Over the hills...

[smokezombie]

They look great. The cave and other rock features are outstanding.
Top work there fella.

From personal experience I have to say that I found making hills and other natural terrain features really satisfying.

The knight is bloody good too.

[Dewbakuk]

Those look great, nice job. Is that 'Kingspan' foam with the silver layer removed?

[fluffy05]

Stunning work 

Subscribed 

[Modhail]

Johan, I actually fond a site somewhere that showed how to build a static grass applicator from an electric flyswatter and a metal tea sieve. I tried that last year, but it shorted out on first use. Haven't yet bothered/dared to buy a second one and try again...

Dewbakuk; nope, it's just "regular" XPS foam, except that, instead of blue, the stuff I can get locally is peach-coloured for some odd reason.

Spent the entire afternoon trying to buy flock for the hills...
The local modelshop in my city has closed, so I headed to the next city over. Only to discover that the (formerly excellent) shop there had dropped the entirety of their model train and scenery assortment. 
Luckily they knew of a specialist model train shop in the next town over again.
Managed to find that place, a quaint little shed of a shop, and they had flock to boot!
So hopefully, I should be able to start flocking next time I have some hobby-time.

[Gunbird]

Arrows has closed? Noo, that really is the end of an era started at the end of WW2 then (The owner sometimes talked to me about the war)

Toemen has been crap for years I'm afraid (and expensive to boot), I thought you knew he dumped his trains. I don't bother going there anymore. Did you go to Eindhoven or Breda for the flock?

Since I moved to Boxtel I just order out for stuff like that, just getting to a good modelshop takes a day in travel and half the time they don't even have what I need anymore. Which reminds me, got a good source for plasticcard?

[Modhail]

Yup... Sad but true.

I ended up in Rosmalen.... Next time I'll save myself the hassle and go to Breda immediately. The shop is Rosmalen is nice, but quite small and doesn't have too much in the way of terrain making stuff.

Nope, haven't found a good source for plasticard yet. Then again Arrow left some mighty big shoes to fill in that regard.
Sad really, I'd like to support the local stores (both modelshop and LGS), but they're making it so damn hard to do so. They either don't stock what I want to buy or have ceased to exist entirely. 

[Gunbird]

Dropped by the art supply store in Den Bosch today and spent some time looking at the constructions made with a sort of wallpaper paste and brown packaging paper. Wondering if it would be possible to make a semi decent mountain ridge with that, the crumpled paper seemed good for that. But maybe I'm treading into the railway enthusiasts area now and should stick to a few low hills to start with at first. Must stop thinking about a hydro electric dam as well, I already made one in the only scale sensible enough to have one (1/600).

Hmm, better send you a PM now.

[oldskoolrebel]

Great work!

I like the variety in the hills. I don't think you need to go too crazy with static grass!

Cheers
Andy

[Modhail]

Well, I can't not go crazy... For me, that's just not an option when building stuff. 

I got the flocking done today:


Here's an aerial view:


The flocking was rather straightforward. I made a mix consisting of 2 colours medium turf: medium and light green, earth colour fine turf and static grass. Then I just painted on PVA where I wanted flock. Poured the flock on, let it dry a bit and shook the excess of. Just like very big miniature bases...
Once it had dried a bit, I dolled up the hills with some grass and flowering grass tufts here and there.
The clump foliage on the trees was less straightforward... I tried just gluing it on with PVA, that was not a succes. It simply dried far too slow, and didn't have enough "tack". In the end I resorted to using a construction glue. Nasty smell, threads of glue went everywhere, but the clumps stayed on!

Now comes the next challenge, and a cry for help: How do I keep the stuff in place?
From the moment I put a hill away after flocking, it started slowly shedding...
How do I fix the stuff in place, without ruining the look of the hills as they are now?
I'm rather hesitant to "just try something" and, for example, douse them in watered down PVA. I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and wouldn't dare mess it all up in the final phase.
Do any of the terrain veterans around here have sage advice for me?

[Gunbird]

Well, my small scale trees (which are basically a ball of tin foil with flock stuck onto it with superglue) get a single coating with 50% water and 50% woodglue. When dry, they won't shed. It hardly changes the shade either.

First shot of your hills with the hedge on the background is really awesome Erik! 

[fluffy05]

Greta work on the trees.  I will use your idea for making & flocking trees as well 

[dampfpanzerwagon]

Great looking terrain pieces.

I think the rocky outcrops are fantastic. Very well done.

As far as flocking coming off. I don't think there is a fool-proof method.

Try adding some washing up liquid to your glue and allow the flocking to be absorbed by the glue before shaking off.

I have also heard of fixative spray being applied over the top. I find it easier to re-flock every so often.

Good luck.

Tony

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

This is really great work, given me a lot of ideas!

[Glitzer]

I like the way those rocks tuned out. What are they made of? Cork bark chips from pine?

[Modhail]

Thank you guys!

Glitzer, yes, it's exactly that.
Got a big old bag of it at the local garden centre. Even with the bits that are not useable as rocks, it will probably still last me a lifetime. All the rejects, I can simply use for the garden...