Objects in Space

Full credit to anyone who spotted this as being the title of an episode of Firefly.  I chose the title as I have been making some contact markers for use in games of Full Thrust so they show the location of an unidentified "Object in Space" when using the hidden movement and sensor rules.  I could have done a better job of the painting but I was doing the target rings free hand on a spherical marker.  I may repaint them to try to get a better result, or then again I may not.

The spheres come courtesy of Guiness. They are the widgets from their draughtflow cans.  These are hollow and hold the gassing agent for creating the draught beer effect. Other draughtflow systems may use different shapes of widget. The Guiness cans themselves are only thin and crush and tear quite easily. First drink the Guiness (or other draughtflow beer of your choice). After gently crushing the centre of the can's cylinderical length they can either be cut with a pair of kitchen scissors or torn open.  Take care doing this as the metal will be very sharp.  I recommend using gardening gloves or similar to protect your hands. 

Roll out the plastic ball and wash to remove traces of beer.  You will find two small indents at or near the "North and South poles".  I drill these out with a Bradawl, rewash them and set them aside to dry, you might need to blow out any moisture from inside the spheres.

I poke a paint brush handle through on of the holes I drilled out and paint the sphere black using a cheap craft acrylic paint.  Slap this on in quite a thick layer using a course bristle brush to create a little bit of surface texture.  Once this is dry I use a dry brush technique, which is the reason for creating that texture in the black paint, and apply a metallic dark purple and dark red random pattern.  This is only a slight effect intended to break up the monotone black colour.  It should make them a little easier to focus on in game.  Of course you could paint them any colour you fancy I just like the illusion of not being totally sure where they are against a black playing surface.  Put these aside to dry.

The stands are created next using a hexagonal base cut from cardboard.  The uprights are furniture fixing dowels available really cheaply from most do it yourself stores.  Glue these to the centre of the card hex. Finally glue a metal washer to the top of the dowel.  I find Bostick glue works well for assembling the bases.  Once the glue has dried paint the whole thing black using the craft paint, no point wasting the good stuff on these as they soak up a fair bit of paint.  Remember to paint the edges and underside of the card.  Painting the underside prevents the card warping and the edges are just for the look of the thing.  Add a label either using a metallic ink pen or by printing something up on the PC. saying something like "Contact 1" and the base is complete.

Finally, add any targeting graphic you fancy to the sphere, or in light of the dog's breakfast I made of mine you might want to leave this out, add a coat of varnish to the sphere and glue to the washer on top of the stand.  And there you have your contact marker