Ran across these last night:  Buck Rogers Gun pods



These "Gun Pods", if you've never played the Buck Rogers boardgame, are about the size of a marble and made of a plastic that shouldn't be hard to paint.  The gun on top will easily trim off with a hobby knife (and that sucker is going right into the bitz box!), leaving a nice little Space Marine drop pod type piece that can be mounted on a crater base and painted in your Chapter colors.  I have the boardgame so I'm pretty familiar with these things.

The nice thing is that they are extremely cheap from SciPlus -- 75 cents for 14 pods!  Or about 35p for you folks in the Old Country.  True, there is a minimum order of $10, but it isn't hard to find $10 worth of stuff to buy from SciPlus, as they have loads of hobby tools, electronics parts, etc.  I just ordered a bunch of those things, so when they arrive, I'll do some converting and post pics.

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Set phasers on "fun"!

That's a great site, thanks Jav!

Very Cool !  Do you have pics of the other Buck Rogers pieces, like the Shuttle Craft, etc. ?

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Oh, indeedily-doodily.  They're all on the Boardgamegeek page for Buck Rogers (the 1988 version).  Sadly, BGG seems to be having server issues right now, so I can't go retrieve the actual link for you.  

Now, the fighters are really small, slightly bigger than BFG/Full Thrust scale but too small for use in Epic.  

The "war birds" might be usable for Silent Death, but not Epic or BFG.  Plus, they have a 30's sci-fi serial aesthetic.

The shuttles might be usable in a 2mm or 3mm game, but they're pretty small as well;  maybe 4mm high and 15 or 20mm long.

The "soldiers" are big, maybe big enough to use with 25mm, but the quality is poor.  They're more like the old lead "flats".

The  "troops" are somewhere in between 15mm and 20mm.  I'll go home tonight and hold one up against a 15mm GZG troop and see how they compare, but I think they're closer to 20mm.

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I''ve seen some of these pods in person, they look good and are a good size for epic drop pods.  PLM2212 scored some in a trade before.  I've seen some go on auctions for as much as a $1 per pod too.

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Woo hoo!  The Geek is back up!  Here's the link to the Buck Rogers gallery.

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Now I just need to find a source for the AA guns in the original Axis & Allies board game.  Those could be converted to make great Blitzen guns for my IG.

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Hey !  Nice pics !  I'm always interested in seeing stuff like that !  Must have been a fun game to play !    Thanks for the intell !

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Okay, the pods arrived just before the weekend and I went ahead and trimmed off the guns.  Now I just need some ideas on basing them, if at all.  I really don't know if I would have the patience to make fifty-plus Sculpy craters, so my next option is to cut out squares or discs of plasticard, base them with sand, and paint scorch marks on the sand before gluing down the pods.  Or, another option is to just print scorched-earth graphics on heavy cardstock and glue the pods to those.

All sorts of ideas.  Anyone have any suggestions?

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I missed this thread. Those are perfect for drop pods. I might have to get some.

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

Why not make one Sculpey crater, and make a press mould?

Regards,
Reaver

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The quickest sculpting method I can think off would be to add a ball of sculpting material, press at the centre with a large rounded object to produce the crater. Then smooth out the sides with your fingers. Add a bit of sand and it should be ready. I'm guessing it'd take 30 seconds per crater using this method. Not the prettiest craters, but better than printing out something for sure

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Sofa General

Nobody expects the Inquisition!!!
http://theepiclounge.wordpress.com/

Or... does anyone know of a source for small-scale vacuformed craters?  That might also work.

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Hi Guys,  have you checked out the Guild Orbital Drop Pods on the Exodus Wars site, nice and 15 for £9.95.

"Peace through superior firepower!"

Yes, I have some!

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart