Does anyone have an example of how to build a decent looking Moisture Vaporator for the game? I know it's just set dressing, but it adds to setting the Star Wars mood, so-to-speak.
I don't have a 3D printer, nor easy access to one so I'm setting up a challenge to all my fellow Legoinaires:
Build 5 moisture vaporators for $10 or less and post pics of them here. Bonus points for documenting your process.
Friend of mine did these.
I love the idea of community challenges. Im not doing a Tatooine board, but I'll try an Ord Mantell varient.
Awesome Idea. I am a complete newb to making any of this, following for ideas.
I started mine last night. And im aware this is all in good fun, but it had me start thinking about cost of making scratch terrain. The challenge was 5 in-scale moisture vaporators for less than $10. If you are using materials you already own, then I'd assume the cost is $0. I purchased a pack of 100 kabob skewers for $2. Each vaporator uses 3 skewers. I can make 33 vaporators in total. The rest of my material is discarded insulation foam from my game board. I keep all my cut bits and trash in a bag. Never throw away the scraps!!! So, the cost of that is $0. Paint and glue i own as well. And the tiny details will be made with green stuff. Again, all $0. So in total, i could produce 33 moisture vaporators, at a cost of $0.06 a piece. And yes, i have that much srap foam.
I bring this up because it speaks volumes of this hobby. Its not always the money. Its the imagination and time that often weigh in more. I'll finish up my first this week and post photos of each step.
Edited by AldousSnowWell if you are new terrain make I got a few suggestions.
Set a box aside and toss in weird plastic and metal pieces, cans and clear plastic pieces. And a sheet of MDF (Medium density foam) foamboard
Here is some easy ideas. Two matching plastic bottle caps glue together to do a barrel, paint and glue them a piece of MDF, and you have heavy cover. Bottle cap, tissue paper,Elmer glue and an old aquarium plant; wet the tissue and mix in glue, stick in bottle cap, put in plant. Let dry, paint, and you have a potted plant for a cityscape.
2 hours ago, AldousSnow said:I started mine last night. And im aware this is all in good fun, but it had me start thinking about cost of making scratch terrain. The challenge was 5 in-scale moisture vaporators for less than $10. If you are using materials you already own, then I'd assume the cost is $0. I purchased a pack of 100 kabob skewers for $2. Each vaporator uses 3 skewers. I can make 33 vaporators in total. The rest of my material is discarded insulation foam from my game board. I keep all my cut bits and trash in a bag. Never throw away the scraps!!! So, the cost of that is $0. Paint and glue i own as well. And the tiny details will be made with green stuff. Again, all $0. So in total, i could produce 33 moisture vaporators, at a cost of $0.06 a piece. And yes, i have that much srap foam.
I bring this up because it speaks volumes of this hobby. Its not always the money. Its the imagination and time that often weigh in more. I'll finish up my first this week and post photos of each step.
As someone trying to find materials, does everybody buy insulation foam board in the gigantic sheets at hardware stores? Because that's all I've been able to find. They're like 4x12 feet
46 minutes ago, manoftomorrow010 said:As someone trying to find materials, does everybody buy insulation foam board in the gigantic sheets at hardware stores? Because that's all I've been able to find. They're like 4x12 feet
I wish I could get them that big.
Biggest I can get is 2x4s.
(Although, half the time, I scavenge insulation foam from the back of the furniture and whitegoods store. Especially the stuff that they pack fridges in. Most whitegoods go in regular foam ball polystyrene, but often there's a nice piece of insulation foam in fridge boxes - with the franchise owners permission of course. Don't trespass, kids.)
1 hour ago, manoftomorrow010 said:As someone trying to find materials, does everybody buy insulation foam board in the gigantic sheets at hardware stores? Because that's all I've been able to find. They're like 4x12 feet
The Home Depot by my house (Los Angeles) carries multiple types of the giant 12 foot aheets and the 2x2 foot squares. The big ones range in price, but I actually use a combination of the two. The 2x2 pink insulation foam is usually about $6.99 each. The large varies in price depending on thickness and quality. When im stacking foam for hills or the such, i go for the biggest, cheapest piece. Ive gotten it as low as $9.99 for a 12x4 foot board. I drive a jeep, so I cut it down in the parking lot. But, I use the 2x2 pink foam for sculpting buildings and primarily rock formations. Its more dense and for me works easier with my knives. So, they both have their purposes.
Maybe I should look a little closer lol
A little fiddly, but people may find these useful.
Here is my Moisture Vaporator. I can make 6 for under $10.00, It is shown unfinished so that all the pieces can be seen and identified.
I purchased a 12 pack of 3/4 inch spools in the "wood turnings" area for $1.49. An 8 pack of 3/4 inch wood blocks for $1.49. A 12 pack of 1 inch circle discs for $1.49. A pack of multi beads for $0.99 . A pack of 100 skewers for $ 0.99. A 200 pack of tooth picks for $ 0.99 and 2 tubes of PVA glue for $ 0.99. Lastly a bottle of Ivory or Vanilla paint for $0.99. (For a total of $9.42 with sales tax it puts it at $10.07 but again that is to construct 6 vaporators) (That is $1.57 per vaporator if you threw EVERTHING away after building all 6 vaporators.)
I cut the skewers into 2 - 4 1/2 inch lengths. I did have to drill holes in the wood blocks to assemble everything on the skewer as they were not pre-drilled.
I glued the first spool to the 1 inch disk and set the skewer. I then glued the block to the spool and the second spool to the block. From there I took 3 larger beads and attached them to the top spool. 2 smaller beads to the larger beads. I then glued 2 tiny beads to each end of the tooth picks and then glued them to each corner of the wooden block. (I will actually use a tiny bead as a spacer and then glue the tooth picks to that.)
