Page One
| BACKDROPS | ODDS AND ENDS | TREES AND BUSHES | HOUSES AND HUTS |
MAKING SCENERY
I've never been happy with the model railroad style of scenery that is all too common on wargames tables or in dioramas. It doesn't look right.
One evening, I was looking at a couple of Elastolin hedges and I thought, "I know how this was done!"
Here's what I use:
- Acrylic modeling compound
- Acrylic tube paints to color the compound
- Sawdust
- Shredded foam
- Balsa wood, cast trees and bushes, etc
Mix the modeling compound with an appropriate color, let's say a dark green. Remember it will dry a bit lighter than you think it will. Then mix in sawdust until you have a sticky, slightly plastic mess. If it is too stiff, it will not stick, so watch out for that.
You can then apply it to whatever you wish, building bushes, low hedges, or patches of grass. To build a hedge, make the shape you want out of balsa wood, glue it to a wood base and then apply the sticky mess to it until you have what looks like a decent hedge.
Ground can be made by using model railroad ballast or a very fine sand instead of sawdust, coloring with brown and / or green and spreading it / building it up over the bases until it looks right. Work it up against the edges of feet and so forth with a paintbrush.
You can see how this technique is used in my Collector Figures page.
Now, what is outlined above is much too heavy to make trees with. So, instead of sawdust use finely shredded foam, making sure that the color is right. I buy the shredded foam that is available in model railroad shops. It's pretty heavy even still, but the first time you drop one on the floor and it does not break will tell the tale.
Putting foliage on trees takes patience; remember that all of the sticky mess needs to dry as one solid object for it to hold together under stress, and you must build the foliage a piece at a time, letting it dry between layers. You can also thread fine string or wire between the branches to give the sticky something to grab onto.
( Elastolin used real twigs for the trees, but I tend to use the cast trees [Woodland Scenics] available in hobby shops. )
This stuff needs a long drying time, but it dries hard as rock and is damn near unbreakable. Once it's dry, then dry brush other colors for highlights and wash shadows until you are happy with it.
Longer grass can be made from cut rope stuck into the wet mixture. It looks very good indeed. You can also sprinkle railroad grass lightly over it while its wet, and stick in a couple real rocks.
With experience, you can even model flowers and build rose bushes and the like, and the modeling compound makes a very good plaster for house walls .... but be sure to color it white or off-white, or paint your walls, as the compound tends to yellow with age if not colored.
Remember when you are building castle walls and such to keep your trees well away from the wall. Trees provide cover, so castellans tended to cut them back from the walls, and to keep vines and such cut down. Remember that a castle is a fortress, not a picturesque visual.
All scenery in the Scenery section is 25mm unless otherwise stated
BACKDROPS
I also got a little irritated at the tendency of the eye to "fall off the edge of the world" looking at the edges of a wargame table, so I designed a means of making that a little more bearable ( other than using flat painted or printed backdrops. )
What you do is build a little forest by cutting out a silhouette of a forest from thin plywood, and glueing it to a base that looks something like this:
..... and then you fill it in with trees, foliage and whatnot ( after painting the backdrop silhouette ) to get a three dimensional effect. You can also build half-trees out from the back to add more depth. It winds up looking like this:
Can you see the crossbowman-hunter and the deer? This will sit on the edge of the table and give the eye something to look at rather than a stark table edge. You could probably build a full-scale castle, or a row of houses this way, with a little effort.
ODDS AND ENDS
If you are doing an exotic layout, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom, go get some of the wierder plastic aquarium plants. They work very well indeed.
For more tips and tricks, go to TerraGenesis Wargames Terrain or the Scenery FAQ for some very good ideas and techniques.
Battlements in England does some exquisite work. Take a look and drool!
