Been working on this guy for a while now. I am calling it my Weapon X lab for a lack of anything better to call it. I intend to use it pictures and I think it will pass for a lot of different settings. I do need to start by giving credit to DBOCustoms for the idea that sparked my interest in making this puppy. His Weapon X tank sent me running over to Hobby Lobby to find the glass container.

My work started with the tank. I wanted to try to create a "submerged" effect that would permit me to insert different figures. It took some serious digging to find a clear tube that would fit inside glass container. I went from WAAAAAAY too expensive glass and plexiglass options. I landed with a super cheap option. A 99 cent t-shirt mailer. I chopped it down to the right length and placed it inside the container. I then used clear resin to fill the space between t-shirt tube and the container. The end effect is hollowed out compartment that anything you place in it looks like its underwater.

The second key ingredient was the grates that I picked up from LASERAMA. These things are sweet. I combined them with some styrene I-beams, tubes, and other assorted shapes to make the metal walkway. I used the left over parts to make the metal generator looking thing just right of the tank.

The structure for the diorama was made from some 1/8" boarding I picked up at Home Depot. The ribbed boarding on the bottom came from an old compact disc holder. I took a reciprocating saw to chop the puppy up. DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT AGAIN. All fingers are intact! The wall panels are made from sheets of styrene with rivets rolled into the plastic. Finally, I am starting to get the hang of my airbrush. Pretty pumped about paint job on the walls. Gives me hope for being able to use the dang thing on figures eventually.

The most fun I had came in making all the tanks. I used a little bit of EVERYTHING on those. There are a couple contact lens cleaning solution bottles. A couple Tylenol containers. You name it. I did some recycling bin dumpster diving and found what I thought would work best. There is a ton of random fodder glued onto the tanks. Maybe you recognize a few things? I tried to use a lot of different paints to get different effects. Some gloss paints to look like oily wet spots. Used lots of dry brushing to get a dirty rusty look.

The final piece was the desk and monitor board. It was a little tricky to get the styrene to hold the angles. I downloaded a lot of random images to put on the screens. Here's where I had to dance the fine line of a Weapon X diorama versus a mad scientists lab. Again, my goal is to have a multifunctional scene to take different pics.

All in all, this was a lot of work but a lot of fun. Hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for taking the time to read my rambling.

-Ron