Took some pictures as I was building the Forward Operating Base, and thought some of you might find them interesting. Want to start by giving another shout out to Pete Kahler. This is the first big build I’ve done since he got out of the hobby last year and gave me his huge parts collection - the FOB build would not have been possible without his generosity.
From the get go, I wanted to use the Need for Speed turntable at the center of the deck, so I assembled the deck first, keeping it in scale with the turntable while also making sure the main ramp would fit a Scorpion and the side ramp would accommodate the smaller vehicles. Next, I built the side ramps so they would properly expand and contract, and started on the support structure - my Xbox controller is in that shot because I constantly had Halo Infinite running to check my build against the in-game design. I then built up the internal supports so I could apply the deck plates.
Loved adding all the small details to this build, trying to get as close to the look of the actual FOB as possible. One thing that took a while was recreating the dish at the top of the communications tower…after a few failed attempts, I realized that Mongoose fenders gave me the look I wanted. And this build validated my years of saving nearly empty sticker sheets - the trimmed edges of black and yellow hazard tape stickers were just what I needed!
And this is what my basement floor looks like after completing a build - takes almost as long to put it all away as it did to finish the FOB!
From the get go, I wanted to use the Need for Speed turntable at the center of the deck, so I assembled the deck first, keeping it in scale with the turntable while also making sure the main ramp would fit a Scorpion and the side ramp would accommodate the smaller vehicles. Next, I built the side ramps so they would properly expand and contract, and started on the support structure - my Xbox controller is in that shot because I constantly had Halo Infinite running to check my build against the in-game design. I then built up the internal supports so I could apply the deck plates.
Loved adding all the small details to this build, trying to get as close to the look of the actual FOB as possible. One thing that took a while was recreating the dish at the top of the communications tower…after a few failed attempts, I realized that Mongoose fenders gave me the look I wanted. And this build validated my years of saving nearly empty sticker sheets - the trimmed edges of black and yellow hazard tape stickers were just what I needed!
And this is what my basement floor looks like after completing a build - takes almost as long to put it all away as it did to finish the FOB!