HobbyDr's Game Table: Sci-Fi Bunker, Pt.7

OK, time to get serious. I masked off the concrete overhang, then primed the whole thing with my favorite Rustoleum Painter's Touch Dark Gray Primer. After that, the tiled outer walls received a coat of Tamiya's Olive Drab. If you remember, I used Testor's Olive Drab for the front cover, but Tamiya's drab is a bit 'cooler', and I like the contrast. This whole process will take some time, because it is already very humid here in SW Florida, and it takes some time for the paint to 'bite and hold.' This is important, as I will be doing a lot of masking going forward, and there is nothing sadder than having paint stick to the tape as you remove it.(OK, OK, yeah, I know, there are plenty of things sadder, but you know what I mean.)

The Olive Drab dried enough to allow masking over it.

Up to now, all the painting has been done with spray cans, but I needed my faithful old Paashe to apply Tamiya's Desert Yellow to the interior walls. I had planned on painting the floors a metallic color, but I liked the way the over spray looked, so I just did the whole interior with the Desert Yellow. It saves me a step, and gets the masking tape off the front walls sooner. Just need to paint the railings, and some weathering, and this will be done.

I started work on a second bunker, this one to be the stationary position for all the weapons platforms I'm making for the mobile, armored chassis. Here is where I am so far.

Let's pause to answer your questions. You're damn right. Why the hell are you starting a second bunker when you haven't even finished the first? Calm down, calm down. At first this was to be a Forward Observation Post, sitting a few inches ahead of the main bunker. It originally was only the gray tile base, with the superstructure at the front. A hatch similar to the one on the upper level was to be centered in the square section of tile. None of the under-skirting, or rear platform were envisioned. OK, what do you mean by mobile, armored chassis? While working on this, I was thinking about Sci-Fi tanks that would fit in this environment. I remembered the six-barreled M-50 Ontos from the '50s and '60s, as 'sci-fi' a vehicle the US has ever produced. (In fact, I believe GW designers time-travelled back to the early 1950s and created the Ontos, it's that sci-fi.) Now, the six barrels on the Ontos were 106mm recoiless rifles, but I thought, "What about 105mm Auto Cannons?" So I started designing an Ontos' inspired tank, that would have interchangeable weapon platforms. I started with the gun you see above (yeah, I know you can't take your eyes off it), but I knew it would take too much time to make the tank, so I decided to expand the FOP. Seven months later, I still don't have the armored chassis, but there are several different weapons (mostly) completed. You'll see these shortly.

Whew! Didn't mean to get so blabby.

I've been thinking about where I would plant this bunker for a while now. And as this was becoming a complex, where would I plant subsequent bunkers. I was about to start hacking foam for a new board, when I remembered this uncompleted board from my LotR project.

So, what would happen if you built a modern bunker complex over the remains of an ancient defense? I think you'd have something like this.

And after playing around with it for a few minutes, you'd have something like this. I felt the large bunker should retain the central position, and after some cutting of the terrain and the bunker, ended up with this. There was even room for a foxhole underneath.