Last of the Mohicans-esque cliff terrain? -- Finished, 9/14/13

[OSHIROmodels]

They've turned out very well. Great effect 

Seconded 

cheers

James

[von Lucky]

I also agree - they look great.

[bluewillow]

fantastic work!

cheers
Matt

[white knight]

Looks fantastic! How durable is this bark over time?

[tnjrp]

Bark itself is hardly fragile but I have no idea how well paint sticks to it... Regardless, I'll have to try something like this myself one of these days.

[Braz]

Very nice indeed especially as they started out as wooden trays. Wouldn't have imagined.

Love the autumn colours but maybe needs a few red leaves scattered about on the ground to complete the Fall look. I believe people sometimes use silver birch seed pods as fallen leaves and may be freely available too.

Will you be making smaller "stair" pieces to place against so characters can reach the top?

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Constable Bertrand]

Mike, that must weigh a ton with all that rock you used!

The way you painted the 'bark' in varying tones gives it a very heavy and real effect. You've gotta be pleased with the outcome.

[Goosegog]

Fantastic stuff. Now the rest of the groundwork has been added the 'bark' rock face looks superb. 

[eilif]

Bark itself is hardly fragile but I have no idea how well paint sticks to it... Regardless, I'll have to try something like this myself one of these days.

Paint sticks very well to it. However, I bake all my bark in the oven to dry it out and give it a nice thick coat of gesso just to be sure.  

The issue with Bark is that there is a bit of danger of flakey-ness. Usually you can tell just by looking at the bark where this might occur.  A bit of superglue applied to danger areas will cure that, and might not even be necessary if you apply a reasonably thick coat of primer.  It's not really a big danger though. I've glued many figures right on top of pieces of bark that I glued to a base and there doesn't seem to be any problems with breakage so far.

[Goosegog]

Paint sticks very well to it. However, I bake all my bark in the oven to dry it out and give it a nice thick coat of gesso just to be sure.  

The issue with Bark is that there is a bit of danger of flakey-ness. Usually you can tell just by looking at the bark where this might occur.  A bit of superglue applied to danger areas will cure that, and might not even be necessary if you apply a reasonably thick coat of primer.  It's not really a big danger though. I've glued many figures right on top of pieces of bark that I glued to a base and there doesn't seem to be any problems with breakage so far.

Not sure what gesso is? But would PVA work, to give the bark a firmer outer surface before painting? Never used bark but would like to give it go in the near future for a few projects I have in mind.   

[eilif]

Not sure what gesso is? But would PVA work, to give the bark a firmer outer surface before painting? Never used bark but would like to give it go in the near future for a few projects I have in mind.   

Gesso is what Artists use to prime their canvases and many folks use to prime their minaitures. You can read the best analysis/how-to of Acrylic Gesso for priming miniatures (and what got me started on it) here:
http://thescreamingalpha.com/?p=640

Really, I think that any sort of primer, paint or PVA would stabilize the surface enough for further painting and overall durrability. As I said, it's not a huge deal anyway. I rub off any loose bits before painting and have never had a problem.

I do highly recommend baking the pieces before use though, as excess moisture under your paint is never a good thing. It also makes your kitchen smell really nice. Kind of like the best parts of the campfire smell.

[zizi666]

Gesso is what Artists use to prime their canvases and many folks use to prime their minaitures. You can read the best analysis/how-to of Acrylic Gesso for priming miniatures (and what got me started on it) here:
http://thescreamingalpha.com/?p=640

Wow ! My virusscanner kicked in on that page. Some script got blocked.
Anyone else having problems with that link ?

[mikedemana]

Thanks, everyone. I spray the whole thing down in a diluted mixture of white glue and water to help with flakiness and seal in the flock. I do plan on some fallen leaves at the final stage. The pieces don't weight that much as the bark pieces are very light. Glad you guys like it...means the players likely will, too...!

Mike Demana

[Goosegog]

Wow ! My virusscanner kicked in on that page. Some script got blocked.
Anyone else having problems with that link ?

Nope. Worked fine for me. Quite an interesting article too!

[mikedemana]

And here are some shots of them in natural sunlight on a flocked battle mat...


The three pieces in a curving layout...of course they'll look better on a table with other scenery!


Looking down the row of the three cliff pieces (and their tiny "step up" pieces)


Close up of what the detail on the surfaces looks like...


Another close up showing what the vertical faces of the cliffs looks like...


Looking from one of the "step up" pieces back over the arc of the cliffs...Where's Magua?


A panorama of the pieces laid out...

I will take some shots at this next weekend's "Ohio Frontier Aflame" game that I'm running at Advance the Colors in Springfield, OH. I'll make sure to get it with figures on the cliffs, trees and other terrain all around them. Can't wait to see what they look like as part of big board setup...!

This was a lengthy build...glad it is done! Now, to work on getting the game itself ready...!

Mike Demana