Peacekeeper + Sewer Bases from Scratch

Huzzah! Completed peacekeeper. Same process as the first constructs: black -> tin bitz -> gold -> chainmail. When I first opened the box I felt like an archeologist looking at the Antikythera mechanism for the first time. There were arms and legs and giant hunks of metal all over the place. Mine hadn't sat on the ocean floor for 2000 years but it still had a lot of crud to clean off it. The peacekeeper has a messy mold. Luckily, I had a picture to start with and the hands have handy triagular sockets, so I couldn't mess it up too much.

I used the ordinarily forward facing leg and the bent arm to make a tripod that gives the illusion of running and shows off his arachnid abilities without sacrificing stability. He's kind of a gangly monstrosity and I've already knocked his harpoon arm off once. Despite the difficulties, I love this model and I'll get to try him out this Thursday.

It is entirely possible to make fun scenic bases without shelling out for tons of materials at the hobby store. I've spent a somewhat large amount of time gathering spare parts, so I have a junk box already prepared full of goodies, but almost everything around you can double as an amazing piece of scenery if you look at it on the proper scale. Wires become cables, popsicle sticks are planks, pen caps are jet engines.

Using a handful of relatively common household items, I crafted a sewer style base for my Peacekeeper. The stone wall section comes from a wine cork. I cut off the smooth outer layer for the nicely textured inside. A cheapo pen donated the end of its ink tube for the sewer pipe. I chose green stuff to flow through my sewers to keep the crew theme.

To get the metal decking I took the plastic bands used to hold boxes closed and on pallets, painted it black, then brushed it silver. The extra hunk of metal was cut off an old speaker cover.

The end result is something that I think rivals the Wyrd provided bases.  IMO scratch built bases get even better as the number of bases you need increases. If you need two 50mm bases (say a Hunter + Peacekeeper), you aren't stuck trying to paint the same base two different ways or trying to work differently themed base into your crew.