Trash Bash Bits Pringles Competition

Last month I entered the Trash Bash Bits Facebook Group page's competition build. The task was to create something on the theme of "Defender" using a Pringles tube plus whatever trash bits you could add. This is what I made:

And this is what I made it from:

In addition to the Pringles tube, you can see a variety of pens for the gun, a CD for the base, fabric conditioner lid and yoghurt lids for the top of the turret, circuit board for the circuit board, bits of Lego, sprue and bits from an old computer for the interior and details, some lids (superglue and drink bottle) for the power generator and a contact lens case for the hatch. And some Plasticard/rods for decoration. 

As always with these kind of builds, the problem solving aspects of the task are what excite me. For example, below you can see me breaking up the surface of the tube with some incisions to represent panels and then using the small balls from a water softener embedded into pre-drilled holes for the rivets. Other plastic shapes and strips were added to create extra visual interest:

The next challenge was to keep the tower firmly based. The plastic yoghurt lid which was the perfect circumference for the size of the Pringles tube was too flimsy to support the structure. So I filled it with some resin!

The fit of the fabric conditioner lid was slightly too tight, but I managed to find another yoghurt lid that was perfect and when combined together in fact meant that I was able to retain the screw mechanism of the conditioner lid so that the turret could actually rotate. The gun was made by stacking lots of different diameter of pen lid together to create the effect of a multi layered extending gun:

From the outset I decided that i wanted to be able to see the interior of the tower too as this gave me an opportunity to use further bits of trash to make some internal computers and power generators etc. I like the idea that the exterior circuit board had been blown and that the doors had been forced open to reveal the inner workings. This involved making some steps from textured Plasticard and some computer terminals from a wire lighting connector and some old computer components

Here you can see the completed build:

The easy bit was the painting. The model was primed grey and then a series of dark washes were applied to create shadow around and in the details. The second series of acrylic washes were with a range of diluted red/browns applied in a vertical streak fashion and finally some very dilute green washes to complete the weathering effect.

The last aspect of the competition was to create a backstory and take some atmospheric photographs to accompany the narrative:

Abdul Goldberg spotted the derelict defense tower first across the debris strewn desert that is Helsreach. "That's our target" he pointed for the benefit of the gang. Nikosai inspected the rusted door system and quickly hot-wired the circuit board and with the help of the Pursuader, managed to prise open the doors. "We get this gun functional, the turret still works but we find some ammo and set up camp here. This is from where we dominate, a good mile range, before enforcement get here. I reckon we have 48 hours. Let's get it done" said Abdul.

And amazingly I was lucky enough to win the competition against some really stellar entries and was further privileged to receive some wonderful goodies for some future builds:

Sci-Fi trash bashing scenery 2

Here's my second trashbash build, a slightly more complicated build than my last effort, but also a generator of some sort. This one is made from a Gillette shaving pack that I was (fortunate enough) to get at Christmas and when I took the different parts of the gift out of the packaging I was confident that I could create something Rogue Trader / Post-Apocalyptic with the variety of shapes. Here's the completed piece of scenery with a MadBoy for scale:

Here's the original packaging from the inside, you can see a nice array of shapes and textures on the plastic:

And here's the completed build with bits of sprue, lego, textured plasticard, bottle lids etc for added detail:

And that magical moment when all the different components come together, united under the grey primer:

The painting was pretty quick and nasty on this; after the grey priming everything was given multiple washes of a variety of reddy/brown/orange washes for the rust colours. The colours of paintwork were then added with the usual dark to light technique and then further rusty colours were stippled and diluted on to create either thick rust with the former technique or washed out rust with the latter. A few green washes were added for further weathering and then it was all based with some desert dry pigment which was also added around the base of the structure to make it look as if the sand was embedded in the build; residues of a previous sandstorm maybe.

A new twist on my hobby time looms next......

Sci-Fi trashbash scenery 1

I enjoy scratchbuilding fantasy scenery, as I have done with my recent Wizards Tower, as well as making them from the Modelling Workshop articles in the old White Dwarfs. However, fantasy builds are fairly regular in terms of their shapes and details and over the years I've collected lots of trash that has I retesting shapes, partly for junk modelling with my kids and partly with the idea of making some Sci-Fi scenery. The kids are bit too old for junk modelling, so this weekend I've rummaged through my collection, gathered the most interesting shapes and started to build some Sci-Fi scenery from scratch. 

It's much more of an imaginative journey than fantasy as the shapes of modern day packaging lend themselves much easier to the forms you find on science fiction scenery, of course the most famous being the original model makers from Star Wars, which I grew up with, and how their model making prowess inspired so many, including me.

So my first proper Sci-Fi trash bash experiment is completed, some sort of generator, that again is loosely base on the one on Star Wars Hoth:

The painting was very quick and messy. Primed grey. Reddy/brown spray. A range of oranges dabbed on for rust. White painted into the "glowing" gaps and then several quick washes of blue over that. Not my best light sourcing but it will do for a 15 minute paint job!

And here is the build with the trash components visible. A selection of different bottle lids, a bit of old dishwasher tubing, plasticard and of course the chewing gum packaging for the iconic shapes!

I'm now adding the finishing touches to a more complicated design, based on some more Gilette packaging (I only ever get these at Christmas, so there's a hint of how long I hoard interesting shaped packaging!)

Yaztromo's Wizard Tower (scratch-built)

I've finally finished painting my scratch-built, trash bash wizard's tower! It's loosely based upon the illustrations of Fighting Fantasy's Yaztromo's tower with a bit of the Citadel logo tower thrown in, but most of the design was created by the objects I chose to make this from; a plastic drinks bottle, cardboard tubing and a water filter for the main structure. The base is made from expanding foam, carved, and a polystyrene skull and the details on the tower are a combination of resin windows, polystyrene bricks, mortar of polyfilla and wire, balsa wood etc for the vines and beams. Here's the painted model:

I deliberately wanted to keep it all quite dark, so a grey primer was applied and then lots dark washes followed by lots of drybrushing for the highlights. These were then glazed over, with ochres for the tower and browns for the rocks so that the two elements were slightly distinct. Lots of weathering with green glazes were then applied.

Here's Yaztromo himself stepping out of his tower into the dark forest.

Some detail shots. Here you can see a bit of yellow stippling to create a mossy look to the bricks, as well as the vines, gargoyle and window:

The small observatory (made from a fairy light and a straw)

A side view of the room that sticks out:

Including the magical orb:

From another angle showing the telescope and balcony:

Clsoe up:

The orb is quite simply a ping-pong ball, primed and wet-in -wet greens applied. White paint splattered over the top:

And some WIP shots so you can see the processes of the build:

I filled the bottle with expanding foam to make it sturdier

Unfortunately I forgot to take any more photos of the painting process, once I get going I try and paint scenery in one, uninterrupted, sitting!

A quick scratch-built telescope

After some really useful feedback on my last post regarding the wip Wizard's Tower, I decided to add some extras; a balcony, some sand texture in between some of the more gaping gaps of bricks and a telescope. Kudos if you can work out what I've used for the telescope:

Yep! That's three different pen ends glued into each other, a pin tack for the lens, part of the felt from a felt tip pen, a ferrule from a crappy Citadel brush, a square of balsa wood and some cogs from a dismantled watch. Voila!

And here it is in-situ on the balcony:

To do: a floating orb at the top (ping pong ball), a chimney from the white fairy light (bendy straw), some thick vines creeping up the outside (twisted wire and modroc) and a greenstuffed/bitzboxed emblem on the flat plinth and then I can start painting...