You mentioned you wanted to add some pots around the ruined house. A nifty little trick I learnt from someone how to make a broken pot, is to take a small electric bulb, like a grain-of-wheat or the kind you use in Christmas tree decorations, and gently crack it in. With just a trial or two you should be able to get something you can use like a broken pot, which could further add a sense of wrack and ruin to your building.
Thanks Peder. Sounds like a very clever little idea. I might just pirate some small bulbs from the wife's car
(Luckily I already have a few Monolith middle eastern jars knocking around, so no pressing hurry, but it's a great tip - thank you
)
Very interesting to see how you are making these boards - I may try something similar one day.
You should write a book
Haha. I'm a one trick pony when it comes to terrain making. Many different boards - always the same techniques. It wouldn't be a very long book!
And I always love to watch terrain boards being build! Thanks for posting so many different pictures, this really helps should oneself dare to take on this endeavor.
Do you plan to 'visit' other theaters of the second world war?
Merci
You should try it - it's not that difficult. I wouldn't do it if it was. Anything goes wrong in this process, you just cover it up with more filler or gloop!
No plans for other WW2 theatres at present, although I am getting increasingly tempted to add a small Vichy French force so that I can do some Syrian encounters too... Rubicon are about to re-release their remastered Neucraft Renault R35 tank, Hotchkiss H39 and Citroen 11CV. Seriously nice looking resin kits... And the Perrys have a such a nice range of Vichy figures and vehicles...
Tempting...
Meanwhile, a little more progress...
Here are the first two boards, now undercoated with Halfords matt camo brown spray paint. Unfortunately, you can't see much because it's a very dark brown.
Important note if you are going to attempt something like this - I have painted the edges of the foam slabs with PVA. Firstly this gives the edges just a little bit of protection: not that it's going to help if you walk sideways into a doorframe carrying one, but generally it'll just guard against wear and tear. I give each slab two generous PVA coats around the corners. Secondly, if you're going to use enamel sprays of any variety, you'll need to PVA the foam or it'll melt and start pitting where the paint hits it.
And now here's the third (ruined house and berm) board, with the wet gloop applied and a thorough sprinkling of assorted grades of grit and sand top dressing...
The view from the ruin...
And finally the fourth board (broken hilly ground).
I've terraformed the two low hills. I've yet to add the big hill. And I've put surface texture and a lot of rocky scatter over the broken, rocky gullies and ditches... All fixed in place with a good dollop of PVA - which is why it looks rather shiny...
And that's about it for now. Off on hols for a couple of weeks tomorrow, so no more updates on this until mid-September or so...
01 June 2007, 05:20:20 PM