"Improvised sci-fi terrain" Topic

Some pictures of improvised terrain made out of stuff from around the house (well, for the pipeline I needed to buy the elbows, but I had the pipe lying around doing nothing).

Need to paint the dish still.

Satellite dish/power receiver/generic comm array:

Bottle of superglue gel, showing where I got the antennas from

Antennas in place on building. I may mount some on an tower to make nice vertical terrain.

Great job!

I love stuff like this. I think I have two boxes of trash in the garage waiting to become terrain…

Nice to see someone else likes recycled terrain for their sci fi games! Those look lovely!

I just discovered to my dismay that the blue antennas are going to be difficult to obtain more of, as it seems that the company that makes the superglue gel changed their blue grip inserts to something far less attractive to use. :(

NP, you can just 3D print something like that!

Andrew,

I knew it wouldn't be long before someone came along and suggested I print the buildings…

I don't have an printer – my son wants a resin printer desperately (and he can even afford to pay for it), but we have no good place to set it up and run it – a resin printer puts out fumes and ventilating it would be a challenge. We have cats, so leaving it out in the open and leaving an window open just won't do. We also don't have a spare climate controlled room that I can rig for ventilation. I'm not interested in an FDM printer – my son would mainly print 28mm Halo figures and FDM isn't well suited to that as we're picky about print quality.

I've seen some okay FDM 3d printed buildings that are kind of sci-fi, but the amount of work to sand, prime, fix the lines 'cuz they'd drive me nuts, etc… and 40$ to 60$ for a small building?! I may pick up a few at some point, but too pricey to get very many.

MDF buildings aren't much better, due to the prep work involved, and I don't have an airbrush (again, no good place to set up, use it, ventilate it), so its either spraycans or brush paint buildings (yech).

!!

I was joking about 3D printing the trash to make up-cycled terrain. 3D printing is a fun way to make terrain, but it's a different fun. Repurposing excess packaging is a special joy.

I hope you find a way to 3D print someday, though, it's a lot of fun.

Maybe look at pens?

Much better than 3d printing.

You actually need to use your imagination and problem solving skills. Plus it's better for the environment, which is a plus! Not to mention cheaper and quicker.

Perusing $2 USD shops is one way to get cheap items to use.

Obviously saving bits and bobs is another. Just have a box or container and toss in any jar lid, tooth paste tube Top, dry pen, broken gubbins, sprnt, empty, whatsit into it.

Don't forget hardware stores either. Washers and screws and stuff.

So on.

I love this kind of stuff – and have way too much of it, both made and unmade. I know what I'll be spending my retirement doing: making things out of things.

Love the antennas.

Brilliant work :-D

Just enough practical brilliance to inspire me to go through the junk bin this afternoon. Awesome!