# Mycetic Spore in 1 hour



## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

Mycetic Spore 

So! Here is a quick little tutorial for making passable, super cheap Tyranid Mycetic Spores in under an hour. I've been playing for several years but this is really my first scratch built anything and I'm fairly pleased with it given the amount of time spent working on it. Here is a pic of the finished one:










It's not great, but with a little imagination it looks enough like a half buried bio-pod from space, suitable for friendly games and it won't look out of place.

Here's how I did it!

First I found a plastic cup laying around and cut it in half like so:









This is the reference model I used for the general paint scheme of my army:









Next I spray painted it with some moss green spray paint. Detail really isn't that important at this stage (it's a plastic cup...) so I would suggest making sure you have a nice thick coat especially if you have a clear cup like me, otherwise some light will show through. The cup base coated:









After this I painted some lighter green stripes the same shade that's on the back of my carnifex:









Next is some blue, pretty self explanatory: 









The careful observer will have noted the dental floss on the cup (er.. spore). At this point I started gluing on dental floss to simulate some sort of stringy sinew that controls re-entry or perhaps rubbery external veins. From there I finished up with the dental floss and glued a few bits on:









Next I washed the bits with blue and gave the whole thing some purple:









After that I let it dry and was finished! It doesn't look to horribly out of place, far better then a household object used as a proxy. Here the spore has landed on the desert planet to successfully disgorge it's living payload...









And that's that! Any comments or suggestions would be really awesome! I plan to do more of these and any input for the good of the order will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

-Sage


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## Doombreed (Dec 20, 2009)

Cool idea, looks great. If it was me I probubly would have ruined it by puting WAY too many spikes/tentacles/eyes on it.


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## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

Yeah I know what you mean! The only reason I didn't plaster it in bits was that I plan on making a lot more (my list as it is so far looks like it'll have quite a few more to make).


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## ghazghkull-killyork (Jun 15, 2008)

looks good but i thought nids werent as straight edged in the hive designs, but more like curved and not perfect lines and stuff. but this still looks good and for one hour its a great idea


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## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

Yeah it's not perfect but I figured if I was going to take the effort and make it more natural looking I'd use different materials and really go all the way. This is almost more of an interim measure until I can find another way to do them looking better but I'm satisfied for now


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## Steaknchips (Dec 28, 2009)

Just a passing thought. Have you considered overlapping 3 or 4 of the cup halves to give a similar effect to the natural armour the nids display themselves. Could also add a little Green Stuff and build in a spiney ridge donw the middle.


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## JDMJapan (Jan 3, 2010)

> Just a passing thought. Have you considered overlapping 3 or 4 of the cup halves to give a similar effect to the natural armour the nids display themselves. Could also add a little Green Stuff and build in a spiney ridge down the middle.


I would put it on a base of some sort and put some green stuff around it, so it looks like it has been dug into the ground, because right now, it still looks like a cup. A very, very nicely painted and converted cup.


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## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

> I would put it on a base of some sort and put some green stuff around it, so it looks like it has been dug into the ground, because right now, it still looks like a cup. A very, very nicely painted and converted cup.


Oh gee thanks!! I totally agree with you as far as making it looks good but in my situation I don't have green stuff (never have actually... maybe I should look into some) and the whole point of this was for a quick and dirty method of tabletop quality. And yes. Yes it does look like a cup. ;D

Thanks for all the comments! Keep them coming!


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## STATIC (Feb 11, 2008)

Hey there mate. I thought you might like to have a look at the ones i made on the cheap and fairly quick.
They took me about an hour in total time spent on the two of them. But obviously still need to be painted.

Here's the Link


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## JB Mallus (Apr 28, 2009)

Hey, if you want an organic look... try getting some of that foam insulation-in-a-can. You could then use the cup as your basic shape and then spray foam over it to make it look disgusting (it was born that way). While the foam is still, um, wet, you could then poke your bits into it.

JB Mallus


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## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

@STATIC uh...wow.... those look realllllly nice lol!  Thanks to you I'm going to have to make a whole other set!!!! Not to put one of these ideas above another but.. wow. Thanks for the link!

Also that foam is a pretty nice idea! and I like the idea of just plopping the bits in when it's wet/coagulated/gelatinous or whatever it sounds like. Thanks everyone for all the posts!


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## enieffac (Nov 24, 2008)

To get an organic look from a piece of smooth plastic, very carefully melt it with matches/lighter/candle/etc. You can achieve great results with a little work.


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## Death Shroud (Mar 1, 2008)

How to make nid spore pods.

1. Buy coconut.
2. Crack open coconut, scoop out insides.
3. Use lighter (those "jet" ones are the best) to burn off all the hair from the outside.
4. Add milliput to inside surface to represent the protective goop inside pod. Add any tentacles or tyranid style appendages (maybe the odd ripper) that you wish to enhance the look.
5. Stick to base if desired.
6. Paint you spore. Use a gloss varnish/water effect on the "inside" parts of the shell, it will make it suitably organic.



If you want to make small pods then either use walnuts or (even better) poppy pods!. The poppy pods look particularly alien and all you have to do is undercoat and paint them!!.


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## Razial (Dec 20, 2010)

time wise not bad.... I would never field something that bad though.... people should spend a little time and make something that looks a little decent


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

If you have a heat gun try melting the narrow end a bit to give it a look like it is deflating as they are coming out. It will also make it less straightedge.


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