Trashbashing Star Wars Legion Terrain

star wars legion terrain made from trash

Inspired by the multitude of terrain-crafting YouTube videos out there, but especially those of Wyloch’s Armory showing how to quickly make some serviceable sci-fi wargame buildings using cheap electric gang boxes from the hardware store, I decided to try my hand at trashbashing some Star Wars Legion terrain.

The prelude to this was a few weeks/months of saving lots of little bits of trash and junk: used bottle tops, broken hair ties, wires from non-functioning headphones, a bag of toy rocket bits from the thrift store ($2!), and a couple electrical junction boxes from the hardware store ($2-3 each).

I also printed off a couple Star Wars themed signs and doors (from this free Thingiverse set) on my new FDM printer (an Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro, which I’ll write about later but love) though these could have been handmade with EVA crafting foam if I wanted to take the time (a tip I got from the great Bill Making Stuff channel).

I used a hacksaw to take off some of the lips that stuck out on the gang boxes. Then, with a cheap dollar-store glue gun, it was a matter of sticking stuff onto the buildings in a semi-coherent fashion.

handmade star wars legion terrain — *This starship fuel storage is made from a used Brita filter, wire and USB stick from a set of broken headphones, a dog poop bag roll, and some bits from a rocket toy playset found at Goodwill.*

I planned out each building a little before gluing, making sure it all fit together, and even coming up with a bit of a narrative for each in my mind.

I wanted this to be Star Wars, but not the same old desert Tatooine buildings you see everywhere. In my mind these are metal prefab buildings, possibly even repurposed from shipping containers, given a coat of paint when the settlement was first constructed and pretty much left to rust since then.

trashbashed legion terrain — This mechanical pumping station has the top from a sodastream CO2 canister, an old plug convertor, a 3D-printed ladder, a zip tie stud, old wire, applesauce pouch top, and a mini pipe from the hardware store.

Of course everything has to be a bit seedy and rundown, it’s Star Wars, and should feel lived-in.

kitbashed wargame terrain — *This hole-in-the-wall tapcafe uses the top of an olive oil bottle, a cut-down dog poop bag roll, a shampoo bottle top (with some EVA foam to hide the gap) and some 3D printed windows, door, and sign.*

The signs, of course, dictated the function of some of the buildings (if you can read the Aurabesh letters on each you know you are a true Star Wars nerd–excuse me, “aficionado”).

crafting star wars terrain — I’m particularly proud of this two-story brothel. We’ve got the top of a mouthwash bottle, the top of an olive oil bottle, a deck made with chopped down dog poop bag rolls for struts, lego flat piece topped with EVA foam for decking, some bits from the rocket toy set for a railing, and a zip tie to cover up the gaps along the bottom. The barrels are two caps from soup broth boxes superglued together.

The full town:

Painting the buildings

I’d been inspired by the paint schemes done by Iain Wilson over at the Maelstrom’s Edge “Comms Guild” blog, particularly his examples of storage tray buildings. He details his paint recipe here, but basically it boils down to:

Prime gray, then do a white zenithal prime from above.
Add details and color.
Do “sponge chipping” with a dark gray paint (I used a torn up bit of packing sponge my wife got in a hat box).
Add brown dirt and grime weathering with stippling and washes.

And that’s pretty much all I did! (I also added some metallics to bigger chips on the doors).

I used cheap Rustoleum spray cans to prime, and did the rest with cheap Apple Barrel craft paints from the local hobby store.

priming wargame terrain — *Love a good zenithal prime.*

The neon signs gave me some trouble, but I’m decently happy with the solution I came up with (from some advice in Discord), which was to paint the whole thing the main color, then do a drybrush/highlight of white on the raised bits to sell the light being brighter there.