The Junk Raft of Tapu

Hello and Welcome back, 

Time to visit the world of Tapu, known as the Gutterlands from the Skrim game.

The Junkraft was found on the shore of the Slosh by Morti Krilly, a Colonist of Tapu. It was clearly a Ruster vessel, and Morti proceeded to salvage it (well, steal it more like). 

After paddling it across the Slosh, Morti decided that it was too much hard work. Digging through the junk that covers the Gutterlands, Morti found some sort of wrecked air vehicle. Soon he set to work to build a air boat from the wreck and the junk raft. The engine and weapons were little more than rusted junk. A smaller working engine was found in what looked like the wreckage of a personal transport. After cleaning it up, it was installed as the prime mover the raft. 

Soon he had a working air boat and Morti was earning a living transporting salvage teams across the Slosh. The raft is as ramshackle as it looks and Morti deliberately keeps the speed down to a few knots, for fear that any faster would have the raft fall apart. That and going any faster becomes terrifying.

Inspired by a pateron challenge to build a water vehicle on the Bill Making Stuff discord channel, I set off building a raft. After some time of thinking of a propulsion method I decided on air boat. 

It is built from plastic milk bottle tops, a bamboo skewer frame and EVA platform (holes and rips courtesy of my cat Dixie, who loves to steal and play with my EVA foam sheets). Some panels cut from food trays were added.

The aircraft bits came from a cheap 1/48 prepainted snap together kit. A lesson learnt is to wash the model before using it. Then scrub it to remove the paint. 

After the dark wash, the paint and primer just washed off some sections requiring a repaint. 

Thanks for looking,

Take Care out there.

Blue Star renforcements.

Hello and Welcome back, 

Blue Star Corporation is a Dvarg mining corporation. They have just had some renforcements, because some of those rocks can get really aggressive. 

This lot are Space Dwarves by BMT3D which fit the oldhammer Squat athestic nicely. They are meral cast from 3D prints. Looking closely you can see the filiament lines on the casts. 

They all are from BMT3D apart from this guy, who is a classic 40K olhammer age Squat. The arms were missing and were replaced by Wargames Atlantic Einhenjar arms. 

Thanks for looking,

Take Care Out There.

Dodgy's Bar Rework

Hello and Welcome back, 

A long time ago I built some sci fi buildings from junk, intending them as scenery for Judge Dredd games. It was a time before I began weathering models. Being a fan of 80s 2000AD I went for a bold colour, blue in this case. After a couple of games they sat on a shelf. 

The Batrep for your entertainment: https://mattblackgodsworld.blogspot.com/2014/03/trouble-in-utopia-city.html

You can see Dodgies Bar on the left there

Another angle of Dodgies Bar

I was thinking of reworking Dodgy's bar for some time. One idea was to update the sign with letters. Intially the bar began life around Christmas time. The lower half was a plastic treats tub that held some chocolate treats. The upper half started life as one of those tubs that dry roasted peanuts come in. The door and windows were made from cerial packet card. 

The letters were made using a silicon bakers letter mould and eva foam clay. Its an idea I will reuse for other models. 

After fitting the letters, my brain started thinking that the clean look would out of place on my current terrian styles. My thoughts were to make the bar look more like it was built from scrapped or wrecked space craft, on some galactic backwater dump.

I started by carving panel lines into the model. Being me, I added the lines by hand using the blunt side of a scalpel. It went wrong with wonky lines everywhere. Doh. 

As a fix, I began adding panels made from cereal packet cardboard and plastic food trays that cakes or biscuits come in. Some extra greeblie bits were also added.

There is some strange people out here.

Up top I added cables, struts and conduits to make it look like this was a peice of a space craft hull. A comms mast made from plastic rod and some beads was also added. I figured the paterons may want to stream sports games or news about which empire is picking a fight with their neighbours because they once looked at them funny. 

