More 54mm Urban/City Terminator Terrain

I saw a posting on TMP (http://www.theminiaturespage.com/) about a 'Dollar Tree' find: Folding Crates (Plastic) for, you guessed it, $1. They come in Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. Of course they're not going to make one in black, the color that I want.

Well, since I use milk crates for my urban buildings (see my other Terminator posts), I thought I'd give them a try. The milk crates are a little bulky, and I was looking for a way to make the urban buildings less bulky. Solution Solved!

Unfolded, the crates measure 8" wide, 12" long and 6" high. I bought a Green one, before I found out about the other colors.  The rest I bought are blue, as I thought if the paint chips, blue will be less obtrusive on the urban buildings.  I went out and bought some cans of "Krylon Fusion" black satin spray paint.  I hadn't used it before, but from everything I've heard, it was the best for adhering to plastics. I also had some cheapy grey primer from Walmart on hand for the highlighting of the crates/structures.

After the initial test of painting it black, and then spraying with the grey primer, I love the results.  Best yet is that 6 of the folded crates fit into one that is unfolded.

 Here's the folded crate. (miniatures shown are 54mm in scale)

 Here's the unfolded crate. I'll cut some doors into the side panels later.

 They look pretty good after getting a coat of the Krylon Fusion black satin followed by a dusting of the grey primer. Note: One can of Krylon Fusion will cover three of the crates, inside and outside. Also, I spray them in the unfolded condition.  When you fold them up, you will see parts of the crate with the original primary colors.

They're stackable too.  For smaller scaled fixtures, like 28mm, you could add interior floors to the crates.

 And there's different ways to stack them. (The black one on the right is only partially painted.  The blue will go away.)

Another way to stack them. I plan on hacking a couple of the crates up for 'ruined' looking pieces/corners of buildings. (see below) Can you see the difference between the ones that have had the grey applied and the black one waiting for the grey? It's a big difference.

Here's a typical game setup for my Terminator Salvation game.  These new buildings will fit right in. Just like the milk crates, the best part about this type of terrain is that it is cheap, and the terrain becomes the storage containers themselves.