I’ve been referring to this on Twitter for several weeks now: a follow-up project to last month’s Egyptian fortress. These things are essentially terrain for tabletop wargames (though really just an excuse for me to make models). The Egyptian one was more planned for Mordheim, a fantasy-based wargame, but my friends (my brother Dan, Howard Tayler, Larry Correia, Jordan Sanderson) are all much more involved with Warmachine, which is more steampunk. So, I decided to make something more Warmachine-y.

Anyway, you’re just here to see the pictures. It’s essentially a steampunk-ish refinery.

It’s basically a huge mountain–about 28 inches tall, and three feet long. In steampunk tradition, I’ve loaded it with pipes and gears and passageways.

Another view. On the last one, someone asked me for step-by-step photos of the building process, but I was too lazy to take them. But, here are a few how-it’s-made tidbits: the whole structure is made of 2″ Foamular insulation, which I glued together (with caulk) and then carved. I got most of the pipes at Home Depot, just walking through and looking for unusual fittings. The brass pipe is PVC. The chimneys are black plastic plumbing hose. The round refinery tanks are Christmas ornaments. The cylindrical tank (with the black and yellow warning stripes) is a Diet Coke can. The bricks are from the baking aisle at the grocery store–plastic molds for making fondant bricks on cakes. And then there’s a ton of balsa wood and foamcore and lots of other things.

Here’s a shot of the cave interior. That bridge runs from one side to the other. Also, because I thought it would be neat, there are battery-powered LED lights up at the top of the cave. (You can’t see them in this picture.) If you look closely, you can see the horizontal lines where the insulation is stacked. I should have caulked them up better, or spackled them, but I got lazy and figured the paint would hide it. Darn.

Some more detail, with some of my Warmachine models for reference.

More detail. You get a better look at the gears here. They were, to put it mildly, a pain in the butt. (I found a little package of assorted ornamental steampunk gears at the craft store, and they were never meant to have a chain attached. So, the chain doesn’t fit the gear teeth. I got a lot of superglue on my fingers that day, boy howdy.)

A closer look at the top of the mountain. And my messy living room.

The other side. Instead of pipes over here, it’s the rickety wood stairs to get up to the top. Also, you can see through the tunnel to the bridge.

A better look at the rickety stairs, and the back side of the cave.

Anyway, that’s Big Crazy Thing #2. Tomorrow, if I can get up the courage, I’m going to write a much more serious blog post about why I’m building these things.