Really Useful Engine

A couple of years ago I saw some concept art for Fury Road which featured a vehicle that was basically a massive trans-continental diesel locomotive on road wheels. I loved the idea, but felt that for gaming purposes something more modest was required. I hunted around for suitable models (both commercial and 3D printable), and at some stage realised that some kind of model from a Thomas The Tank-Engine line would be a good starting point. From there it was a simple step; why not simply Mad Maxify an actual Thomas?

So I did. I found this model by 'agepbiz', which suited my needs perfectly since it was made up of numerous individual pieces. Rather than print off a single model and have to chop bits off, I could simply print the parts I needed. I rescaled it so it was more in keeping with the cars I use, and off I went.

This is the finished result.

After I printed the locomotive I wasn't quite sure where to go with it. I had various ideas floating around in my head, but I wasn't sure how to implement them. I found some monster-truck wheels and printed those, and then worked out how I wanted to fit them, but after that I stalled somewhat.

My first thought was that I wanted to add in a big diesel engine and exhausts, but my wife convinced me to keep it as a steam-engine. In the end I sketched out this:

The end result wasn't the same, but it was a good starting point.

I experimented with a few different figures for the crew, but last year I'd printed off some goblins (Dutchmogul designs, naturally) and decided to make use of them. They have a suitable wasteland mutant look I was going for. I ended up being inspired by the new weapons for Gaslands in Time Extended 2, specifically the harpoon, and based the armament around them. All of the weapons are scratchbuilt; that harpoon is the inside of a biro, for instance.

I used Blu-Tak to try different crew and weapon configurations until I settled on one I liked, and that gave me an indication of how much deck-space I'd have to fill up with assorted bits and pieces.

By the way, the deck and other metal-plating is made from the waste rafts (supports) from the 3D printing process.

One thing I'd 3D-printed a while ago was a frog in a uniform coat armed with a sword. In keeping with the wasteland mutant theme, he converted very nicely to a Fat Controller.

I considered making the whole thing rusty and grungy, with just a hint of the underlying Thomas paint-scheme, but went for the original look in the end. I found that Thomas's bright, cheery blue and red worked well surrounded by the scrap-metal decking and improvised armaments. I themed the buzz-saws to match, though. They're bits from a dollar-shop excavator, paired with some steampunk jewellery cogs, by the way.

A shot of the harpoon, The chain is a piece of jewellery as well. 

This shot shows how big it is compared to a car. I Machinas it would be the very largest vehicle size. In Gaslands it will be classed as a Heavy Truck (a new vehicle class coming in Time Extended 3).

A shot from above shows off the decks very nicely.

I made some smoke which can be fitted during games for extra bling. The funnel is hollow and the smoke is glued to a small piece of cocktail stick and simply slots in.

So here he is - the Really Useful Engine.

Here's the original assembled 3D prints, minus the roof. It was only whilst I was painting it that I realised that I'd put the rear buffer section on upside down. But you can't see it on the finished model.

And here he is with the plating added. 

I'm looking forward to giving him his first proper outing now.