A water way project begins - and custom acrylic terrain bases

[FifteensAway]

Well, I guess you could say the project began when I decided to order what is in the photo below from Time Cast:



Spent an hour or two cleaning up edges, just little bits of 'flash' to clean.  However, when I had it all laid out I decided I wanted more of the wide and extra wide pieces including more curves.  So I went to order and PayPoop got in the way so I'm working with the proprietor to hopefully get my order fulfilled - and hoping the tariff BS won't get in the way! 

Once I have the extra  pieces I've ordered - hopefully - next step will be to paint the undersides of all the pieces.  And once that is dry, flip it over to paint the tops.  That painting will make sure all the pieces match before moving on for, as you can see, some of the pieces arrived in varied colors.  And, of course, test the pieces will take the spray paint.  Once that process is complete and dry, then I will paint the water using craft acrylics and the banks as well but adding some texturing materials.  The 'wet' look will be achieved using acrylic gloss medium.

I will cut some of the pieces in half and maybe some into thirds to allow those odd fits we sometimes encounter on the gaming table.

And, yes, that is A LOT of waterway.  But what the heck, last big terrain addition - excluding all the stuff I already have that also needs to be worked on, mostly trees, mostly for jungles but some for African savanna. 

I will be using some Scenic Effects waterways I've had for some time as my guide for coloring the water.  Oh, and one of the swamps has a really cool downed tree cast into it - love that.

More as I progress.

And another experiment is underway.  I bought some rigid but thin acrylic 'remnants' from a plastics store that I am going to try cutting into varied 'kidney' shapes, glue on and trim felt bottoms to avoid slipperiness, and then use the tops for terrain projects, mostly trees but a few other things as well.  The start point is 7" x 8" pieces - the shop's standard remnant size they sell for cheap.  They have larger remnants at times but not so cheap.  No photos yet because all you'd see is a stack of the remnant pieces, got 20 to start.

[FifteensAway]

Well, duh.  I can - and have - painted the pieces I have and will just keep track of the color used for the new pieces I am working to order.

But first...the mess:



From cutting up those remnant pieces of acrylic, etc.

And here is the end result:



Seventeen - and maybe only sixteen - irregularly shaped bases for terrain.  The red was a bit brittle but workable.  Some of the clear shattered, at least three pieces I ended up tossing so 15% failure rate and maybe 20% if I toss one piece that is problematic.  Going forward, I will try and find sheets of the black material seen in the five pieces at the top; those have a rough 'bubble' face texture side and a smooth face and I expect I'll glue felt to the smooth side and terrain to the textured side.  That black stuff is a bit more of a pain to cut but I think over time it will work the best - though I will keep most of those already cut.

So, I call that part of the 'experiment' a success.  Just need to use a high teeth per inch blade in your jig saw.

Back to the water way project.

First up was to paint the undersides:







Though I did remember, barely, to cut those pieces into half or thirds.



After allowing the reverse side to try, flipped over all the pieces and painted them the above color - almost works as a water color when seen in person.  Of course, lots more work to go but not sure I will progress until I get the 'new order' sorted out.

Meanwhile, when time and other resources permit, I can work on the scenery bases project, there is some finish work still to do.  And glueing and trimming the felt bases.  One step at a time.

[Vagabond]

You don't do things by half I like the scenery you have in the front garden, looks to be good for 28mm. 
Cheers

[snitcythedog]

Another small weekend project from Fifteens Away.     Very good start and  a great way to ensure that they are all uniform in color. 

[FifteensAway]

snitchy, indeed, a good way to keep uniform - and a wee bit more than a weekend project to get to the end, be about 130+ pieces to paint up as water.

And just for Vagabond:

The full 'playing field' -


So, bring your toys across the pond and the continent and go for it, 54 mm might be better than 28 mm - just beware of WOW!  No, not that one, beware Wrath of Wife - that is her treasured cacti garden. 

Some people travel hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles to see a desert in bloom.  We just have to walk out front.  And a few more for fans-



That last one is a solid 8" across - as were its mates that bloomed a couple days later after this one faded.  Beautiful flowers that last only a day to three.  The little reddish "faerie ring" flowers last a lot longer and you might be able to see them if you zoom in as close as you can, different plants, one right above the yellow flowers but others. 

[snitcythedog]

Thanks for that.   Reminds me of home but with smaller cactus. 

[Vagabond]

I showed this to Mrs V and initially she thought you'd made model terrain in the front garden and immediately refused permission for me to do the same thing. 
Cheers

[FifteensAway]

Well, then, perhaps best not to introduce her to my WOW (if not already seen!).  Or, show her that as reassurance you don't want to encounter such from her!

Pleased to report I overcame the ordering issue in concert with proprietor Mark and TimeCast order for balance now submitted.  So, waiting, waiting. 

[FifteensAway]

Pleased to report the balance of my order arrived today and I even managed to cut the pieces desired for flexibility - the half and third cuts on straights and 'wiggles' - before painting underside and topside (as shown in earlier part of thread) of the new pieces after this photo:



Those additional wide and extra wide sections as well as some more standard bits.  If I've counted right, there are now just under 160 prepared pieces - including the cuts, only half for the wide and extra wide pieces.

And here, and showing way, way too blue in the photo than it looks in person, much more greenish, is my inspirational piece (part of a bunch acquired from Scenic Effects many years ago):



Inspiration, yes.  Copy?  No.  I will go with my own coloring but be doing something similar to achieve depth effects, at least on those wide enough; the narrow rivers are only 1/2" wide so might be a bit less 'extra' effort.

I do think I will paint the base of the waterways for bottom effect and then get the 'wet' water effects through applications of tinted artist's gloss medium - perhaps interspersed with clear applications.  Past experience says this approach should yield good results.  We shall see. 

One element for certain is I will use acrylic retarder to slow the drying time in order to better blend the bottom coloring.

Everything is in readiness when the schedule allows several open days but that might not be until later July.  Hopefully sooner.  It is a Large Project for sure.

On the custom base front, the black material can be purchased in 4' x 8' sheets and get one free cut for around $80 US dollars.  I'm thinking to get two sheets and have one cut into two 2' x 8' pieces and the other into 1 1/2' and 2 1/2' wide by 8' pieces.  The latter will allow me to cut the 2 1/2' wide piece to match a full table length of 6' to use as the base for a seaport base - for both pulp and piratical set ups.  The balance of the pieces will be either larger kidney shaped pieces and some more rectangular for building bases.  And if needed, I can get additional bases.  The building base sizes will be matched to fit inside of a bunch of plastic stackable containers I have for the purpose - just need to empty them of the books currently in them, books from my late father's collection slowly selling off or donating to good causes.