Battletech Repair Bay

This piece is based on a Three- Mile Island nuclear power plant model. This kit is also "N" scale like the Factory. The main building of the kit is as it came, but the dome was cut nearly in half to accommodate a repair gantry. Most of the other parts were left out and added to the (at that time) tiny bits box.

The main building and rear platform were assembled per the instructions. The dome was cut in half and glued to the center of the rear platform. A piece of card had to be glued into the floor to cover the hole inside the floor of the dome. Though difficult to see in the pictures, thin wire was laid into the grooves of the dome and glued into place to give a tube frame- like look. The smokestack was also glued through a hole in the dome.

A hill was cut out of 3/4" foam and made to fit snugly against the side of the building and platform. I was trying to make it look like it was built on the side of a hill. A ramp was also made out of foam leading up to the repair bay dome.

The repair bay was built from some pieces of sprue, toothpicks and card. Some microchips and electrical connectors are also lying inside the bay. LEDs were glued to the roof of the main building to allow the roof to be easily removed. Course sand was glued to the roof of the building as well as on the ramp and platform.

The piece was primed white. The stone and asphalt areas were painted black and drybrushed to white. The bay interior was drybrushed silver. The bay and building were then given a rusty colored wash and a purplish wash (which turned out very purple in these pictures.) The dome exterior was painted an olive drab green and highlighted with a lighter green. The floor of the bay was painted gray with a spotty white highlight applied. Wash was added to the floor to look like oil and chemical spills.
The hills and ground were flocked and some lichen was used as bushes.

All in all I think this piece turned out fairly well. The hills don't fit the buildings as well as they should and the bay is just a bit too small for anything but the light 'mechs.