Two New Corner Ruins for Post-Apocalyptic (or Sci-Fi)

    I bought these two 3-D printed corner ruins at ATC 2023 from my friend Rusty of Jarl's Workshop

Here are a few shots of some corner ruins I recently finished up. My friend Rusty Parker, who has a 3-D printing business called Jarl's Workshop, sold these to me at Advance the Colors 2023 because I liked the first one I painted up so much. They are originally from WOWBuildings, who sells the STL files. The kit is a six story corner ruin, but I decided to add some variety by lopping off a level or two on these two builds. Plus, my first one leaned a bit more than I liked when it got all the way up to six stories tall. Maybe that was my fault for not using some steel bases or something to wait it down on the bottom, but I am glad I made the decision to do 4- and 5-story versions. It should provide more variety on the tabletop.

    I used large bricks (Pegasus Terrain?) to simulate tumbled rubble on the base of the corner ruin

I cut my styrene plastic bases that I epoxied the ruins onto wider to also combat the lean. While I was at it, I added a lot more rubble on the bases, too. I want it to represent large blocks that that fell off the upper floors and now lay in piles on the ground around it. I used large red bricks that I bought at Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH -- which I believe come from Pegasus Terrain. I have long since thrown away the tag that came on the bag, so I can't be sure until my next trip there!

    These are great terrain pieces and really add to the look of a ruined, post-apocalyptic city

I did my usual treatment - spray painting the ruin with Krylon matte black paint and following it up with a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint and water. Then I did a dark gray wet brush and a light gray dry brush over the surface. I then added small red bricks and coarse gray ballast (from Woodland Scenics) to each of the floors to represent rubble piled up. For the ballast and small bricks, I went over them with a dark black wash.

    A good view of the small bricks and coarse gray ballast I added to each level of the ruin

You do have to glue the various levels together ("some assembly required"), but they fit together well and were no problem. Rusty sold them to me at a good price and I will probably (eventually) buy even more of them from him. I want to work on some more of the other ruined terrain that I picked up in the second half of the 2023. So stay tuned for more of those intermixed in with my Xenos Rampant figures!

    The original corner ruin -- all leaning six stories of it...!

 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 14

How About Some Blue-skinned Aliens for Xenos?

    My next squad for Xenos Rampant Sci-Fi games - from the Stargrave Mercenaries box

I am continuing to paint up squads for my Xenos Rampant project. This was my first batch of plastic miniatures from one of the Stargrave Mercenary boxes. Thanks to my friend Keith Finn giving me the correct glue to assemble the heads and arms to the torsos, I was able to actually put these together myself! You have to remember, I am the guy who likes to brag that the only thing I have successfully super-glued is my fingers to each other...haha! They are posed in front of another Miniature Building Authority building -- 10720 Arcade, from their Middle Eastern Series. This resin building came pre-painted, though I added some color in the mud bricks showing through and also the roof tiles. I also finished it off with a brown vehicle wash that I feel really gave it a warm glow.

    I used "Alien" heads for the torsos, and decided to paint them with blue skin and red eyes

I bought this box of miniatures from Shieldwall Gaming this past September at the Hold The Line convention in Port Clinton, OH. I actually glued them together a few months back, thinking I would use them for games of Galactic Heroes, or maybe Space Station Zero. So, I made sure to include guys holding briefcases or devices in one of their hands. I do like that you can mix up the weapons in these packs, but I still am not a fan of having to assemble my figures. At least these seems solid enough and won't snap at the knees like one of my 3-D printed Terminators did!

    The squad (Andorians from Star Trek?) deploy near the Miniature Building Authority arcade

From what I can see, forces in Xenos Rampant tend to have 4-5 squads. I figured it would be helpful to use my already painted up and ready for the tabletop post-apocalyptic survivor gangs as "cores" to build a force around. One of the most Sci-Fi looking of my gangs is Keith's Nightstalkers. I will likely need to paint up several more of them in metal to make that into two squads. They look a bit like the Stargrave Mercenaries, so I decided to do my best to mimic the color scheme of the Nightstalkers for this squad.

