Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - Touch ups

Just a quick one, in amongst completeing the previous future containers I decided to embelish this older green container. It followed a similar pattern to the Maersk Line container and I had a spare stencil template to put a big number on so it was rude not to.

Now although I firmly believe big numbers make anything look cooler there is something about this one that doesn't quite work, perhaps it's just too bright. I also added some more Rhinox Hide sponging and Ryza Rust as well as Valejo Red Oxid paste in places to cover up where the paint has already chipped off. I also weathered up the base a lot to be more durable and fit with the three previous containers.

As you can see its overall colour 'silhouette' has changed dramatically. The overwhelming green its now competing with 25% white and the orange and brown is significantly more noticeable. So I'm a little sad I've lost a solid block of colour but I've just got to accept where it's at now.

Maybe a little more toning down of the number 5, some silver in places and a varnish. There was no urgency in doing it just something I felt it needed.

Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - TO DONE!

Although I was occasionally naughty when i was painting the Bio-titan in that I would get distracted and do some of my future containers there is a benefit when it comes to tackling them alone - there's so much already done.

And so they were pretty easy to finish off. That said I can't find a consistent approach to my rusty/scuffed weathering. Sponging Rhinox Hide is a start, followed by Gun Metal and usually a wash to tone it all down. 

I try Ryza Rust but it just doesn't look right and wouldn't have worked on the Hapag Lloyd containers anyway. The Maersk lines isn't too bad though.

I just love these containers and as I've said before it's such a shame Mentos discontinued the gum they contained. I've started on a foamboard STC but haven;t had time to perfect it yet.

I'm also thinking that you can get wooden, chamfered blocks off ebay and making some reinforcement templates you could achieve something similar. That's not to say Munitorum Containers aren't also up to the task but we like cheap terrain solutions too.

Giddy with excitement I have taken my green container and applied a big number to it and for once I'm thinking it was a mistake. 

Adding some weathering has shifted it's overall 'greenness' and it looks very different to what it previously was. Nevermind, we'll see if I can rescue it. 

These were great fun to do though and another item that started as a Big Build project, once again reaffirming that although making models is not my favourite part of the hobby setting aside some focus does provide projects that can be completed. Without the making I can't get to the painting!

I've a dozen of these now and as I say, although I can't get a consistent approach to weathering I'm definitely happier with how I do them now than years ago. I also have the 'water container' that could be finished off at some pint the construction is flimsy at best so I may not bother with it.

Here's my Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval, I've a few Camera360 shots to share too and then it's my Razorback which also got TO DONE!

Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - Detailing!

With the Armigers out of thesurprisingly it was the future containers that drew my attention. The orange ones requiring four coats of paint to achieve the orange I was after and that's not including all the priming, shading etc. Strong Tone picked out all the shadows and then my pumpkin craft acrylic edge highlights.

Then I noticed that some Aquila decals would fit perfectly in the top space so they both had gloss coats, decals and then matt varnish [can't find my Lahmian Medium :( ], two side on both.

I've shipping company logos to add yet and then some more weathering and damage, probably not as much as the OOCL ones but we'll see.

The third container - I decided on grey.

Once again BIG numbers look awesome, painted some scuffs too.

Maersk Line shipping company, I did consider switching it for Magnus but decided to leave it as is.

The other big number. A simple stencil, tidied up and then scuffed.

The Maersk logo - a stencil with grey dots for the centre of the A, R and nicks in the S. The blue square was stencilled, then the white star stencilled and tidied up afterwards. Again still more weathering to do, as I say I got carried away with the amount of sand in the basecoats, it's a bit too rough but there's not much I can do with it now.

I then went and did the Hapag-Lloyd logos. Obviously with less success - stenciling the name was really difficult. Given the spacing between the letters I only really cut out the H, p, g, L, l y, and d and then hand painted the a, a, - and o.

Then I went back and filled in all the 'counters' [the holes in all the letters, like the o and d]. I tidied it all up, added some shading'highlights to the blue logo and although it's not perfect it'll do. Some weathering will help but I do need some additional decoration on the sides.

These last two pics were originally going to form the start of the next post update but I've since realised these will have to go on hiatus while I focus on the Bio-titan, so thought I'd share them now. And one day I still need to create an STC for a foamcore cube to replace the OOP Mentos cubes that form the base for these, one day...

Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - Big Build To Done!

You know the deal by now - I set a number of tasks and targets for myself and go about sabotaging it by taking on yet more projects but the muse compels me. Having completed 2 of these containers earlier this year I had found the last three Mentos Cube boxes I'd collected - I so wish I'd bought more. I thought I could do the 'reinforcing' in my lunch break at work. So the plastic got sanded for more of a key when it gets painted, my current ones do chip very easilt but it's soft plastic. I used PVA to stick them on, it;s worked in the past. I wasn't hole punching the circles on the corners/middle I bought some small 2mm adhesive jems to make rivets instead.

