Tuesday 30 April 2013

Creating Hobbyshed Heights

For the first time in ages I'm hosting a game at the Arabian Towers Hobby Shed - a Chain Reaction/Reaction system demo/runthrough with view to starting play Two Hour Wargames 5150 - New Beginnings.

I've had some pieces of insulation foam sitting in the garage for years with view to making them into hills or something similar, so this was a good time to add some height to my sci-fi/urban scenery instead of relying on tall buildings alone.

Materials Used:
  • Foam insulation board
  • Fine sand
  • PVA
  • Black Acrylic paint (cheap craft store tube)
  • Grey Paint (DIY store tester pots)

The blocks are already in handy sized A4 chunks. I cut one block diagonally for some variety. Sealed the top and sides with watered down PVA and sprinkled fine sand on the tops to give some minor texture. The sand I've used is some groovy green childrens play sand that I picked up on clearance somewhere. The blocks will be stacked at times so I don't want any really chunky texturing on them that would leave large gaps or make for a wobbly surface.

After drying the blocks have now been given a coat in a watered down paint and PVA mix for more sealing and colour. This mix didn't give as good a colour coverage as I'd hoped so a layer of undiluted black acrylic was applied over the top (once dry).

Dry brush in grey, darker all over first and then a lighter shade. I think it is actually better to make the painting here a bit patchy so break it up. It's worth making sure the block edges get a good highlight so that they will stand out and stop the "flat ocean of grey" effect.

All done:


3 comments:

  1. Dude that simplicity is astounding. Great job - consider it stolen!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, guys. "Simple is as simple does" I think they say.

    ReplyDelete