"Good "how to"s for asteroids?" Topic

Hey all!

Well, okay… I've got the Star Wars bug:) Ordered a starter set, and within a day of getting it ordered another one, a Y Wing, and a TIE Advanced.

But now I want to start doing scenery… namely, asteroids!

Anyone seen any good asteroid making how-tos out there?

Thanks!

Buy some lava rocks for a gas grill and mount them on stands.

Thomas beat me to it. You might need to spray it with something to keep it from flaking, and you can dry brush it to bring out highlights or colors (like rustish and metallic colors) that you might want it to exhibit.

The lava rocks look amazing and they take super glue really well!

+1 on lava rocks. Spray them flat black, then dry brush grey and white. Mount on stands, done!

We have X-wing compatible asteroid stands. Our metal rods will hold up those heavy rocks really well :)

link

Jonathan Bowen
CorSec Engineering

In the empire strikes back, the fx team used potatoes for some of the distant ones, so after a game you could then recycle them into snacks………chips/fries….

Sponges spayed or dyed black, cut into random shapes and then pinch out craters. Once finished, dust with grey primer and then a very light dust of white spray.

Use a pale blue / white one, skip the black stage for icy ones.

I also used "lava rocks" but appropriated them from planters at a local shopping mall. Drilled them out and glued finishing nails into them, then mounted them of balsa wood bases. Because they had been exposed to the elements I didn't have to do any painting or highlighting.

Jim

I went a different route. Styrofoam has a nasty habit of melting when sprayed with solvent based spray paint. I took chunks and sprayed them with black paint. Then with latex gloves on I finger molded each as the foam reacted to the spray paint. Did some Lt gray and Dk gray dry brushing. Shoved a home made flight stand with glue into it and I was done. They turned out nice and I used up some junk styro that was lying around the shop.

I made Sculpy flats the exact size and shape as the supplied counters but gave them a close relief texture. They look better than counters and allow free movement of the starfighters the same way the counters work. The downside is they are not 3D rocks on poles. My next step is to make the rocks on poles to plug into the bases. I'm going to experiment with holding a chunk of polystyrene foam over a candle flame at varying heights to use slight amounts of heat to melt the surfaces smooth. I have seen the effects of this process on some 40K destroyed city terrain years ago and it looked brilliant. If it doesn't work I'll carve up some sponge rubber and go with that technique. Lava rocks are a good way to go too, I would have transportation issues with them though.

On a different slant, has anyone made any other types of debris that would be found in space? I'm looking for other ideas to replace asteroids.

If you want round ones, check out a Craft store. They sell several sizes of round Styrofoam balls.

I made a few starbase asteroids for BFG using thin Sculpy over wadded up tinfoil (and a bit of post-bake dremel work)… but that's a kinda fancy for random space rocks.

Been thinking about asteroids, too. I like the sponge idea, as I'm a klutz and could see starships being damaged by coming into contact with actual rocks.

Expanding foam forced though crumpled up aluminum pie plates looks great, but not for me – link

Asteroids from foam insulation sheets (blue or pink) – YouTube link

More blue insulation foam – link

Foam shaped then sealed with PVA glue before painting – link

May try the insulation foam roughly shaped then melted with spray paint when the weather gets warmer. Should look something like this – link

Al | ravenfeastsmeadhall.blogspot.com

I didn't even paint my lava rocks…just mounted 'em on bases and started playing.

The lava rocks look perfect! The sponges too. Thanks so much!