Third Rock from the Sun (Solar System Science Project)

Needs must and my eldest sons science project calls for my 40K (and some) "Space Wars" planets to be scrutinized for stand in Solar System duty. I had to knock up Mercury from a small polystyrene ball destined to become an asteroid or minor moon [first rock from the sun], repaint a green planet with some earth-like oceans for you guessed it Earth [third rock from the son] and then repaint another green planet to blue for Neptune [last rock/gas planet]. Work in progress, the planets get an identity parade line-up (see below):

The backdrop was the reverse side of a game board I luckily (or was that great 'male' foresight at work?) had painted black, The family, three children armed with defunct tooth brushes dipped in white paint  "splattered" stars and the like onto the backdrop. Great fun until we looked at our shoes the next day and saw lots of "white spots" of them. Pity the kids wore their best shoes (ahem), I was not popular!

Another view of Sol's planetary system without the dangling strings on Sol ;)

Space: Planets (2) 'Six' Outer Planets

A distance shot of a trio of planetary curios (see below):

• A barren "Rusty Red"
• A fiery "Lava Orange"
• A gaseous "Sickly Blue"

Close up and I think that the "Sickly Blue" one has a distinct gaseous or water feel to it. The "Lava Orange" meanwhile has obvious plate tectonic activity (see below):

The "Rusty Red" seems to have a high iron content which should doubtless prove of high interest to the intergalactic mining fraternity and the associated lawlessness that comes with an asset striping 'free for all' (independent or with corporate sponsorship).

My final trio of planets are "studies in Green" (see below):

• A "Sickly Green"
• The (snow capped) Twin Jungle Greens"

After closer inspection the "Sickly Green" is in fact a montage of dirty coloured gases from brown to blue, passing through green in rather a mucky fashion (see below):

A closer inspection of one of the "Twin Jungle Greens" reveals obvious 'growth' resembling what you would expect from the GW 40K "Tyranids" or Hollywood "Alien" home worlds (see below):

A pressing unanswered question is how do I mount them? If their final resting place is to be a bedroom ceiling(s) in diorama form, then embedded 'hooks' are probably the best bet, but I would like to hedge my options and be able to mount them table-top in order that I deploy then for 'as yet unspecified' space fleet battles. They just seem too useful to be 'just' pretty ornaments.

Space: Planets (1) "Big Ones"

In the immortal words of Dr. Spock, "It's life Jim but not as we know it". I bring to the conclusion a pet wargame, Science or Science Fiction project that I must have started a decade ago having come across some interesting (as in full of potential) polystyrene haberdashery "balls". I covered the balls in PVA glue and rolled them in sand, then let id set and undercoated it in cheap acrylic paint. I then layered further acrylic paints layers to suit style and mood of the moment. The first of my creations id "Big Blue" , a water world of sorts (see below):

She looks "Earth-like" to my eyes although the painted continents are nothing like our planet (see below):

Now comes a rather clumpy looking desert planet, which has a Saturn like appeal to it. Yes that is the "Mark 1" hanging hook (see below):

A more prosaic planet without said attachment methinks (see below):

As well as 'big balls' I managed to pick up some smaller ones, I obviously had plenty of paint left from the Saturn planet to finish off these two smaller moons (see below):

It was fun as I could be creatively messy after taking inspiration from pictures of planets from out Solar System and old episodes of Star Trek and Star Wars (see below)

Next: The outer planets