20mm Terrain

All About Trees

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 2 Comments

For some reason the other day i was looking at my trees on my wargames table and was overcome with a feeling of dissatisfaction with the way they looked. As a consequence i then spent a long time surfing and researching buying or constructing new woods and forests to replace my old ones. You can go down the crazy expensive route of ready made trees from some of the big scenery producers, but these will set you back in excess of $10 per individual tree. They will look good but i really could not justify $150 woods. There were also plastic armatures available which you then construct, but these looked unnatural and fake in my opinion, and were not too cheap either. Then i read numerous tutorials on twisting wire into trees and covering with flock and foliage, or buying seafoam and doing the same. Even buying seafoam was going to cost me $50 before i had even created one tree. So every direction i turned looked financially unacceptable or too time consuming for my marginal patience levels. Time is money apparently.

As quite often happens in life, i ended up going full circle, right back to where i started, and dug out a pack of trees i had bought on eBay from Hong Kong or China somewhere. For $10 dollars, delivered to my door including postage, you can buy ten to fifteen trees, depending on height. Their colour was a little too martian or goblin green, so i sprayed them a dark foresty green to dull them down a bit. I then gave them a brushing with PVA glue and dipped them in some more coarse green flock. Then another coat of green spray paint to blend things in. This also keeps all the flocking on. The trunks and visible branches were painted brown and i mounted the trees onto randomly shaped MDF bases in groups of four to six. I added some modelling clay to the bases where each tree was to grow, so it was built up a little and meant there was more depth of base to insert the tree into. After covering the bases in sand and gravel and more green flock, i drilled a hole for each tree and glued them in.

So really i came to the conclusion that the best solution was to keep buying super cheap trees from China, but spending a little more time sprucing them up. For less than one dollar a tree you cannot go wrong. I think i need to make a walled apple orchard or maybe some lemon trees for my village…..

Charles Grant’s “Battle – Practical Wargaming”

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 3 Comments

While Gavin Lyall’s “Operation Warboard” was my number one, go to rule book, back in the eighties, “Battle – Practical Wargaming”, by Charles Grant, was my silver medal, or my second most read volume. Actually both books were my big brothers, and i just used to borrow them and read them over and over again. I decided to reenact one of Charles Grant’s scenarios from the book. Its a very simple joust between some Panzer IVs and some T34s. I changed it a bit and had a couple of troops of Panthers and Panzer IVs take on a troop of Shermans and a troop of Cromwells.

I based my terrain on the map in the book which you can see below. It gave me a chance to try out my new folding tables i picked up on Gumtree. I also repainted all my river sections with a paint thickening medium to create a wavy texture, then gave them a coat of greeny brown acrylic paint, plus a top coat of gloss varnish. I was really happy with how the end result came out, far more realistic than my previous bright green and blue artificial looking waterways.

Funnily enough my big brother is lining up as the opposition in this little fight. Only 30 years on since i borrowed his book in the first place……… Will post some action shots when battle commences.

Armourfast Panzer IV

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Armourfast make a big range of awesome kits for the wargamer. They come two tanks in the box for not much more than five dollars per tank. You really cannot get any better value than that anywhere in the 1/72 scale world of plastic models. I bought these Panzer IV’s to join my Italeri Panzer IV and make up a three tank troop. I have also previously blogged about the Armourfast Cromwell tanks, i think my first post back in October.

You know what you will get with Armourfast, two sprues (one per tank), and minimal parts. These panzers can be put together in minutes with their one piece track and running gear, two part hull and maybe four or five piece gun and turret. If you are looking for super detailed, accurate models, then these are not for you. But if you want good looking tanks, affordable, quick to build and ready to roll onto the table, then these are a great product.

Best thing is you can dress them up a bit and add some bells and whistles. Adding some stowage items, a commander in the open hatch, and some decals really makes up for the basic detail of the kits. I added my own stowage from SHQ and Value Gear, commanders from AB figures and Battlefield miniatures, plus decals from my growing bag of spares. I tried out a different camo scheme, which is more of a blotchy three colour as opposed to my usual stripey ideas. Aerials also added from stretched sprue glued into the thoughtfully provided holes.

