Terrain Challenge - The End is Nigh // The Final Flight

So having selected the 6mm foamed PVC I wanted for the project, I tapered the edges so that it would sit flush on the table. I took some expanded polystyrene that had come with a fan I had ordered for the horrifically warm UK summer that we had. Using my hot wire cutter, I carved this to the size of the base. I added more sections of EPS on top of this layer to build up the land form, so that I could start to visualise the piece a bit more. I glued these sections into place and added cocktail sticks to secure them as they dried.

Using the hot wire cutter, I removed the section which would form the road, made some more changes to the main undulating terrain and glued in some plaster of Paris rocks I made using the woodlands scenics rock molds.

Once I was satisfied with the positioning, I decided to add more undulation, so using my butane blow torch, I burned out a section of the foam. Despite still coughing constantly from the flu, I was successfully able to blow out the foam before the fire spread! I was left with this very nice hole, which may have come from artillery fire.

Now that I was satisfied with everything, I made up some sculptamold and covered the terrain in this. Using one of my bolt action tanks, I pressed tracks into the round section whilst it was still wet.

And the final part of the built began with the usual PVA and sand. I covered everything except the bare rocks and the road as I wanted to keep these with the sculpting that had taken place.

From here, everything was painted up. The ground covering was ‘Crawford and Black’ burnt umber acrylic paint with a little ‘Crafter’s Choice’ dark grey acrylic paint, a black wash I have made up according to the recipe from Luke APS, and then a dry brush of Crafter’s Choice Fawn acrylic paint.

The rocks were painted with the same dark grey with a little C&B black paint added, then washed with the homemade black wash, and then dry brushed with a ‘Crafter’s Choice’ light grey and then an extreme dry brush of the fawn.

Once this was dry, I positioned the plane for testing before completing the piece.