Shield Generator/Power Plant WIP

Today I finally got around to starting a terrain piece that's been floating around my bitz bucket for a while now.  At some point last year my kids had left a Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape container on the floor. I saw it and had an attack of Scratchbuilditis, as I knew instantly what that little container really wanted to be when it grew up. Not too long later the kids had left another empty one in the van. Only problem was I needed something to dress it up. A few weeks ago I saw the cover for one of my wife's disposable razors and it looked the part, so I looked around for a second. Wait about six months, and today I finally got off my butt and started on it.

Here's the parts:

2 bubble tape containers, 2 ladies disposable razor covers, and the base is a wood flat from Michael's (Hobby Lobby has them as well, I'm sure most general craft stores will).

First step was to separate the halves and trim the bottoms so they'd sit flat. I used a combination of hobby saw and X-Acto knife for this. After that, removing the stickers. Getting the sticker glue off was a real pain in the ass though that resulted in me getting a blister on the side of my thumb.

Test fit

Next was to scratch up the sides to be glued together with some 80 grit sandpaper so there is some tooth to the surfaces to be glued. The plastic on the side is extremely smooth and non-porous. Had to do the same with the area that the razor covers were attached as well. Superglue (your typical cyanoacrylic glue) was what I used. I glued them together in sets of two them together, starting to look like something now...

Another project that had been sitting around, a little something to pass the time while glue dries.

All glued together now. I used some regular Milliput (found it at Hobby Lobby) to fill in the openings where the gum strip used to come out. I've decided I really like Milliput for it's ability to be smoothed with the application of a little water. Greenstuff and I have never really gotten along all that well. Had a little extra over so tried my hand at making some vent panels. Only one of the two turned out semi-OK-ish enough to use.

Since I wasn't sure what kind of plastic it was, I used Krylon Fusion black spray paint to cover the model as sometimes I've done work with plastic that went all tacky on me due to interactions between the plastic and the clear coat. Hopefully the Fusion coat will help prevent that. I'm going to let the base coat dry overnight then I'll glue it to the base and smear some artist's gel to the base and prime the whole thing with my usual primer (Duplicolor sandable auto primer - usually in grey rather than white or black). It looks good in black, but I know that it hasn't reached it's full potential yet.

Thoughts on painting are metallic silver with a good dark wash and glowing blue in the recesses along the tops. I'm purposely trying to avoid anything that will give this piece a scale reference to increase it's potential for use. Right now I'm looking at is as a shield generator or power plant for 6mm to 15mm and as a small power plant for 28mm or maybe a part of a Cygnar research project for Warmachine (though I still have yet to play that particular game). I'm hoping to get it based and primed tomorrow, maybe even a little paint. Though to be honest I'd like to play the last game of the Klingon Armada campaign tomorrow as well.