I was originally going to use these for smaller skirmishes, so chose hands holding various equipment

I thought these would paint up relatively quickly, but there were a lot of straps, ammo pouches, armor plates, and other details to put on. I began with a base coat of craft paint Khaki for their uniform. The web gear, holsters, and equipment or ammo pouches were done in a lighter craft paint called Wild Rice. Of course, these being 28mm figs, each color first got their own lighter dry brush shade over top (Howard Hues Khaki and white, respectively). The armor plates were done in metallic brown, which to me looks more golden-bronze. Think San Francisco 49ers football team helmet color. The weapons were done in Metallic Gray with highlights of the metallic brown and silver.

    "What was that...?" Squad turns to check out a noise from inside the arcade, showing their backside

When assembling the figures, I had chosen humanoid alien heads because...well, why not? So, how to make them look suitably alien? I decided to go with a light blue skin. I went with a base coat of sky blue and a wash of a deeper blue. For the eye sockets, I applied more of the blue closer to full strength and with less water. I then did my usual black oval for the eye -- and for an even more alien effect -- went with red eyes. I really like how they turned out! What are those blue-skinned, Star Trek aliens? Andorians? Well, no antennae here, but that was the effect I was shooting for!

    The squad regroups at the rear of the MBA pre-painted arcade (although touched up a bit by me)

Finally, it was time for the washes -- three different shades, in this case. I used my normal dark brown wash on the khaki uniform and lighter web gear and equipment. Next, I did my usual black wash on the armor and dark brown boots and straps. Finally, the weapons got a really dark black vehicle wash. I really like how that makes the weapons look a totally different shade than the rest of the figure. All in all, I was very happy with how this batch of figures turned out...well, other than them taking considerably longer than I thought they would! My usual Sci-Fi basing scheme of Fine Blended Gray Ballast (with a dark wash over it) and craft bricks finish them out. I hope you like them!

    A better shot of the roof of the Middle Eastern Arcade, with several Andorians on lookout

    Here is the post-apocalyptic survivor gang, Night Stalkers, I was trying to match this batch with

'Silent Slumbers' Motel - Resin Building from Miniature Building Authority

    The Santanas take over my Two Story Shanty Hotel from Miniature Building Authority

This is one of the heftiest buildings I have ever built and painted up. From Miniature Building Authority's amazing line of resin buildings, the Two Story Shanty Hotel comes with upper and lower levels, roof, stone staircase, and balcony railings. It's a fairly heavy hunk of resin, but incredibly detailed down to cans and other trash in the hallways outside the motel room doors. I took my time on it and worked on it here and there over a few months until finally finishing it today.

    This hotel is a hefty hunk of resin, but very solidly built and has LOTS of details

I bought it last year at Advance the Colors (2022) and was honestly hoping to have it done before this ATC. Alas, it was not to be. That incredibly busy period from late Spring through October was consumed with getting things ready for that convention. I wanted to paint the hotel up as generically as possible so that it could be used for different periods. The air conditioning units affixed to the back of each room definitely dates it to the 20th century forwards. However, the weathered and aged stone construction means it could be used in a number of settings. Heck, with Star Wars liking for desert planets, this wouldn't really be out of place in a Sci-Fi game, either!

    Once you glue the balcony railings on, it is a three piece building - upper & lower story and roof

The first step in getting this ready for the tabletop was to glue the two balcony railing pieces to the upper and lower levels. I also glued the stone staircase to the side of the lower level, placing it so it would help hold the upper level in place. To help with that, I cut a piece of curved wooden molding and epoxied it to the front of the building. I attached it to the lower level, but half of its height extends to the upper level so that it will also help keep the upper level stable and in place. I considered magnets, too, but felt that the weight of the piece, along with the staircase and sign holding it in place on two of its sides made this unnecessary. 

    The stone staircase glues to the side of the lower level and its top step helps hold the upper in place

Once all the epoxying was done, I spray painted the three levels (lower, upper, roof) with Krylon Matte black, and followed that up with a 50/50 mixture of black acrylic paint and water. This helps the paint sink into all grooves and crevices, as well as giving a thick surface for the paint to adhere to and prevent the wear and tear of scratches or gouges. I decided to begin the painting with the interiors of the motel rooms themselves and work my way outwards. I chose four somewhat pastel colors to wetbrush the four rooms on each level in. I then painted the tiled floors in a contrasting color. Next, I picked out the interior door and window trim in a darker version of the pastel color. So, each room had its own color scheme.

