MODELLING

RICHARD WINDROW
D13mID
MODELLING
TERRAIN
MODELLING
TERRAIN
MODELLING

Richard Windrow

~
MODELLING
To my wife Avril, who said I cou ld do it, if I tried .
And to myoid fr iend C harles D avis, who lent me
the camera and enabled me to do it.

i:l 200 I Osp rey Publishin g Limited

First published in 2001

by Osprey Pu blishin g,
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Botle y, Oxford OX2 91.1', U K
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Ed itor: .\ lartin Wind row

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ISIl:" I 84176 062 5

Introduction & Acknowledgements 6
Ch apter I: Preparation, Materials & Techniques 8
The Basic Ground 17
Ch apter 2: Rocks, Cliffs, and a Mount ain Torrent ., 20
Ch apter 3: Grass & Fields, Hedges & Bushes 32
Ch a pter 4: .\lodelling Trees (w ith Barry B owell) 48
Ch a pter 5: An Autumn Wood 58
Ch apter 6: Scorched Eart h {Fire Effects) 66
Ch apter 7: Jun gle : 74
Chapter 8: Xlore Water Effects 82
Chapter 9: Sand & Gravel ( Beach (s Desert Effects} 91

Chapter 10: Tracks & Roads 100

Ch ap ter I I: Xlodern Surfaces 110
Chapter 12: Snow & Ice 11 8

\ppendix: Sources of produ cts 128

 ike me, I am su re you have see n
L many an excellent model - whet her
'kit-bashed' or 'scratch- built' - spoiled
by be ing placed in a setting tha t docs it little or
no justice . H ow often have we seen a
beauti full y painted mo unted figur e of a
Napoleonic hussa r, placed on a lifeless stret ch
of green 'lawn' with no variation in colour or
length? Or -1-5 tons of Panther tank parked on
rur f on which it has not made a single t rack
mark - how did it get t here? Was it lowered by
a crane? By t his lack of imagin ation and failure
to go t he last mile the creator of what may be a
prize-standard model sabotages the whole aim
of his many hours of effort - to create an
accurate impression in miniatu re of a tank on
the batt lefield . It is heartbreaking to sec a
brilliantly made and painted mod el set in an
cmbarassi ngly unsuccessful att empt to
rep rod uce miniatu re terrain , so t hat the
contrast instantly destroys any impress ion of
realism.
These mista kes arc seldom com mi tted
because the modcller is too lazy, or doesn't
care how the finished scene will look. All
modellers want the end resul r of their work to
show to the best advantage . I believe that the
primary reason they make t hese mistakes is
because while manv mod cllers have excellent
refere nce sources for figures or vehicles, when
it comes to the sett ing they probably have no
6 TERRAIN MODElliNG MASTERCLASS
references at all, and don't think about t hat
problem until it is too late. Couldn't the chap
who made the Nap oleonic hussar have found
a picture of an 18th centu ry country lane,
rather than placing his supe rb figure on an
uninspir ing strip of astrorurf? None of us
would attempt to build the model without
some pictorial reference, so why should we
have to make the rest of the diora ma from our
imaginatio ns? It's much easier to look at
p ictu res; modify t hem to suit your own
particular pu rpose, by all means, but give
yours elf a soun d basis on which to work.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
T he purpose of this book is to t ry to help any
of you who have difficulty in reproducing t he
great outdoors in your dioramas. T he met hod
I have adopte d is to model, and take step-by-
step photos of, a number of areas of different
kinds of terrain - in most cases, as 6in x Sin
vignettes - to illustr ate the way I work. T his
size suits the popular scale of ll35th, and
saved me from the imp ossible pressure of
making a couple of dozen fullsize dioramas
specifically for th e book. At the same time I
have incl uded photos of some already finished
dioramas; and also a few outdo or shots , which
I hope will inspire you to gathe r your own
useful references for future projects.
Ob viously, in a book of this size and with
the time available, I have not been able to show
