Clarence Harrison - Back to the garage! To quickly cover a good portion of the hill with texture, I used irregular shapes cut from a felt-backed grass mat. These mats are obtainable from many model shops and gaming companies. I prefer the felt-backed mats to the more common paper-backed ones because they form better to irregular shapes and hold up better when covered in layers of filler, glue, and paint that comes later. I painted the felt side of the mat with watered down PVA glue and placed the section on the side of the hill. Then I used straight pins raided from my wife's sewing chest to hold the mat tightly in place while it dried. The excess can be trimmed away later with a sharp hobby knife. Instead of using the grass mat, you could resort to textured paint or layers of flocking. I've used all of these methods, but I prefer the mat as I get fast results and it instantly smooths out any imperfections in my layered insulation board.
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To quickly add texture to the hill, I cut rough shapes from a felt-backed grass mat.
These are attached with water-downed PVA glue and held in place with straight pins until it dries. |
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The pins hold the material to the foam until the glue dries.
Afterward, I cut off the excess with a sharp hobby knife. |
The key to making great terrain is to use different layers of textures. I normally work from large to small, meaning I place large boulders and stones first, coarse rubble next, and finally fine texture. After the grass mat dried and the pins were removed, I glued my building and walls to the hill. Then I set out to add some variety to the hill itself. From the start, I wanted this to be a rocky slope. My favorite material for adding weathered rock to a model layout is pine bark chips! These are available from any home and garden center and when painted offer very realistic results. I glued the chips down is layers to look like stepped rock exposed over time. The best tool to use for this is a hot glue gun. White glue will work, but the chips are so light (and hard to weight down), it never seems to form a very good bond. Hot glue dries almost instantly and the end result is very strong. To blend the rocks into the hill and cover the rest of the exposed foam I applied a water-based joint compound with a putty knife and smoothed it out into the grass. Then once again, it was time to let things sit overnight to dry.
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To simulate exposed rock, I glued down pinebark chips(available from all home
and garden supply stores). To blend them into the hill and cover the rest of the exposed foam,
I used a joint compound filler. |
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Joint compound applied with a spatula blends the "rocks"
into the hill and covers the rest of the exposed foam. |
The next day I added the next level of texture. There are many commercially available flockings and ballasts available, but my secret rubble material is coffee grounds. A large tin of this stuff costs only a few dollars but will last for years. I just painted random patches of white glue on the hill, especially concentrating on the areas around the large rocks, and sprinkled on the coffee grounds. While this was drying, I turned my attention back to the building or more specifically the wall. To add more detail, I used strips of the Spanish tile to top the wall and even add a few single broken tiles to the ground around it. Also, my original plan called for a large cross on one of the pillars, but I found a terrific model of a medieval monk (from Wargames Foundry) languishing away unpainted in one of my many storage bins and decided to turn him into a statue (not pictured yet)...
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The secret to building realistic terrain is layers of texture. My favorite material for large rubble
is coarse coffee grounds. A can of the stuff costs only a few dollars and will last you for years.
Simply paint some patches with white glue, sprinkle on the rubble, and let it dry.
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Next up we start painting and turn this mess into terrain!