    I began painting the interior rooms first and then worked my way outside

Next up were the blinds and doors, which I did with a base coat and dry brush. Finally, when all was dry, I moved on to the exterior surface of the building. I did its base coat in Howard Hues Camo Brown. This was applied in a thick wet brush, covering most of the surface, with only an occasional crack left in black. This was also applied to the tops of the walls separating each interior room. Once dry, I dry brushed the exterior in Howard Hues Colonial Khaki. I really like the way it came out, giving a warm, earthy feel.

    The front of the motel - this is a quality model and can likely be used in many periods & settings

It was on to the numerous details next, which included the air conditioning units on the back wall of every room, power wires running to each unit, the exterior window trim and doors, metal door handles, metallic plates anchoring the power wires, and even the trash in the hallways. The floor of the hallway was done in to look like concrete with a dark gray base coat and light gray dry brush. Once all the very significant details were completed, I applied a brown wash using watered down Vallejo vehicle wash. I am always happier with how anything dry brushed look when I finish off the exterior with a darker wash. I feel it "softens" the edges of the brush strokes and makes it look smoother overall.

    A three quarters view of the hotel back and good look at all the detail molded into this model

The last thing I did was the roof. It had been done in black base coat like the other sections. I did a red brown wet brush next, followed by a dry brush of the more orange tone Howard Hues Middle Eastern flesh. Once dry, I applied a dark brown wash over this, as well. The motel was almost open for business! I designed a sign on my computer to go over the long piece of molding I had glued to the bottom level. I went back and forth on naming the hotel. I was tempted to name it "Suite Dreams" -- liking the irony if it was used as a hotel of ill repute in a bad section of town. However, I know how wargamers are and someone would invariably point out the rooms are far too small to be suites! Wanting to forestall that banter, I decided instead to go with "Silent Slumbers Motel." This also has a slightly ominous tone for a location in the bad section of town!

    The detail goes all the way down to the trash strewn in the corridors

Miniature Building Authority terrain is always high quality and looks amazing on the tabletop. I encourage folks to shop with Kirk -- he's a great supporter of our hobby and a nice guy all around! Look for a few more of my MBA purchases to follow the motel onto this blog. I have more cool buildings I purchased from MBA, and hope to begin working on them soon!

    "Get a room!" the rest of the Santanas may have shouted to Margarita and Julio...

More Post-Apocalyptic (Wrecked Cars & Dead Trees)

    Mantic Games resin wrecked vehicles painted up rusted and dilapidated for post-apoc games

With Advance the Colors 2023 behind me, I now seem to have more time for finishing up things I'd begun (or wanted to start on) earlier. First and foremost were four wrecked vehicles that I want to use for scatter scenery in my post-apocalyptic games. I picked them up at the Guardtower East during one of our monthly Saga game days. 

 Biggest complaint was that the window for the back up the pickup had to be glued in and didn't fit

These were made of a gray resin or plastic and came with two pickup trucks and two cars. Each type was identical, and the pickup required one piece of assembly. The back window of the pickup needed glued into place with the truck's bed. Only it wasn't that simple. Try as I might, I simply couldn't get it to fit smoothly. There had obviously been some warping or distortion that went on in the casting process. I ended up having to epoxy the windows into place as close I could. I then filled the gaps with green stuff. I was fairly happy with how I did with the green stuff. It is definitely something I am still a learner on.

    The models come dented to simulate a wreck, but all the rust and wear and tear was painted on

I spray painted each vehicle with Krylon matte black, following it up with my usual 50/50 acrylic black paint and water. I then epoxied it to a styrene plastic base, though I was tempted to leave it un-based and free standing. It might even look better on the tabletop that way, but I detest holding onto things while painting something, with the chance of rubbing off paint. Or paint the bottom and then painting the top. Basing something up and holding onto that base is always preferable.

