Thursday 13 September 2012

Terrain Tutorial

This tutorial is the system I use for all my Terrain boards and features. The idea behind the common system is so that everything, figures/buildings/vehicles all key in. The colours described are for use in my current Helmand Project but are easily adaptable. For boards and terrain bases I use varying thicknesses of mdf. The tutorial follows the basing of an Afghan Compound but is true for any terrain feature or board.

What you need:
Play Sand
5 X Terrain Colours
Rock Debris
Grass/tufts
Wood Glue

Play Sand - This is well play sand, if you're near a fine sandy beach use that.
Terrain Colours - Dulux Matt emulsion paint in the following colours, Rich Praline 2, Treacle Tart 1, Dutch Gold 2, Sundrenched Saffron 4 and Moroccan Sands 6. Any Dulux mixing centre can mix you these, B&Q in the UK is a good place to start.
Rock Debris - Woodland Scenics Talus in Brown in the following grades, fine, medium, coarse and extra coarse. Mix the grades up in a small container so you get variation.
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Grass/tufts - Just one word, SILFOR tufts, I'm not beating the drum here but they are excellent, however you can use any sort of static grass.
Wood Glue - Any!

This compound was built and painted before attaching it to the mdf.
1. Glue the building to the base, I've used white glue.
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2. Working very quickly paint a thick layer of your base colour on the base, this is Rich Praline 2.
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3. Quickly cover the still wet paint with sand, leave to thoroughly dry, ideally overnight. Bare in mind that if your base is
particularly large you may have to work in sections as the paint drys fairly fast.
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4. You can now attach your talus(rock debris) using white glue. Do this randomly, make sure you don't lay it down regularly.
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5. When fully dry you can start drybrushing. The bigger the feature the bigger the brush. Darkest to lightest. This shade is
Treacle Tart 1.
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6. Dutch Gold 2
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7. Sundrenched Saffron 4.
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8. Moroccan Sands 6. (Very very light !!!!) I didn't do this level on this piece because I was happy with the colour.
9. Glue on your grass/tufts and you're done. :grin: Dougie.
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10 comments:

  1. is it coincidence that the news paper advert below the house is an add for "simply stunning Kitchens and bathrooms"? great tutorial I will come back to this some time.

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  2. great tut mate. Thanks for sharing :D

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  3. Very useful tutorial, thanks. Will use this for my first FoF 2'x2' terrain tile.

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  4. What colours are you painting your buildings? You've got a nice golden glow going on there...

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    1. Justin, its based around Dutch Gold 2, using the same Dulux paints as the groundwork.
      Dougie

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    2. Great, thanks Dougie, will paint my 15mm Kerr and King buildings accordingly.

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    3. Any chance of a quick walk-through on painting the houses please? Dutch Gold followed by dry brushing? Thanks!

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    4. I'll have to put something up, but you are right, basically get the building primed in a suitable dark brown, the main colour is then applied, Dutch Gold, and gently drybrushed up, remember when you've got a big block of colour you'll want a slight colour contrast for the drybrush not a large one.

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    5. Thanks, that's useful. Hadn't realised about slight colour changes on blocks of colour :) Anything you can post would be useful. I'm working at 15mm.

      Boards are coming along...

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  5. Thanks for the tutorial, finished terrain tile photographed here: http://www.modeldads.co.uk/Life-at-the-Front/wordpress/?p=5154

    Not as good as your's, but it's a start :)

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