The last post on my Tyranid Bastion had me pleasantly surprised that the surface area of my small crater was roughly equivalent to the rooftop area of an Imperial Bastion. However, I was unconvinced that the end result would match my concept. So I looked at the larger double crater and this is how the roof would fit, giving me some scope to taper the tower. Now, the base is big and it'll be a slightly more imposing structure than an Imperial Bastion but there's 'the rule of cool' and if my mate Otty can build a Mycetic Spore Pod that is 20x12x12cm I think I can get away with a Fortification of similar proportions!
This is the skeletal beginnings. You can see the height to the roof is 150mm and then you have a 20mm wall that will go round the roof with some ridges that will add a centimetre up to the 180mm max height with the Tyranid Capillary styled towers that form the compass points.
Here you can see it with miniatures for scale, including my Quad Gun. The rooftop currently will hold the 15 25mm bases or 5 40mm bases an Imperial Bastion can support but that may be reduced once the walls and sculpting has finished. Probably a small price to pay particularly as the occupiers gain most benefit when inside the Bastion as opposed to occupying the roof.
Here you can see the difference between the large crater on the left and small crater on the right. If I'd chosen the latter I may as well have mounted it on MDF as I'll get little benefit of the crater effect to add to the design.
Here's the top-down view on the small crater. I think this crater would also emphasise it's vertical dimensions.
Whereas a substantial base at least would not automatically draw the eye upwards as there will be horizontal elements to compete. You can also see where the two additional cross-members that will help define the structure are to be placed.
Next up I'll be adding the cross-members and probably be cutting slots in the crater base so that I can have it glued straight to the mounting card base underneath. Then I have to decide how to fill out the gaps between the frame and how to create the Capillary Towers.
