Miscellaneous Urban Terrain

Dumpsters from Miniature Building Authority (right) and Sea Dog Studies

I tend to pick up the odd piece of terrain at conventions, but then it may languish in my unpainted boxes for awhile. Since I am working on my urban gang warfare project, I figured it was time to pull out some of these pieces and prime them up and paint them.

These dumpsters painted up easily and are a great addition to an urban tabletop

First up are three dumpsters from two different sources. The larger two are from fellow Columbus resident Brian Carnes of Sailpower rules fame. He has been 3-D printing ships for his Age of Sail game for quite awhile, but recently added in other types of terrain. He calls his company Sea Dog Game Studios - check out their booth at area conventions. I had my modern Africa games using Wars of Insurgency rules in mind when I bought these, but they will work equally well in inner city America. The smaller dumpster is from Miniature Building Authority, which I believe I picked up at Historicon this year. This is one of their unpainted resin terrain pieces. It is a slightly different style, but that's a good thing! Both of these painted up incredibly quickly. I sprayed them with Krylon Fusion acrylic black primer first. Then, after dry, I brushed on a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint onto them to seep into all the detail and make dry brushing more effective. Next, I dry brushed a kelly green craft paint over them, mainly because a lot of the dumpsters I tend to see in Columbus are green. I then highlighted the raised areas in a lighter shade. The lid was dry brushed a medium gray, though that detail tended to disappear after I clear coated them....hmmm. All in all, great urban scatter for the tabletop at a bare minimum of prep time!

Hmm...I don't look like these four Miniature Building Authority police barricades will hold these dudes back!

Next up are four police barricades from Miniature Building Authority. I believe these were also purchased this year at Historicon. MBA has so many great terrain pieces besides the buildings they are famous for that it his hard to resist picking up a few items every time I see them at conventions. The fact that they are such nice guys and loyal supporters of our historical miniatures hobby, makes me even more willing to part with cash when I see them. These were also black primed, then gone over with a 50/50 mixture of black paint and water. Next, I heavily dry brushed Iron Wind Metals "Steel" (one of my all-time favorite paints) over it. I followed that up with a silver dry brush and voila! Three colors and done! More terrain for my urban battlefields.

A pleasant day in the park, and a comfy place to sit - Sea Dog Studios 3-D printed park benches

Finally, two 3-D printed park benches from Sea Dog Game Studios. They seem a bit small for the more heroic scale 28mm figures, but I still liked them so picked them up. I heartily recommend perusing Brian Carnes' booth if you see him at a convention. There is just so much he makes that you wouldn't think about but will look cool on the tabletop. I have a vandalized Coca-Cola machine that is primed and waiting for its turn sitting on my desk right now! These were easy to paint, as well. I did the same spray prime/50-50 mixture as above. I then dry brushed the wood slats Howard Hues Camo Brown, followed by its Colonial Khaki. I painted the wrought iron sections Iron Wind Metals Steel, and honestly, that was it. I plan on doing a park as part of my urban landscape and these benches will go nicely on it.

What's next? Well, I am just about done with my next urban gang - the Sons of Thor, German Village chapter. Look for a post on them soon. Keep checking my blog as I have a two week break from teaching coming up soon, so I am bound to get more done!