The only thing left is to put a small spot of hot glue into the top of the top most bead to seal it and paint the whole unit using either Ivory or Vanilla white shaded paint and a brown wash for weathering.
Edited by C3POFETTOn 9/19/2017 at 3:10 PM, Sirdrasco said:Friend of mine did these.
Great job. They look very easy to make they don't seem like they cost a'lot to build and are very easily identifiable as to what they are. The Tattooine structure in the background came out very nice.
On 9/19/2017 at 4:47 PM, AldousSnow said:I love the idea of community challenges. Im not doing a Tatooine board, but I'll try an Ord Mantell varient.
I can not wait to see how these come out. I look forward to your post.
Very cool. Now to paint them!
I was thinking of picking up some materials on the way home from work tonight and see what I can come up with. I plan to check the dollar store/pound shop first before going to the craft or home improvement stores.
MVs aren't cookie cutter, they seem to generally have a cylindrical body with two or more vertical posts. (The third post may be obscured, but I'm sure it doesn't REALLY matter.)
Here's a pic of an MV (moisture vaportor) from the Erso's homstead on Lah'mu.
I am definitely going to build one of those Vaporators. (Rogue One design) Although one of the first things I thought was why was a MV necessary on a lush green wet planet. I guess it is just a Star Wars staple for easily identifiable terrain. Also the change in design could signify a different purpose for it. Any way thank you Force for the inspiration.
I just realized that going with this new design I could now get 8 Vaporators out of the materials I purchased.
About half way done. So far it's just scrap foam and kabob skewers. Total cost is just $2 for the skewers. Going to clean up the edges before I prime and paint. Also, a first look at 1of the 6 sections of the Ord Mantell board.
Edited by AldousSnowLooking good!
Looking good! But watch out for those spikey bits, as someone who has inadvertently skewered their hand with some old Warhammer Goblin Spearmen, and heard tales of metal Greek pikemen doing worse to people, I could well imagine someone bending down to get a model's eye view to check line of sight, and getting one of those in the face! ?
11 hours ago, C3POFETT said:I am definitely going to build one of those Vaporators. (Rogue One design) Although one of the first things I thought was why was a MV necessary on a lush green wet planet. I guess it is just a Star Wars staple for easily identifiable terrain. Also the change in design could signify a different purpose for it. Any way thank you Force for the inspiration.
I just realized that going with this new design I could now get 8 Vaporators out of the materials I purchased.
Maybe MV's are so efficient it's easier to have one of those installed than that more traditional techniques. That's gunna be my head cannon about it, but you're right, easily identifiable design stable.
3 hours ago, General Zodd said:Looking good! But watch out for those spikey bits, as someone who has inadvertently skewered their hand with some old Warhammer Goblin Spearmen, and heard tales of metal Greek pikemen doing worse to people, I could well imagine someone bending down to get a model's eye view to check line of sight, and getting one of those in the face! ?
Agreed. The points are already clipped off. Im having flashbacks of the first time I stepped on a d4. ?
10 hours ago, AldousSnow said:Agreed. The points are already clipped off. Im having flashbacks of the first time I stepped on a d4. ?
Great job on your entire table. Your Vaporator looks amazing and all done by hand too. I am also using Chewbacca, IG-88 and Vader as reference for scale as they are the largest figures from Imperial Assault.
Are the steps that pictured to scale for a base to stop on them or are they passing terrain? It was hard to tell from the picture. But I must say it looks so good as is. Would love to see this painted up. Can I ask if you are using anything as reference or inspiration. I dont mind confessing that alot of ideas I get for design come from taking screenshots while playing EA's Star Wars BattleFront.
I am working on a Death Star interior and I want to build an Endor map based on the CARGO map detailing a massive Bunker interior.
I am working on a Tattooine table as well but based more on the Goazan Badlands Cargo map. High Canyons with large containers as barricades and a few fallen AT-ATs constructed from papercraft printed on label sheets and put on a foamcore frame. The whole table will look as if a successful Rebel airstrike just occurred.
I picked up some fat markers from the dollar store yesterday. I think they're going to make the central pillar of my vaporators.
Here are some MVs from Jakku.
32 minutes ago, C3POFETT said:Great job on your entire table. Your Vaporator looks amazing and all done by hand too. I am also using Chewbacca, IG-88 and Vader as reference for scale as they are the largest figures from Imperial Assault.
Are the steps that pictured to scale for a base to stop on them or are they passing terrain? It was hard to tell from the picture. But I must say it looks so good as is. Would love to see this painted up. Can I ask if you are using anything as reference or inspiration. I dont mind confessing that alot of ideas I get for design come from taking screenshots while playing EA's Star Wars BattleFront.
I am working on a Death Star interior and I want to build an Endor map based on the CARGO map detailing a massive Bunker interior.
I am working on a Tattooine table as well but based more on the Goazan Badlands Cargo map. High Canyons with large containers as barricades and a few fallen AT-ATs constructed from papercraft printed on label sheets and put on a foamcore frame. The whole table will look as if a successful Rebel airstrike just occurred.
Thanks! Video games are our friends. My Ord Mantell map is closely derived form Mannett Point, an island on the planet. Its an area you explore in the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. You can google Mannett Point to see the obvious similarities. Im making changes to fit a wargame mentality. And also some aesthetic changes. Ord Mantell is a planet of islands and volcanoes. So I'm changing the sandy yellow beaches to black sand when i get into painting. Itll make the blue ocean and green shrubs pop more.
And the front steps are 100% usable for minis to walk up. The rear steps in the photo weren't complete (they were too tall), but are now the right height and also usable with the minis. The base hangs over a hair, but they stand completely solid.