15mm Sci-Fi Structures

Sci-fi gaming is still stalling as I haven’t had time to read the Pulp Alley rules yet. But as I built quite a lot of scenery during the last couple of months, I thought I might share some images. All of this is built from scratch, using everything from packaging material to parts from plastic modelling kits. I also got a couple of things from Antenocitis Workshop – especially their doors are very useful. Another useful thing is to buy one or two second hand plastic modelling kits on ebay, you get a lot of parts for little money.

Those two buildings are made from dessert pots – I ate some atrocious stuff to get nice looking containers! Door and window are from Antenocitis Workshop, the satellite dish is from Critical Mass Games, the rest are screws and bolts and other small spare parts.

To get some variety to the buildings, I got a cheap box of decals from a plastic modeller on ebay. This was a mixed lot, including aircraft, tank and civilian decals, but it provided me with a lot of numbers and symbols to furnish the buildings with.

I got the fuel tanks to the right at a flea market – they are for H0 model railway and looked atrocious in their original colours. However, painting and weathering them was easy and they have a nice industrial look to them. The water-processing unit to the left is made from a curiously formed packing container, embellished with screws, buttons and other small stuff.

The crashed drone is a Star Wars model kit by Revell which I also got on ebay. I just cut off one wing, put it onto a base and repainted it. We’ve already used it as an objective in a game of Tomorrow’s War.

This bunker was an experiment. At the local DIY store, I saw those cork blocks made for wrapping sandpaper around. I wondered if the cork structure would look at all like rough concrete…. so I decided to make a test. The door and the semicircles on the roof are from Micropanzer. I think the whole thing looks ok, the wall structure certainly is a variation to the smooth plastic of the other buildings. I’m not sure I would make more of them, though.

This greenhouse is made from an electrical box which had just the perfect shape for a sci-fi building. I just added the door and the rooftop dome, which I got from the local craft store. The plants are bits of plastic flowers from the £1 shop.

The containers are 1/100 containers made for ship modellers. I got them from Hobby-Lobby and, at EURO 2,80 per piece they are by far the cheapest model containers I have seen so far! They fit perfectly with 15mm and look decent enough.

The vehicles are repainted toy cars. You might recognise the Star Wars sand crawler which serves as a C.A.R.T. (Cybernetic Autonomous Robotic Transport) in our games.

Wargamers are great recyclers! This workshop was made from the packaging of the toy tractor you can see above. The corrugated iron shed in the back was built from corrugated board. I just glued on a door and some bits & pieces and painted it to look reasonably shabby.

I definitely had lots of fun making those structures. With time I developed that strange wargamer’s gaze that checks everything it sees for its usability as a piece of terrain. I’ve still got loads of packaging material and small bits stored away in a box, so if we need more scenery, I’ll have another go.

EDIT: The shop called 'Hobby-Lobby Modellbau' I'm linking to is not the same as the US chain Hobby Lobby! I didn't know about the US chain until now - and from what I have read, that is not a company I want to support in any way. The shop I am linking to is an independent German retailer.