"28mm sci fi scenery/terrain on the cheap" Topic

Does anyone know of any company who does cheap/fair prices for scifiey kinda settings. We dont all have massive paydays so I dont wana be paying hundreds.

As for scratchbuildng. Im absolutely useless at that. The cereal packet and toilet roll tube would still be that if I used em.

Look at paper buildings.

There's a ton of stuff you can use without any scratchbuilding. Plastic aquarium plants and colored rocks work. Shag carpet remnants can be cut up to make clumps of tall grass or bushes (and any color will work). Any sort of plastic or rubber bit can be used for something. Plastic Easter egg halves can make smooth "rocks," use a similar thing that is opaque and put something inside it for an alien machine (for that matter, almost anything can be an alien machine. Clear plastic cube or dome-shaped bits can be force fields. It's all sci fi, so who can tell you it's wrong?

If you can't scratch build, I would suggest paper buildings would be a nightmare.

mwindsorfw is right: excess packaging is your friend

John T

Fred2184 as has been mentioned the building of terrain can be cheap, easy and great fun.

All it takes is a bit of imagination and a few tools. As you do more you get more proficient. It really is all about taking that first step.

For example do you want some simple buildings….sci fi style think boxes, domes etc.

Find some old packaging – turn it over – spray it grey or white. Add some plasticard doors and windows and other junk – aerials, boxes for air con units etc – job done

Aquarium plants stuck into blue tack and the base painted green/brown creates foliage.

Kiddy toys from £1.00 GBP shops are great – just respray and dry brush

If you can't scratch build, I would suggest paper buildings would be a nightmare.

Surely everyone should be able to put together a simple paper model?

Moto.tronica Scenery Pack dead easy to assemble already pre-cut

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Sarissa does some nice stuff. It's easy to assemble.

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Paper is fiddly. Ive done metcalfes model railway buildings out of card before. Theyre fun to do. So anything along them lines could be good. I shall look into everybodies links and suggestions.

scotiagrendel.com 's 28mm Sci-Fi Scenics link range is a little on the small side but may suit. sample picture

x42

MajorB: Not all gaming buildings are simple. If you try the ones from Germ's World, perhaps; but there are far more involved ones from Worldworks and Genet, even forgetting for the moment Worldworks' insistence on using substrates which aren't available in many countries (to say nothing of the publishers who insist on using the stuff for the entire structure.)

Simple is a matter of perspective. (So's "cheap", for that matter.)

That said, there are a lot of maps for SF locations available, from colonies through labs to ships.

A quick trip to the Pound Store and some creativity can get you some neat sci-fi looking terrain

Cardboard boxes can also work for most eras. Spray paint it, tan for abobe or gray for metal. Cut out windows and doors -- if you don't care about the interior, then don't bother. You can find pictures of doors, windows, signs, graffiti, etc all over the Internet. Shrink a picture you like to scale and then glue it on the box with white glue. If you want extra work, paint the roof a different color. I've made a small town for zombie and super hero games using this method. I will warn you that you may start looking for more detail like no parking signs and handicapped parking signs to make it all more "authentic."

These are a good price and good table fillers………ideal for extra detailing too…..

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MajorB: Not all gaming buildings are simple.

I don't think I said they all were …

Cheap, sturdy, and fairly easy to convert: craft store card stock boxes. Not to mention the unfinished, wood, jewelry boxes they sell.

I have made several villages worth (in 15mm but the idea would work fine for 28) with almost no real "building" required. I use plastic packaging. Look at the plastic trays used for food and other goods. In 15mm clean yogurt cups, for example, are perfect small buildings.

To make them into buildings you need to (1) prime them with a suitable spray. (2) paint them (3) add details. It is of course the details that can be a bother. I bought a print your own paper model. I just print out bits from that – hatches, windows, control panels, etc. and then glue them on to my buildings.

Here is a photo of such a village:

Check out Laser-cut Card's stuff: lasercutcard.co.za/shop

Buildings are fairly small, but the fact that they're made out of 1mm or 1.5mm cardboard makes them cheap to ship ($4 shipping from South Africa to the US!!!)

I have most of their Futuristic Buildings range to use for Infinity, they're about 4-6" square in footprint:

You do need to read the instructions, as the buildings tend to have multiple layers of card that need to be assembled. Also, the laser-cut fold lines aren't cut deep enough to assemble well straight out of the package, you need to score them deeper. No big deal, a straightedge and a fresh xacto blade will take care of that.

I'm still kicking myself for not getting them at the FFG blowout, but miniature Market has the Dust Warfare buildings on clearance.

Quonset huts for $10 USD a box of six huts
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and $15 USD for a large two story house
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for under $50 USD you could put a lot of buildings on your board. The two story house is HUGE, a foot wide if built like they show on the box. You can easily build it into multiple ruins if you need to. It only has one door tile but if you make it up like a ruin and make a spot for a blown out wall no one will know.

You can get cheaper, but these are the right scale and at a good price. They're fully detailed and the quonset huts only need to be primed, sprayed green and then drybrushed. The buildings have plenty of detail but you could still knock one out in a day. they're fully modular if you don't want to base them too.

Like extra crispy said, the only thing I'd add is if you use the packaging as a mould and fill it with plaster of paris once dry you can chisel battle damage into them with a nail or skewer.

Then detail as he suggested.

Both options work well.

Cheers Roger.

You don't have to resort to paper models even on a budget. You can find bargains on ebay for cheap terrain easily enough. Here are a couple of listings from seller manui_manui in Russia. Shipping is fast and cheap too for an overseas seller. I bought many items from him in the past and never had any problem:

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Cheap, plastic containers, and strofoam packing materials work well too.

For the plastic, those draw separators used for kitchen utensils and other things work well. They're basically rectangular, or square in shape, and have oval openings on the sides, which can represent windows.

Others are made for storing office supplies, and miscellaneous junk.

Some are referred to as "milk crate" containers, but are smaller than those for multiple, gallon jugs. They're sold in office supply stores, are cubes, and have lots of openings that can also represent windows.

Building (sorry for the pun) on Extra Crispy's post – you acn also use such items as plaster casting moulds if you want to create intact and ruined versions of buildings. That really works best in 6mm/10mm but if you want street scenery etc then looking at food packaging with an imaginative eye can be useful.

Stone Mountain have some nice SF rock formations link – I particularly like the half buried Alien eggs.

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And now I see dick garrisson beat me to it

Far more generic than specifically scifi, but you can often find the soft plastic animal packs that have some rather well sculpted rocks and trees that just require basing and paint to be awesome.

Also, look around the toy isles at your local stores, you can often find things that aren't that expensive and just require a little bit of work to get a lot out of it.

I make Sc fi equipment terrain all the time.
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"I don't think I said they all were …"

No, but the OP doesn't know which are and which are not.

Look also in charity shops for toy bits.