What's On Your Table: to submit your work, please send up to 8 pics to natfka@live.com
Hi! I've got a bit of a terrain walk through from a while ago if you'd like to post such a thing up on your blog!
In step one I've cut a base out of 1/4inch MDF so that it doesn't warp as everything dries, scored the base with a knife to give the glue something to cling to, and cut out the rim of the pond using a hot wire cutter out of pink insulation foam.
In the next step I've simply added a large rock in the middle also using the wire cutter to carve it out.
The next step is to add any rocks, debris, bodies, etc into and around the pond.
after adding the debris I used drywall putty to fill in all the holes in the foam, and slope the edges to look more natural and fill in as many holes as possible between the rocks and foam.
Here I've added the sand, in this case part model sand from GW and part sand from a train hobby shop. I used simple white glue underneath. In addition after allowing this to dry fully, as I do on all my miniatures bases, I applied a over-top coat of watered down white glue. This seals the sand down and once dry will go a long ways to prevent chipping and wear in the future.
Here I've now applied paint to the base, dark brown for where the water effect is going to go, light sand for the desert. I also painted the rocks a couple of different colours and drybrushed the rock with the same dark colour followed by the light brown for a textured look.
At this point most everything has come together. I drybrushed the entire thing with a light cream colour (bleached bone), then painted rings of darker and darker blues back to the rock ending with a black to try and give the illusion of depth. After this I added small bits of flock and in this case some aquarium plants to the base. For all intents and purposes, its ready to use now.
To finish things off I added water effect to the base. This has to be done in very thin layers or else it'll shrink and crack. but don't freak out if that happens, just pour small bits of water into the crack and it'll fill it in entirely. Depending on the depth this can take several days as you NEED to ensure the whole thing is dry before adding the next layer. If I remember correctly this took 5-6 days to complete.
And there you have it! A desert oasis/pond ready to be despoiled on the field of battle in the far flung corners of the universe!
Materials: Hot wire cutter, hobby knife, scissors, paint brush, modeling sand, aquarium plants, paints, water effect, pink insulation foam, 1/4inch mdf, white glue, drywall putty, and rocks from the garden.
Good luck with your hobbying!
Wayne
