Covid Kits

 Over lockdown and a little after, I noticed that certain covid testing kits came with interesting bits that just had to be useful. Are all modelmakers pack-rats? I imagine so. Anyhue, I nabbed the various bits and set myself a challenge - use the pieces as the main thing in the mini diorama, and spend no more than a day on the build. Here are the first two things I built:

The pics of this one start half way through the process. I can't find any earlier images, sorry. Made with two plastic bits designed to hold the bits of the covid kit with liquid in them, I roughed up the column with sandpaper before painting and also cut off the 'trim' around the base of one of the sections.

I added the blood spray much later, as it felt like the computer thing needed a narrative element.

Months later, and with different test kits arriving, I noticed that the soft plastic covers - there if you needed to send the small container of liquid off in the post - looked like bug eggs. I decided to do a larger diorama, and not just a one-day build. I think, all told, this one was probably a two or three day job. There was a long pause while I tried to find a spider I liked - cheers to Smiffy's Printed Minis on Etsy for providing an absolute cracker! 

These are the unpainted caps.

The wall sections are from the Mantic Games Terrain Crate range.

For the webs I used a technique I'd seen others do on YouTube. The majority of it is made up of teased-out bits of dryer sheet (the model smells amazing!), with rolled thin strands of cotton wool added later. Those were a faff.

All very rough-and-ready, but it worked well. I glued a card base to it, with a slot cut into it to allow access to the battery. As you can see below, the switch is nicely tucked away.

I added extra webs to the diorama but it looked wrong so, after a few days of staring at it, I cut some of the new stuff away until I was happy. 

Here's the finished version. Again, a bunch of stuff I'd never done before, but I'm happy with the result!