Build Journal: "Damaged" Frames

Occasionally, when assembling a squad, you won't have enough pieces to finish a Frame.  Whether you didn't buy the right quantity, used them on another squad, or they are limited in availability, there's always some sort of reason you don't have enough.  In cases like this, I fall back on the fictional excuse of "Battle Damage" and kludge together some parts to replace the items I'm missing.  With any luck it ends up looking like something the repair crew slapped together on short notice to get the Frame operational and back into the field.  This storytelling angle also makes sense in a gaming perspective.  If you keep getting stuck as Defender because you don't have enough Frames and you need to mobilize one more on the table to change things up, this will allow you to do so.

The first time I did this was the ST-15 Hephaestus.  The Blue pneumatic pieces

in the leg were pretty rare at that point so I had to make do with something

else.  The title of the picture was also a callback to old toy marketing concepts.

The next time I used this idea was for a Goblin frame.  I ran out of the

part I used to make the shoulder so I swapped in another Modified Brick. 

This one has actually made it on to the table for aa full sized game.

A slightly different version of this technique is used on one of my

DF-2 Drakes.  The arm of one model was substituted with the

corresponding pieces in Light Bley to make it look "unpainted".

The latest example of this hack/work around/fun building technique is a Hybrid Mk.2 build.  I ran out of the pieces necessary to make the arm and the shoulder so I swapped in a Bar Clip and Bar Holder w/Clip to make up for the missing arm.

I don't usually offer advice on Frame building

so I hope people find this concept useful.