Alternatives to miniatures

In my ever more necessary quest for cheaper and quicker miniatures I've
come up with a few ideas for "alien" race miniatures to use in Full
Thrust,
without having to buy or even assemble much.  I doubt they're original
ideas but I've not seen them mentioned on the list.

1) Sea shells.	Mount them on a stand, call them "bioships" and your
ready
to roll.  Ships sizes range from fighter to planets :)

2) Rocks and Crystals.	Especially the more exotic kinds.  Perhaps
tougher
stands would be necessary.  Great for aliens that might throw drives and
guns onto an asteroid and use that for a vessel.  Or even aliens that
grow
their vessels out of crystal.

3) Glass stones.  Put them on a stand and off you go. Various sizes and
colours to represent aliens who construct their ships out of pure
energy.

4) Seed pods and other dried bits of vegetation.  As for sea shells.

None of them should require paint jobs at all ('cept _maybe_ the last
option)

I've already assembled a veritable horde of Sea shell ships. In fact
considering the variety, you could break them into sub-groups and make
numerous races out of them.  All for the cost of the stands (if you want
to
bother) and a walk on the beach (if you happen to live near one)!
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