Some scratch building today!
Inspiration comes from the unexpected. That can be specially true when you have a deranged mine such as mine and you see things where normal people doesn't.
On a second read, that sentence sounds quite more terrible than I expected. I guess I'd better explain myself.
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What do you mean 'it's not getting better?'
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Dry Paw Patrol stamp thingie from the Suberlings. If you don't see how this can be used for miniature purposes maybe there's still hope for you. Well, it's too late for me. I envisioned two little cargo platforms, a couple of gravitational mules.
You still don't know what the hell I'm talking about. I can't blame you. Just stay with me for a few more minutes.
First mule: I used the upper piece. After removing the sticker, I glued some junk together...
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A broken pencil sharpener, a piece from a ballpen...
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...and some more random rubbish
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As the shape of the vehicle was kind of crude, I thought I could improve it with lollipop sticks.
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Patiently collected waiting for their time to come
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They should be bars to be glued on both sides
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Ugh. Big nope
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This is one of those times when the execution reveals you didn't get the right idea. Having the bars like that it didn't look as I expected. Instead of the shape I was looking for, it looked like a weird sci-fi sleigh. Which of course is legit, but it simply wasn't the thing I was after this time. So I took the bars out.
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This, however, looked much better to my eyes
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Tubes and wires, final touch
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This was the basic thing, a tiny platform to carry small goods. A kind of cargo land speeder commonly used on backwater settlemets, that kind of thing.
Let's have a look to what could be done with the other piece. Second mule:
This time the piece had quite a more interesting shape, it looked more like the hull of some barge or anything, so I thought I should add less bits and leave it more open.
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The pole is the rest of the lollipop stick I didn't use for the other mule
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I added a light on the front, a holster on the pole, because you never know when you can need a gun on the Dark Millenium after all, and tiny details here and there.
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Wires, wires everywhere
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I declared myself happy with both and went on the next stage:
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Paint time
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I painted them at a time, so I could save some time when it came to inks, metallics and so.
For the first one I opted for yellow:
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Yellow is always a bad choice, I know!
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I used a brown/orange mix for the second one instead:
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Luke's speeder colour indeed!
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Let's get things dirty!
Well, not that much! After the inks and dirt, I had to tidy them up a little:
Much better. Now the metallics:
We're almost there! Final touches and...
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| Ta-daaaa |
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Ready to take your goods wherever you need, sir
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The bases were really simple. I used standard flyer bases, but couldn't use a mere standard transparent plastic rod, as it was too fragile for such a structure. I used a transparent cilinder (coming from a brush case!)
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It's not stupid if it works
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Here you have the final result:
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They look battered, but they are like new
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The LGC-576 mule is a popular choice all along the Eastern Fringe of the Galaxy
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Simplicity, durabilty, efficiency. Get your own now!
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The LGC-841 model is quite a good choice too
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You'll want to take your goods through the ash wastes in one of these!
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Just a few immersive (yet afwul) final pics:
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Come on! We're stuck again! Move your damn pile of junk out of there!
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Looks like no one's moving from there in a while
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That's right, take that turn slowly...
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Rush hour is dreadful on these streets
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Can we finally drop the boxes and hit the local tavern?
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As you can see I've deliberately kept them out of specific 40K flavour (no skulls, no purity seals...). I think they still work for my Rogue Trader kind of settings, but they can also be used for Firefly, Star Wars or any other kind of generic sci-fi ambientation.
I didn't sculpt or use any mini as a pilot, so I can use them in terms of game. I'm thinking of those narrative games in which you decide to steal a mule and flee from your pursuers, you know, that kind of thing ;)
Well, this is it. These have been enormously fun to build and paint, it was all just an impulse and I'm happy with the results. I hope I don't have these inspiration attacks too frequently, or else I'll keep the rest of my work at a standstill forever!
