adt70hk Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Evening all As some of you may have seen from my previous posts, I’ve come back to the hobby after long break and do very simplified 1/72 WW2 war-gaming with my young son. Whilst we’ve now got enough AFVs etc. for the small scale battles we play, we have absolutely no buildings or scenery of any sort and so have to improvise a lot with books, DVD cases, childrens’ building blocks etc. Then I came across this excellent blog http://gregswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Flak%20Nest and then shortly after, this post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234985371-desperate-defense/ on one of the Diorama forums, so I decided to have a go at making my own ‘scenery’ for the very first time. I decided that I would make two, fairly generic, sets of fieldworks that could serve several purposes for the small scale battles we have e.g. mortar or artillery emplacements, oversized trenches, somewhere for my 88 to sit or even a hull down location for tanks. As I’m on a tight budget and this was my first attempt, I used materials I found at home rather spend out on stuff I might never use again. I’m now at the point where I’m reasonably happy with the main ‘structure’ – log walls, piled up earth and boardwalks. I’ve also thought about adding things like sandbags and barbed wire at the front, along with crates, boxes and tarpaulins scattered around the rear to make it look ‘lived in’. However, I would like your input/advice on how to finish them off, in particular I’m interested in reasonably realistic but cheap ways of finishing the ground off and what colours make for realistic mud, earth etc. For example, I’ve seen some creative uses of sawdust, polyfilla and even real life earth to finish things off. So far my building has cost me nothing but my time so, I’d like to keep it as low as possible! I fully realise that these are nowhere near up to the standard of dio’s on here but if I don’t ask I’ll never learn (to paraphrase my headmaster). All comments, observations and constructive criticisms welcome!! Thanks in advance for any advice you do have. Regards Andrew PS Apologies for the iffy lighting on the later shots. PPS Thanks to Greg and HL-10 for the inspiration. Greg yours is a great little blog! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My building materials As I said all found at home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Laying out and planning the base The idea was to get the planks off the ‘earth’ a bit. The coffee stirrer ‘planks’ were given to me by the manager at my local Costa. She didn’t bat an eyelid when I asked if I could have some for modelling and promptly handed well over 100 for free. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Finished log walls and boardwalks The walls are made from a combination of matchsticks, bbq skewers and coffee stirrers. The only structural supports are the upright matchsticks, everything else is ‘decorative’. If I’d thought a bit more about it beforehand, I’d have added more supports underneath the floor board so I could make the ‘plank’ placement more random. Also the ‘planks’ are almost certainly too wide – equating to about 12” at this scale – but the thought of slicing them in half was too much just for war-gaming....sorry ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Piled up ‘earth’ Having nothing better to use, I resorted to good old fashioned papier-mâché. I know it's probably very old fashioned but I could make it at no expense. Once it’s dried I might cover it in a couple of layers of tissue paper glued down with PVA glue just in case some of the smaller pieces come adrift. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 An old recipe which I still use for ground work is; PVA glue, water, sand and acrylic paint. For paint I use Humbrol 26 Khaki, or 29 Dark Earth. I use 'Weather Proof' PVA as when its dry its mildly resistant to dissolving in water again - important if one wants to over paint the ground work with acrylic paints again. Mix the ingredients, thinning to flavour with the water. If its thin, apply with an old or cheap paint brush, or if its thick apply with a spatula. I apply burnt umber and terracota very wetly to the ground work to give variation. This was covered in that groundwork. The darker areas are burnt umber applied very wet. With trees and grass added; trees are just twigs found near some trees, grass is 'static' grass, and a couple of small bushes I bought years ago. The white is artists Acrylic Medium used as thick glue. It dries clear. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Some good looking work there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 That's all great stuff there! My blog http://mitchwargaming.blogspot.co.uk/ has some stuff on it for wargaming groundworks. It's for 28mm, and mostly Dark Ages/ECW, but a hill's a hill in any age or scale! HTH, M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1pp132002 Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Hi Andrew Great work here! I like the fact that you mixed up the materials, the match sticks, skewers and coffee sticks. Let me add to that if you can get some corrugated card from the craft store it can be cut into sheets to simulate sheets of zink roofing. I too came to that conclusion that splitting the coffee sticks is just to much work. At a war gaming distance it works fine. I also like the fact that you raized the foor off the ground, now you can break a board here and there and have then pointing inward. Another tip and I can't believe I don't have it on my blog yet! is gauze bandage dipped in diluted brown or green paint and rolled up and drapped over the edge to simulate camo netting. @ Mitch some nice stuff on you Blog!! Cheers GReg 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 