Projects

Monday, March 14, 2016

Back into the Fields



Getting back into the swing of things I've decided to embark on a new miniatures project. I've been following along over the past year with the development of the The Pikeman's Lament at Dalauppror's blog. He has been working on a Thirty Years War version of Lion Rampant and if you have interest in the period or simply want to look at a lot of excellent miniatures across all periods you should check out his blog. Pikeman's Lament is scheduled for release in January so that gives me most of the year to get my stuff together.

While waiting for the first unit of figures to arrive I decided to make some plowed fields. These are basically the same as the one I made some time ago with a couple changes that I borrowed from a tutorial for flexible terrain on Dagger and Brush's blog.

I didn't have any plastic wrap so I used waxpaper instead. This turned out to be a mistake as its now stuck to the bottom of the piece. 
The first was using drywall joint tape as the base for the caulk. It makes it both stronger, thinner and more flexible than the felt I've used as a base before. I also glued a magnet onto one corner so I can attach individual pieces to it on the table. I'm thinking maybe a tree, wagon or other farming equipment. 



Next I spread the caulk over it. I've always had good luck with a paintable brown siliconized acrylic caulk so even though its a bit pricy that's what I used here. I used a chopstick to make some basic lines and the rest of the shaping was done with my fingers.


Next I sprinkled sand across it. The sand both adds texture and makes it less sticky when shaping.


The magnet is under the bits of grass in the upper right corner.

After that its the usual painting and flocking to finish it off. Since I don't have any miniatures painted up yet Launcelot and Merlin and are standing in for them.




I also got in the next stages for the project.







4 comments:

  1. Now that looks rather good, I shall be storing this away for a later date.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Michael I'm planning on making several more flexible pieces for the project.

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  2. Very nice indeed. I like the subtle indulations quite a bit. Looks like a field that has been cleared and is awaiting the first seed. I wonder if one could also embed some corrugated cardboard (only the "ridges") to get a more pronounced "freshly ploughed" look. I think using the wax paper really helped in making the piece stay absolutly flat. I had some issues with the corners lifting/curling with the plastic bag. How flexible did yours turn out? Could you roll it up? As I have some bark pieces in mine I don't think it would be a good idea, but I guess your field is flat enough to allow easy storage.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't consider the possibility of the waxpaper keeping it flat. I'll have to see if using plastic as the base makes a difference. It's flexible enough to be rolled up but I'm not sure how much it would flatten out later. I have been noticing that the thinner edges are curling slightly as well.

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