Friday 1 June 2018

Underhive wall system

At CanCon this year I picked up a heavy block of MDF from Battlefield Accessories, being their 'Sci-Fi Undercity' set. It just happens to have enough walls and columns to perfectly complement the card tiles with the new Necromunda. I assembled and painted them for the Analogue Challenge and was so pleased I just got some MDF doors to go with them.
One 3'x3' setup
Variation, with doors
Ganger's-eye view

In the kit you get 26 columns, 25 short walls and 12 medium walls, each 3" tall. Each wall is made of six pieces of MDF with simple card detailing. I assembled them with PVA and sprayed them black then gunmetal. The secret ingredient is Woodland Scenics Burnt Umber wash with heavy orange stippling.
MDF sheets

I splashed out on some Tamiya 5mm Masking Tape For Curves, because I love the hazard stripe aesthetic for Necromunda. I used rattle cans to spray the doors yellow, then applied tape and oversprayed black. The tape doesn't sit perfectly around the recesses, which gives some cool effects. I got carried away with more rust wash and a light drybrush to pick out the struts.
Assembled, painted yellow, and taped

Overspray black

Remove tape when dry

Rust wash, drybrush, and tidy outside edges

Voila!

I also got a few straight support columns. I had a few spare card bits I used to detail the tops to make them fit it.
Straight support column

If you can't tell, I'm really taken with these. They're simple, durable, and effective. They give your games a more claustrophobic corridor gunfight feel than the suspended gantryways usually seen.




The tiles are very versatile and double sided. They can actually be offset 50% for even more options.

I do have one complaint: the doors are a little longer than the walls (particularly the smaller doors), so don't match up squarely in a big complex.
Door- wall mismatch

When I was a teenager with the original Necromunda, all my bulkheads had graffiti, bloodstains, propaganda posters, etc.- and never actually got finished. I will be getting more of these new walls, and I'll detail a few up to have access pipes or be partially destroyed.

And they're durable enough to toss in a tub.

22 comments:

  1. Fabulous finishing touches, they really do look the business.

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    1. Thanks, Michael- you could really go nuts adding details to these pieces.

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  2. Nice walls... Love the doors!

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    1. Thanks, Lee! I'm pretty happy with them.

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  3. nice, I miss playing that one :)

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    1. I'd like to play it a bit more often...

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  4. Really nice effect. Great use of spray yellow on the doors.

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    1. It was a yellowish brown which I overpainted a brighter acrylic yellow.

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  5. Fantastic! These look great (I love photographing minis this way myself) and yes, your striping method did produce a nice effect.

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    1. I'll be photographing more sci-fi minis with these as a backdrop.

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  6. Love the stripe effect on the doors mate. Like you I've always loved that aesthetic, especially when applied to a chainsword or three

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  7. Great gaming stuff, Mr. B.

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  8. These look excellent, Barks - especially great work on the essential hazard stripes! Very atmospheric.

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    1. Thank you! You’re welcome to pop on down and game with them anytime.

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  9. Looking good Barks. Phil Curran shared a link to your post after I posted about my GW bulkheads. Very effective paint scheme. I'm still prepping mine for paint.

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    1. I used Army Painter metallic spray over a cheap black auto primer. I’ve seen a few nice varieties of rust and verdigris out there. Have fun with yours!

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  10. They look awesome mate - well done indeed!

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    1. Thanks, Paul- I think they'll also see use when I can't resist Kill Team any longer...

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  11. Hi Barks,
    I just saw this old post today.

    As you are a miniatures games enthusiast, I would like your opinion on a 3D printing project that I plan to launch on Kickstarter.com soon.
    Originally the design was designed for Space Hulk, but I think it can be transposed to various other systems, like Necromuda, kill team etc.
    I would like your opinion on this.
    To get an idea of the project you can watch these 2 videos on Youtube, one short (3 minutes) without comments, the other long (1h40) with commentary but in French (use the youtube subtitle system with English translation) which is an interview with a 1 hour demonstration Space Hulk game that you can skip.
    https://youtu.be/SpsTP10ymZY Video 3mn

    https://youtu.be/NdVxVv0YLVU Video 1H40

    Thank you for your opinions and comments and thank you for communicating them to me on my email:
    jfcampani@yahoo.fr

    Best regards,
    Jean-François

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    1. I feel that the market is somewhat oversaturated with stl and MDF walls- not to mention expensive resin or plastic- and I am unclear what your Unique Selling Point is. The furniture and set dressing pieces look nice. Bonne chance!

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