an example of every type of terr ain that you
might possibly wish to model, but I hope I
have been able to cover many of the main
subjects. T he me thods used are, I believe,
fairly simple and don't call for any painfully
expensive tools or materials. Virtually all the
materials I've used here are readily available in
the LK, and I have include d an Appe ndix at
the end of the book which lists where I
obtained the various brands and prod ucts.
T he chapt ers are organ ised in a roughly
logical seque nce; but the meth od of working
through a series of vignettes has prevented me
from keeping each aspect of terrain rigidly in
its own section. In particular, note that water
effects arc covered in a number of chap ters
apart from the specific descrip tions in Cha pter
8 - e.g. in C hap ter 2, where I incorporated a
- --------'" -------- --------'" " - --
Chapter 7, where the jungle shrouds a swamp No book is the work of the autho r alone, and
or sluggish stream: and in Chap ter 9, where I this one is no except ion. I am most grateful for
co ver beach scenes. In the same way, trees the assistance of a number of people, but first
receive detailed attention to Chapters 5 and 7 and foremost must be my brot her Martin who,
as well as Chapter ~ _ in his role as 'Attila the Editor', encou raged
In describing the more basic processes I me into writing this book and then translated
have tr ied not to repeat myself [00 often, so the it into a readab le version of the Queen's
chapters are probably best read in seq uence; English . :'oly wife Avril showed an almost
if 1 seem to rush through the explanation inhuman patience, as I used all our spare
of some particular step, check bad. - it is evenings and weekends to model, photograph
probably covered more fully in an earlier and write - I promise we'll go out next year.
chapter. Others who have been most helpful include
In my long and sometimes frustrating years Charles Davis (who whittled more sticks
of modelling I have come across many tips and for palisades than you can imagine), Barry
ideas for creat ing realistic terrain for my Bowen, Lyn Sangster of Hisrorex Agents, Ti m
dioramas, and I make no claim for originality Hawkins, Gerry Embleton, Roy Di xon, Bob
in what follows. Some of the effects shown Wyau of Scale Link, and Dominique Breffort
here arc indeed of my own invention; many are of Figurines magazine. T han ks also to Adrian
not, so if you come across your brainchild in of Seymour Harrison Photographers, and
these pages, my apologies, but I'm sure you John at Andrew Colour Laboratories, who
would not begr udge my passing it on to a both answered my idiotic question s on
wider audience. photography with unfailing cheerfulness.
I should like to add a couple of final points.
T he first concerns the matter of colour. Those Richard JVindrorP
members of the modelling fraternity who Fo!lu stone, Kou
build. say, tanks , attempt to match the Ja nuary 200/
colour schemes as accurately as possible to
con temporary references, colour chips or
colour photographs. Articl es in modell ing
magazines often give you the exact percentage
of the different colours to mix to obtain the
finished shade. When I set out to build a
diorama I'm afraid I can't do this - because
'v lorber Nature doesn't either. I look at my
references for a particular scene, and the n I
mix colours and apply them to the
groundwork until it satisfies my eye. It is a
question of trial and error, but you will find
that this is not nearly as difficult as it may
sound; you will know when the thin g looks
right, and that is when to stop.
The second point concerns the type and
period of modelli ng subjects you choose.
While my own interests lie in the wars of the
20th century, modelled in 1135th scale, the
basic methods and materials I show here can
be used - with a few minor modifications - for
creating miniature settings for virtually any
subject, military or civilian, at any period of
history, and in all popular scales.

