Monday 4 April 2016

Making fields and hedges

Other than playing one game, which turned out to be a very one sided affair, I decided to continue with building up some more terrain for my WW2 20mm armies. To date I have been getting away with 15mm terrain. A week or two ago I tried making one field (see below) which was ok, but will create storage problems as it is fixed on a 6" x 6" base.

The original field design in use
The scenario I played over the weekend required quite a few hedges to be present on the table, so I also wanted to have the flexibility to create hedge lined roads or fields. Here is my approach...

Materials used:

MDF 3mm board
Kitchen scourer (it comes in a pack of 6 in dark green)
Balsa wood 1.5mm thick
Scenery material (I use combined light green and brown)
PVA glue
Varnish
Green paint (I bought a sample pot at the hardware store in colour is very similar to GW Goblin Green paint)
Paint for gates (dark brown and mid-tan colours used)
Brown corduroy material

Step 1

Bases are cut out of MDF board 1" wide and 6" long.
The kitchen scourer is cut into strips. I was able to get 5 strips of 15-20mm (1/2" to 3/4") out of 1 pad to suit model size. The scourer pads were 6" long the perfect length.
These are then stuck onto the base with a good dollop of PVA.
The same approach is used for sections with gates, except with a gate sized piece of balsa wood.
Once the PVA is well and truly dry I trimmed the ends at a 45 degree angle. (I used tin snips to do this - they worked a treat).
Step 1 - Gate section on left and general section on right

Step 2

Paint the bases and brush over the scourer material. This was all very rough and ready - on finesse here.
Once dry paint the gate a dark brown.

Step 2 - bases painted and scourer strips brushed over with paint

Step 3

Once paint dry add the scenery material by painting the base with PVA glue and dipping in the scenery material.
With a steady hand paint on the gate details - no need to be too precise.

Step 3 - Add scenery to base

Step 4 (optional)

I choose to varnish (matt) the bases and gates.

Step 5

Cut the corduroy material into 6" squares.

Finished product

The pictures show the completed hedges with fields. I have also purchased some yellow/brown felt to mix up the field colours. I can now field 6-7 fields on my wargaming table (excuse the pun) or 6' and 6" of hedges.



8 comments:

  1. Good ideas and nice blog. Will be following from now on.

    Cheers,
    Aaron

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  2. Hi Aaron - Thank you for your comments. I enjoyed reading your blog, especially about lost battles as I have recently finished reading Simulating War by Sabin. I've have added you to my blog list - thanks.
    Regards, Peter

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  3. Very nice Peter, I love these.

    Jay

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Jay. I am thinking about using a similar approach for stone walls. I just need to find a suitable material.
      Regards, Peter

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  4. The shading on the gate is very effective while keeping its strength via being part of the structure - good stuff. I have just bought a scenic flock from a Woodland Scenic stand that is sort of a course dull yellow flock, I am hoping that it will give a 'crop' colour when I come to make some fields.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Norm. The scenic flock should be a winner. I'm wondering how putting some PVA on material then sprinkling scenic flock over it would go? Good luck with your crops.
      Regards, Peter

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  5. Nice one bud, they work really well.
    All the Best
    MrF

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  6. Thanks MrF.
    Regards, Peter

    ReplyDelete