To make the model more interesting for table top tacticians, I added some ladders and platforms to the bar. You can now ambush drunks leaving the bar from above. Or enterprising snipers can hide on the roof to command the battle field. Just dont get too close to that big cooling fan blade up there. 

Paint wise, I decided to go with space ship colours, dirty whites mainly. Lots of weathering was added and followed up with new posters. The graffiti artists didnt take long to daube the bar. 

I have enjoyed reworking the bar. I will need to create a Dodgy character for the tabletop at some point. The other buildings I built for that Mega City One table, are waving at me to be reworked for a galactic backwater dump setting.

Thanks for reading, 

Stay safe out there or come visit Dodgy's Bar, where the beer is warm and the scowls are genuine.

Whatthehellasaurus Rex

Hello and Welcome Back,

Time to meet a new horror... 

Around the campfires, it is whispered that a fearsome monster lurks out in the Caustic Clump. A giant, armored, multi-legged monstrosity known as the Whatthehellasaurus Rex, or as some call it, "Hideitscoming."

The tales say that the creature's roar freezes the blood in your veins, and its extra legs allow it to easily run down its prey (usually you). Bullets just bounce off its hide. The monster's claws can tear through armor effortlessly. It is said to swallow its victims whole, but the lucky ones merely get bitten in half. No, I don't know how that one works either, surely the lucky ones don't encounter the Hideitscoming at all.

"Its behind me, isnt it?"

Is it a mutant or a beast natural to the world that survived the ages since the fall of the planet Corrosion? 

"I'm gunna need a bigger gun!"

No one around the campfires has actually seen the beast, heard it, or has any evidence of its existence. But almost everyone knows someone who knows someone else who might have seen or heard of it, or been eaten by it. But then, as so many folks never return from the wastelands, who can say of its real for sure? 

This model was inspired by a challenge over in the Billmakingstuff discord channel. In my usual fashion, I failed to finish it on time.The models was based on a toy Tyrannosaurus rex and a Allosaurus. In true mad scientist style I lopped the tail off the Tyrannosaurus and front off the Allosaurus, then I joined them together. Lots of putty filled the holes. The jaw was removed and lowered to give the Whatthehellasaurus Rex a much larger gob. I had to fix the teeth, add a tongue and extended the claws. I added blades from eva foam onto the back to make the six legged freak even more intimidating. 

Thanks for reading,

Take Care Out There.

Thorgrim's Crew

Hello and welcome back,

This crew of Dvarg are one of the many groups of refugees and survivors from the ORCS attack on their homeworld of Luxz VII. 

Luxz VII was located on the borders of GELF and Dvarg space. The hordes of ORCS invading, lead to the Dvarg King to order all his people to flee the world. Rather than lose the world to the hated ORCS, the King remained alone, deep beneath the surface of the planet. He activated a device that blew Luxz VII into little rocks destroying the ORCS hordes and the homeworld. It cemented his name in Dvarg legend and there is little doubt that the destruction of Luxz VII stopped a major ORCS incursion into Dvarg space.

The surviving Luxz VII Dvargs were spread across Dvarg space, the other worlds welcoming them with open arms. Some Luxz VII Dvargs scattered across Human Frontier space looking for work and oppotunites. 

Thorgrim's crew operate as a pirate raider prowling GELF space looking for ORCS or GROTS ships or settlements to raid. Revenge for the l9ss of their world is a high priorty for them. 

Bladun, Thorgrim, G4DLF (space werdio who gets everone into trouble) and Philly

Brawlyn, Gnori, Bommyr and Oywn.

Gloink, Bovver, Doric, Beefer, Kily and Oryn. 

Bill & Bilijo. Bill is a maintence and general maintenance robot the crew use for accessing derilict hulls. 

