Testing Some Techniques with a Hill

[Operator5]

I am going to be starting a major project soon and wanted to test some techniques on smaller pieces first.

So, here is a small wooded hill.I have not finished the painting and ground cover.



Now the things I wanted to experiment with were the rocks. I wanted the right look as well as the right color. Here is what I ended up with that I am happy with. They are a little more washed out in the picture because I was not taking the time to light them properly.



The other thing I wanted to work on was making the trees removable. I have tried some things before, but the foam always became soft and the trees started to lean. So, I went with a different approach and added a small piece of brass tube to the hole. This is glued in place. I have wrapped some masking tape around the prong at the bottom of the tree to give it a bit of thickness so it fits snugly in the tube and also to give it a touch more length.



And a close up of the brass tube in the hole.

[Hitman]

Richard;
Great work as usual. I like what you have done a lot. I too am trying to figure out how to make a very large rocky, mountain, hill piece of terrain with a gully and winding river through it so anything you do, please pass on the ideas as I have no idea where to start. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[Operator5]

You'll love the project I will begin after a few more trial runs then. 

[Alfrik]

Large rocky hill / hill side:

http://armoredink.blogspot.com/2009/03/rocky-hill-sides.html

Made up of styrafoam and cast pieces of rock face.

[Christian]

I've found tree bark to be really good for building up hills. I have been working on a piece which I will upload to show you what I mean.

There's also some foam in can you spray and it inflates!

I think once your work is finished it is going to look really good. Will you be gluing sand and little rocks to the big rock?