Seeking advice: Crashed Broadsword

[JadeHellbringer]

Quick backstory on the project: Last winter, I had two map-scale Dropships sent out from IWM, a Union and a Broadsword. The Union turned out fine, but the Broadsword had... issues. The resin is badly cracked in a couple of places, one of the forward fins is broken off (and wasn't in the box)... crap. Well, IWM were cool and sent another one out to replace it, but the busted-ass ship is still sitting here on my desk waiting for me to do something with it.

So, what to do with a broken, poorly-casted ship? I wasn't sure, until I happened to glance again at the old Batttlecorps cover-image, the one with the Mad Cat and Rifleman striding into battle with the crashed ship behind them. Hmmm... a crashed Broadsword... light bulb ON.

So I'm hoping to create a map-scale CRASHED Broadsword, in a way. The idea is to cut the hull up into a few parts and mount them on some sort of base, with a furrow dug into it by the crash. The ship itself would be painted in a neutral grey (rather than the bluish color in the image), but obviously be blackened and pitted from being torn apart.

Trick is, it looks great in my head. On my desk, it's a project unlike anything I've ever tried, and so I'm seeking advice. If this were your Dropship mini, and you wanted to do something like this, how would you go about it? What would you use for a base to mount it on? How would you go about making the hull cuts? Is this even a good idea in the first place?

Any advice is very welcome, I'm feeling optimistic about doing this but I'm also very much in over my head on it. ;)

[LordNth]

What would you use for a base to mount it on?
thin piece of wood

How would you go about making the hull cuts?
i'm assuming you mean hollow out the hull.  carefull, slow drilling of bits in various sizes

Is this even a good idea in the first place?
heck yes

[pintotheevil]

Sounds like a great idea.  I had a similar one,  I bought a model of the ISS that I broke up to use as crashed satellite objective/terrain pieces.

good luck with the terrain!

[Fallen_Raven]

While I'm lacking in experience making terrain, I'll offer a suggestion or two.

First, plan to build up the turf around the ship. It will allow you make the ships impact look deeper, it will give you something to "dig" your furrows in, and you can hide a bad cut by burying it in the ground.

Second, try to mount the ship of kilter. A crach landing rarely ends up with a ship or plane landing smoothly on it's belly. It also allows you to have some interesting spaces to place wreckage on the bottom and sides.

Hopefully someof this helps, and I'll add anything else I come mup with latter.

[Ronin Actual]

Make the base from thin wood or styrene.  Use joint compound as your "dirt" and while it is still wet you can sculpt it the way you want.  This should be awesome, can't wait to see it!

[JadeHellbringer]

Oh it's going to have CRASHED- we're talking, CHUNKS. I do intend for the nose to lay at something around a 30-degree angle to starboard, to explain the shorn-off nose fin on that side, while the rear section (the engines!) will be totally inverted. The middle is where the sculpting was done poorly, so it's going to get sliced, diced, and shredded.

Anyone know if this stuff melts decently? I'd pondered using a soldering iron on some of it to create a molten-metal kind of look in a few areas, but I want to A) make sure it will work at all, and B) make sure I don't create toxic fumes.

This is going to be a low-priority project that likely won't be ready for a long time due to upcoming apartment moves and other priorities, but I'm looking forward to it!

[CranstonSnord]

I have a similarly miscast Broadsword I'd be willing to experiment on. I'll do some melts tonight and post pics.

As for the overall crashed look, I would expect to see some crinkled-up armor plates in some stress points, almost like an accordion. That would be easily done with some thin plasticard.

[spaceman spiff]

WARNING! resin fumes and dust are toxic!

tinfoil makes good torn and dented sheet metal. it takes extra-special care when painting so as not to over bend or crinkle your work. also, empty toothpaste tubes are made from a pliable foil, plus the material is a bit more sturdy.

wood putty or spackle would make good crash furrows or craters. just squash or slide your parts into a pile of the stuff. well, maybe using a bit more control and some touch-up/ precision piling here and there.

spray foam could make it a burning wreck. not very easy to work with, though. patience is a virtue.

if you were me, you'd be thinking about how to create some interior details in the broken parts.  ;) ;)

[CranstonSnord]

Here are some pics of my results. I did 6 or so test melts along the top aft of the Broadsword (see the brown burn marks), where there's resin I'd be sanding down anyway. I did it outside, so I can't speak to the fumes. The resin melted easily enough, with pressure, but then it turned slippery meaning the soldering iron just slid right off (see the gouge in the top right in the first pic). I couldn't manage to bore any holes into the resin, just small craters. I'd say avoid this method, from the perspective of appearance, control, and safety :-P

[btp2k2]

Make the base from thin wood or styrene.  Use joint compound as your "dirt" and while it is still wet you can sculpt it the way you want.  This should be awesome, can't wait to see it!

What he said! Get some thin sheet styrene and you will be golden.

WARNING! resin fumes and dust are toxic!

And what he said too! I use a lot of resin pieces for scale aircraft models and resin dust is nasty nasty stuff. I STRONGLY recommend a respirator whenever working with resin.