Overall another great offering from Armourfast and makes me want to run out and try more of their kits. Photos below as my brace of tanks enters the edge of town looking for a scrap……

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Laser Cut MDF Buildings by In The Greenwood

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I had been scratch building all my own Normandy village constructions, but felt i needed to try out something professionally made to balance things out. Oh and i have also got kind of tired of foam board, balsa and modelling clay. On my internet travels i stumbled across the In The Greenwood Ebay shop and then their own web site at http://www.inthegreenwoodlaser.co.uk

They do a range of laser cut MDF buildings in HO scale which are excellent value compared to other companies i had a look at. At around $20 Australian per house i thought this was a pretty good deal, so i ordered three of them. Although I think they are aimed more at Railway people, and are not actually French but rather Victorian, i reckoned i could make them fit into my Normandy landscape without too much problem!

As with other HO Scale manufacturers i have investigated i was worried these buildings would come in too small compared to my own creations and also my range of 1/72 scale models and figures. What a happy chappy i was when they came in around 120mm tall including my extra MDF base and fit perfectly with everything else i had made. The kit comes Ikea style in a flat pack box, amazingly packed in. So i got to work building my first one which was the Victorian Pub. I decided to make it as a restaurant instead.

All the pieces are very cleanly cut and i only had trouble with the bay windows at the front, as the holes in the bottom section did not match up with the holes in the top, so i had to do some carving to get it all to fit together. The instructions follow a step by step process which are a little hard to follow as there are no diagrams, but as long as you are not Stevie Wonder wearing boxing gloves you should be OK. The whole kit goes together with a bit of PVA glue. I added an MDF base to keep it all together, and to create a garden area at the back. One great thing is that the roof can be left removable which is perfect for all you wargamers! I did add some supports inside the roof to give it some extra strength.

My Brasserie painted up nicely and i added a sign on the front and a Martini ad on the side wall, both ideas i borrowed from other designs i have seen out there on the internet. Overall these are great little kits and fit nicely into my village, i am looking forward to making the other two kits i purchased. Check out my village photos below and you can see the MDF constructions fitting nicely into my assortment of home made houses

Airfix Willys Jeep and S-Model Willys Jeep in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 3 Comments

The Willys Jeep is an absolute essential to any Allied army group, and let’s face it they are one of the coolest vehicles of World War Two. I just want to keep on buying and building more and more jeeps! You can never have enough jeeps in my opinion, great for loading up mortars, MG Teams and officers who don’t want to get their boots dirty!

The two models i first got my grubby mitts on were from S-Models. Two kits in a box and good value for what you get. You can build your jeeps with a canvas roof or without and a 50 calibre MG instead. The detail is pretty amazing but that does mean the model is quite a fiddly prospect. On both kits i managed to destroy the shovel before even getting it off the sprue. I also managed to snap at least one axle just during removal. The kit also comes with some photo etched parts which get really tiny. It’s worth the effort but you need to bring your tweezers and patience to get it done. The S-Model jeep is excellent and i would highly recommend getting a few. In picture two the S-Model is on the far right.

I also picked up two Willys Jeeps from Airfix and was just as impressed. Less detailed and simpler to put together, compared to the S-Model kits, the end result was just as good. If you prefer an easier kit with less fragile parts then the Airfix kit is for you. The box includes some extras with a pack howitzer and a trailer, which are an added bonus! The Airfix kit comes with a transparent front windscreen and frame, one of which i managed to destroy in an attempt to mask it off while spray painting. I just left it off the completed jeep and i think it just adds to the battle torn look.

A few extras were added to my vehicles including some stowage from various sources like Value Gear and SHQ. I needed some British crew and drivers and as usual AB Figures have the best jeep riders you can get! A great set includes drivers, officers and various poses for passengers.

Photos below, convoy on the move and some parked poses shots!

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Ruined Buildings Part 3

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 3 Comments

So finally after all that construction it’s on to the paint job! Everything was painted a black acrylic as a base coat or primer. That gives the whole thing a good starting point and makes sure all the shadows are emphasized. I painted the undamaged rendered walls first, one a sand colour and one a pale blue. The insides were all painted a dark grey as more than likely they would have burnt in the fires/explosions that must have occurred. Previously i have used wrapping paper with a very small pattern on it as wallpaper. You could easily find a pattern on line and then print it out to a small scale to use as wallpaper for some of the internal walls.

