A 28mm Sci-Fi Outpost/Bunker

Sometime this summer I started designing a modular bunker system to give my my daughter's orks something to die for. The original concept was for a Maginot Line in space with many different types of bunkers and pillboxes. Eventually I managed to scale down the design a bit, and I've finally gotten construction started.

The final design consists of a main outpost/bunker with and air defense turret and observation tower, and a series of interchangeable connecting tunnels, defended entryway, and pillboxes. I hope to be able to make a number of blown up or damaged sections for representing battle damage to the bunker during games.

Basic construction is of blue foam for masonry elements, and styrene plastic for metal and more finely detailed parts. My construction diary follows below.

Day 1, Saturday November 17, Layout floorplans and build basic walls. About 2 hours of work went into laying out the design and cutting out the styrene base. Two Imperial guard figures inspect the foundation

Day 2, Sunday Nov. 18, Main wall construction (about 2 more hours work). The main building measures 12" by 24".

Day 3, Monday Nov. 19, Continue wall construction, though not much change in appearance. About 90 minutes went into construction of the outer bunkers and included a minor redesign. They will eventually have weapons mounted in styrene cylinder shaped turrets not unlike a Civil War monitor (well, except for the gatling lasers and pulse cannons). A 28mm GW Guardsman continues to inspect the progress.

Day 4, Tuesday Nov. 20, Mostly bunker and tower work today. Ran out of foam primer, and couldn't find any in stock at local hobbyshops, so I had to improvise and use a slower method of construction. I had been glueing the foam to the styrene base with superglue. The foam primer protects the foam from chemically reacting with the glue. Foam to foam joints are glued with artist's matte medium. I ended up using a conbination of spray adhesive and tacky glue in place of the superglue. About two and a half hours invested today. Tomorrow's target will be to complete the roof sections and prep the foam for painting.

 

Day 5, Wednesday Nov 21, Lots of detail work completed today, mostly layers of reinforcement on the bunkers, as well as about half of the roof sections. About 3.25 hours more work.

Day 5, A view of the protected entryway showing added detail being held in place by straight pins while glue dries.

Day 5, Close up one of the smaller bunkers.

Day 5, A view of the tower. Plans for Day 6 include finishing the roof sections, priming, and maybe a base coat of paint. If all goes well, maybe even start on the gatling lasers.

Day 6, Thursday Nov 22, Got the beast primed with a coat of acrylic paint today. Also got the painting process started, but not the gatlings. Despite the holiday, I managed to get almost 3.5 hours to work on it. Priming the rooms seemed to take forever. For friday, I want to complete the base coat of paint, settle on and start a cammo pattern of some sort, and get some of the guns started.

Day 7, Friday Nov 23, the outpost this morning after a solid coat of paint. I attempted to get it close to old Israeli Khaki to match another sci-fi bulding that I did awhile back. The actual color ended up less green and a little more yellow than I had wanted, though not too far off. The white area on top is where the turret ring will be glued for the AA turret. The bunkers all get similar turret rings, which will cover the whitish area showing up in the bunkers also.

Day 7, After some struggle, I decided to junk the idea of the elaborate splinter camo that I had in mind, and went with a larger disruptive pattern. After adding the tan, I planned on a darkish brown and faded green, but the tan made the base color appear much more greenish than it had earlier.

Day 7, After adding the brown, I 'm not sure that I want to add the green. I kind of like the pattern, though it is not quite as busy as I had expected. Maybe it does need the green, kind of a faded sandy green (along the lines of ModelMaster's SAC Bomber Green). I don't know, maybe I should, since it will get a nice coating of dust that will fade it out a bit before I'm done.

Day 7, Another view after today's painting. The watch tower is going to get a raised reinforming ring around the base, which will make it more steady during play. Tomorrow, work will focus on the pulse cannons for the main bunkers, and gatling lasers for the small ones.

Day 7, View of one of the smaller bunkers, soon to be home of one of the gatling lasers. Saturday's work will include construction of the heavy weapons, some sensors, outer defensive works, and maybe that green paint. About 4.5 hours put in today, 19.25 hours total, so far.

