Some Gentle Terraining

The past few weeks have had me pottering about finishing off some small terrain elements that have been cluttering up my workspace for far too long (all your fault, Curt). First, a few more tree base inserts, that can also be used as scatter terrain. This time, I made up some shapely bushes, using small scale woodland scenics tree armatures and clumps of rubberised horsehair.

I'm quite pleased with how they came out, particularly compared to my first effort. Though I found there was a bit of a knack to it making them. Getting the right size and shape bits of horsehair is the first hurdle. Then I just ran hot glue up the lower side of the branches. The trick is to wait just a couple of seconds for it to cool enough to not burn your fingers, but not too long so it dries, then swiftly 'pinch' the horsehair clumps onto the branches. Bigger clumps are easier with a slit halfway up them using scissors, making it easier to get horsehair sitting on both sides of the armature branch. Once firmly stuck, tease the shrubbery out and trim it back to a natural shape. Cutting across the curls of the horsehair gave the best effect.

I also added a fourth Sarissa adobe building to my collection, painted the same as the rest, though with added grit and tufts under the steps to the roof.



Thirdly, using some Warbases vehicle bases, I've created some makeshift defensive works for the Sudan. A few accounts have either side making low rocky barricades to provide some cover in the open terrain. I just used the small rocks sieved out of sharp sand, built up in a few layers using a hot glue gun.



They are low, but meant to be knelt behind, these chaps obviously aren't kneeling.



Finally, a sneaky peek. This Bengal infantry officer a test figure for the khaki I was planning to use for the Sudan, until I just got on and painted the 10th Hussars. So a fairly pointless test, but I finished him in a spare couple hours. The rest of the unit is on the painting table now and should be fairly quick to paint up. I'll finish off his base and take some better photos of the whole lot when they're finished.


Not enough light for the photo, I'm afraid

The weekend brings Salute, which I'm fortunate enough to be able to make again this year despite not living in London  anymore. My shopping list is quite reasonable so far, just some odds and ends and re-supplies. No doubt there will be temptations once I'm their, but so far I've resisted any urges for whole new projects. Hopefully I'll see and meet some of you there.