The First Hive (Terrain) Part 1

TheHives are the result of millennia of demolition and rebirth, with Necromunda's original cities lying deep below the planet's ash wastes.  The scum of the Underhive all but ignorant of their habitat's provenance, occupied as they are with the ceaseless struggle for dominion.  Amongst these interminable ruins, one may glimpse vestiges of the planet's layered history and such knowledge can provide the key to both power and damnation.

This challenge is a tad different from others.  There is a size restriction this time around. Your terrain build is restricted to a 12-inch cube volume - it can be smaller but no larger.
What we'd like to see is something of the terrain's history.  Maybe it is a stronghold built from the original transport barges that first transported humanity to Necromunda?  A habitat fabricated from mothballed Heresy-era armoured vehicles? Could there be a hint of xeno shrine within the ruins of a manufactorium?  Park your current Corpse Grinder, Dark Uprising and Zone Mortalis projects and share with us what there is to be found amongst the Underhive's darkest reaches.

So do you like the sound of the above?  I wrote it with a little help from some gaming buddies.  I didn't really know where to start, so I had a poke around my shed, looking at my half-done projects and had a rummage through my bits-and-bobs boxes (yes, I have boxes of stuff).   And there they were: Tonka Trucks that my kids had used in their sandpit!

First thing's first, measurement time... bugger, too big!  Well, that ruled out the largest of my Trucks, but one of the smaller ones was only 6-inches too big.

This particular truck is enormous - I had just removed a whole lot of ork-like panels from it.
Doh!  Oh well, I can try that again someday.

Us modellers (am I one?) are an adaptive bunch, so to keep the build within the 12-inch cube restriction required a little bit of creativity.  It occurred to me that an ancient earthmoving truck may have sunken into the earth and rather than retrieve it, the local inhabitants instead made use of its powerplant - a generator of sorts?

One of the slightly smaller Trucks was a better size width-wise but still too long.  Fortunately, when it comes to such things, there is a ready remedy: a power tool.  Reciprocating Saws aren't typically front-of-mind hobby tools, but when it comes to cutting up bulky metal objects, they can't be beaten!  150Db and 2-minutes later, my truck had been diagonally cut in half, and as a result, it fits within the competition's 12-inch cube restrictions.

An early Imperial power weapon.

Kids, do try this at home.

Fits like a glove!

Next, I started working on the truck's engine.  I had imagined that the Hivers would have hacked their way into the engine bay, jury-rigging the mechanism such that it's spilling out of the original housing.  I cut a rectangular section out of the left-hand side of the truck's front grille with my multitool then stuck some metal tabs in the recess.  Using a piece of cardboard cut to size, I then attached all manner of electronic components, pen lids and whatever on one side, and put some magnets on the other.  That meant I could always remove and remodel the engine if I wanted to and I when it came to painting, life would be much easier.

See all the wires, etc.?  That whole bit is removable.
I think that silver platform is a PC heatsink?

Doing these sorts of things is both
easy and super effective - I find
myself doing it more frequently
and it makes a big difference.
Details people. Details.

After stringing together various wires I had liberated from an old PC to represent the many pipes and cables that one would expect within a Necromunda setting, I turned my mind to the area below the engine.  Initially, I was going to use a piece from one of my sons' fire trucks, that had a whole lot of pipes and dials (something I had also intended to use on my Sump Empress project's engine room), however, after fitting, I realised it just didn't work.  Some more rummaging around my bits boxes and I found some pieces from some desktop computer CD-ROM drives I had harvested.  They fitted very nicely, requiring only a little bit of trimming.  Coupled with some other computer bits, stacked, drilled and threaded with wire, they really look the part of some crazy gothic, industrial nightmare.

Not quite the right size...

This is more like it!  I might rivet it up later on.

