Deserted Research Lab

I assembled most of this thing a couple of years ago, and only recently got round to finishing it off. Right, I spent ages coating it with sand and locking that in place with glue, then painted it all over with brown house paint. Then as an experiment I sprayed a little of Halford's Yellow Primer over it, and I am rather happy with the result. I'm tempted to spruce up my old terrain boards thus. Right, so then I got down to the metalwork. Necron Abyss and a little Boltgun metal, then a drybrush of Boltgun metal, then a wash of that old blue wash you apparently can't get any more, then another wash of Ogryn flesh. I should rename this blog Pete's guide to painting scenery with paints you can't get any more. Anyway, then I gave everything a drybrush with a mixture of yellow and white paint. I used to have some cream, but it had died since last I used it, so I made up something similar. I was surprised how little yellow I had to add to the white to get a similar creamy shade. Then I glued on a load of those little green things that vaguely resemble scrub and bushes, and a few spots of grass. Job done, move on!

Oh, why is it an abandoned research facility? The reason for that is that I haven't modelled any windows onto it. It could have been an explosives factory, but I think they have thin roofs. I'm extrapolating from a passage in one of Terry Pratchett's books, where he compares dragon kennels to fireworks factories: both buildings are designed with strong walls and thin roofs, so that any explosion will be channelled upward, which seems unfair to any passing birds, but handy if you happen to live next door. So, yes, no windows. So it's a biological research laboratory or something similar, designed so that nothing can get out. Perhaps it's even the source of a zombie plague! Maybe a nefarious foe has seized the facility, imprisoned the scientists and is ransacking the whole area for vital industrial secrets.

Could there have been a group of idealistic revolutionaries, angry at what they regard as their country's submission to a foreign power? They might have seized the building and be planning to destroy it as a gesture to shock the international community. Are aliens locked up in the cellar or perhaps vampires and demons, relocated from Sunnydale. Is it a base on an isolated frontier planet, whence the expected monthly transmission did not come? Let's send a band of mercenaries or a section of soldiers to investigate. Perhaps a group of scoundrels and criminals has heard of the mission and decided to pop in entirely out of the goodness of their hearts, "looking for survivors, your honour. We were just packing up those expensive things to keep them safe for their proper owners." Lots to consider!

You can look forward to a few posts this week. Somehow I've managed to end up with a load of projects on the go at once, and I'm making progress with them all.