OK. I promised on Dakka Dakka on the Dropzone Commander thread that I had a source of cheap buildings to talk about you and was going to write an article there. The article is not done yet, but I have received an order of the stuff I was after and can confirm its quality as well as its price.
As MW:DA is the same scale as Dropzone Commander this info is all useful here if you play Battletech at that scale, or clicky tech.
MW:DA scale terrain guide.The companies and ranges I am going to recommend are both Japanese, one is called
Tomix the other
Greenmax. Unlike other N scale Japanese railway kits these are at a decent price. Tomix, also known as Tomytec deals with cheaper pre-constructed buildings, example here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/3540571876_3633e89b7f.jpg?v=0The building above is large, in scale and above all potentially very cheap.
Greenmax, which is the real prize deals entirely with plastic kit buildings. Their range is superb, and even cheaper. The plastic kits are the quality of what you would expect from a plastic model kit company and have sprues laden with bits.
http://www.greenmax.co.jp/Catalog/GMstract_2.shtmlHere is a link to the relevant page of the companies online catalogue. Now here is the problem, they only deal to Japanese toy shops and don't deal direct. So access is going to be difficult, thanks to Miguelsan on Dakka Dakka for some research into this. Two eBay webstore frequently get supply, neither have an off eBay presence (I asked). Search both under the words
Tomix N gauge structure or
Greenmax n gauge structureebay store: Hit-Japan
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hit-Japan-Video-Games-and-AnimeeBay store: Plaza Japan
http://myworld.ebay.com/plazajapan/One could try this website that deals inside Japan
http://www.1999.co.jp/Buying in the UK is difficult as the one or two sites selling include a HUGE markup. I am resorting to eBay shop Plaza Japan for now, it is not expensive, but stock levels are fluid. Much is missing.
Yanks have it easier
http://www.bttrains.com/categories/Japanese-Prototypes/Structures/BTTrains is reasonably cheap as are Lees Trains
http://www.leestrains.com/N%20Bldg%20Accessories.htmFor those in the US I recommend BT trains or Lees Trains as a source, here is the relevant page for Greenmax items. Take especially note of items 34, 44, 46-4, 46-6 and 46-7. All of which are cheap have as many of six buildings in the set that are assembleable many aways and can be kitbashed for spares. There are numerous kitbashing threads for Greenmax model kits, mostly involving making skyscrapers out of them. We wont need stuff that tall but could certainly use the versatility.
As a bonus most of these kits are flat roofed or can be modeled with removable roofs. This mans that with a little simple interior detailing (mostly just a top floor made of plasticard one can stand miniatures on or in them. As they are Japanese kits you can make them more futuresque for the most part, some other buildings fit straight in as 'kurita style'. An exception being the factory I will review below, which pays back with its limitless versatility.
I held off my review of Greenmax stuff until I saw it for myself. I bought the factory as a starter and its every bit as impressive as I hoped it would be. I \m going to buy a whole lot more Greenmax kits especially:
34 Houses (6)
44 Apartment blocks (2)
I am reading so much on how both or those kits are kitbasher gold. Cheap numerous and stackable. Kit 44 especially can be assembled as large tower blocks real easy. More thasn enough to cover 6" height buildings with roof space to place stands of infantry. Not only are they big but you get multiple models in the set, score.
46-4, 46-6 and 46-7
46-6 and 46-7 are different kits but have the same instructions.
Very 'Kurita', but also with a little work quite futuristic.
Think about stacking these kits high or wide as you might a GW bastion. So by omitting internal dividers a two unit kit can be either joined together or doubled up and built twice as wide and deep with the same walls. As the buildings are sold in pairs or sets of four you can do this from a single kit. You can easily make up flat rooved high rise buildings for objectives with this, many kits include extra base elements so you can convert those into extra roofs to allow for the doubling up. the kits also include a large choice in roof edging and toppers so you will have more than enough stuff to trim the roof edges, provide ventilation units etc and still have room for stands of infantry.
I will leave you to search the rest for yourself.
There is too much there to show here. I will be producing an article including kitbashing guides (mostly taken from model railways sites), my own kitbashing attempts as they progress and a sourcing guide. 10mm gaming is going to be big thanks to Dropzone Commander and while Hawk Wargames
Hawk Wargames are doing a fine job in providing accessibility for structures in scale I know we can take it to a whole new level with Greenmax and Tomix kits.
I will end here with a Tomix 'skyscraper' that is 25cm tall and pre-assembled prepainted as seen here yet selling for only £17 if you look carefully.
If like me you liked the container range from AT-43 as decent non nonsense plausible LOS blockers you might be happy to note that Tomix can provide a container park for you at a fairly reasonable price if you look carefully. When searching make sure you get plastic kits not cardboard cut outs, the difference in quality is enormous.
For example
http://www.newhallstation.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=548Mentioned for the picture links, you can shave half that price off by shopping around elsewhere.
All told even with the discounts it is easy to sink a lot of money into 10mm scale terrain, but it is also possible to buy a lot of diverse and quality terrain items to fight your battles in around or over.
Enjoy
Now for the star of the show, for today at least.
THE FACTORYI bought a copy of this and it arrived today. Images from net:
This little picture above fails to convery the awesomeness of this kit below.
This factory is BIG and stupid cheap. I paid less than £15 for it, and that was after translating the price from Yen to £ through Paypal.
Only buy the factory itself, model number 37. It includes all the other elements of the set, the factory, pipe farm extra bits and chimneys. I will however be iusing 37-x subkits to show you what is on the sprues.
Here is the chimney stack and bitz set. One of the chimneys is begging to be converted into an oil derrick objective (a way of having an out of the way, place anywhere objective which is small and a logical focal point for capture). The main chimney is not only awesome to place beside the main factory, it can kitbash into a fantastic looking cannon barrel for a Baneblade or an artillery installation.
Now this is a copy of 37 Set A. Now unlike the other sets where what you see you get in the main 37 set, you only get one sprue, exactly haldf of what you see below. So the shack is reduced to just a lean to to add to the factory. You do therefore gets plenty of industrial bitz, plastic building toppers, vats and barrels and an I beam loading rig.
The set includes this pipefarm:
I really like the pipefarm its gamer terrain gold.
Now the factory is fit to be an objective for MW:DA scale games straight off. Unlike Dropzone Commander a retro looking factory fits in with Battletech real easy, as it probably ten times as worthy as an objective, especially if playing in the 3025 or Dark Age era. However as an added bonus so long as you cover over or rescale the human sized doors there is little reason you could not scale up this factory for standard scale games of Battletech. Only now the factory is even bigger and more important and even more worthy of the batchalls you issue over it.
I am blown away by this kit. I suggest you buy one and blow away anyones mechs who dare get near it. Just a suggestion.