    The windows are solid, so I used my brushwork to make them look broken and busted, too

Next, I did the base color for all four vehicles, leaving black gaps in the seams of the body panels, doors, etc. I'm not sure why I went with brighter colors for the vehicles over the trucks, but I did. I followed this with a dry brush of white or lighter color of the base. Next, I did a three part rust effect, beginning with a dark brown, adding in patches of a rusty, leathery brown, and then finishing it off with an orange clay color. Since the windows were solid, I had to paint cracks to make them look busted up, too. I painted the chrome areas a steel color, then pewter and silver highlights. Of course, each vehicle got a dark black wash to look appropriately abandoned and dirty.

    3-D printed trees from Rusty Parker of Jarls Workshop. I decided to make them "dead" for post-apoc

The next thing I finished off were two 3-d printed trees that I'd picked up as prizes from the Hold the Line Saga tournament in Port Clinton, OH. Rusty Parker of Jarl's Workshop printed them off and had numerous ones he'd painted up for terrain for the tournament. He had flocked them to look like trees in bloom, but I thought their bare branches would make them excellent dead trees to add to the smaller ones I'd painted up earlier. In a post-apocalyptic landscape, the dead trees at a nice desolate vibe.

    Closeup of the one of the dead trees with my 28mm Planet of the Apes gorillas patrolling nearby

These were very easy to get ready for the tabletop! I simply spray painted them black, did my usual 50/50 acrylic follow up, and then dry brushed them. I applied the first dry brush thickly -- more of a "wet brush." I used the Camo Brown from Howard Hues. Next, I did a dry brush of Howard Hues Khaki. A black wash finished them out, and they were ready for flocking. There is an area between the branches that looks like vegetation, so I flocked that with Woodland Scenics "Burnt Grass" flocking. Otherwise, I did a fine brown ballast around the roots and applied a Turf Earth over top of that. A couple more patches of burnt grass and some tufts, and they were done. Of course, they are taller than the box which I stored my smaller dead trees would hold! I will sit them on their sides until I think of a better idea.

    The smaller dead trees in back are from Mantic Games' Terrain Crate line, 'Gothic Grounds'

These two mini-projects took less time each than a normal batch of Saga miniatures, so it was nice to feel they were painted up quickly! Hopefully, the speedy progress will continue!

Some Miniature Building Authority (MBA) Middle Eastern buildings

    Two resin buildings from Miniature Building Authority - including a shawarma shop!

I have been so busy that I have had little chance to update this blog, lately. There are a number of things that I have finished off in my "crunch time" before Advance the Colros 2023. One of those has been a pair of Middle Eastern buildings from the quality resin terrain line Miniature Building Authority. I chose two small buildings in a vain, last-ditch attempt to get all of what I bought from MBA at last ATC completed before this one rolled around!

 

    The shawarma shop on the left is named after my friend Andy, of course!

One of the buildings is their "Ice Cream Shop." Of course, being me, I decided to change things up. I made it a Shawarma stand. I like to name my buildings after my gaming friends, so my buddy Andy got the honors on this one! In hindsight, I wish I had colored the background of the signs. As I mentioned, I have been pressed for time of late so ended up cutting a corner here. Still, I like the way the building came out. MBA makes high quality buildings and their line of Middle Eastern buildings are top notch.

Metal bits were done in a steel color with pewter highlights, but otherwise, these were quick to paint!

These were very easy to paint. I spray painted them black first. Then I dry brushed them with a medium brown color from Howard Hues called "Camo Brown.? I added in successive highlight colors of Khaki and white. I finally picked out wood and metal highlights. But honestly, these buildings paint up so quickly that you'll get them ready for your tabletop in no time at all!

    I highly recommend buildings from Miniature Building Authority!

The other building is called "Small Middle Eastern Building II" on the MBA website. It is a good example of their two-part ruined buildings. The top 2/3's of the building lifts off, leaving a ruined foundation and stubble of walls on all four sides. When you place the top back on, the crack delineating the join between the two pieces looks very natural. It's a great way to get two buildings, essentially, for the price of one. It was painted exactly as the other building and should look good for my modern games. What's more, I think it will look fine for even Sci-Fi games. So many of the Star Wars movies feature that desert look, and I think these will go perfect for that period, as well...

Prison Cell Block & Research Facility

    My Woodford - Prison Cell Block MDF building from Warcradle Studios that I constructed

A few years ago on a trip to St. Louis, I picked up an MDF building on a visit to a local gaming store. It was from Warcraddle Studios "Red Beam Designs" line, and titled Woodford - Prison Cell Block. It looked like the perfect thing for a Pulp or Modern game, kind of a combined research facility and row of prison cells, to my mind. What dastardly experiments were carried out there on the unfortunate detainees? Of course, I had to buy it and find out...ha, ha!

