Head to your local Hardware or DIY store.  Go to the plumbing aisle, and pick up these two pieces for each Pod you wish to make.  I'm not a plumber, so I'll call them a "PVC Cap" and "PVC Threaded Screw Thingee."  I used the 3-inch size, which seemed to have just the right footprint for a Drop Pod.

In addition to those raw materials, you'll also need some Primer, Paints, and any fancy detail bits you wish to add.

Put the PVC Cap on top of the PVC "Threaded Screw Thingee."  Well, sure - you can file down all the code numbers and "Made in USA" bits embossed on top of the rim of the PVCTST if you wish, and remove any burrs, injection marks, or other deformities with some files and emery boards.  Or, if you're in a hurry, just go ahead and slap those things together.

If yours are like mine, it will fit snug, before the cap ever butts up against the rim of the PVCTST.  This is good, as the space it leaves is just "extra detail."  If you're feeling particularly ambitious, you can run a bead of superglue around the lip of the Cap where they join.  I did so, even thought the two pieces were so snug, I couldn't budge them if I had wanted to!

Now, although we are, admittedly, still at "Step 1," you could call your Drop Pods "done" at this point.  Looks a bit like a bullet (which nicely fits the "capsules...fired at the battlezone" imagery that goes along with the Drop Pod Assault rules in the books...), and those cool ridges along the PVCTST almost help make that bit look like the engine.

I decided to add a little more detail to my pods.  As I play Black Templars, I wanted to add some Black Templar-y things.  I decided that some Forge World Rhino doors* were just the thing.  After all - the marines need a way in and out, right?  As the Pod counts as "Open-Topped," you needn't worry overmuch about WYSIWYG.  They can deploy from it all 'round, within 2" as normal.

I put the resin pieces in nearly boiling water from the microwave, one at a time, scooped them out on a flat metal spatula, and laid them on the rounded surface of the PVC pipe.  Pressing firmly, I then help the pod-and-door under some cold-running water to lock the resin into the correct curve.  Then some superglue, and my detailing mission was done!

* OK... so they were resin casts I made using the Forge World doors to make the mold.  But don't tell anyone, m'kay?  The new Templar vehicle sprue has some relatively inexpensive substitutes that would be easy to sand down, heat up, and glue in place, without breaking any "laws" or anything...

On to the painting.  The PVC pipe is awfully shiny, which means paint doesn't really want to stick to it all that well.  I first sprayed down a good, solid coat of sandable auto primer, which did stick, and gave it some good "tooth."  Then I followed that up with Krylon Ultra-Flat Black, which is my usual all-purpose primer for minis as well.  Just make sure you follow the auto primer directions on how long to let it dry before applying a second coat.

Great thing about Templars - my base coat was already complete!  Pity those suckers with Red, Green, or Grey marines... nyuk nyuk nyuk.

I could have spent a lot of time painting details and making everything look really fancy... but I wanted these done quick - and for 30 Points, they look good enough!  I began with the metal "engine" piece (formerly known as the PVCTST!), giving it a basecoat of a dark metallic color from the craft paint aisle (no sense using expensive miniature paints on such a large model).  I applied 2 layers of silver "highlight," but instead of the normal method, I applied these in tapered streaks from the bottom.  It helps give the illusion that this thing just got fired through the atmosphere.  Then a coat of thinned-down black ink (again, not the expensive stuff... I have a large bottle of water-soluble ink used for refilling pens  I thinned down about 30 to 1 with water) over the whole Engine area, and it's break time while that dries.

After all the ink has dried, using a large makeup brush, I drybrushed a couple shades of grey onto the body.  Again with the Craft Paint, and being very careful to use a very soft brush and even MORE careful to really make sure you've gotten as much paint off of it as you can - with little to no texture, if you leave even a little wet paint in there, it's going to make unsightly blotches.  This was done really quickly, and most of the attention was given to the areas that did have texture - namely, those Templar door pieces.

The fun part, though, was adding weathered streaks, again to promote the idea that this thing had just fallen from the sky at great speed.  Using various shades of browns, tans, even dark jade greens, and other weather-y colors, I again applied them in vertical streaks.  At the top, I began in the center and swept outward toward the side, trying to be as careful as I could to make everything at right angles.  While you're being careful, it also helps to be really fast and brisk with the brush strokes - this helps make them more straight, and more random as well.  Even with all that, all 4 pods took about one hour to paint, after the primers had dried.

It's very important to heavily varnish these suckers.  PVC doesn't like paint to begin with, and they're heavy, so don't fall as well as some plastic infantry models do... Give it a bullet coat of Gloss Varnish spray, and then follow it up with a Dull Coat - I use Krylon Matte Finish (1311).  The new formula is very nearly exactly like Testor's DullCote, but at a fraction of the price-per-volume.

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