"Hang on Travellers"

 A line from the great science fiction TV series Firefly.  It's often taken as a clue that Josh Whedon the creator of the series had based the show on the SF RPG Traveller, although he has never directly confirmed this.  A quick dig around on the internet came up with this link Is Joss Whedon's Firefly based on the Traveller RPG he played? - Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange .  The comments strongly suggest it was.  Certainly the mix of weapons and technologies in the show mirrors that available in the game and the stories are the sort of thing that came up in games I played.  Even down to the prior military careers of some of the crew.  You see, in Traveller you rolled up a character who had already had a career, and gained useful skills, before becoming a freelancer, and sometimes they died during character creation,  yes Traveller had some interesting quirks folks (for a given value of interesting).  

I still have my original box set of rules on the shelf behind me as I sit typing this post but haven't played in years as I don't have a group of locals who are interested.  More to the point though for this post are the figures I still have.  These are mostly early Citadel from a range which was, I think, called Spacefarers with a couple of Minifigs and a Ral Partha casting added for variety.  The Citadel sculpts are true 25mm and for their age simply stunning castings, from the talented Perry twins.  The range was launched in 1979 and a full listing appeared in a catalogue in 1980 (it's amazing how erudite you can appear with the help of Google search)!

As nefarious a bunch as any role player could wish for

From left to right Marvin the Paranoid Android manufacturer unknown although as of a couple of years ago the range was still available on line, then two Minifigs followed by seven of the Citadel offerings and finally a lone Ral Partha figure.

I should perhaps have called this post "In the lead pile no one can hear you scream!" as I also found these un and part painted castings lurking in it's depths.

These guys would like the chance to be nefarious if only someone would paint them

A quick trawl through ebay shows prices ranging from £10 or more for an individual figure to £7 for a full set.  I suppose I should at least prime the unpainted chaps to prevent any risk of lead rot, although they have survived in an old OXO cubes presentation tin for 35 years or more so they may be safe.

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