    Research facility section -- note the safety and research science posters I glued on the painted walls

Well, I finally got around to constructing it because I felt it would be the perfect building for the next chapter of my post-Apocalyptic campaign. Not to divulge too much, but such a combined research and detainment facility is the planned the centerpiece of that scenario. This was the first building I would be constructing from this company, so I was curious to see how it stacked up against Sarissa Precision (where most of my buildings are from) and TTCombat (which I had built one or two from).

Top view of the L-shaped building with the research facility on the left and prison cell blocks on right

It seemed to go together as easily as most of the Sarissa Precision buildings. I used tacky glue to affix the floors, walls, door frames, etc., together and they seemed to bond the MDF well. The thickness of the pieces seemed about the same, too. One interesting aspect was the building came in two parts, creating an "L-shape." The longer section of the "L" contains what I termed the research facility part. The shorter part contains three cells and a hallway outside of them. I was possible to glue the two halves together, but the length and width of the building would be huge! It simply would not fit in any of my 13" square carrying boxes. So, I decided to leave them as two separate pieces, and simply slide them up against each other on the tabletop.

28mm police officer patrols the corridor outside the 3 prison cells - what is inside, hidden by the walls??

That was when I discovered the most surprising thing about the Woodford - Prison Cell Block. There was no roof! The building came with no MDF piece for the roof, which is the first time that has ever happened to me. All of my Sarissa Precision buildings come with a roof, as did my TTCombat ones. Very strange! Upon looking at the image on front of the package, I admit that it shows the building roofless. I had assumed that was so you could see how it was divided into hallways and rooms, though. So, a warning out there to anyone seeking to buy a Warcraddle Studios building: Make sure you know if it is has a roof or not!

Patterned paper I cut into shape and glue into place as floors for my MDF buildings

I used my standard method for painting up and tricking out my MDF buildings. After constructing it, I spray painted it with Krylon Matte black, and followed that up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. I painted the interior walls of both building sections first. I then did a dry brush of a lighter color, followed by a black wash to dirty it up. Next, I cut out pieces of patterned paper for the floors. I purchase these at Hobby Lobby where there is a huge variety of textures, colors, and styles. I used a gray concrete looking sheet for the cell floors and two different patterns that looked like linoleum flooring for the hallways and research facility rooms. 

    Painting the windows is the most "fiddly" part of this building - here a guard hears a strange noise...

I also created images of steel doors in Photoshop and printed them out on my home printer. I used images I found with a Google search and then modified them a bit. Once all the doors, walls, windows, and floors were done, it was time to move on to the outside. I decided to go with a couple different texture looks for the exterior walls. There was a small lower row of rectangular stones that I painted gray and used as a stone base. Next, I did a tan-colored stone effect for the main surface of the walls. This facade has fallen away in some places, exposing a stucco like surface, which I painted in a different color.

    Sandbags atop the cork roof give the building a militarized and forbidding look

As if all that wasn't enough, I glued on a decorative wooden beam separating the top from the bottom sections on the exterior. I painted that green to match the two latticed windows. I used that same medium green for the trim around the doorways. Each of the doorway areas came with an upside down "U" frame which I think was a really nice touch in the design. Otherwise, doors in MDF buildings can look somewhat 2-dimensional. I know that on other buildings I have even added in a frame to give it a more 3-D look. 

    Exterior close up, with the tan stone, exposed stucco where the facade has fallen away, & green trim

Once the exterior was painted, I washed it more darkly with the same black wash. I then took an X-acto knife and scraped off a line of the paint to attach the green wood trim sections. I wanted to expose the raw wood so that the surface had something to adhere to on the model. I hoped this trim would make it "pop" a little, adding in another 3-D element. I was really happy with how the exterior looked. My dry brushing of the interior section of each incised square in a lighter, highlight color came out relatively well, I think. 

