Hardware Store Scenery

Some of you might recognize the origins of this scenery piece. Some may not. 

On a visit to the local home hardware store a while ago, I got looking at all the plastic pipework that was avaialble. Ranging from tubes, to pipes, to L-bends and everything else in between and beyond, the scope for turning hardware in to Warhammer style scenery piece is very high indeed.

This particular item was constructed out of a regular toilet valve. I attached the bottom (actually the top in the real world) on to a rectangular MDF base with superglue. Using filler, I then proceeded to create some material around the base of the MDF and the bottom part of the plastic. For the connecting pipe (pictured on the right hand side), I have inserted a plastic grid and glued it in to place to cover the opening (actually, part of it is literally screwed in to place using the plastic connection present). 

For painting, I used a subdued red tone for the base colour and have then liberally applied some orange dabs with a wet washing up sponge to give it a suitable weathered and rusted appearance. Black low-lights have been applied to the lower parts of the piece, whilst dark brown/black ink has been made to cascade out of various parts of the piece to generate an even more weathered look. The numerals are from a decal sheet I had lying about from my Shadow Sword that I had never used.

The overall result is a scenery piece that not only looks rather unique, but fits in with the grim dark vibe of a dis-used industrial world or Forge world in the depths of the Imperium. This item has already seen use in some games and tournaments we have had, and will no doubt be used again.

The only negative thing I can say is that the paint chips off too easily. I should have sand-papered the surface prior to painting to give it a better chance of sticking. Hence, I use a lot of bubble wrap when transporting it to keep it relatively chip-free.