Now the original plan was for these two to me MSC shipping containers  [yes, I appreciate the tautology]. Having done OOCL I wanted another global container brand and the yellow would stand out, except I changed my mind at the last minute as I already have the two biohazard containers that are yellow and wanted to try something different. So I chose orange instead and luckily there's a container company for that - Hapag-Lloyd. Now I'd undercoated these with grey primer and black primer, I then painted them with black masonry paint mixed with PVA and some fine sand [too much fine sand actually so they're far grittier than I'd planned]. All of this is to try and make them more durable. I then primed Red Oxide and the first orange paint was a Dark Orange craft acrylic which had really poor coverage. I had to stipple it twice to get coverage I was happy with but even then the colour was not the 'papaya' orange of the Happag-Lloyd container.

 
It would go on, be quite bright and then dry very matt, semi-transparent and much darker than I was after. I picked up another orange craft paint from The Works, it was only a pound and the same make as my lime green I use for toxic stuff. It's amazing because it's very like my Vermilion in that it's relatively thick but still goes on thin and also very glossy. It's hard to tell in the pictures above but the container on the left is pre-glossy orange and again the right one required two coats to get the colour I was after, it's almost a glaze! I took this picture in daylight so you can potentially see the difference.

Anyway, it might be a right palaver to do, four coats of paint to get what I'm after, and that's before washes but I'm finally happy with it. I still have some of the earlier stages to do on the second H-L container and I've changed my mind about the third too. Originally the third container was supposed to be Dark Angel Green but I might go for light grey and make it a Maersk Line container, for yet more giggles. Obligatory B&W art shot.

So I do get a Big Build Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval.

Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - To Done!

Following on from the Deathwatch and the sentinels I finished up two future containers. These pieces of scatter terrain have been knocking around for years. Whereas I'd completed six of them and been using them in games these two had stalled because I wasn't convinced about the weathering I'd done and my reluctance to tackle the OOCL logo I was set on branding them with.

But with my AoP board relying on these sorts of items to sell the storage facility theme [and not being in a position to get some Munitorum Containers] I had a crack at finishing them off. Thankfully Typhus Corrosion and my efforts at sponge weathering on my Bastions and Drop Pods meant fixing the weathering was a doddle. Equally the OOCL logo was much easier than I had feared, mainly because it was just an 'L' shape and a series of circles I stamped on with a pencil rubber and then cleaned up afterwards. A couple of stnecilled numbers and some weight details completed the effect I was after.

I've three more of these Mentos Cube boxes left, they haven't even been converted yet but I would love to find time to get these done to add to the set. Yellow MSC containers and an orange one perhaps? Anyway, that's enough self-congratulations, well, except for my Great Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval. However, I've just finished my two Ripper bases which will need To Done! pics but you'll be pleased to know the blog will be back to WiP pictures for the foreseeable future ;)

Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - OOCL

For those that have been following the blog since 2010... Holy Throne the blog is going to be 7 in a couple of days, finally getting into 'big-boy pants'! Anyway, you may recall I created a number of 'future containers' back before there were Munitorum Containers.

I made quite a variety of them here, here, and here. In the second and third post I make reference to and show the start of the OOCL containers which I'd added some unrealistic weathering to and had never finished up. As my Armies on Parade board used some of the other containers I thought I could quickly finish these off with added Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust.

Not to mention the OOCL logo, which I love. It was relatively easy to do. I sliced the end off an eraser tipped pencil so I had a circular stamp. Stamped three circles, added an L and then went back and added the void in each letter and a simplified cherry blossom. It;s not perfect but it doesn;t have to be.

Naturally some big numbers, and the Tare Weight index.

I've then added some gunmetal scuffs and scratches with a sponge, perhaps I should have looked at the previous containers as I was far more restrained with the metallics on the older ones and they looked better for it. Still, it's another two pieces of terrain to hide behind.

I love this logo.

I'm quite fond of this version with passive/aggressive strapline too ;)

Incidentally it's sad that the Mentos cubes are no longer in production, so it's not possible to recreate these, even with my FREE reinforcing STC template. I keep meaning to make a foamboard cube template to use as a base instead, or to redesign the the template to fit standard bevelled wooden cubes I've seen available on ebay. I'll try and get something sorted before the end of the year...

My son ACTUALLY gaming!

