Sci-Fi Terrain - Scatter & a Building

    Captain Alistair Valentine & Zorina Valthea investigate some newly-painted Sci-Fi terrain

Since Advance the Colors 2024 is coming up, and I will likely be tempted to buy yet more terrain. To keep my conscience clear, I felt I should hurry up and get some that I previously bought painted up! So, expect to see more added in over the next couple weeks until ATC weekend, Oct. 11-12. Plus, I want to have some variety to use in my Sci-Fi scenarios, whether Five Parsecs from Home or games I plan to run on Sunday nights. Three of the pieces are from Diabolical Terrain, who will be at ATC 2024, if you're looking to pick up some really cool 3-D printed terrain. The last is from a vendor at Cincycon 2024 called, A Critical Hit. I learned something new about it when I sat down to paint it, as you'll see below.

    A look at the detail on the tops of three pieces from Diabolical Terrain

All three of the above pieces are from Diabolical Terrain. I believe I purchased them at DayCon 2024. I did my usual method of prepping them -- spray painting them black with Krylon Fusion acrylic black primer. I follow that up, as readers of mine are quite aware by now, with a brush-on 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water (premixed in its own battle). For the large domed structure (which I will likely buy at least one more of if Ron has any in stock at ATC), I painted it a craft metallic paint called Chocolate Brown. I really love its subdued bronze look and use it on a lot of my miniatures. The door and overhead vent fan were painted in a craft metallic called Battleship Gray, with Pewter highlights and bronze accents. The door itself is painted a metallic green ("Christmas Tree" green, I believe). After it was completed, I did a black wash on it to give it a realistic, dusty look.

The piece on the left was by far the most time consuming in this batch of four pieces of terrain. I used a dark metallic red as a base color. I find that the darker shades of metallics tend to look better on the tabletop, for some reason. Brighter colors look almost too cartoony or childish. For the various accent pipes and fittings I used a variety of my metallic colors. For control panels, I painted the surface black, then added in bright yellow, red, and light green buttons. The small video screen is a bright light green. I really like the color combinations for this piece and how they turned out.

    The Alien Nodule and its infestation actually changes colors as you look at it from different angles

The small, cylindrical piece in the center has a duplicate which I just finished painting up, but not in time for the photos. It looks like a control terminal or something similar. Diabolical produces three different sizes of these. This is the largest. I also bought two each of the middle and smallest. I think I am going to turn those into droids. This has a very Star Wars droid look to it, I feel. I love the way the dark blue metallic and battleship gray look together. Very sleek. The bronze accents and the control panels with bright buttons all around it really set it off, too.

Watch this video which demonstrates the color shift effect as I clumsily spin the piece

And now for what I am calling the "Alien Nodule." This looks like a piece of machinery that's been overgrown by some form of infestation. The really cool thing about this piece is that apparently a color shift material was used in the filament. I am providing photos showing three colors and a video showing me spinning it around to give the color shifting effect. I honestly don't remember realizing that when I bought it from A Critical Hit at Cincycon 2024. Had I known that, I would have bought more than one!

    The material takes looks purple at a certain angle -- I have no idea how the physics of it work!

Molded onto the outside of the cylinder are what looks like tendrils of alien vegetation growing up from its base. I painted that dark green and later dry brushed it light green. This was just in case any flocking came off, though. I followed that up with painting white glue directly onto the green areas. I poured Woodland Scenics Blended Grass over it and tapped off the excess. Next, I painted little blobs of white glue on the dried flocking. I pour over it tiny orange spheres that are from a railroad hobby store and meant to represent oranges, I believe. I tapped off some excess then let it dry. Finally, I painted over the flocking and the blobs (some grotesque alien plant life...??) with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm hoping that I don't get too many of them shedding off while using this piece, and that the glue keeps them in place. Quick update, I know. Look for a longer one on my fourth mission for Five Parsecs from Home soon!

    Now the Alien Nodule takes on a green hue - is it mimicking the clothes of my crewmen?

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024 (Next year, I want to tally terrain and scatter, too. If anyone has any ideas how to do that, I'd love to hear!)

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 170