Drazulfel Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 This is my first attempt at a complex piece of homemade terrain (complex meaning, more than cutting out a piece of felt). Here's what I did... The base is foamcore. I ran over the edges a bit with the electric sander to create a smooth slope.I mixed some Crayola Air-Dry clay in a bowl of water to make it real wet and slimy, and created a shallow mound on top of the foamcore. That way, my graveyard wouldn't be totally flat. Very, very, very messy!Once the clay was dry, I coated it with a layer of watered down PVC glue to give it strength. Air-Dry clay is awfully brittle.I base coated the finished terrain with brown, suede-textured spray paint, then top coated with green granite-textured spray paint.Michael's Crafts has their Halloween stuff out, so for $2.99 I picked up a set of Spooky Town Tombstones. They average 1" in height, so it's almost like they're made for Malifaux. I glued them down with PVC glue.The dead tree in back is hand-crafted from dark brown Premo Sculpey, baked at 270 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes. I used a wood grain mold that my wife had lying around to get the texture.The plant life consists of 2 different types of moss from Quality Growers. You can get bags of it at Michael's for $5-7, or order online. It's grown locally, and I know the couple that owns the farm, so happy to give them some business. The moss is glued down with Aleene's Tacky Glue.Finally, I coated the whole thing one last time with a severely watered down layer of PVC glue. It's getting late, I want to get to bed, and I got impatient, so I took my pictures while it was still wet. By morning, it shouldn't be quite so shiny So that's that. My first project. Total cost was probably less than $10. Took me all evening to make, with a lot of Netflix time in between to allow paint to dry and clay to cure. Corpse tokens and cover terrain, ftw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naravus Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 I like everything except the ground. Perhaps add more browns to make it look more natural? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmiles Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 I like everything except the ground. Perhaps add more browns to make it look more natural?I have to agree. It looks great, but maybe drybrush some browns onto the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stern Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 I like everything except the ground. Perhaps add more browns to make it look more natural? have to agree too on that one... many things could help, as said above some dry brushes, introduce some browns or i think just a little flock here and there... it can work wonders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daemonkin Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 Bit too fake with the green. Patchy dirty areas would really help. Great otherwise. I'd always use brown and throw patches of green around rather than the other way around. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drazulfel Posted August 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the comments. I hear ya, and wholeheartedly agree. In fact, I think you'll see by my original post that y'all are expressing my original intent... I basecoated with the suede brown and topped with the textured green with the idea that the brown would show through, with patchy grass on top. However, several impatient finger pokes on wet paint to test its dryness resulted in extra green layers... twice. /sigh That's the least of my current issues. The overnight drying resulted in shrinkage of the foamcore. The edges of the terrain ended up almost a full centimeter off the table all the way around, making it a very awkward game piece. So, I spent the last hour making a sloped, clay base for the original piece to set into. I'll let it dry overnight before touching it again. When I do the PVC coat over the new clay to strengthen it, I'll flock the entire slope with sand, including a couple of patches in the grassy area. When that dries, I'll drybrush on a couple of different brown hues, and maybe do static grass over the remaining green areas. I'll post pics when it's done. But, since I learned my lesson regarding impatience, I'd give it 'til at least Friday, or maybe even Saturday. *** [comment added Thurs PM] Ooh, looking good, but definitely not photo-worthy at the moment. The sloped clay base dried nicely, and it got 2 coats of sand. I also glued a small patch of sand in the middle of the terrain. This evening, I coated all of the sand with Mission Oak Minwax. Multipurpose... adds strength, coats & protects, and provides wonderful, deep shading. Finally, I glued several patches of static grass flock around the green areas of the original terrain, mostly around gravestones. Edited August 5, 2011 by Drazulfel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drazulfel Posted August 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 The Minwax is still a little bit wet and shiny under my bright lights, and the felt base is obviously not dry and trimmed yet. But, here's the new and improved version... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephengroy Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Spookytown rocks. See more suitable stuff here: http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Category:Lemax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnJen Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Not bad for $10! I was thinking about making a grave yard too...and have somehow already racked up well over $50 from just buying tombstones from various companies...and then of course GW had to announce that very pretty graveyard set! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyPath Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Renedra do a nice set of plastic gravestones for £8, I snapped up a set and was impressed by them. If you're going to be making a largish graveyard then I couldn't recommend those enough for what you get for your money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daemonkin Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 I have the Renedra ones but GW are also releasing their Garden of Morr for £25. Looks pretty good. They do a great range of scenery even if their other miniatures are hideously over-priced. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LonelyPath Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 The Garden of Morr is a very good set. I'm surprised with GW lately, they're releasing some nice looking scenery pieces at a affordable price. It's a shame about their realms of battle board though, I've seen so many faulty copies, not to mention hills that fracture when painting and the Planet Strike crater set was hideous (their pics were based on the resin masters, not that rubbish we got!). For the most part their scenery is good though, if it wasn't I wouldn't have bought about 10 ruins sets for 40k, lol. I do plan on getting a Garden of Morr though as I plan to do a full 3' x 3' cemetery board at some point I want to get the other Storm of Magic scenery from last month also I I have plans for those in a project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.