Friday 13 June 2014

A month of DBA #5 - if you go down to the woods today...


While waiting for my armies to arrive - the first element is nearly done - I made myself a wood. Or a forest, depending on what we're taking an element of 15mm little men to represent. So, a vast tract of trees for DBA, and a copse for a skirmish game. A useful thing to have on the scenery shelf. Incidentally, I have owned a Citadel Wood for some time, and haven't got past painting up the base... yet this, starting from a base point of some basic modelling materials rather than finely sculpted plastic, was table-ready in an couple of evenings. Go figure.  


The trees are N scale 'sycamores' from JTT Scenery Products (8 for £10.95 from Antics). JTT appear to make some fantastically realistic railway scale trees, though these seem to be from their 'budget' range (even with the packaging to hand I'm having trouble finding this exact pack of trees online). Nevertheless, they're really nice trees, better, in my opinion, than many of the more expensive scale model trees I have seen.

The bases are made from plasticard - the 'footprint' base from a relatively thick piece (relatively?! - like a fool I didn't keep track of the sizes which would allow me to replicate this process, or use the information to avoid replicating inadequate results) coated with a fine gravel/PVA/cheap acrylic paint mix to match the board. I've gone for a bit darker a shade of green/brown for the 'footprint'. 

The stands of trees use much thinner plasticard (too thin, in my opinion, as it has curled up a bit at the edges - also a problem for my road which passes through the foreground) 'roughed up' with Humbrol Model Filler. A few quick passes with Vermin Brown, Bestial Brown, Bubonic Brown, and Camo Green, and you've got a reasonable approximation of a forest floor - stick some loose green and orange 'sponge' on the base and we're done.

Coming soon: a very short shieldwall.

3 comments:

  1. Have you ever considered using old CDs for bases? They're strong, about the right size, and don't warp from the glue.

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  2. May I suggest using 2 or 3mm Foamex PVC for basing? I've used it for years and have never experienced warping.

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  3. I'd worry that CDs would create a far too regular look to the terrain.

    Gareth, does the Foamex PVC cut easily with a standard modelling 'scalpel'. I like plasticard as it is so easy to work with - in truth the warping is likely entirely due to going too thin, overexcited at the reduction in scale!

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