Structures on Mars:

These EPS (expanded poly styrene) structures model some of the most ancient on Mars. The relatively smooth side, curving form and their monumental size (in scale) help to convey the technical prowess of the ancient Martians. I particularly like the flying buttress structures common in EPS forms. EPS is often call Stryo-Foam or Bead-Board, and is composed of small styrene plastic balls that have been puffed up and fussed together with heat. It can be purchased as insulation panels at home improvement stores. The forms I like are even better as they are essentially free. Many consumer items use this material as a packaging material, especially electronics and appliances. Simply saving what you encounter or a trip to the dumpster of an appliance store will provide you the starting material.

These particular ESP items were protective packaging from a chemical bottle. Note the stand of three 15mm figures for size reference. These will be truly monumental when placed on the wargame table.

One of the problems with EPS objects is that they are relatively soft by design (to absorb shock). This can result in defects on the surface. Often these can be simply ignored, but I have mark them on these examples so that they can be handled in another way.

I felt that the types of dents shown above would not be the type of damage that would happen to buildings.

My solution was to covert the dents into something more appropriate. By picking at the dents with my fingernails I removed some of the small beads of EPS to leave a small crater. These could be battle damage, simple failure of the concrete or even meteor impact craters. (It depends on what fits your back-store better).

The nature of the EPS bead structure makes the result look surprisingly natural. The main problem is the mess. As one picks out the beads or busts off pieces, the small beads gain a static electric charge and love to stick to all sorts of things, including the parent EPS part. Some care must be taken to clean up all the little beads.

I then paint the objects with latex house paint. I have mixed up a nice mix to give a warn light brown. The house type paint seals and fills in the EPS quite well. It also cover and sticks to the EPS surface better then model or craft type paint. The other consideration is the cost of the paint. One can often buy house paint that has been custom mixed but rejected at paint stores. As you do not have to match your couch with the color, other peoples mistakes can be a very good source for paint. A word of warning, EPS and solvent based paints do not mix. Always use water based paint on EPS unless you want the EPS to melt down.

Next I give the model a coat of Future wash (a mixture of Future acrylic floor wax and ink or paint). The wash tends to deposit color into the small crevasses and cracks in the surface and stiffens the surface with the acrylic finish.

This is a close up of one of the craters I picked out with the dried Future wash inside. The wash is very useful on these broken out beads as it acts to bind them to the model as it shades them to bring out the rubble like texture.

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I hope to be able to add more latter.

Thank you for looking:

DyeHard

To head to my Home go to DyeHard's Home Page.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.