So wonders never cease. My son actually played a game of 40k with his cousin and up until the frantic melee below I'd kept out of it. Somewhere along the lines his 11 Genestealers and Broodlord outflanked onto the side. They charged the Terminator squad and at this point had taken out his Terminator Armoured Chaplain [2 wounds? I thought those guys had 3]

Here's a wider angle shot with a sneak peak at some of my Honoured Imperium terrain and my future containers.

Moments afterwards the Genestealer mauled two of the Terminators [33 dice delivered two deaths!] however the squad failed their morale check and were slaughtered as they ran away.

Later on the Trygon had 6 penetrating and one glancing hit on the Predator in the centre so it was destroyed also. The marines had little chance. Can't say he's learned about good sportsmanship but he's never beaten his cousin yet and perhaps it'll excite him a little more about it. Later the wife asked him again on his thoughts and he said I'm 'still sticking my nose in too much and make decisions on colours etc.' although I'm not sure what he's referring to as we haven't done any painting for at least a month! Didn't even want to be involved in the game but they kept asking my advice. Anyhoo...!

40k future container scatter terrain - UPDATE, AGAIN!

As promised in my last update on 40k future container scatter terrain here's an update on the 7 further containers I produced. Before I begin though lets remind ourselves of the wonderful Mentos Cubes donor skeleton.

And here's the first tutorial that showed how to make them.

First up is my liquid container encased in wire mesh.
Firstly I removed the lid and used a poster tube cap to create a new lid. I got some circular 'granny grating' to go on the top. Two corners had brass picture hooks for lifting, the other two corners had some crafting gems, octagonal shaped, they look like ornate rivets/bolts. Then I got some 'granny grating' and judiciously removed chunks of it to get a mesh size suitable to fit the cube.

As you can see some of the grid that was cut out leaves behind stubs but I like this, it makes it look more like rebar, it's more texture at least. I also added some corrugated cardboard on the base so it looks like it's on an integral pallet. The mesh had to have some bits of wire tied round it to ensure the mesh box stayed together but plenty of PVA 'welding' is holding it together. There are also corner supports on the base. Still got to finish the painting, silver on the mesh and rust effects. Not overly keen on my semi transparent plastic with stagnant green liquid inside but there's not much I can do.

Below is the Dark Angel Container, reinforced at opposite corners with some more octagonal shaped crafting gems for rivets. First level of rust applied, orange still to add and metallic scrapes. Also DA chapter markings.

Here's the Biohazard containers. The two with caps on are obviously the right way up. I removed the lid and used a poster tube cap to create a new lid. I used a template to cut out the Biohazard symbol for one lid and used the blank for the other. Two corners had brass picture hooks for lifting, the other two corners had some crafting gems. The third container is the usual upside down reinforced version with 'granny grating' on the top. Not 100% convinced on the yellow, but as it's not finished yet hopefully the orange rust still to add,  metallic scrapes and markings should tone them down a little bit.

Lastly a group shot with the two OOCL containers. Again the rust is a bit overpowering and it's not quite as beige as I'd hoped but we'll reserve judgement until they're complete. Still not sure if keeping them to fewer colours would have worked better, time will tell.

There's still a little something missing in the paint-jobs, they certainly don't have the realism of my turquoise containers, but I have to recall my fundamental law of painting - 'reserve judgement until complete'. So many times I've been unhappy about a model's progress only to be overjoyed at the final results. The original containers themselves went through this process and came out alright, their siblings deserve the same chance.

.pdf templates for the reinforcements if anyone wants to give it a go.

40k future container scatter terrain - UPDATE

You may recall while back I made some 40k future container scatter terrain out of Mentos Cube boxes. I promised I'd do an update on the painting so here we go.

As you can see a bit of judicious brown and orange, some silver here and there and these little beauties really come into their own. I'd agonised for ages over these, the washes really took a while to work but using a really big brush to do the dry brushing helped. When I say really big I mean the sort you use when decorating, cutting in on the walls etc.

But I didn't stop there. I wanted to put some markings on the containers so I made some little masks and you can just make out the NUMA markings I added below [I'm a big Clive Cussler fan and the colour was perfect]. Close up they look even more grimy!

Since then I've added another seven containers [what can I say I like gum] I've got some Bioazard waste ones, some OOCL [they'll still be doing containerisation in the 41st millenium] one of the mesh wrapped liquid containers and a reinforced Dark Angels container, which makes a nice objective marker, who knows what or whom is locked up inside, I'll never tell... I'll get some pics up eventually when I grime them up. I really enjoyed playing around with the different colours because I feel most container ports are all different but part of me thinks I should have stuck to the turquoise and pale blue of the first three, hmm