Day 8, Saturday Nov 24, Though dsitracted by football all day, I did get the gatlings and AA mount mostly done. The gatling guns early today (above), and later in their mountings and and loosely placed in one of the bunkers (below).

Day 8, The finished gun will have gunshields that hide all but the business end of the gun onced placed in the bunkers. The gatlings are about 3.5 inches long.

 

Day 8, The AA mount that will set on the main outpost building. Still needs some detailing, a gunshield, and paint, but you get the basic idea. Todays work amounted to about 4 hours in between football breaks.

I've given up hope of completing the project this weekend as I figure I still have about 10 -12 hours work, but will try to get the main guns roughed to about the same stage tomorrow and finish the project through the week.

Day 9, Sunday, Nov 25, A relatively light day of work resulted in getting the 4 main guns roughed out, but that was about it. Still a lot of detail to add to all of the guns, though the hard part is done.

Day 9, The outpost as it stands right now. With 2.5 hours today, the total time for the week is about 25.75 hours. I had hoped to get about 4 hours a day free to work over the 9 day stretch, but fell a little short, especially early in the week. I still look forward to wrapping it up this week.

Day 10, Monday Nov 26, Got the AA mount detailed and primed in about an hour of frequently interupted work.

Day 11, Tuesday, Nov 27, Slow but steady progress on the outpost continues. Various detail bits, turret rings, and work on the gatlings today. Also started the weathering, which makes some parts look washed out in this photo.

Day 11, Close up view of the gatling turret installed in one of the small bunkers. Another hour invested today.

Day 12, Wednesday Nov 28, the outpost continues to come along, but nothing dramatic like the first few days. Tonight I finished adding some weathering and cut about 70 dragon's teeth. About 2 hours work makes the total 27.75 hours. I'm going to try to focus on the main guns and dragon's teeth tomorrow.

Day 13, Thursday Nov. 29, A rough day . I went down the basement in hopes of serving the empire, but discovered an electrical short in the lighting of my work room. So, after chasing that down and fixing the problem, I got back to work on the outpost. My goal was to prime the gun turrets and some of the obstacles to be located around the perimeter of the outpost. Unfortunately, progress was limited as i ran out of primer shortly after starting. So, only about 15minutes work and nothing to show for day 13.

Day 14, Friday Nov 30, Playing catch-up from Thursday, I manage to prime all of the turret parts, some of the defensive obstacles, and to paint some of the dragon's teeth. The H-column thingies are obstructions to hovercraft and low level speeders. About 2 hours work didn't produce much to photograph, but Saturday things should really come together.

Day 15, Saturday Dec 1, Lots of progress today. Still a few detail items and touch of weathering to do, but the outpost if game-worthy if need be. The perimeter defenses are just arranged for display.

Day 15, A view of the AA mount from the rear, showing the gunners "screen". I still need to build some crew members from a box of plastic IG figs.

Day 15, One of the gatlings ready for business.

Day 15, The teeth of the one of the main batteries.

Day 15, A view of from the opposite side of the main thumpers. The entryway is located just behind the main bunker, but not readily obvious here.

Day 15, A view taken diagonally opposite the last view. Doesn't show anything special, but I took it, so here it is.

I still have maybe an hour of odds and ends, which will have to wait until Monday to get wrapped up. Today's time is about 3.5 hours, making the total 33.5 hours. I had guessed about 35 hours at the start of things, and am surprised that I was that close, usually I under estimate. I'll clean up this page a little next week and post some pics of the outpost set up properly on my terrain then as well.

I addition to functioning as an outpost, each of the little bunkers, the main building, tower, etc, can all function as independent structures. They will no doubt serve various functions in many different games. I've already got a couple of extra pieces in the works as well as a landing pad for dropships. The dragon's teeth are mounted in either strips of three or as individuals, and I have several damaged ones to finish painting yet to act as replacements for battle damage during the game.

 

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