Home Sweet Home - Prototype 40k Buildings

I was lucky enough to acquire lovely a pair of buildings recently. What makes these interesting is that they are hardfoam prototypes from the early 2000s, produced by GW when it was looking into the terrain market. They were produced at roughly the same time as some of the terrain that saw release, including the 54mm scale Imperial STC Habitat for Inquisitor. I only have two of the three buildings that were prototyped - the third has a circular tank on the roof.

My buildings appear to have been scratchbuilt from plastic strip, textured plasticard and plastic kits, then cast in hardfoam resin. They came to me ready primed and ready for a splash of paint.

EDIT: Riot pointed out below that the smaller of the two buildings was featured in the pages of the 'How to Make Wargames Terrain' book, published by GW in 2003:

Building 1 is slightly larger, with a 130x140mm footprint at the widest points, and 90mm in height.

The buildings have numerous air bubbles from the casting process (like the window sill above). I filled the worst of these with Milliput.

Note the cast in elements from plastic kits, such as the ammo boxes and barrel.

Building 2 is slightly smaller, with a 150x110mm footprint and 70mm tall.

This building had slightly more miscast areas (see window sill above and the door rim below). I used some plastic strip and the edge of a round slottabase to repair them!

Stylistically, the buildings are perfect for a fringe world 40k / sci-fi Western vibe. They have fun interactive elements such as the walkways, steps and ladders, as well as a nicely beaten up and ramshackle look.

Shootouts are common in the lawless outer reaches of the Imperium.

I painted my pair up in a nice blue-grey that suited the utilitarian look and feel of the structures. A drybrush with a light brown, some stippled dirt and rust patches, and they were pretty much done.

Suitable posters stuck to the wall, supplied by cheetor!

The transfer I used on the door was so old that it fragmented when I applied it, but that just enhances the look!

Yet more posters - this time of undesirables with a bounty on their heads

I really enjoyed painting these. It's a real shame they never went into production - I'd have liked a little town of them. I suspect I can mix them in with my existing terrain easily enough though. I do fancy attempting to make a couple of facsimiles too. It can't be that hard, right?!