Mek Lab - Modular Chemical Plant

For a short, glorious time Warboss Chainsaw was in possession of a synth-meat factory.  The tasty additives turned out to be wildly addictive to orkish biology and the huge ork is going crazy with his jones for Imperial Green Dye #14.

Since Chainsaw is killing nobz who ask him what the trouble is, they have come to none other than Mek Gearsnik to solve their problem:

"Huh.  Datz why I only eatz grotz dat I seen growd up around me lab.  Whalp!  I kan help ya ladz - fer a small fee of teef dat iz...  Open wide now!  ...  Dat wasn't so bad, woz it?  Now den: Seein' az how diz cravin' might be building up ovar time, I'll git ya one betta - a modula' chemical plant that we kan add productshan onta laterz.  Dat's brillant!  No - datz wot yer suppous'd ta say..."

Modular Chemical Plant

A big pile of trash and some orkish no-wotz will make this a propa factory that will be suitable fer any need!  The steps below are a bit contrived as the project actually happened in kind of a wild ork-y spasm, but whadayaexpect?

Construction Steps

Step 1 - Assemble Trash

No, I'm not kidding.  I built this mostly out of trash!  The main building is made up of a granola bar box and a washed lemonade power container.

Well...

And a lot of scrap cardboard, glue, and tape.

We'll also be using several largish cardboard containers with metal bottoms and plastic lids, coffee-stirrers, wire mesh, old fiberglass screen material, and popsicle sticks.  Among other odds and ends along the way.

Step 2 - Build the Main Building

The main box is nice and big, but that means the walls are kind of wobbly.  That's no good.  I can't expect Dark Purist to place any of his finely-painted assault marines on top of a building that might dump them over!  No.

I use PVA (Elmer's Glue-All) to add multiple sheets of scrap cardboard to the inside of each wall.  The spot around the hole where the internal tank will go is particularly weak, so I reinforce that with craft sticks all the way around.

I've painted the lemonade drink container with plastic-bonding paint and used a rotary tool to grind off labels and other 'give-away' marks on the bottom, too.

I wait until this is completely dry before I add the drink power tank.

This gets attached with a shot of adhesive caulk on the bottom (the lemonade tank goes all the way down for stability) and around the top.  It takes two days to dry completely, but the two bits are permanently affixed!

While this is drying I do some other steps...

I must say the combination of reinforcement and different adhesives makes this base have a nice 'heft' to it and none of the walls flex even a little.  This is just what I wanted so: Score!


The final building core is ready for the next step.

Step 3 - Build Tanks

Luckily, I have collected a supply of identical containers for the tanks that will hold the fine supply of Imperial Green Dye #14.  Make your own storage tanks from something you use as a staple around the house and you'll always have a supply of new tanks should you wish to build additional units.

The empty containers are very lightweight and easy to knock around.  This is no good.  I want tanks that will stay put on the battlefield.

So I tear into my supply of old cardboard boxes, cut it into strips that are a little less than the interior height of the tank and roll it up inside until it's packed full.

This will provide an extra benefit later when we put some metal 'rivets' into the sides of the tank - the cardboard will provide something for the pins to stick into.

This step actually takes quite a bit more time and cardboard than you might imagine!  It is fortunate that junk cardboard is easy to come by in most places.

Once the tanks are packed tight, I put the plastic lids on and flip them up-side down.  Using several widths and kinds of tape, I wrap each tank with strips that will later look like metal reinforcement bands.  I secure the edges of both the paper label of the original tins and the tape with small daubs of super-glue so they won't unravel after it's painted.

By hammering in some straight pins along these bands, I get a bit more detail for the tanks that will impact how they look when they get dry brushed.

Step 4 - Catwalk

I'd like to build a way for models to move along the upper level of the chemical plant without having to go up and down every tank.  This will require some catwalks, so I decide to build one as a prototype for the initial project.

A bit of PVC pipe, some wire mesh, screen, and foam-board will be combined to create a catwalk that sits on top of a pipe that will connect two of the standard-sized tanks.

By extending some craft sticks out past each end of the catwalk, the walkway can sit on top of any two tanks and be placed at any angle I desire.  Or blown up, for that mater, depending on the game rules we're playing with!

Step 5 - Half-Tank

In order for the catwalk to work in a nice, modular fashion, I need to have the same curve somewhere on the main building.

To solve this, I use a hacksaw and cut one of my tank containers right in half - straight down.  Using a lot of different adhesives I affix a cardboard support near the cut off edge.  I'll attach this to one side of the building as another tank that's permanently a part of the base building.

Step 6 - Base Coat of Paint

At this point I need some of these parts to get a base coat of paint at the very least before I can keep building.

Almost everything gets painted black, except the body of the main building which is gray.  I plan on turning the walls of the building into concrete so gray will be better.

At this point I have four identical tanks plus the one half tank.  My plan is to paint all of them exactly the same.  Boring, I know.  But these are NOT pure ork terrain pieces so I want to keep 'em looking fairly neat and orderly...

Step 7 - Iron Corners

Okay.  At this point in the project Dark Purist gave me a new tool for Christmas!  (I love new tools, don't you?)  A Proxxon 5.5" hot-wire foam table cutter!  What!?  Awesome...

I had to use it right away.  Obviously!

So I cut some not-bad-for-a-beginner corner bits out of 2" insulation foam.  I notched each corner bit so it would fit on the four corners of the main building, glued on a host of small rivets that I made by slicing up some thin weed-wacker line, and set them aside to be painted like old rusty metal later.

Step 8 - Fiddly Bitz

So I needed a door for this place on the ground level.  I didn't want it so big that I couldn't hide it later by butting up another shorter building next to this one, either.  So I cut a rectangle of paperboard, cut out little shapes on one half and folded it over.  A sliced up stick from a Q-Tip makes the hinge.

I also took a small cardboard tube and cut it up into bits that had a 45-degree angle on one side.  A circle of screen on the flat end is covered with a short bit of cardstock paper and I have some great-looking exhaust vents.

The catwalk is finished by drilling holes where the rails will fit into.  The rails are bent over underneath, holding the craft sticks firmly in place so the walkway can't fall apart with models sitting on it.

I used a lighter and some coffee stirrers to melt and press into new shapes some angled black pipes.  Overflow pipes.  I do these one angle at a time, measuring how far each pipe length should go for a couple of interesting-looking external pipes that will connect the tanks to each other and the rest of the building.

I also make several prototype ladders out of wire mesh in a couple of different styles to see what might work.

Step 9 - Final Painting & Assembly

What can I say?  It always comes together so quickly in the end...

Concrete paint for the building.  Copper, dry brushed with black to 'rust it' for all the pipes and corners.  Tow coats of silver dry brushed onto the stand-alone tanks with a metallic coffee color for the tops of each of them.


Everything gets glued together and the final product is complete!  Oh sure, I may fiddle with it some more, adding dry brushed dirt near the ground and some rust stains dripping down from the iron parts on the concrete, but the initial project is complete!

I'll be expanding on this central terrain piece in the future and since the bitz are modular I can put them together in lots of different ways for variety on the battlefield.

Neat-o!