A bit over a year ago I busted open my Mars Attacks Accessory sets, and got to (slowly) working on the contents (occasionally). So far, I’ve finished the incredibly unimpressive result of 8 box stacks, from the four sets I had. Recently, I’ve finished a few other bits and pieces. Namely, the STOP signs, and the benches.
You can’t really tell here, but there’s a subtle metallic as part of the red and I tried out Warcolours Metallic White on the white sections. I did this to emulate the reflective qualities of real STOP signs, at least those located in Melbourne, where I live. I initially tried the metallic white over silver but it worked poorly, so I repainted the details in white, and then went over with the Metallic White. Even in-hand, the metallic effect needs to be pointed out with an “oh yeah, now I see it” result. A kinda generic grungy grey for the bases.
The benches. To me they seemed much more like public bus (or tram) stop-style benches than anything else. In keeping with this, I painted them in a horribly-plasticy bright orange, of the sort that would have been seen back in the 1980’s. Of course, back in the 80’s here the bus stop benches were made of concrete and wood, and painted a dark green. I dunno, I could have gone with a sleeker, more modern silver which would have been easier, but I felt that a harsh, bright colour (then dirtied a little) is a little more evocative of actual urban city streets. And the horrid orange just “feels” right for a bus stop. I used Warcolour’s Orange “One Coat”, though naturally, it took multiple coats to actually cover over the base silver spray. So much for “One” Coat…
Mars Attacks Accessory Pic from Iron Saint’s Children of the Kraken Blog – go visit!
I’m recycling this pic from the post about boxes again, to show the contents of the full sets, along with just how little I’ve actually gotten done so far. I have the rubbish bins and mailboxes sitting in a little container, sprayed silver. I wanted to salt-weather them, but haven’t gotten around to it yet, and at this rate it’ll be a long wait until next summer before I get off my arse and get them done. I want to do a similar thing with the picket fences. In my mind’s eye, they’re dirty white, with the paint peeling off (salt weathering) to reveal stained grey wood underneath.
Scale shot with thanks to a Minotaurs Space Marine and a T-800 Endoskeleton. I think these will be perfect for any modern/post apoc and even urban sci-fi battlefield that’s not too far removed from “Earth-like” environments. One day I might even paint up my Secret Weapon tiles from their Kickstarter. Seems like a Summer project…
Oh, and as an addendum. I found these yesterday. Ignore the game of Runebound in progress and note the ten(!) additional accessory packs that were inside a tub of Mars Attacks scenery when I was looking for an unassembled incomplete Imperial Bastion. That’s a hell of a lot of mould-line scraping before I can get to the easy-ish part of painting up all that scatter terrain…
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Simple dressings, but well painted. I think you captured the material properties well. Those benches really look like bus stop or subway benches. Well done.
You should convert one of the signs to this one 😛
Hannibal always adds a little something to signage.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Did you do that? I bet you did do that.
LikeLike
No, that is an actual sign at Lake Trasimene. They have a themed parcour there that gives you some background about the battle. To reinforce the speed limit Hannibal’s authority is used to good effect :P.
LikeLiked by 2 people
At Lake Trasimene it makes sense. I was (somewhat) making a joke that you may have added that to a local or semi-local sign. Because it fits. 😉
LikeLike
I envision a public art project were only I participate and get the joke 😛 If I come across a suitably named street I will consider adding a Hannibal print-out. Scipio Crescent?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds appropriate. I want to see it chronicled in your blog, though. Scipio was my “other” internet name for a decade or more before I finally decided to consolidate all my stuff to Azazel. My Mentor Legion leader-characters remain Scipio Africanus and Scipio Aemilianus though. I should update that army this year as well. Maybe if the new 40k isn’t a nightmarish mess of layered, contradictory and overly complex rules and is actually playable…
LikeLike
It shall be chronicled when it happens.
While I think Hannibal is the more interesting character (archetype of the tragic hero, without romanticing him, naturally), Scipio managed to turn the tables and was as innovative as Hannibal and outdid him in the end. What connects the two, is that they lost public support in the end. I believe Scipio retired from politics, well and Hannibal went for poison.
I think the names are a good fit for your 40k legion. Especially given the use of something resembling Latin in the universe.
LikeLike
Man, that’s a lot of scatter! I like what you’ve done so far though – the benches are perfect!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Alex. It seems my scatter collection is endless (nameless?)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they do seem like they would be about right in terms of scale. If they look big next to space marines, well, space marines are giants in armor after all. I think people forget that sometimes and in their mind equate marines with “human norm” with other factions and models varying from that baseline.
I bring this up because I was showing someone, one time, some normal human guys I was going to paint and he said they looked pretty interesting but they were “weedy.” (He was a space marine player, mainly.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heh. There’s also that huge discrepancy between the miniatures’ size with their size in the fluff, due to nearly 30 years of fiction making them larger and larger (and stronger and stronger) compared to their size and ability level back in the Rogue Trader days. Meanwhile the models have “grown” at a much more subtle and slow pace due to being made of iterations needing to maintain compatability with the previous ranges and waves…
But yep, the scatter terrain works for sizing pretty well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that is true. I’ve played a number of times against players, who have played for a long time, and some of their guys are pretty small in comparison to the newer stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. Much more noticeable when you compare the older stuff to the newer stuff from several generations later.
LikeLike