck/com tower on top?

How about a Barracks block that uses inverted Milk Gallon jug tops as detail along the top?

Perhaps a kit that turns the turret from a "Green Army Man" tank into a static defense emplacement?

Styrene would be a great material for making 'fire escape' style, possibly modular, exterior metal staircases. These have a zillion applications and, if made to be free-standing, could be placed beside buildings of your choice and moved around to provide variety between games.

hi guys and thanks for the suggestions.

Chris V- I'd forgotten about the armorcast silos made from drink cans. Unfortunately the cans being metal I wouldn't want to be responsible for a kit which meant the user had to, the chances of laceration are pretty high. The fact that they are consistently sized and universally available is exactly what I am after though – if a little small.

Only Warlock – I dont know crystal light so shall investigate. If i want to sell these kits then it needs to be something widely available – i'm in the UK and we have many different milk bottles/jugs here all with differing tops.

Static Tyrant – modular metal stairs are possible, but not very fantasy oriented nor involving the 'household item' element. certainly a thought provoking possibility for a longer term future project though.

I do recommend everyone has a read through my linked blog page above – its pretty specific about what I am looking for, fantasy setting, cardboard or plastic material, and the range of sizes etc. However there are some interesting thoughts for future projects so thank you for them – If i get round to doing them I'll be in touch for addgresses to ship kits to.

In the meantime – any more suggestions?

Hmm, I hadn't thought about cutting them. Definitely something I'd prefer to avoid when dealing with sharp metal edges.

Quaker Oats (oatmeal) comes in cardboard cylinders that are shorter but much wider than Pringles cans. How about the ubiquitous toilet paper and paper towel tubes? I know these are smaller than what you're looking for but I'm sure they could be useful in adding lots of small towers or supports to structures. Wrapping paper tubes are about the same diameter but much longer.

They're not left-overs like these other items but there are lots of different sizes of poster tubes for mailing rolled up posters. I'm sure they're not very expensive and they come in much larger sizes.

Chris

I hadn't read your list of requirements on your blog before posting so most of my suggestions are probably not quite what you're looking for. I think the cardboard/fiberboard poster tubes (or tube mailers as they're also called) would be ideal. You can get them at lots of places, from the local post office or shipping store to bulk orders online. They're pretty cheap and I've found some that are up to 6" in diameter and 3' long, so you could easily cut them up and make lots of buildings. They're not used containers so they don't need to be cleaned.

Chris

Hi Chris V and thanks for your continued interest!

I have a bunch of mail tubes on the way in 2,3,4,6 and 8" diameters. however this means i have to post them out to customers which means the kits aren't flatpack and the postage costs go up. If I can find suitable containers which the customers already have then I avoid that cost.

I do appreciate all your suggestions though, and I've been looking again at tin cans to see what I might be able to do. Quaker oats tubes sounded a great idea but here in the UK they all seem to be in boxes not tubes :( toilet and kitchen roll tubes are a stand by if i cant find anything more robust.

Thanks again and if inspiration strikes then plese let me know! :)

My pleasure, Brandlin! I really like the concept. For the mailing tubes, I was thinking more of people buying those themselves rather than you selling them. As I said, you can get them all over the place and they are relatively inexpensive and easy to work with.

I'll keep thinking…

Chris

I have a tub of oxi clean.
It's a stain remover product.
The tub tapers very slightly and is way wider than a pringles tube maybe 4 inches across.
It's almost a cylinder.

oooo oxi clean – thats a bit like that vanish washing liquid yes? hmmm that might work!

It's a powder.
The tub thingummy just has a slight taper.
Quite a heavy duty container actually.
Not sure how well they'd take paint, but you could give em a light sand or rub down with steel wool and a PVA prime.

Also.
Those clear plastic tubs you get pre made custard or soup in.
Those are tapered as well and narrow but maybe a tower second level or something.
Not terribly robust though.