I now decided to 'bury' the truck - using the same paper mache technique I had employed for my terrain boards last year, I simply layered rips of packing cardboard and a 50/50 water/PVA mix around the base of the truck.  I wanted to create the illusion that it was buried and also wanted to ensure that the build would work with my existing terrain.  Once it had dried, I sprayed the whole thing with some matt black primer.  Sorry, I didn't bother with step-by-steps in this instance, mainly because my hands were covered in gluey paper and I didn't want to gunk up my phone!

There is a little more than just cardboard in there - I used some kitty litter and even
an old superglue lid. I'll likely add some more junk bits before I call it ready for
the final paint job.

Oh yeah, I also used a PVA/Water/Sand mix to add grit to most of the surfaces - a simple but effective trick to grim your terrain and make painting that little bit easier.

Spinning the truck around 180-degrees, I was now faced with the truck's tip tray.  How I had cut the truck meant that the tray was more like a cavern.  I tried a few abortive multi-levelled residences inside, but it just didn't feel right.  That night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I had an inspiration: I can make the inside of the tray interchangeable.

Grabbing a thick piece of cardboard, I made a template base that I copied a few times.  My initial thoughts were that the truck was half-buried under the wastes, so the tray's sides could be used as walls for some sort of storage facility or underground bunker.  I tried some half-buried bottles and pill jars, but they were a bit boring - into the bin they went quick-smart.

If you've got an underground bunker, you need an entrance, plenty of wiring and even a pipe or two to pump stuff in or out.  From some kids' toy, I had an unusual round piece that I lay upon a few milk bottle tops and stuck on various greebles to add some detail.  And wires.  More wires.  I am beginning to like wires a lot.

So the above got me to this point (black spray and a quick as you like white drybrush to bring out the edges and textures)

Okay but not great.

I must have tried five times to make the platforms.  Cardboard, acrylic, plastic, even metal.  Some of them also started well but just didn't stick.  Every experiment yields something - threading wires and meshes into this plastiboard was something that I might try one day again.

So I procrastinated: decided to clean up and reorganise my manshed.  In doing so, I found a box of old circuit boards. , so after a bit of mucking about, I found some pieces that looked the part.

I ended up using the bit on the far left and bottom - those other bits may get used yet!

Yep, fits well.

Business!  I especially like how it L's
around the side of the truck.

Yep, that is looking the part - a bit of black paint followed with a drybrush is an excellent way to get a sense as to how the build is progressing.  You notice those yellow dots? They're crafting half dome things that scrapbookers use (I think).  I tried four of them initially (they're arranged in a square pattern in the middle of the side picture), and after a little paint, they came up well.  So more have been added.

Again, this platform is removable, both to make eventual painting easier as well providing me with an opportunity to remodel the build if I should so desire.  I might magnetise it, so it sits firmly against the tip tray.

I started looking into ladders.  I briefly contemplated making some stairs, but this is Necromunda and stairs are for soft, spire lords and ladies right?  Now I could legitimately just buy some decent ladders - the Knights of Dice have just the thing in MDF - but I like to make stuff.

Firstly I pulled out all the various options I had available to me and worked out what looks attractive and what doesn't.

That's an MDF ladder in the middle.  Various wire meshes to either side.
The second from the right had promise, but it was too wide.

 Mmm.  Hang on... inspiration.  I took the largest gauge (is that the term?) wire - far right in the above picture - and cut it into two sections.

Then I flipped the sections and placed them together.  Suddenly it's looking a lot more like a ladder!  I also grabbed some offcuts of the same gauge wire and stuck them between each of the already welded rungs.

The end result was pretty good for all of the 5-minutes of work!  Prototype successful! I'll try and rustle up some more cage wire this weekend and do a proper job of it - I'll likely be needing half a dozen ladders of various lengths.

So that's where I currently am at with this build. I've got stuff happening on the career (new job starting tomorrow!) and home (got to build a deck and shed) fronts, so time will be a little limited I suspect.  Make hay while the sun shines and all that - I will need some downtime and other than spending time with the family, I find hitting these builds and writing in my blog is just what the doctor ordered.
I'm looking forward to progressing this build some more!