All Thanks for taking the time to comment and the suggestions. Black Night It looks like I might be raiding the kids play sand and using even more of their PVA glue. I've also got a small stash of saw dust that I might add to the mix for a bit of variation. Mitch - as GReg said some nice stuff on there. Thanks for the link. Hi Andrew Great work here! I like the fact that you mixed up the materials, the match sticks, skewers and coffee sticks. Let me add to that if you can get some corrugated card from the craft store it can be cut into sheets to simulate sheets of zink roofing. I too came to that conclusion that splitting the coffee sticks is just to much work. At a war gaming distance it works fine. I also like the fact that you raized the foor off the ground, now you can break a board here and there and have then pointing inward. Another tip and I can't believe I don't have it on my blog yet! is gauze bandage dipped in diluted brown or green paint and rolled up and drapped over the edge to simulate camo netting. @ Mitch some nice stuff on you Blog!! Cheers GReg GReg - thanks as always for the advice and taking the time to have a look at my post. Someone else on the forum has also suggested the bandage solution which I might have a go at. If anyone out there is new to 1/72 then Greg has a great blog http://gregswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Had another thought: Games Workshop (hawk! spit!) produced a book called "Building Wargame Terrain". If you can pick a copy up cheaply it's worth the money - it's fairly generic, with lots of generally useful stuff like ponds, caves, woods, hedges and the like and isn't too sci fi/fantasy oriented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) Had another thought: Games Workshop (hawk! spit!) produced a book called "Building Wargame Terrain". If you can pick a copy up cheaply it's worth the money - it's fairly generic, with lots of generally useful stuff like ponds, caves, woods, hedges and the like and isn't too sci fi/fantasy oriented. Mitch Thanks for the tip! I've found a copy for free - some enterprising chap has scanned the book in an uploaded it to the web - not that I'm condoning breach of copyright Edited November 5, 2015 by adt70hk 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I got my proper copy at my barbers. It was among the newspapers so I just asked for it. Worth every penny. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I got my proper copy at my barbers. It was among the newspapers so I just asked for it. Worth every penny. What the hell sort of barbers do YOU visit?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 He's a nice wee Scot who loves rugby and charges £5 for a hair cut and shave. All the magazines are rugby ones. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 What the hell sort of barbers do YOU visit?! I was wondering about this!?!?! Guess I need to find one that it is into modellng or rugby!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 He's a nice wee Scot who loves rugby and charges £5 for a hair cut and shave. All the magazines are rugby ones. Except the ones about building wargames terrain, of course. The fact that you can get a haircut for £5 and I have to pay £7.50 in Ryedale lends credence to the theory that a Yorkshireman is a Scot with all the generosity squeezed out of him... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 11, 2015 Author Share Posted November 11, 2015 All Ok, so I managed to do some more work last week and over the weekend. Below are some more pics of the latest progress. Added a layer of tissue paper I used this as a base to apply things to and make sure the papier-mache stayed in place, it also made the base less smooth in the event I missed a bit when adding the earth effect - but I suspect it wasn't necessary. Added some 'earth' I experimented a bit following the advice above and ended up using a fairly sloppy mix of water, PVA, pet sawdust and sand. It almost worked but still looked a bit too 'sawdusty' (is that a word??). So I gave it a generous layer of 50/50 PVA and water to mat it together more and then followed up with a generous sprinkling of sand. The sawdust though had to be shredded a bit to reduce the size. Queue my ever-loving and patient wife's Moulinex food mixer - and yes she does know - and no I won't be using it again...... . I think a trip to Argos for cheap one is on the horizon. All in all though I think the general effect looks quite good..... Put some barbed wire on In the end I settled for JBARB barbed wire, it's cheap, easy to work with and looks ok from a war-gaming distance. I was going to try making my own but ran out of patience in trying to find the right bits and pieces. . This is how it should be done http://gregswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Barbwire. The lived in look I've added some stowage and 'tissue paper' tarpaulins to give it that lived in look - and no the tarps won't be staying orange!! Coming up next...... I'm going to add some sand bags made from modelling putty which I've not use before but got some great advice of this post http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234990569-172-scale-ammo-and-crew-lloyd-carriers-plus-6-pounder-at-gun/. Let's hope I do it justice! Spray paint the whole thing matt black - mainly because of the wood effect I want to achieve and to make the hard reach places look dark/dirty but also to protect the 'earth' effect - I used standard PVA glue and will be using acrylic paints Paint it and bit of grass. As always, all comments, observations and constructive criticisms welcome!! I will never learn otherwise. Thanks again for your support so far. Andrew So here goes.