The Moon's a Diarylea carton (Part 2)..... and relax

Well as you may remember just 5-6 days ago I posted (Part 1) and this is part 2 the final part. Well at least final for now.

Most of the rest is repetitive to do and needs to be left alone overnight. Perhaps longer if you applied the sand paint and glue mixture to thickly. THEREFORE do it somewhere it will not et disturbed, that is dry and no one  else wants to use and NO ONE minds if it gets dirty. IT WILL>

You will need 3 or preferably 4 (or more ) coats. It all depends on how much repair you are willing to do and how roughly they are to be treated.

Mix up the paint, glue and a small drop of water. You will know how much water with experience, and the only way to get experience is to do it! As a staring place I would suggest a LITTLE water. As it is just to thin the paint and the glue. I Try to use about 1 part water to 6-8 parts paint, it all depends on how much glue is already in the mix.

Paint the boards with this mixture. And then using a sieve sprinkle sand on the boards, making sure to cover all of the boards with first the paint/glue mixture and then again with the sand.
DO NOT try to brush the sand off!
Wait overnight (at least 25 hours preferred). For some people (Author looks sheepish) this is the hardest part

Repeat as mentioned above a MINIMUM of 3 times. (each time does make it stronger, BUT you do lose a little definition. So Plan on it taking 4 days  MINIMYM.


Remove excess sand at each coat. I find simply tipping it works very well. Repeat the tipping on all sides to make sure you have all the excess sand off before starting the next coat.

Keep the sand safe and use again on later coats.

If it is clumpy It has not had long enough to dry. Which means It has had too much water in the mix! If it is clumpy leave it alone for 2 more days (Perhaps longer is the weather is wet>.

While each step only takes 30 minutes or so, but drying time is MUCH longer.

When you are satisfied (remember a minimum of 3 coats and ample drying time). Paint it with emulsion paint your base colour. feel free to water the emulsion down a LITTLE as it then gives better coverage. If you water it down to much it will need 2 or perhaps more coats. (But usually not)

Leave it to dry (Again) overnight.

The final stage is to dry brush the op colours on. I use a 3"  or 4" brush for speed Bought in a pack from Poundland.

You will need to work up through the layers until you get to the highlight coat. So while you do TRY to keep brush marks out it is not a complete disaster if some occasionally show in the early stages.

Later coats will make any brush strokes less visible. feel free to work the colour into each and every contour. The boards if done properly should at this stage be strong enough, unless you are very heavy handed or super strong and determined.  But if you are maybe making terrain is not for you.

This stage should not take long if you have all the preparation done. If you start to early the sand will clump and you will struggle to get a good result. But I honestly finished the painting of both boards at this stage within 30 minutes. Preparation is the key and waiting for it to dry properly is VITAL.

DESIGN: When I made my first boards I had too many craters. So be aware of that. These boards have far fewer and are designed to allow other terrain features to be added later.

I decided on some open areas for 2 reasons. Firstly I did need some additional terrain , such as buildings (I will start a Farm in a week or 2), 2 because not every inch of the moon has been hit by a meteor, 3) some open spaces make a better game I have found.  (too much cover leads to a certain type of game and too little cover also leads to a certain type of game.

Finally:These 2 boards bring my moonscape (as I call it) up to an area of 6 foot by 4 foot. And if need be I could make it MUCH larger, limited only by time, storage and money. Ido not at this stage need a larger area so 6x4' is where (at least for now) I will stop.

Thanks for looking. All the best Clint