Update:6 TAR7AN Board.

It has been a couple of months since I last worked on the TAR7AN board. The reasons for the delay were two fold. Firstly as I originally wanted it for a show and that deadline passed I was not inclined get it done after the show. The second reason was that I was not happy with the position of the waterfall and was not sure how to rectify it.

But let me come to the waterfall in a while. As you can see I have now finished the water. It was all done with different layers of yacht varnish from Wilkinson's. I deliberately put it on thick and used a disposable brush to encourage it into the cracks, gullies and edges. You can get about 12 "Artist" brushes in the 99p store which are ideal for this. Small enough and cheap enough so you don't have to worry about them. I am happy with the result. The water is finished, but I will add some reeds (tufts) later, when I add the foliage to all the board.

OK the waterfall. To me and I am sure some of you it did not look right. It cascaded far to far from the cliff face. I therefore took it off and re shaped it. I also lost about 12mm from the bottom. This 12mm has made a lot of difference it has moved plummeting water closer to the cliff face my about 55mm. It did leave a "scar" on the board. This scar was both in colour under the varnish but also a ridge of varnish which had formed as I dripped the waterfall each day to build up a texture. The simple solution was to sit a large rock (Slate from the garden) over the top of the scar. Again more varnish was applied to build up the water level, but also to "glue" the rock into position. The bottom of the waterfall was painted white and light blue to represent the splash of water falling into water. Again more varnish was dripped on.  And with that I have settled on the final look of the waterfall. You know me by now when I say final look I don't mean it! like the still water foliage needs to be added and pebbles added to the top to seat the waterfall into the landscape better. At present it just sits on the top and a better solution will be found.

This rock that I mentioned above has a nice flat top and is very suitable for perching a figure on top. We both know that someone will and I like the idea of a more dangerous entry point onto the board. So by keeping the ideas open and fluid it has helped. If I had planned it from the start there is very little chance it would have come out this way. So I have created a better solution from what was a set back. Big thumbs up to me, I'm very happy with how that part has evolved.

The remaining pictures show slightly different views of the waterfall and water around the stepping stone rocks. Nothing is perfect but this board is now coming together. As mentioned above Foliage is the next step and that could either make or break the board so I will be proceeding with caution. For now though I will put the board into storage wrapped in cling-film to keep the dust of as I start gathering materials for the Broadside game 2014. The idea for that is now set and I hope to start painting a couple of sample figures between now and the weekend as it would be nice to take a sample to the club on Sunday.

Anyway that is a future project and I will be starting it very soon, both the figures and the terrain. But that is another blog post on another day. So until next time, thanks for looking and I should have some painted figures (maybe not the samples) ready in two days time.

All the best Clint