New Scav Alert! Part 4: Decoration Sites

Continuing my series of re-purposing found objects from the different craft worlds online and in brick and mortar sites I found these great pre-painted metal gate and fence on a popular seasonal decoration on line store: Department 56 Village Replacements http://www.department56corner.com/.

Here's a tip: their store is not that organized and have lots of variety. If you do find something that you like, better to pull the trigger then and there since you might not find it the next time. 

My Black Scorpion Pirates fit nicely

The stone wall with some snow was another
item that I found at the same site

Observation tower courtesy of a flea market find at Historicon

Mix and match: the dark brown crates are pre-painted
models from Pegasus Hobbies

Wood pier on the left was also another item in their catalog.
Good luck finding it, though. Last I check, it wasn't available.

New Scav Alert! Part 3: rafting Store Floral Dept. Finds

It's that time of year again where I discover some great finds from my local, neighborhood dollar store.

If you're in the continental U.S. there should
be one of these babies in your neighborhood

Just a serendipitous find. As usual, I kept my eye peeled for any potential item that can be used for all my gaming needs. Case in point, I looked at these plain, unobtrusive objects with a miniaturist's eye and always imagined how they can be utilized as part of a scene on my gaming table. 

I saw these seemingly innocent items at the crafting,
floral aisle and I immediately thought of moss covered
boulders perfect for any period / fantasy skirmishing 

A bit of an imagination goes a long way for creating
our gaming scenes and I'm always on the lookout
for 'eye candy' opportunities. 

28mm metal Viking figures are from my Gripping Beast

collection with rune stones from Fenris Games and the odd

bits of trees I've collected through the years 

One on one

Incidentally, those pines trees were an earlier purchase from same Dollar Tree and was featured in an earlier post: New Scav Alert! Part 1

More Proxying Fun: Ars Victor with MechWarrior Minis, Part 2

Using lots of found objects (e.g. plastic caps) to simulate Sci-fi Cityscapes

Hex to hex conversion
Left: Original game map
Right: Hexon and terrain representation

Before: original game map and counters

After: Hexon tile map with proxied minis

Before: original game board and counters

After: Heavy Unit represented by re-purposed MechWarrior minis

What if? Posing some microarmor with Martian Tripods for fun

What if? F4 Phantom on a flyby recon

New Scav Alert! Part 2: Repurposing Everyday Items for Sci Fi Terrain

What's the deal? (pun intended) 

In my never ending search for cheaper, ahem... cost effective solutions to more terrain i've found that repurposing everyday items to be a creative and imaginative exercise.
The word repurposing is a much used new term that i've let creep into my vocab. But hey, it's apropos. My latest find for repurposing was visiting my favorite scav-alert store.

My frequent forays into this scav-alert treasure trove has
yielded me all kinds of cool stuff to be repurposed.

Should i rename myself "The Historical and Frugal Miniaturist"? i think not.  However i am highly cognizant of the fact that this hobby is an addiction. Meaning that one can sink one's load of cash into this.

I usually cruise the aisles and let my imagination run amok.  And since I was on a sci-fi frame of mind I noticed these cool shapes...

Found these babies and I know what you're thinking.
What the hell are you gonna use these for?

Hint: look at the profile of the shapes.

Anything come to mind?

Get the picture yet? 

Of course, these are a few steps early in the process but use your imagination...

Proxying the Mark V Blitzhund for Incursion

Eureka! 

After diligently searching for the right werewolf figure I found the perfect mini to proxy for the Mark V Blitzhund featured in the solitaire scenario 'Unstoppable' from Incursion: SNAFU.

Sadly, I wasn't really impressed and was quite disappointed with the second Blitzhund sculpted for SNAFU. 

Especially since the first Blitzhund out of the gate was by far superior in its dynamic pose.

  

I even considered these other Werewolves... 

Beautifully sculpted Werewolves from West Wind for the SOTR universe.

Luckily, I was at my FLGS and found this gem...

Found a worthy prepainted mini to represent the Mark V Blitzhund!And for $6 - what's not to like? 

Left: Original Mark I Blitzhund, Center: Blitzhund from SNAFU,
Right: Mark V Blitzhund (proxy)

I like the Mark V's bigger size which truly represents a super sized version of the vaunted Blitzhund.

Sneaking up on an unsuspecting HMG APE.

Refurbishing Old Models Part 3

As posted in Part 2, where the Maintenance Bots were featured, I'm continuing my quest for additional scenic items to populate my Sci-Fi table. I've been wracking my brain thinking about other objects big and small that would enhance the scenery: space shuttles, drop ships and perhaps a smattering of different land crafts. 

Part of the fun of this great hobby is exercising one's noggin and imagination for cost effective (read: cheap) items to grace one's table. Lord knows, I've spend coin aplenty in the past and in other areas of this hobby.

So, off I go a hunting. First stop...

A lot of you have been asking: Where ya get that? 
Well, at my favorite Scav-alert store, that's where!
Look for one in a city near you (that is, if you're in the states).

Here are more finds to add to my Sci-Fi scenery. By doing a lot of squinting, especially since I forgot to bring my glasses, I saw the lines of these bikes and imagined them monochromatic and without the riders:

Another Dollar Tree special. You guessed it:
$1 a pack! So that's 50 cents per model. Oh boy!!

Took out the worthless and out of scale riders

A little black primer, metallic dry-brushing 
and we'll see what these babies will transform into

Next, I go to Wally World!

And looky what I found at the Toy Clearance
aisle. I know what you're thinking,
'What can I possibly use this for?' 

Again, with some more squinting, I noticed that
the lines and shape of this model is excellent
and lends itself to a possible shuttle or drop ship
while my Maintenance Bots look on. Meanwhile the
horribly, garish paint scheme has got to go!

Coming soon, the 'after' shots...

Refurbishing Old Models Part 2

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this post I've acquired these toys from the clearance shelf of my local Wally World's toy section. I usually cruise the 'clearance' aisles of Walmarts and Targets looking for such bargains. Here's what I found. 

When I saw these robots, I immediately saw their potential as effective scenery. And I knew that with a little imagination I'd be able to recycle them. All I needed to do was to paint over these God awful colors, apply some weathering and presto: instant scenery at a very low cost ($2 a package = $1 a figure).

I made sure that they would scale properly with 28mm.
Here they are posing with some AT-43 figures.

Here are the 'After' shots.

After some black primer and recoloring these plastic toys 
are transformed into useful Sci-Fi scenery.

 Here they're depicted as ancient and inoperable
Maintenance Bots with their original creators.

Now they've been abandoned for countless years.

Only to be used as terrain for my repainted Space Commandos. 

 Where they'll be battling it out amongst the bots.

These Space Commandos were bought @ 25 cents each from
the Clix bargain bin of my FLGS then repainted and rebased.

Coming up, more recycled bargain bin toys.