Hey guys. I dont post here very often (my last post was back in may of 2015 and not very popular) but I'm going out on a limb here to share another project I've been working on. I'll admit that this may belong in the paint section of the forum...? I'm not 100% certain so I just decided to leave it here. If that's a problem, please let me know.

I think most of us are probably familiar with the "Space Rocks" situation. They made some really nice terrain pieces but were hit with a (probably deserved) Cease and Desist notice. I've always been sad that I missed the opportunity to get some of their great stuff before that happened. Specifically I really liked the Rebel Transport Wreck. With no other sellers appearing to fill the void left by Space Rocks I figured I'd try my hand at making my own wreck.

I can't say that I was terribly happy with the idea of buying a Rebel Transport just to cut it up... and I've never done any DIY casting/molds so I wasn't too comfortable with that idea either... so eventually i settled on buying a similar kit and modifying it assuming I could find one for a reasonable price. I'd seen many old blog posts from various people when X-Wing first came out where they used a Transport from an old Rebel Base Hoth Kit as a stand in model. After the FFG Transport was released these kits became unnecessary so posts of that kind stopped but I remembered it enough that I figured I'd give it a try.

I had already produced some 3D obstacles for X-wing (see old post:

So I had a game plan (buy the rebel base Hoth Kit) a method (break it and mount it like an asteroid) and a desire to finally own a transport wreck... so I jumped on it. I was lucky enough to find a seller online where I could get the transport for 8 bucks. Definitely worthwhile.

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Well I got the kit in and on face value... it's bigger. No other way to say it. I can't say that it's too big but it's noticeably larger. Lucky for me I wasn't intending to use it as a Transport in game... my plan was to wreck it. So the size difference hopefully wouldn't matter too much.

With the transport in hand, it was time to get started. I grabbed a trusty hack saw and dove right in.

After that, I grabbed a pair of snips and took to tearing up the broken edges and adding a few holes here and there. Once that was completed, I used foam core and hotglue to fill any holes from underneath and to block off the now exposed sections of the transport's innards.

That marked the end of one night's progress. The next night I started painting and sorting out the base. The base is just balsawood carved into what i think i thought was an appropriate size. A few lengths of wire were buried into the balsa and would eventually be attached to the model.

For painting, I started with a gray base coat. ( I use applebarrel paint... a generic brand of acrylic paints from Walmart) I added a darker grey to a few spots to look similar to the transport's original paint scheme and then I was at a loss... the FFG transport has some really dark wash/shades... so I tried washing the model and all that it really succeeded at was making the model look dirty. not a big deal since it's going to be a wreck... but not ideal... so I buckled down to start painting in all the dark lines by hand.

This last picture shows the status after the second night

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I mounted both sections on their bases and applied a liberal amounts of superglue. They set overnight and are robust enough that I can handle them without fear of them breaking off their stands. I still need to do all of the black lining and weathering on the rear section but the front half at least gave me confidence that I was headed in the right direction.

So that's it for two days of construction. I hope you guys will find this mildly entertaining to read. I intend to post more pictures once I wrap up the project. Again, this only started two days ago so I can't imagine it'll be long before it's complete.

Also, please note that I am well aware that there are better/faster/more efficient ways of doing things so no need to point that out. (I cut the balsa wood out with a box cutter... There are definitely better ways) I'm just quite happy to work on my projects at my own pace and in my own way.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I don't know if there's anything to be gained from it for others but at the least it's fun just to share what I've been working on.

Just to wrap up the project... I "finished" the wreck last night. There's always more that can be done but it's in a usable place now. All that was remaining to complete after the second night was paint. I added the dark lines to the rear section and painted the base. Here you can see my simple table that I made. Black paint with white spots. It makes basing very easy.

And here's a pic with all the other obstacles I have made.

It ended up a little bit darker than I initially wanted (because of the failed wash) so I could certainly repaint it in the future... but for the time being it'll do i's job nicely. Thanks for reading!

That is awesome. I'd love to play some games with terrain like you have. Looks great.

I am envious, both of your talent and you lack of laziness.

I assure you none of this required much talent. Overall it's all pretty basic stuff to construct... The asteroids are unpainted lava rocks from the hardware store for instance. Really though... if you have any desire to do it yourself I guarantee you'd be capable of it.

I've found that having 3D obstacles really makes brings games up a notch. (in my opinion)

Thanks for all the kind words.

I think you did a great job. Even the "failed" wash actually helped to really give it character and definition.

To be honest, I think it's great that it's kinda dark and muted, because you don't want the terrain to visually pop more than the ships you're actually flying.

Looks awesome! Still have get around to do wreckage, but i have made 3D asteroids from cut and painted isolation foam - the game iis definitely much more eye candy with 3d obstacles.

Do not know how heavy the Revell model is. But an option to spare some glue is to mount it on thick clear acrylic rods, you can get those at artisan/hobby/modelbuilder shops with big diameters like 1cm, gives a stable base.