Post by WaspeaterDan on Jun 28, 2024 8:28:35 GMT -9
Unlike the other builds I've detailed here this time I just started making without a plan, which is fun and creatively liberating, but did come back to bite me a couple of times in terms of dumb order-of-operations making things more difficult than they needed to be.
It's also not-so-great for coherently documenting the process - altough there are a lot of pictures, there are definitely some missing ones too.
You're also getting it ias one massive lump after I've finished rather than multiple in progress updates because without a plan there weren't any obvious points to break it up.
At the outset all I knew was I wanted some more "playable" ash wastes buildings / terrain. The wrecked rhino and hab dome look good but other than blocking line-of-sight don't really offer any interactivity in the game.
Necromunda makes great use of multi-level terrain and the official Ash Wastes sets prominently feature raised platforms with bridges and ramps connecting them:
So I went through my collection looking for options that would allow this verticality whilst looking distinct from the dense and blocky megacity terrain of Necromunda's Underhive setting:
Which ruled out a straight build of any of WorldWorks' Platform Command range, which is my go-to for 'standard' Necromunda terain.
I started with another WorldWorks product, a Fan Kitbash for a "Modern Tower" that I got bundled free with one of the Mayhem City sets. It's more spindly, less chunky and reminded me of the electricity pylon (transmission tower to the non-Brits) that the Vuvalini use as an ambush site in Mad Max: Fury Road:
![](https://i.postimg.cc/cgNqVLB9/MV5-BNWZl-MWY4-OTAt-MGI3-Zi00-ZGNh-LTkx-Yj-Mt-OTZi-NGI3-Zm-Qw-M2-Nm-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde-QXVy-Nj-Q4-ODE4-Mz-Q-V1.jpg)
Each face of the tower is a double tchickness folded and glued before cutting out the blanks.
I edged everything in rusty brown and also doodled on the surfaces to suggest streaks of rust.
I built the circular footings around stacks of 2 pence coins superglued together for extra stability.
![](https://i.postimg.cc/WtWWZ4qB/PXL-20240624-175740760.jpg)
I then glued the footings down to a basepleate of rocky ground texture from the WorldWorks / Ebbles sci-fi Farmstead kit (no photo of this step). This was kind of a mis-step as it made it impossible to get the tower properly square on its foundation but then again, I doubt there are any building code inspections in the wasteland.
I needed something to go on top of my tower ad decided to try one of Papermau's Half-Life cargo containers, even if I decided it wouldn't be part of this build it would make great scatter terrain.
The bits worked well together but the small area on top didn't offer much playable space for minis and in terms of the fiction needed some other details to suggest a function.
The silhouette suggested either an oil rig (more Mad Max reference) or a classic frontier wind pump (play up the western / wasteland parallels). I chose both.
If you're pumping something you probably need to store it and I found some perfectly grungy storage tanks in WorldWorks Mars Station.
The tank bases fitted exactly between the footings, which was a pure fluke.
The access ladder was cut shorter as it was going down to the other tank's base, not all the way to the ground.
To connect the tanks to whatever I came up with on top of the tower I needed pipes. Rather than make several fiddly individual pipes I chose to make a single larger tube from a pipe texture from the bottom of a Platform Command Red Sector walkway.
I had to join 2 end-to-end for the 9-inch height.
Having filled the centre I was ready to finish the basic tower.
I made a 6" x 6" platform for the top of the tower with textures from Platform Command Battleground sandwiching some more rigid card.
I knew the cargo container would be on top (the complicated and fiddly machinery is in there, honest) but I hadn't nailed down exactly where.
The underside texture (which eagle-eyed readers may remember from my Gorkamorka trukk) made it easy to line up.
Although this was structurally sound it looked flimsy so I'd need some sort of butresses. Platform Command to the rescue again, this time parts of the tower from Operation Nighthunderch.
Even wastelanders have a modicum of self-preservation instinct so I added some railings. However gameplay needs trump common sense so the railings are only on the corners, leaving 2" gaps for ramps / bridges / walkways to attach. The textures are railings from Mars Station, but assembled differently to maximise space for minis.
For the "wind pump" I decided to mount the top of the wind turbine from the Farmstead to the roof of the container. It's the grimdark future so it's not punping stuff directly, the turbine electrically powers the watcha-ma-hoosits
inside the box.
I built the turbine mostly to the instructions with two exceptions - I added a twist to the rotor baldes to look purty which meant that they no longer sat flat against the front of the turbine pod. So I had to make a round spacer. I wrapped a long narrow piece of offcut card a bunch of times around a piece of foamboard and ended up with a very decently circular 'puck'. An improved wheel technique perhaps?
I need a cup of tea after typing all that and wrangling so many photos but never fear, I shall be back shortly with the thrilling conclusion!