The rubble and debris was also painted dark grey and then dry brushed with lighter shades to a very light grey. The exposed brick was painted a mix of bright red and a terracotta red. I also painted random bits of debris with the same red as many bricks would have fallen around the house. To illustrate the mortar i used a fine brush and a light grey to draw thin lines in between the detail on the exposed brick. The bits of wood on the floor, the roof beams and the internal floors were all painted a dark brown. I left plenty of black on the roof beams to suggest the charred nature of the remains. All the window lintels and shutters were painted white, and needed a couple of coats to get them right. I just used a black biro to draw on the shutters, much easier than a paint brush.

The roof tiles were painted grey and then randomly painted with lighter greys to mix them up a bit. I left plenty of black areas near to blast holes. Finally i lightly brushed black around all the damaged bits to show the extra effects of smoke. To add that extra bit of detail i found some cool French signs on the internet, printed them out and stuck them on the buildings with a lot of PVA glue so they look painted on. A bit of green flock on the base and hey presto the finished ruins.

See my photos below including some British units just nosing around in the smoky ruins! Over and out Colonel Mustard.

 

 

Ruined Buildings Part 2

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I have continued working on my ruined buildings, and have decided to split the process into three blogs as otherwise it would be a bit heavy on the pictures. However, I did want to detail each part of the construction, so here goes!

To create the piles of debris inside and outside the ruins i first glued lumps of modelling clay at positions on the base next to the walls. I did this both on the interior and exterior in a random way, still leaving decent areas of the interior floor bare. I then covered these raised areas in PVA glue and sprinkled a decent amount of dirt/gravel from my front pathway on top. The stuff out the front of our house is perfect for producing random debris. You can see the construction taking shape below.

Next up i need to add a texture or render effect on the walls to get rid of the smooth finish of the foam board. I do this by mixing a fine sand (pinched from the play ground around the corner) with a paint thickening medium i found in my art box. You could do the same with sand and PVA glue mixed up. I then paint a liberal layer of the stuff onto all the exposed walls, making sure to stay away from the exposed brickwork and the window frames, and let it dry. This makes an excellent texture to paint on the outside of the houses.

To add a bit more character i needed to make more rubble and debris for around the place. The rubble i made with more modelling clay by rolling out a large flat piece to about 1-2mm thick and when it was half dry cut it into small cubes. I made a big pile of bricks and rubble this way. I also chopped up bits of balsa wood into broken beams and bits of roof. This extra debris was then glued on top of the original piles, and new small piles were also added just using the new rubble.

The whole building was then painted with black acrylic. Be careful not to use a cheap spray paint on foamboard as it can dissolve the inner foam part, and therefore would destroy all your hard work carving the brickwork. Last but not least i made a framework for the roof sections out of balsa wood and roof tiles out of more modelling clay. The damaged removable first floor sections were also made with balsa wood. I just drew floorboards onto the balsa wood using a biro which creates a decent paintable effect. So now all the bits are made all that is if left is to paint and construct. We will see the end result in Part 3!

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Ruined Buildings Part 1

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 2 Comments

I wanted to make some more ruined and battle damaged buildings for my table top, and thought i would document the process with the help of Colonel Mustard.

First up i drew up some rough plans and designs. There are plenty of places to get inspiration, the internet being the most obvious. I settled on making a house that has its centre completely blown out and a half flattened, heavily damaged cottage. I use 40mm per storey as my basic measurement (although in my drawings i did change to 35mm but then changed my mind back). Doors are 15mm x 30mm tall and windows 20mm square. I sketch out the basic plan and measurements as you can see below.

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For the base i use a 15mm border around the bottom of the building. In this case i only put a border around the front and back as i wanted to be able to place the ruins adjacent to each other with no gap to form a ruined terrace. My next step is to cut bases out of 3mm MDF, making sure you calculate the correct width and length of your building plus any border required. I then draw my building design onto 5mm foamboard. Most houses end up as four pieces as they are no more complicated than a box. I guess this is why i object to paying through the nose for purchased buildings as they are little more than an MDF or plastic or resin box that is decorated! I can do that for less than $30 per house.

