Terrain - part 2 - WIP

It's been a great weekend for terrain making, with probably the warmest days of the summer here by far - means the glue sets quickly!

So I had headed out into the garden to make a start. First up was to seal the MDF with a thin coat of neat PVA put on with a small roller. This cuts down on the dust from the stuff , and stops moisture absorption - which causes things to warp. I will give the finished result a thin coat of emulsion as well later. In the breeze and warmth the PVA took about an hour to dry off.

Next spread PVA as before over one side and affix the polystyrene.

I covered it with a piece of MDF and then added something heavy to press it down for a few minutes initially. Ice Cream sandwich anyone?

Repeat ......
Repeat.....
etc.

Now as Ray and Fran were not available I had to find something else to stack on top of the various layers. Of course you all have a bandsaw to hand don't you?- you don't.. Tish call yourself wargamers..

I piled things up as they came off the prodiuction line and at the end added extra weights - I knew those dumbbells would come in useful for something.

These were left overnight on a nice flat surface AKA the kitchen floor - Mr's D was not best pleased at my choice of location. - Memo to self must try harder to find somewhere better or at least pretend to find somewhere else next time.

So full of exictiment this morning I "volunteered" to make the breakfast. While it was cooking I laid them out on the dining room table (covered of course!) just to check alignment - all nice and flat and square! spot on.

Next job is to the strengthen the edges. So I ran masking tape around the sides, then an extra layer with half across the top and sides, any that had a bit of corner damge had extra masking tape put on.

This is pressed down using a small roller  to press out any wrinkles and make sure it is attached all ok. This covers any bits of holes and dents etc. No Mr's D - just because i have been in the deocrating tools box does not mean one will be doing any soon!

 Once this was done the masking tape had a layer of neat PVA appled and left to harden.

The basic road net was drawn on with a marker pen. What did the Romans do for us - roads - straight ones. So I will bend and wiggle these a little once the road plaster is applied.

Now you may notice a little problem with the bottom left board. Thanks to a strong stray gust of wind yesterday while dealing with last board it blew it away and smashed a corner of the last piece. So i am turning this piece into a river edge section with the road running down to the river at "Blue River Canyon"  - I will make a new section later - but waste not want not.

I have added a few small raised areas from foamboard and run some plaster around the edges to smooth them (there is more work to do here yet)- just ordinary powder plaster wall filler.

So that is the main 2 foot square boards well on the way and the hard bits done. I have the middle section of 2 foot by 6 inches (or may be now a foot having looking at it) to do later which will have the railroad added to it.

Next job with these is to add plaster/pva/texture to main areas, and texture the roads - let it  dry and then its  ready  for painting