Many Dvarg worlds have small colonies of Halfer GELF's (Genetically Engineered Lifeforms) and Luxz VII was no exception. Bilijo jumped aboard Thorgrim's ship and is now hired as a cook and thief. Bilijo is successful as a thief as on the first wreck the crew cut into, he found a strange tech device on body. The device cloaks him from sight making him invisible to everything including electronic sensors. Bilijo has a clear resin version for the tabletop, but that has gone missing. *glares at the cats*

Thorgrim's crew are metal figures by Skull n Crown miniatures, Space Scrappers line.

Thanks for looking, stay safe out there

Starport Scum #13

Hello and welcome back.

It's time for another installment of Star Port Scum. I can't believe we are up to the 13th episode. 

Dallas Shrimpton, the bounty hunter, comes from the frontier world of Wolfden. He hunts down people or GELFs for the right fee and really likes the "dead" part of 'Dead or Alive' bounty.

Fay Jaegir is an ex-military bounty hunter working wherever the contracts take her. Her military background has given her discipline and training, which helps her hunt down bounties.

Sly is a typical example of star port scum, born and raised in a space station, joined a lower decks gang and eventually skipped out as a stowaway. He now seeks employment as crew muscle. A little part of him fancies joining a pirate crew.

Sparkz is an augmented Cyborg. No one knows where he is from or how he became augmented. Like many 'borgs, once he had one augmentation, he needed more. Sparkz looks for work as a ship's technical officer; his augmentations give him an edge when dealing with technology and computers. 

Ted Cryptkey used to be a security crewman on an Outrim Confederacy warship. As one of the few to see the galaxy beyond the Outrim systems, he found himself (like other Spacers) treated with suspicion by those he left to defend. Cryptkey was unhappy stuck on the backward-looking planets, being treated with suspicion, and wanted to see more of the galaxy. He left on the first ship that visited (it was a bit of a wait) and now hangs around space ports looking to sign on to a crew. He doesn't care where he is going as long as it is beyond the Outrim systems.

All figures are metal, from the Pages range by BMT3D.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Meet the Colonists #3

Hello and welcome back,

This is the first of a batch of posts, catching up on the figures I finished last year. I am a fair bit behind with my blogging.

For now, get comfortable and get ready to meet the next bunch of colonists on the world of Corrosion. 

Mayor Minstum Leuien is a retired senior military officer from the Brittannia quadrant. He wears the Mayor's hat of office (because someone robbed the chain and medallion) to show that he is the leader of the colony of Pusterom. Minstrum is armed with a exotic looking las pistol which was looted from the many piles of scrap across the world of Corrosion.

The figure is a Northstar Steampunk figure. The hat started life as a spare scrap of green stuff putty which I fashioned into a wizard's hat. It was just laying about and it seemed a good item to fit to Minstum. The shoulder eppulets are resin bits from Anvil Industries. I replaced the minsicule revolver with a dark eldar las pistol dug out of the bits box. He also gained a mantic Forge Father back pack.

Homer Caine is Pusterom's security leader and sherrif. He came to Corrsion after going AWOL from the Liberty Security Forces. His military background got him recruited by Minstrum as the town's securtiy boss and sherrif. The wanna be law man wears a fancy high tech helmet found in the scrap which gives him advantages targetting or locating hidden foes. Caine keeps an eye open for visiting bounty hunters as there is still a bounty on his head from Liberty.

The Homer Caine figure started life as a Northstar Steampunk figure. The eppultes are from Anvil Industries, the helmet is a spare Asterian Marionette Phantom head by Mantic. His weedy revolver was replaced by a plastic Void Viridian auto pistol. A sherriff's badge from Dead Mans Hand set was pinned to his chest. His whole ensable is finished off with a rather fashionable pair of grenades from a 40k Space Marine Scout.

Lenny Magnusson got lucky one day out in the Corrsion wastes, finding a fancy pants energy weapon on a rusting killbot. After dragging it back to Pusterom he spent a good while trying to find a way to use it. The solution was a bot targetting system, a battery and a back pack. Now, when out prospecting in the wastes, Lenny just zapps anything trying to mess with him.

