Constructing A Team Fortress 2 Inspired Objective Marker for Warhammer 40K

I wanted to make an objective marker based on the game objectives from one of the on-line games I play, Team Fortress 2. Here's the inspiration for the Warhammer 40K objective marker.

Here are the base components ready for priming: some plasticard, some plastic railing cut in a mitre box, a small flying stand base, and a round shield.

The capture point was primed black then drybrushed with VMC Gunmetal. The diamond plate was washed with Devlan Mud (Wash) and then I applied a watered down mix of Bestial Brown and Blazing Orange to the edges and where it met the center piece.

I used some tape I got from the local RC store to mask off the areas that were going to be painted with the yellow stripe.

The unmasked areas got one coat of Dheneb Stone (Foundation) followed by a coat of Golden Yellow.

And the tape comes off. I was really happy with the result. I expected at least a little bit of the black primer to come off, but none did.

Lastly, I edged the yellow with a little bit of white and the black with some VMC Basalt Grey. I also blended some red -> orange -> yellow -> white for the middle of the capture point and then did the lettering. Someone asked how I did the lettering. I cheated. First, I found a good font, ICBM SS-20, and printed it out in 14 point bold. I had to experiment a bit to find the font and size that would look nice. Here's what it looks like originally, in larger font:

Once I had the right font and size, I printed it on a piece of photo paper, cut out the lettering, and kept a frame around it. It came out looking a little like this:

Where the white part is where I cut out the lettering, the blue is the remaining frame, and the line down the middle marks the center point. I taped this to my objective marker and painted inside the box, starting with the midpoint, 'E' and then worked right and backwards left. The sequence of lettering was E-P-O-I-N-T-R-U-T-P-A-C. Once I competed side A, I removed the mask and did the same for side B. Overall, I thought it turned out OK.

Notes

Last updated	7/9/08
Author	Michael Kan
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