Cheap shipping containers

Shipping  Containers

Everyone out there that has a Miniature company has a shipping container of one sort or another. With the cost of their models, a large area for a Post Apocalyptic world can add up in cost really fast and model train supply companies are not any cheaper by any means. Paper models can work but the draw back is they are very light and can be blown over too easy at times, don't stack well, plus they are not strong enough in my opinion to risk stacking minis on.

So I have been checking out 1x1x36 inch square wood dowel you can get one for less then $3.00 (USD) and the math is 15mm scale = 1/100 as general rule, it's not written in stone so don't blast me with comment as to it being other scales. So 1 inch in 1/100 scale would be 8 feet and 3.3 inches so a 1x1 inch square would be 8.3x8.3 foot, the average height and width of a container, so a 20 foot container would roughly be 2 and 1/2 inches long.

I should then get 14 container. So one can also get 7 containers at 5 inches equaling 40 foot containers 

That's 14 containers for about .21 cents each! Plus time to fix then up to look like containers or 7 containers for .42 cents each and again the time to make them up. Okay I only got 13 remember measure twice cut once oops!

One could make the outside of the container different due to different manufactures, or for a future time set as well, which in turn would give more of that random feel as, You could make one if you like and then make a mold and cast the rest you need as well.

So here is the start and some more pictures for size comparison

Again it's only the begining of this project and will update as I go along, blocks still need some cleaning up and adding the details and painting but you can see from the next picture you can have a whole shipping yard full fairly fast and cheap.

Hope you have a large shipping yard for your port you'll need it for all your cargo and your containers too.

Wasteland Raiders

Concept idea is to combine several grav bikes from different 15mm Miniature companies to form a nomadic raiding party just one more hazard for your Traveller party to deal with or to be your Traveller party, heck they could be your escort across the no man's land.

The more of a mix of Grav bikes the better, for the more random look as one would expect to see in a marauding group, picking up a bike here and there as they go and the parts they would need to keep them running as they raid camps or outpost as needed.

The concept came to me when I had seen a concept artwork piece of such a group when image surfing google and then saw the start of something similar at David's Painting and Modeling Log  http://billinghurst.spalding.gen.nz/Webstuff/hobbies/paintlog.html

Here you can see he is using GZG's Grav Bike http://shop.groundzerogames.net/  and Rebel Minis AP riders http://www.rebelminis.com/index.html which has inspired me to do fairly much the same only I'm going to add more to it.

I want to add bed rolls, saddle bags, pouches, sacks of goods and alike and I would do this by using modellers putty "Green Stuff".

Equal parts yellow and blue and knead together until it's an even green all around then you can work with it for awhile until it hardens, working with 15mm things a very little goes a long ways.

So now the list of Grav bikes for the Raiders

 

Grav Bikes from GZG http://shop.groundzerogames.net/

Grav Bikes from Critical Mass http://www.criticalmassgames.com/default.asp?category=homepage

Gave bike from Spriggan Miniatures http://www.sprigganminiatures.co.uk/index.html

Grav bikes from The Scene http://thesceneuk.com/

 

Grav Bike from 15mm.co.uk http://www.15mm.co.uk/index.html

 

Grav Bikes from Khurasan Miniatures http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/

Now I will be doing some head swaps and switching out riders as well, Riders from Rebel Minis AP riders.

I am thinking of some other Grav vehicles as supply vehicle and for carrying additional raiders and thought that I would need some dismounted Raiders so the jury is still out for those items for now.

In the mean time, if your players have to investigate a surveyors camp, or outpost that hasn't reported in be mindful of what may be out there. Not everything has to have teeth and claws.



Running a Salvage Crew

Being a Salvage crew Captain

If your going to be traveling the stars, then your going to come across a crashed ship from time to time or a derelict a drift in space. If your running a salvage crew as the captain then your going to have to look for work everywhere you can so you end up looking at all the reports of every lost or missing ship at every star port or base you come to and their last known location in hope for a score.

Hit the bars for rumors of missing ships not reported, so talk to other trader ship captains some traders like to travel under the radar so to speak when their carrying cargo let's just say that they don't want to be caught with. Great to have a few smuggler friends to off load that kind of stuff  quick but cheap.
Plus if there is any clashes going on then there is a chance for an even easier score just don't get caught in the middle between the two clashing sides, best way to find this information is to find young marines, sailors and soldiers in the bar and offer to buy a few drinks, older veterans and officers know better to not to talk about such things but younger troops want to brag about their heroic deeds of battle and where it happened.
Large  battlefields are littered with equipment that was either damaged, destroyed, just plain lost, or just left behind due to cargo space, not everything is broken or wasted, most military campaigns just keep moving on and pretty much just leave broken or useless equipment behind, nice stash of weapons, ammo, firing computers, comms equipment and a like can be found. Lots of fair size colonies feel the need for such stuff to protect themselves and you can get a good price for your stuff there.

 

Talk to Scout ship crews, they come across derelicts drifting from time to time and fail to report them, either by accident or on purpose for a score of their own, and a few drinks will help loosen them up many times. What the crew knows is not always what the captain puts in to his ship's log.

Working ship parts and ship's equipment cost a lot of credits, and one can get about half as much for them, depending on a lot of factors working or needing some repair, but there is always a buyer somewheres for what you find or recover, so make sure you have a long list of potential ship builder clients. ship building yards are good for buying engines, jump drives and ship computers of all kinds to cut cost of a build or repairs to save time for new ones to arrive.

Avoid areas where pirating is going on, two bad things can happen there, either you get hit by pirates or the authorities hit you for being a pirate. Unless you know the players on both side in that system and they know you but be warned you'll have to play both sides against the middle, because both side will want you to throw them a bone from time to time.

One of the last jobs you want to take on, is to salvage a failed colony, it's sad when you know that these were families trying to make a fresh start and fail, many personal items are left behind to remind you that this was once someones home and life, it can make you feel alone and lost in your mind sometimes thinking this could have been your life. Better jobs are old refineries and mining operations.

 

Why be on a salvage crew, why not be a belter working on some asteroid or working with a demolitions crew on some city world revamping some city block, work is steady and so are the hours, and life will be the same day in and day out and a rut, for me a salvage crew seeing the stars and other worlds, my live in my hands and hold to no man but me.

 

 This is the view from my window, What's yours?