Iron Chef: Scenery 3: Teleport Jammer

The terrain makers over at Librarium Online run an interesting challenge. Iron Chef: Scenery. Just like the popular TV show, the goal is to create a piece of terrain using a secret ingredient, which is then judged and voted on by your peers. I've decided to participate this time .... who knows what I'll turn out.

The Finished Piece

Materials Used

• 1 x Standard light wire coat hanger (1)
• 1 x Standard pants hanger (2)
• 1 x Wooden hanger (3)
• 2 x Kid's hanger (4)
• 8 x 20mm unslotted square bases. 4 for the tower, 4 for the lower supports
• 4 x 25 x 50mm cavalry bases
• 4 small wooden balls and 4 medium sized wooden balls, available at your local craft shore.
• Miscellaneous pieces of sheet styrene
• 1 Piece of MDF cut to size for the base

Step-by-Step

I have gone to the secret ingredient stand and selected a fine assortment of coat hangers including the classic light wire (1), a pants hanger (2), a fine wooden hanger (3), and the kid's special (4). The coat hangers are numbered for easy reference.

4 hydraulic pistons made out of the horizontal bars from hangers (2) and 3). 4 vertical supports cut from hanger (4), and the beginnings of an antenna tower made out of 3 25mm bases (trimmed and drilled) and 3 pieces of wire cut from hanger (1).

We're going to first make the upper hydraulic pistons. Take the cardboard hanger bar from the pants hanger and cut 4 x 2 1/2" sections. Take the wooden hanger bar from the wood coat hanger and cut it into 4 x 3 1/2" pieces. The reason for the difference in sizes is that we're going to insert about an inch of the wood pieces into the cardboard tube, which will leave 2 1/2" showing on both sides. Simply measure, mark, and then cut each piece with a razor saw using a miter box. We're going to glue the wooden piece inside the cardboard tube, and then attach a wooden ball to each end.

To make the antenna tower, clip out four sections from the basic wire hanger (1) and smooth down the ends with a file. Take your four 20mm square bases and, using your pin vise, drill a hole at each apex and pass the coat hanger wire through it. You'll notice that one of my wire sections is longer than the others. This is deliberate. The picture shows a 3-sided tower, I later replaced it with a 4-sided tower that was a little bit taller.

The base of the tower are going to look like a telescoping box. I'm going to use your standard plastic dice box as the base and a box of pesto paste for the upper section. You can probably talk to the manager of your LGS and get them to give you a dice box if you ask nicely enough.

Here's what the two pieces look like then they've been joined together. The pesto box required just a wee bit of trimming to fit.

Cut a short length from the plastic coat hanger (4) and bevel the ends at a 45 degree angle. Glue these to a cavalry base on one end and a 20 x 20mm base at the other end. This will make up the lower support.

Here's a mock up, assembled to test for size and overall look. I've glued my lower supports on first, then glued the completed hydraulic pistons to the upper end of the box. The hydraulic pistons were also glued in place. In this picture, it's easy to see how all of the pieces are assembled for the pistons. The upper tower is actually free standing to make transport easier.

Here's what the every thing looks like primed with a miniature for scale. I've cut out a piece of MDF for the base, though I need to trim it down a little more. I spray primed the bottom black and then the top with a Rustoleum Camo Green. The vanes on the tower were made with some sheet styrene and glued to the plastic bases using model glue.

And here's what it looks like painted. I painted the upper parts of the piston in VMC Gunmetal and washed it a bit with Paynes Grey. I added a little rust and weathering here and there. The vanes were painted with a mix of Citadel Lighting Blue and Skull White to look like they were glowing. The base was finished off with some sand and static grass.

Lastly, a close up look at the base....

... and the model's eye view as the Eldar attack towards the objective.

Post Mortem

To be honest, it turned out OK, but not as well as I had hoped. Part of it is that I just ran out of time. I would have liked to add more details and do a better job of painting, but other priorities popped up. I am happy with my use of the secret component though. I was able to make very good use of 4 different coat hangers and between those and the plastic bases, any gamer out there has all of the components they need to make this.

Notes

Last updated	8/19/08
Author	Michael Kan
Pre-requisites	None
Related Articles	None