Once you have accurately drawn your building cut it out carefully using a sharp knife. Try and keep the knife perpendicular so you cut straight through the foam and don’t leave any wonky angles. Cut out all the window and door frames too.

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I then cut away some of the card covering on the foamboard where the building render has been damaged. You can draw guidelines around some of the damaged walls and then cut through the card outer layer. Slide your knife under the card layer and peel if off carefully. Then with a ballpoint pen draw on exposed brickwork. When you press on the foam core it creates a texture which looks really good. Then its glue your box together on the base  with PVA glue and leave to dry.

Then its a question of cutting out 20mm x 5mm sections of balsa wood and gluing them into the windows as frames. i also add 20mm x 5mm balsa wood as window mantels and lintels. Above the doors i also put a 15mm x 5mm lintel. On the inside walls i add balsa wood beams halfway up the building, which indicate where the floor would have been, or if you do put some floor in they can act as supports.

At this stage our ruins look like this. In my next post we will do the building texture, rubble and debris, the roof and finally painting!

 

Normandy Bocage Part 2

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Following on from my blog a few weeks ago i recently finished more bocage sections using the same techniques as before. MDF bases with coconut fibre foliage flocked heavily with a bright green. Some sections include trees sticking out, which is apparently how these hedges evolved. Some sources put bocage up to 5m in height so with a scale of 10mm to 1m I made these sections up to 50mm tall. They definitely look the part and will block line of sight nicely and make my Normandy battlefields look more and more realistic.

I laid them all out with a home made ruined building and a few German armoured vehicles cruising through. Check out my photos below!

Normandy Bocage with Coir Coconut Fibre

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After further internet research i made some new bits of terrain for my Normandy battlefields. Passing through my local Bunnings Warehouse i stumbled upon a big bag of coir coconut fibre for about $6.00. Having read a few blogs about making bocage out of this stuff i thought i would give it a go! Normally this fibre is used for lining hanging baskets and gardening things like that, but for me it was going to become a 5 metre wild hedge on top of a bank/ditch. I think i read an excellent blog called “Little Tin Men” where the idea was illustrated so well.

I cut strips of 3mm MDF 40mm x 150mm and then glued strips of old cut up expanded rubber camping mats (about 6mm thick mats) and glued them on top of the MDF. When they were dry i would carve the sides to be sloping to represent the banks of the bocage. You could use any kind of foam or polystyrene for this too. I then coated each one in acrylic gap filler to smooth out the whole thing. When that was dry a liberal coating of PVA glue followed, which was covered in fine dirt/sand/gravel from my front yard. Regular sand would do the same job. Small twigs and sticks were then jabbed into the foam to give the hedge some structure. I put about 4 twigs into each section. You can also use bigger twigs that turn into trees sticking out of the hedge.

It was then a question of dipping sections of coir fibre into PVA glue and adding them onto the bocage sections building it up to 30-40mm high. This gets messy! Do not worry about being neat and tidy just get the fibre onto the base! I am going to try a hot glue gun next time as i have read good things about this gluing weapon. Once the PVA and coir is dry i attacked the hedges with a pair of scissors to tidy them up. Next a full spray of cheap dark brown paint covered the whole construction.

For the foliage I used a nice coarse bright green flock, but you can use whatever you have kicking around. I think multiple greens work nicely. Paint or spray on diluted PVA glue (50/50) to the hedges and then sprinkle on your flock. Don’t be stingy just chuck it all over the place. Shake off the excess and leave to dry. I did this process twice with different types of flock. Finally i mixed up a 50/50 PVA/Water mix in a spray bottle and sprayed the whole construction again for extra durability.

Final touches were to paint the base an earthy brown and then dry brush lighter brown to pick out the texture and light grey to pick out any bigger rocks. The base was then also flocked with a grassy green to finish it off! The same process i used for some trees on a base, which you can also see below.  I reckon this is the cheapest and most effective way of making big sections of bocage for all your Normandy battle fields out there!