First World War terrain boards SECTION 3 (TRENCH) updated 11th October

[aircav]

Brilliant job can't wait to see the finished article 



Keith 

[OSHIROmodels]

Try shaving it in a plastic bag and you can keep the shavings for later 

cheers

James

[twrchtrwyth]

That's looking great.

[Rabbitz]

Great looking boards mate, cant wait to play across those.  Although as you know with the scale we seem to blow things you may need to get working on all those other ones pretty soon.

[oxiana]

Inspirational.

I will, one day, make myself a nice terrain board. I will, I will!

[thejammedgatling]

Next step.

A few more grass trials. The left piece is the one from last time and in the other I trimmed the patches of teddy bear fur with scissors in a random fashion, then used my dip method to run colour through the material. I tried an alternate colour this time to look more like end of summer grass. Again, it will take a while to dry. The first patch however is now dry and seems to hold a figure balanced quite well. Though in its untrimmed state it reminds me more of pampas grass. Maybe an idea to hold over for something else, but not too useful for WW1.



Impatient to get a feel of how the colours were going to start to work I got out my paints and completed the highlight coat on the shellholes and road areas. I'll need to do a touch up coat again prior to the end and possibly do some plastering work on the lanes so I can push in some wheel ruts and give it the more rounded profile I'm after. The ultimate plan is to sprinkle my crushed limestone mixture into this last coat. The shellholes will dirty static water in a few of them, though not heaps.

Anyway, gave it a quick brush with 'herb green' to get a lay of the land, even though this will be covered with all sorts of grass/ hay etc in the end. The two brown patches are the cobbles.











Next step..finish the board edges and start to apply the grasses and mud.

[thejammedgatling]

So another week has gone by and I finally started to make some progress on the boards after some colour testing. It's taken me awhile to find the right blend for the grasses that I want. Rather than try to cover the lot in tall grasses I decided to make patches and in other places put some tall upright straw/ grass. However, the next section of boards might include a whole wheat field..


I mixed up my base earth later using the captains tried and tested paint/ sand pva mix and applied to it to all areas save the craters. I also gave the road a bit of a coat with plaster mixed with paint to give it more of a smooth, worn look. I trundled my Lledo model T through it to give it some tracks (and spent the next 20 minutes getting plaster out of the undercarriage!). Once sanded it looked better.



Next the upright grasses. Basically a natural door mat cut into small sections and pushed into pva filled holes in the polystyrene. My five and three year old assistants loved jabbing deep holes in the terrain for this part of the job..

Again, the look I wanted was for a section of the Somme that had been in the previous years fighting and which had had time to begin to regenerate, but which fighting is about to cover again.

The small drain channel will eventually have static water and reeds applied (plus some dead horses/ ammunition boxes etc) but for now I just wanted to build what looked like a jerry rigged bridge that had replaced whatever structure was there before it was obliterated. I just used lolly sticks.

I also started adding a bit of detail to other areas. Bullet holes in the tree trunks, patches of rusting pig iron from old destroyed infantry shrapnel shelters, a small area of duckboard in one of the lanes as well as a few patches of old barbed wire.

I don't want too much battlefiled clutter at this stage as I plan eventually to make some removeable 'patches' of this. A copse of shattered trees, a line of broken and destroyed artillery limbers...more dead horses,  a shattered lorry etc..

So once the details were in and base coated I flocked the lot, leaving it fairly absent from the edges of the shellholes and more dense by the road edges and in the hollows. This was a bit tricky around the long grass patches and I am in two minds about the value of putting the patches down first..

Next stage will be the second (tall) grass coating, in which we shall see some poppies. Oh, and I get to play around with this stuff to make some extra mud:



Comments very much appreciated! They do keep me going in the wee small hours when I get time to do this!

[Hammers]

It looks very nice! Adequately grotty with the grass adding just the amount of colour to make it, well, attractive. Well done!

[Furt]

Looks really great - love the attention to detail.

The bullet holes in the tree stump is just brilliant. 

Onwards soldier!

[Hauptgefreiter]

Yes! Great Work! 

[Rabbitz]

Its looking fantastic mate,   cant wait to get beaten on those terrain boards too 

Are they coming out to play this wednesday?

[Calimero]

That a really inspiring tread. I like the attention to details too. I’m painting WWI French figures right now and it give me that little push I needed to finish them! Thanks! 

[OSHIROmodels]

Coming together very nicely    Bullet holes in the tree trunk are an inspiration 

cheers

James

[Captain Blood]

That is looking really really excellent 

Love it love it love it.

Bullet holes in the tree stumps... Now that's what I call attention to detail.

I find the clumps of teddy bear fur a bit intrusive. Honestly, I don't think they add anything, but each to his own preferred method 

But this is going to be a fantastic board when it's all done.

[thejammedgatling]

Its looking fantastic mate,   cant wait to get beaten on those terrain boards too 

Are they coming out to play this wednesday?

I havn't had time to complete my Germans so the only way I'll beat you on Wednesday is with the boards themeselves...

That a really inspiring tread. I like the attention to details too. I’m painting WWI French figures right now and it give me that little push I needed to finish them! Thanks! 

Glad you like them. Good luck with those figures.

Coming together very nicely    Bullet holes in the tree trunk are an inspiration 

cheers

James

Thanks. I was amazed to find a petrified one of these still standing (aided by a large scaffolding pole) at Hill 60 in Belgium years ago. A very eerie sight.

That is looking really really excellent 

Love it love it love it.

Bullet holes in the tree stumps... Now that's what I call attention to detail.

I find the clumps of teddy bear fur a bit intrusive. Honestly, I don't think they add anything, but each to his own preferred method 

But this is going to be a fantastic board when it's all done.

I know what you mean..I just had to try it. I try to get some new element in each project I try and this was my leap of faith this time. I have actually just blended them back more to match the first grass covering and they are starting to look as if they're not just stuck on. I think they'll probably work better 'en mass' so I'm going to do a board with just this covering and see how it looks.Time will tell!

Thanks for the comments everyone. If all goes well these boards will get a playtest on Wednesday to see how they take figures and what changes might be needed. If there's anything you think is really missing on these boards or have any great ideas then please let me know!