Since this building houses detainees, whether experimented upon or not, I figured the doors had to be fairly heavy duty. I painted the outside doors a base steel color and highlighted them with streaks of pewter color. I also did the handles and bottom of the window grills in pewter, as well. Above the individual prison cell doors I added in a sign, "Cell Block A," etc. Some of the interior doors I decided to use a printed doors, such as those for the prison cells below.

The doors, which are simply printed out on paper and glued over the outline incised on the MDF

That brings me to the posters. I like to create posters in Photoshop to decorate my MDF buildings. I think it gives them a nicer, more lived-in look -- without going through all the expense and work of painting up interior furniture for each of them. Maybe one day I will have the time to add desks, filing cabinets, etc., to this and my other MDF models. Until then, the posters will have to suffice. For these, I emphasized a lot of "Safety" posters, along with a good mix of Science-themed ones for a research facility section.  To add an ominous tone, I put in one urging visitors and workers to be prepared to "Run/Hide/Fight"! For these, I simply created the image in Photoshop and send it to my Word Processing program to arrange multiple images on so that with one page I can print multiple posters, doors, etc.

    Another look at the exterior and the scratch-build foam board covered with cork paper roof

At this stage, the building itself was done -- except for the roof. I went back and forth about what material to use for the roof. My first thought was black foamcore -- but I was worried that whatever surface I put on it would cause warping. I considered MDF and styrene plastic, too. I didn't have a large enough sheet at the time in my possession for either material. MDF and styrene would likely not warp, but would be much heavier than the foamcare (which I DID have in my possession). So, I made another trip to Hobby Lobby for inspiration. While looking at the different textures and patterns of their paper, I found one style they had that was actual thin cork with an adhesive backing. The cork surface's mottled brown look would match the exterior of the building, I thought. Plus -- attaching paper to the foam core would not cause warping. 

    This sprawling L-shaped building actually went together and painted up fairly easily

Was this the solution? The 12"x12" sheets were not large enough for the whole roof, though. I figured that if the seams looked bad, I could make a thin concrete "rib" out of bass wood and glue it atop the roof strategically to hide the seam. I also wanted to put in square strips of bass wood as lugs to hold the roof in place so it didn't slide around. That part was done easily enough and the roof fit snugly atop the MDF building. I cut the cork paper so that about a 1/4" would wrap underneath the roof, covering the "foamy" edge of the black foam core. Unfortunately, the adhesive backing wasn't strong enough to hold the paper to the foamcore for long. So, I ended up having to press them back into place and then paint with tacky glue where the cork and foam surface joined. This seemed to hold it much better.

Since it is a prison of sorts, my plan was to line the roof with sandbags. However, I didn't have enough pieces, so will be getting a friend to 3-D print me some. I will paint those up when I receive them and glue them atop the cork roof into place. So, technically, the building isn't truly complete. However, it is close enough to take pictures of and post on my blog!

Barbed Wire Compound

    Two boxes worth of Monster Fight Club's Chain Link Fences (bought locally at Guardtower East)

When I was creating my 28mm urban terrain, I scratch-built a bunch of chain link fence sections. To be honest, I was never very thrilled with them. The styrene tubes I used as the aluminum poles and the "granny grate" plastic material for the fence looked okay. They were a little over-scale, though, and their construction looked clunky. So, when I saw Monster Fight Club's scenery pack of Chain Link Fences, I snatched up two boxes of them right away. I felt these would look much more realistic, plus they'd be able to be use as a barbed wire compound.

    The box from Monster Fight Club, which contains 10 sections that each measure roughly 5" long

Since it's me, though, I couldn't resist modifying them a bit. They come with these strange, brick-like, rectangular pieces that the poles fit into to stand upright. The picture on the box also shows them being used at the top to "clip" sections together. I didn't like the way that looked nor they way it elevated the fence off the ground. Wouldn't an elevated fence allow unwanted visitors to slip underneath? So, I decided to snip off all of the bottoms of all the vertical poles. Since these are soft plastic, that was easy enough to do with wire cutters and an X-acto knife.

