By Raymond Ford
Editor's Note: You may be wondering, "Eli, why another electrical box terrain piece?" I found this two-part piece to be a very well through out, yet brief look at a hobbyist's first experiences with electrical box terrain. He points out some things some of us might not consider and I know I learned a thing or two.
PART ONE
This is project that got started after doing a little
reading on the Internet. The idea is simple – take a blue plastic box normally
used for electrical work and modify it to look like a futuristic building
suitable for a smaller scale sci-fi game.
This article on the Reaper
Miniatures site and
this post on TMP do
a good job of presenting the concept. The boxes and bits were inexpensive and
everything looked like it would be within my skill level.
But, as they say, experience is the best teacher.
The first step was getting all the materials. A quick trip to the local Home
Depot and a few dollars made me the owner of a couple of promising looking
electrical boxes. A few minutes of sorting through my bits boxes yielded enough
plastic doodads to provide some additional details like doors. I already had
plenty of paints.
There were a few things on the electrical boxes that needed to be removed.
Basically, anything that made them look more like electrical boxes and less
like buildings. A few minutes work with my trusty Dremel took care of that.
Next was assembly. I washed everything in soap and water and let it all dry
completely. Then I sat down to work.
First Point of Failure – Plastic Cement. I decided to use plastic
cement since I was assembling plastic bits on plastic bodies. The only
exception was a metal bit that I used super glue on. This proved critical
awhile later.
After everything was put together, I let everything sit until the next day.
Since I had two electrical boxes, I decided to try two different approaches to
painting and see which worked best. The smaller box got sprayed with some
Krylon Fusion left over from a home improvement project from last year. The
bigger box got hit with some craft store primer left over from one of my wife's
projects, also from last year.
Second Point of Failure (Smaller Box) – Spraying on a base coat without
primer. I noticed I wasn't getting good coverage on the smaller box.
The original colors of the plastic box and bits were showing through the light
gray of the spray paint. I applied more paint to correct for this, ultimately
spraying down two fairly thick layers. This turned out to be a mistake. The
second layer never really set correctly – it was still tacky to the touch after
a couple of days. The age of the paint may have also been a factor.
Second Point of Failure (Larger Box) – Cheap primer. I had a much
easier time spraying down the primer on the larger box, although multiple thin
coats were needed for good coverage. The primer set overnight and was ready for
painting. Unfortunately, it didn't do a good job of holding on to the paint. I
have some experience with painting large, flat surfaces on miniatures – shields
and larger pieces like Warjacks – so I knew the need to thin down the paints
and go for multiple thin layers. But the paint refused to flow properly on the
surface of the primer. It either pooled or ran down the sides. In any case, the
results were unpleasant.
At this point, I had two unusable terrain pieces – one with paint that wouldn't
set, the other with paint too ugly to put on the table. Hoping that everything
would look better in the morning, I gave up and went to bed.
The next morning revealed even more horror. At some point during the night, one
of the boxes was knocked to the floor. (Ah, the joys of letting my wife keep
cats around.) As I leaned down to pick up the wayward terrain piece, I noticed
that a few of the plastic bits had come off. A little experimenting revealed
that the plastic cement had failed to provide a strong bond. I could break the
plastic bits off the boxes with little effort. On the other hand, the metal bit
I had super glued on refused to budge. These pieces wouldn't have lasted long
if they had made it to the table.
Lessons Learned:
- Both
pieces have taken a long soak in a solution of Simple Green and water. The
paint and primer came off after a good scrubbing. They need another wash
in soap and water to get rid of any residue from the Simple Green, but are
otherwise ready for assembly.
- First
Lesson Learned – Assembly. I will be using super glue to assemble
everything with time around. The bond is much stronger than plastic cement
on this material.
- Second
Lesson Learned – Priming. Both pieces will be primed a dark gray with an
auto body primer. The dark color will cover up the original colors of the
plastic better. I've also had good results with auto body primer providing
a good surface for paints on large, flat surfaces. Multiple layers of
thinly applied primer will be used to provide good coverage.
- Third
Lesson Learned – Painting. I'll try a slightly thicker paint mix when I
get started. The paint mix I used before didn't seem too thin, but it's best
to be sure. It's easier to thin down a paint than thicken it back up,
anyway.
PART TWO
This is a fresh start incorporating the lessons learned from
my previous attempt.
First Lesson Learned – I used super glue to reassemble the piece this time.
Some tugging and a short drop served to test the bonds after the glue set. It
should stand up to normal use - place it on the table, remove it from the
table, put it in a box, maybe drop it on the way a couple of times - just fine.
Second Lesson Learned – I got out the auto body primer and started spraying.
Sandable auto body primer is good stuff - it leaves a surface that holds on
well to paint and bonds to plastic, metal, and resin. It took two thin layers
to get a good, even coat that covered up the original colors of the plastic.
Third Lesson Learned – A darker color for better coverage seemed like a good
idea. I also went back to the tried and true method of paint large, flat surfaces
- multiple layers of thinned down paint. The paint dried smoothly.
The end result wasn't bad, but it looked dull and flat. Applying a thinned down
dark wash brought out the details, but the piece was still missing something. I
highlighted the corners and top with the original base color. Finally, I
applied a thinned down brown wash to weather the piece. Small steps like these
add character to a piece, but I might have gone overboard with the brown wash.
There is another, larger piece in the wings. I plan on adopting the same
techniques to complete it later. For now, I've got some other projects to
complete first.
