6mm Wargaming

Nuclear buildings

Introduction

On of my favourite wargaming periods is the Cold war and modern wargames in general. Over time I have collected terrain for this period and I am always on the lookout for something unusual or different, that defines this period. I find it good to have a centre piece on a table which draws spectators into the game and helps with the games narrative.







Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized image



Nuclear Missile Silo

This 1/285th scale model from Gamecraft which I wanted since I first saw the model on their site. I've no idea if its historically accurate but it looks way cool, so thats all that matters! I tried to enhance the model by adding a discreet entrance way by means of a a tunnel leading into the ground, and the silo itseld is hidden inside a forest.

The base was a bit of MDF I had cut for something else but it was a good fit for this model. Its a bit cramped but I don't want to make the base too big. I added some slivers of polystrene to bulk out the base as well as creating an entrance to the silo. Next I painted the silo a concrete colour and the surrounding area.



Nuclear Missile Silo

After the base was painted some caulk was applied to the whole base and drybrushed ochre followed by cream. The entrance was made from a spare Timecast building and some plasticard brick work and other bits and pieces. I added sandbags (made from green stuff)and a discrete guard post. Then I added some different kinds of flock The first is a mix of flock, bark and small pieces of stone and it works well as typical debris on a forest floor. This was followed by another couple layers of flock and then the trees were next. I drilled some holes and glued all the trees on.



Nuclear Missile Silo

Here's the completed model with trees and bushes glued on. The trees were not too tightly packed in so that figures and vehicles could fit into some of the gaps ebtween the trees. Overall this has come out very well and really adds something to the table.



Nuclear Powerplant

The Nuclear power plant is an iconic building for cold war gaming and it will also be useful for scifi gaming. This model was a design I found on Thingverse (3D model website) and the main cooling tower was 3D printed (about 11 hours). The other 2 large buildings were part of the set and although they were designed for Battletech, they don’t look too out of place.

The other buildings are Timecast sheds and Mainly Military buildings. Also there were a few more 3D printed pieces added such as the Tank (rescaled from a 28mm 40K model) and the silver pipes near the cooling tower are a 28mm scifi part.



Nuclear Powerplant

The model was based on 2mm plywood with thin black card glued on top. I airbrushed the card with different shades of grey to make it appear like tarmac. You can see in the WIP phots that I glued down some strips of square plasticard. These served two purposes, one to create pavement edges and secondly, to help me fill around the thick bases of the Mainly Military buildings. This allowed the grass areas to be filled in to hide the thick building bases. Finally I used a white gel pen for the road markings which were drawn on the wrong side for Europe! road markings.



Nuclear Powerplant

And some more photos of the model. The final steps were to add some nuclear decals which i got from i-94 Enterprises, and airbrush a light coat of Buff colour around the base of the buildings and on the tarmac. This helps blend it all together and adds a layer of weathering.