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Don't spray it black. Thats too stark. Use burnt umber, or a dark shade of brown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Hi Andy. I agree with Black Knight - black would be a bit too stark. A darker shade of brown would be a good base for putting something like Dark Earth over on the actual earth areas. I know some people paint the areas, where grass is going to go, green but I always use washes of Humbrol's Dark Earth (to try and get different shades) but I usually do it over filler. I then sprinkle scatter materials (from companies like Woodland Scenics or Greenscene) over areas I have coated with watered down PVA. I try to leave some areas without scatter materials so the earth colours show through. If you are intending to make your own scatter materials I know some people have used fine sawdust which they have died different shades of green. It's often better to use a mix of different shades to give a more natural appearance. In some areas I use course turf to give the impression of more overgrown areas. I think what you have done so far looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing the next steps. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 One of the DIY sheds used to do match pots of what they called "soft black" emulsion. "Soft black" is about what we here would call Panzer grey and this was superb for undercoating terrain pieces. It gave a really good, deep contrast which provided a great sense of depth without being too stark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 14, 2015 Author Share Posted November 14, 2015 Don't spray it black. Thats too stark. Use burnt umber, or a dark shade of brown. Hi Andy. I agree with Black Knight - black would be a bit too stark. A darker shade of brown would be a good base for putting something like Dark Earth over on the actual earth areas. I know some people paint the areas, where grass is going to go, green but I always use washes of Humbrol's Dark Earth (to try and get different shades) but I usually do it over filler. Kind regards, Stix Stix, Black Night Thanks for the input. I've already had a go at making some dawdust grass with some food dye after seeing this http://gregswargamingblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Flock which has worked pretty well as the dye has not taken consistenly across the mix. . One of the DIY sheds used to do match pots of what they called "soft black" emulsion. "Soft black" is about what we here would call Panzer grey and this was superb for undercoating terrain pieces. It gave a really good, deep contrast which provided a great sense of depth without being too stark. Mitch - the contrast depth is what I'm aiming for, so it looks like the wallet might be a little bit lighter pretty soon. Thanks again Andrew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 (edited) Andrew, a matchpot of emulsion goes for a quid or two and will do about a table's worth of terrain! Edited November 14, 2015 by Mitch K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 Andrew, a matchpot of emulsion goes for a quid or two and will do about a table's worth of terrain! Mitch Yes, sorry the I was trying to be a bit funny but it obviously didn't come through!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 No worries Andrew. Matchpots are a great source of colours for terrain work. I've got a load of different pots for this kind of work. One I use quite a bit was a pot of dark dirt brown: mixed with PVA and soft sand it gives good service as a base for grassed areas. What I can't fathom is who the hell would buy it to use on their house! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindicareassassin Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Dude, you really need to invest in an airbrush, if it helps you get started with it I may have one laying about you can have, you'll just need a hose and an air can to get started then. You'll then be able to do selective colouring in different areas, PM me if your interested. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adt70hk Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 Hi all Firstly, thanks for all the advice and input so far, it's been a great help. I had a go over the weekend adding some 'sandbags' made from Milliput. I've also been advised eslewhere on here (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234990569-172-scale-ammo-and-crew-lloyd-carriers-plus-6-pounder-at-gun/) that mixing milliput and green stuff works very well. However, as this was my first time ever using modelling putty I decided to keep it simple and stick to milliput - I also had a bit of a practice on bluetac first (please try not to laugh)...... No doubt some of the bags are too big, too small, too long, too wide or have some odd marks and most are probably too regular in shape. Some are also possibly on the verge of defying gravity but on the whole I'm quite pleased with the effect considering it was first foray into the world of putty. Thanks especially to Sgt Squarehead for the book on German Field Fortifications - I now realise how far mine were from the ideal!! but you live and learn. Below are a few snaps - sorry for the quality but I took them mid battle, so had to take the pics in situ. All comments and observations are welcome as usual!! Thanks again. Andrew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 With wargaming scenery there must always be a compromise between accuracy and useability.....What you have there looks very useable and with a few tweaks, I reckon you will hace some pretty convincing emplacements. Second what vindicareassassin said about an airbrush (& compressor).....They are a really good investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwishicouldfinishmodels Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Once you get an airbrush, you'll wonder how you got by with spray cans and brushes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now