Friday 29 May 2015

Moon scape part (2)

Just going to get this one in today and then no more until Monday. Yep next blog post will be on Monday.

So starting with the top 3 photos we have the moon boards now sealed with PVA white wood glue (Resin W) mixed in with black and brown paint. This helps to cover up the sand colours before painting. I use a ratio of 3 parts paint to 1 part glue and 1-2 parts water. I am sorry I can't be precise on the water as I go by viscosity and that will vary with the make of paint and make of glue.

The most important thing is to make sure everything is coated and the boards are sealed as we go not want all the sand coming away or rubbing off. (Some does eventually I know but it can be minimised with sealing and gentle handling.  As you can see in the second photo the repair is no longer noticeable (bottom left corner of the large crater. You will also note a slight uneven ridge on the left where an old crater has been removed.  Now to my thinking this looks good and not at all bodged giving the boards a more natural feel. If anyone makes an issue of this I will simply say maybe a crater hit there eons ago. But no one will, well no one who has not read this and wants to be a smart arse!

The third Photo again shows some slight depression or ridge where a crater has been removed. And before much paint goes on I think it looks like a credible moon scape.

Painting is really quick. I really mean that. Both boards were painted in about 30 minutes total. I am not precious when it comes to colouring these boards as I just want to get it done to an acceptable level without the need to sweat and swear at the boards.So That's the plan for me. I use a mixture of Black and white Acrylic from the works (two tubes for £5) and that does the whole lot with about as much left to spare.

 Painting is all done with a 42 decorators brush from the 99p stores. There really is no need to use anything smaller or more expensive. The bigger brush covers everything very quickly and you don't mess about trying to get it to look perfect. You just get on with it, no fuss, no stress and no hassle.

I start dry brushing from a very dark grey and just keep adding white to the mix when ever I run out of paint. And needless to say the lighter tomes tend to be on the most prominent features. It may not be like that in real life, I don't know I have not been to the moon. But for me it looks right and I am happy with it and that's what counts as far as I am concerned. technically it may very well be different, but if it is I will never know. So without degrees in "astrophysics" or similar I am Okay with how it looks.

All in all this remodelling took about 5 hours from start to finish (Not including paint/glue drying time) so something most could do over a long weekend. It does take longer if you are starting from scratch but I was not.

I hope you like the look of the new boards and I hope/plan to get a game on them in the next 6 months if not sooner as my UFO project comes to life.

Thanks for looking today, have a good weekend and treat yourself as I am sure you deserve it. I shall have a beer tonight with my evening meal before you ask.

All the best Clint out!



28 comments:

  1. A great posting to set up the weekend, Clint. They look wonderful and I'm looking forward to seeing them in action. Have a terrific weekend yourself :-)

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    1. Cheers mate. I feel this weekend my be a disappointment. But It can't be fantastic every day some weekends are going to be better than others.

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  2. What fantastic terrain boards these are shaping up to be - great stuff Clint!

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    1. Thanks Paul, but those boards are finished for now. There may or may not be a moon base in the future I have not decided. But for now no.

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  3. This turned out brilliantly. Those uneven ridges are perfect and make things more realistic. The terrain should be rough looking like this. I think you could sell boards like this to gamers.

    I've a quiet weekend planned, which is what makes me happiest. Tonight I'm fixing home made pizza which takes hours. But it's one of The Hubby's favouriites and usually after that, he's in the mood to give me money to buy mini's.

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    1. Thanks Anne I am quite happy with them. As for selling them, I would rather not as they would have limited appeal I suspect. Most wargamers will never use moon boards.

      Sounds like a good weekend,

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  4. The boards do look the biz Clint, nice one!

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    1. Thanks Ray, I can think of no historical wargames that could use these boards I am afraid.

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  5. Great work - these look fantastic!

    I'm looking forward to seeing more on the project when it comes.

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    1. Thanks Edwin the speed of the project may slow for a while now as I get on with other things. My interests are many and Varied.

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  6. Creative and impressive!!

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  7. Looks excellent (and you don't even have to worry about trees or other such decorations!) I'm already looking forward to a battle report set on this terrain ;-) .

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    1. Thank you C6. It is an advantage to have no trees on the terrain boards. But what an interesting thought to have trees on the moon!

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  8. Superb! I had to go back and look at the first part of the base, but love the progress and they really have taken on a new lease of life.

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    1. Cheers Michael. I think they have turned out very well, all things considered.

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    1. Thanks Millsy. Yes it has the face of a pock marked teenager!

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  10. Great stuff, Clint, I do admire a bit of top-shelf terrain, and this qualifies in spades!

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    1. Thank you Evan. As wargamewrs we all tend to like terrain but mostly concentrate on the figures more

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  11. Lovely job Clint! A moonscape to be proud of. May you spill much blood across it. Can't wait for your UFO project to run.

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    1. Thanks Bob. UFO will take a while as I have only just scratched the surface of it.

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  12. Hi Clint - amazing work; congratulations! I just came across these pages on a random search and am delighted to have done so. I have been experimenting in making similar landscapes, using Polystyrene, papier mache and ('cheating' with) Citadel Miniatures' plastic craters, used as moulds. I'm pretty much a complere newbie to blogging and would love to save you articles to read offline; is there a simple way to do this? Also, I would like to share the images of my much humbler work with you (and discuss techniques); how may I post said images in a 'reply', or do I need to initiate a separate discussion?

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    1. Thank you Starfish for the kind words. I am afraid I do not know of any way to reply with photos.

      Feel free to drop me a line though. Email is Clintburnettagain(at)Hotmail(dot)co(dot)UK

      Hopefully the series of posts does show a step by step guide to making a moon scape But I am happy to answer any questions if you have anything specific.

      As for "Cheating" there is no such thing! And there really is no point at all in reinventing the wheel. If someone else has done it use it. I would.

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