    One of the unpainted sections - not the poles projecting from the bottom which I trimmed away

Each section measures roughly 5" long, so I cut thin styrene bases for them that were just a tad longer. I had to figure out a way, though, to make sure I glued them perpendicular to the ground. Otherwise, my fences would be leaning this way and that. Keeping them upright was the job of the now-discarded "brick clips." And with 20 sections total, even a small bit of lean would end up looking pretty topsy-turvy the longer the fence line grew. I decided to sandwich each section firmly between two square rods of bass wood. I would shave these into a triangular shape with an X-acto knife to allow the ground to slope from the fence to the base. The sides squeezing the fence section and the side in contact with the base remained a true 90 degrees, hopefully keeping them perpendicular.

    A view of my barbed wire fence sections set up as an abandoned military base for my next game

I slathered the styrene base with 5 minute, two part epoxy and then placed the fence section between the two bass wood rods and held them into place while it hardened. This did a good job of affixing them upright to their bases. It was somewhat time consuming, what with trimming the bass wood square rods, and epoxying them essentially in batches of two or three. It also provided a nicer look, I feel, with the fence actually set into the ground rather than above it. I flocked the sloped rods and bases naturally, which allow the fences and bases to "disappear" onto the tabletop.

    F Troop investigates one of the damaged sections - what could have forced open the metal fence?

I took three sections, cut them in half, and converted them into damaged sections. I also created a gate piece sitting on scratch-built rollers. Half of the damaged sections were made to look like the chain had been cut and the horizontal tubes bent inwards. The other sections I used an X-acto knife to cut one horizontal section of chain and bend it down (as if someone had cut the wire and broken into the compound). Even without the damaged sections, two boxes of the fences provided almost eight linear feet of fencing. So, I had enough for a fairly big compound!

    The rolling gate created from one half of a section, with scratch-built rubber wheels (beads)

How to paint them, though? I decided I would spray them black first with Krylon matte black. I did it at several angles to ensure I got all of it. I didn't want any gray plastic peeking through! I also didn't want to have to do any brushwork on these, figuring it would be a time-consuming mess! After they dried, I used a can of spray silver that looked fairly "aluminum" like. I tried to spray lightly from the top so that some black would show as shadow. I'm not sure there's much shadow, though, and the fences look fairly silver. To tone that down a bit, I went over the horizontal and vertical poles with a dark, black wash. This did a great job of weathering the look, and I am happy with the final color of the fencing.

    The color came out okay - black spray paint with a dull silver spray over top and black wash on poles

The vertical poles are topped by angled pieces of metal which are obviously meant to be strung with barbed wire, in real life. Monster Fight Club did not sculpt any wire, but did have three shallow indentations where the wire could be strung for enterprising modelers. I decided to be one of those, but what material to use? I ended up going with braided, silver thread. The twisted strands of the thread catch the light at different angles and make it sparkle. I thought this would give the visual effect of the tiny barbs on the wire.

    I like how the silver thread is strung somewhat loosely and irregularly (or cut in damaged parts)

Stringing the thread onto each section was probably the most fiddly part of the entire build. I decided to use a drop of superglue on each indentation to hold it. I was afraid Tacky Glue might dry white, so I went with superglue. First, I cut each strand of wire so that there would be about an inch extra left over to trim off. Then, I glued the three strands to only the left-most pole. Once it had hardened, I put the drops of superglue onto the the other three poles and stretched it across into place. I wanted to be able to pull it relatively tight, so it needed to be affixed firmly to the left-hand pole (if this description makes sense). Since the thread in wound around a spool, it would try to bend back upon itself. However, the superglue minimized this movement, and instead it made it look like irregular slack spaces in the barbed wire. I felt this actually added to the realism.

    You can see the twisted "braiding" in the silver thread that catches the light and gives it a sparkle

Although VERY fiddly, I think the simulated barbed wire really makes these "pop" on the tabletop. I would recommend anyone picking these up to also get a roll of braided silver thread (or raid your wife's sewing kit). The thread was only about $6 with an online coupon at Joanne's Fabrics, if you have to scrounge your own. One final note -- I did all of my clear coating of the fences (and flocking) BEFORE affixing the wire. I didn't want to take a chance that my Dullcoate would take away any of the thread's sparkle.

    I'm really happy with the chain link fence sections and highly recommend them!

I am really happy with how these fences turned out, and will be using them this weekend in my next Post-Apocalyptic game. Stay tuned as the survivor gangs investigate the abandoned military base and try to piece together clues on what happened to the force that had been stationed there...!