The figure is a old OOP Warmachine mechanic. I added a backpack and scratch built the pack mounted energy weapon from beads, sequins and foam clay power lines.

Postie arrived on Corrsion and found he wasnt much good at salvaging. In the piles of junk he found an ancient postal trolly. To earn an living he started work courioring messages and packages across the town of Pusterom. It was amazing just how many folks didnt want to speak to each other in the town face to face. The Pusterom Postal Service was born. Postie keeps a pair of cats he saved from a crashed ship and they travel with him while he does his rounds. It is rumoured that at least one of the cats is a PSI Grynx cat.

The Postie figure and cart are unconverted resin figures by MEP Miniatures.

Thanks for looking, take care out there.

Blue Star Company

Hello there, Welcome Back.

The Blue Star company is a Dvarg mining and engineering company from the Super Earth sized world of Azure, which orbits around a blue dwarf star deep in Dvarg Space. 

In addition to the traditional Davrg industries, Blue Sun runs salvage and repair operations in many sectors along Dvarg and Frontier space.

The figures are mainly old school 2nd ed 40K Squats that I have picked up over the years. There are also two resin Chob Minis Space Dwarves carried by Ramshackle Games, which scale up nicely with the old 40k figures. 

The wounded squat figure had a missing arm. Thankfully the arms from the Wargames Atlantic Einhenjar fit nicely. I gave him an axe arm.

I need to get all my space dwarves out as one large muster at some point in the future. 

Thanks for looking, take care out there. 

Angels and Minnows

Hello and Welcome Back,

Time to see more alien creatures from the Wild Galaxy. 

Originally found around worlds close to black holes the Angels and Minnows are strange creatures. Very little is known about them except that the Minnow is the young version and grows into the more fearsome Angel. It is not understood how the Minnow grows into a Angel.

Generally the Angels are not aggressive to humans and there are stories of them aiding injured or stranded spacers. It is how they got the name Angels. The Angels seem to be able to tell at a distance about humans intentions towards them and will vanish or attack if they feel in danger.

These creatures have a PSI effect on any humans encountering them. The effect can either be elation or terror and the creatures seem to be able to decide which way they can influence the human they target. Humans they encounter can also be affected by dreams or nightmares for decades after. Some researchers claim that the Angel or Minnow are remotely influencing these dreams, even from across the galaxy. Some of the effected claim there are hidden messages in the dreams. Are the Angels trying to communicate with humanity?

These mysterious creatures seem to be unaffected by the void of space and travel across the galaxy in drifting space hulks. They often come as a shock to salvage teams (known as Vultures) when they run into Angels aboard a hulk. Many recall seeing the at the initial contact but wake to find them gone, after blacking out.

It is thought that the Angels are born from the chaos of a black hole, or have travelled here from another dimension somehow via the black hole or it's energies. Of course no one really knows. No Angels or Minnows have ever been captured alive and their bodies quickly fade into nothing upon death. Along with the other mysterious incidents around contact with Angels has given rise to supernatural tales about these creatures.

The figures are Angels and Minnows by Malestroms Edge. I like the sinister alien look they have.

Thanks for looking and Take Care.

Meet the Colonists #2: Alien Zoologist Team

Hello and Welcome back,

In this post, we are going to take a peep at my Alien Zoologist Expedition Team. While they are for the Alien Zoologist Game, some of these figures will also double up as Colonists for the Skirm game or the township of Pusteron on my own world of Corrosion.

In case you don’t know, Alien Zoologist is a solo game by Florian F. Manthey, where an expedition hunts alien creatures, eggs and poo for a zoologist's collection. The game leans heavily on kit bashing a expedition team and creating alien critters from butchered toys. It features tokens to collect or interact with the critters. I made mine last year but I haven’t got around to painting them.

The Expedition Team.

The Zoologist:

Lord Aluicous Sidney Oldwood Smythe Smythe Smythe (just known as Lord Oldwood to every one who doesn’t want to run out of breath just speaking to him) is a Aristocrat from the Brittainna group of systems who has a passion for building up his own zoo. He is a old friend of Lord Valchiria of Wreckage station which orbits Corrosion. Lord Oldwood ect ect, has brought an expedition to the world in the hope finding creatures for his alien zoo. In the game the Zoologist acts as the guy trying to capture critters hopefully uninjured.

The figure started out as a Sci Fi ganger by the now sadly vanished Kallistra games. I have another one of this figure, so butchering it to make the Zoologist didn’t smart too much. The tares in the t shirt were filled and big buttons added to it. I sculpted a gas mask and added a back pack with hoses to house the ventilator (not all worlds have a breathable atmosphere). The sword was removed and a post to make a big butterfly net added. The butterfly net was built from wire and had putty wrapped around it. The netting came from a bag of halloween sweets. The shoulder epaulettes are resin and came from Anvil Industries.

Sadly, I cant see many characters roaming about with a giant butterfly net searching for junk to salvage on Tapu or Corrosion. Not unless they are really eccentric!

The Big Game Hunter.

Simply known as 'The Major', he is ex Brittannia military from an aristocratic family. He has a passion for killing animals to make himself feel better ("well they don’t complain about it as much as the poor, eh what!"). He sports an old antique hunting rifle owned by one of his equally blood thirsty ancestors.

The Major figure is based on a Stargrave Crew man torso. A pair Dead Mans Hand cowboy rifle arms were added. They didn’t fit too well so a pair of putty shoulder pads were added to cover the area. One of the great things about Sci Fi figures is that a lump of putty can hide a multitude of kit bash sins and not make the figure look odd. As the rules say he needed an antique hunting rifle I scratch built one. The head came from the Dead Mans Hand set and the backpack is from Anvil Industries.

On Tapu/Corrosion the Major arrived on the world and brought his great granddaddies' big game gun. He heard there is plenty of stuff to kill and is looking forward to indulging in his favourite hobby.

Doc Wildeyes, the Scientist:

Doc Wildeyes is the Expedition Team's biologist and is interested in studying the creatures and collecting their genes. In the game the biologist collects the critters eggs for captive breeding and research.

The figure is the only one of the set un modified, as I thought it was perfect for the job. It is from Northstar Miniatures Steampunk range.

On Tapu/Corrosion Doc Wildeyes serves as the colony's resident medical practitioner. If the med packs cant fix you, are you brave enough to go under his scalpel or terrifying rusty Autodoc machine?

Riff Void, the Assistant.

Riff Void is the assistant to the Doc. A young man wishing to start a career in Alien Biological research. His job is less glamorous than the other members of the team. He has to collect the alien critters dung for analysis. He also has the fun job of distracting the beasts if the team members are in danger.

The figure torso is a Warlord WW2 German in a great coat, I got as a free addition from Northstar (thanks guys). The arms are from a fantasy dwarf sprue, complete with shovel. Putty shoulder pads cover any limb misalignments. The head is from Ramshackle Games. The bucket is scratch built using a medical connector cap and some wire. The backpack was made from a lump of spare putty (I always mix too much!).

On Tapu/Corrosion, as Riff Void is the youngest colonist he has the great job of cleaning the town's outhouse. A job even the beadbots turn down. You know you are the bottom of the pile when a beadbot outranks you.

Gnarly Petain the Ranger.

Gnarly Petain has travelled many worlds, learning the ways of the beasts and how to live off the land. Gnarly Petain is hired to find and track the animals. In Alien Zoology the Ranger puts out food to attract the beasts.

The figure is a gunfighter torso, head and arms from the Dead Mans Hand set. I chose it as the Ranger is described as being armed with two pistols. Shoulder pads were added to Sci Fi the figure up a little. The backpack is made from spare putty.

On Tapu/Corrosion, the character is just another scrap hungry adventurer from a frontier world, hoping to make his fortune.

Thanks for looking,

Take care out there.