INTRODUCTION 7

BELOW RIGHT Unsurfaced
tracks nearly always show a
str ip of scuffed grass
bpTwppn the wheal tr-acks •
throughout history up to the
19th century (and often
thereafter) most roads used
by armies have been
unsurfaced ones like this.
BELOW The edge of a field in
early autumn. The grass doesn't
just 'stop' when it reaches the
hedge; a fringe of long, yellowish
wisps grows out of st ill-green
sho rter grass and weeds, passing
out of sight under the bushes or
hedge. (Thanks to Ge rry
Embleton for taking all the 'real
terrain' photos in this book.)
8 TERRAIN MO DElliNG MASTERCLASS
PREPARATION, MATERIALS &
TECHNIQUES
REFERENCES
OU cannot build a convincing piece
Y of model terrain from me mory or
imagination. As with the building of
any model, the first thi ng you need is good
reference, both historical and geographical.
To take an obvious example , a Eur opean
modeller who decides to build a diora ma of the
landings on Iwo J ima is cer tainly going to need
pictorial reference if he hopes for a convincing
finish (incidentally, the sand was black).
Put together a collection of pictures of
natural surroundings, taken in different types of
terrain , at different seasons and in different
weathers. For World War II and postwar
sub jects colour photos from old issues of
magazines such as The N ational Geographic are
immensely useful and well worth collecting, as
arc black and white shots from Lift and Picture
Post; back numbers of all these can be picked up
quite cheaply at second hand bookshops and
boot fairs. Well illustrated travel and natural
history books showing most corners of the earth
can be found easily in public libraries. Films and
videos can also be a good source of reference;
you' ll be sur prised at how much background
detail you can sec if you ignore the main action.
If you have friends living in Britain or
abroad in countrysi de which differs from your
own region, ask them to take photos for you of
their part of the world; in this wayyou can build
up a good reference library for furure use. I
recently picked up a small pack of colour post-
cards taken in jungle and rainforest, which gaye
me some excellent reference on tropical trees
and jungle floor growth. Such photos don't
have to be limited to natu ral sur roundings, of
course; get hold of pictures of airfields, military
ranges, castle moats, derelict farm buildings,
factories, anything you can thin k of - you will be
sure to find a use for it one day.
Old paintings reproduced in books and
catalogues can be a great help when modelling
periods of history tha t pre-date the camera .
T he basics of ter rain may not change oyer the
cent uries, but the look of the countryside
certai nly does - roads and lanes, bridges,
walls, hedges and othe r fi eld boundaries, and
patterns of cultivation are all characteristic of
their regions and periods. It would be a shame
to set your model 15th century knights against
a post- 18th cent ury hedge.
An obvious point is that even when you arc
going about your norma l daily ro und you
should keep your eyes open. You may assume
that you know what 'landscape' looks like; but
most of us live in towns these days, and we ·
can't summon up automatically an accurate
mental picture of the det ails of the countryside
which we need if we are to make convincing
model settings. No opportunity to 'scout
locat ions' for your modelling should be
missed. T he colour and texture of different
tree tr unks, the variety of coloured grasses and
weeds in a single meadow, the appear ance of a
hedge covered in frost - notice them all.
Look at t he grass alongside most roads and
trac ks: th e first few inches are nearly always a
dead yellowy-tan colour, which slowly grades
into shades of green as it gets further from the
edge. Under hedges you'll find that the grass is
long and wispy where it hasn't been cut, and is
stones will tend to be up the centre strip and
along either side, leaving the smaller gravel
in the two flanking tracks ground down by
wheeled traffic or pedestrians. ~l ost military
movement in any period before the 20th
century took place on such unsurfaced roads.
A second good reason to keep your eyes
open when you are out and about on foot is, of
course, to spot useful-shaped twigs, etc.. to
turn into trees. It might raise a few eyebrows
when your friends see you diving into the
gutter every now and then, but it' s worth it. If
you are lucky enough to live near the coast. try
to pick up small pieces of bleached dri ftwood;
these are excellent for modelling deadfalls
and branc hes in your forest scenes. Trying to
reproduce that wonderful silvery colour of
old, dead wood can be tr icky, so why not use
the real thin g? (T he fallen tree trunk in the
'Icy Pond' vignette on page 121 is a piece of
sea-polished driftwood .)
across a very useful piece of kit in an arts
and crafts shop some while ago: a rechar geable
aerosol spray. You just unscrew the top, fill
with water or Scenic Cement and replace
the cap, then pump up the pressure with the
pump provided . It has a vcr)· small nozzle
and this enables you to just 'mist' the liquid
over your scene. rat her than blasting a jet
of water across it. I find this particularly
BELOW The real thing. Get
useful if I have a large area of plaster to paint,
off th e beaten track and use
such as a rock face. Before applying the paint,
your eyes - these mossy rocks
mist water to which you've added a small and sinister "Arth ur Rackham'
drop of washing up liquid m-er the whole roots offer dra matic settings
piece, and you'll find that your colours will key for a single figure or a small
into the plaster much better than if painted group creeping th ro ugh the
onto a dry sur face. woods in any historical period.

TO O LS

The tools which I use to create groundwork

are simple; inexpensive and easily obtainable.
You need a jug for water, plastic mixing bowls
for plaster or Celluclay, and cheap throwaway
brus hes - for spreading plaster and Celluclay
and for colouring the results. It 's not worth
getting decent ones clogged with paste and
plaste r. Spatulas and a fairly flexible oil
painte r's palett e knife are also useful for
applying and shaping the groundwork, and
most art and craft shops will have these in
stock. If you' re on good term s with your
friendly neighbourhood denti st then have a
word with him and see if he has any old denta l
tools to spare; these are very handy for some of
the smaller tasks and more delicate shaping
you may wish to do. It is always a good idea to
have at least two modelling knives to hand; 1
personally use the brass Swan .\ loreton type
with :\'05.10, lOA. 11 & 26 blades. You won't
use these as much as you would when building
a model kit, but they are a useful addition to
your toolkit nonetheless.
A spray bott le of some kind to ' mist' water
and /or thinned out PVA glue is handy; but if
you use it for glue give it a good wash out with
warm water as soon as you finish, or you'll find
the nozzle is completely clogged the next time
you reach for it. Woodland Scenics sell a spray
bott le for use with their 'Scenic Cement ' (see
Ma terials, below). T his. makes the coverage of

PREPARATION, MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES 9

 the Waterloo road in 1815 -
note the wide ve rge of chumed-
up earth each side of the paved
carriageway, typical of highroads
t hrougho ut Europe in the
17th to 19th centuries
(see pages 107- 109).
A flour shaker is ideal for spreading fine
'ground cover', snow and static grass. It lets
you sift on a nice even coating and prevents
lumps and dumps from forming. I picked one
up in BOQ[s th e chemists for about £1 .50. I usc
a pestle and mortar, bought in a kitchen
supply shop, for grinding up dried leaves and
herbs when I need 'scatter' to go under a
hedge or leaf litter on a forest floor. T his is
much quicker than crushing it between your
fingers, and you can get the pieces much finer.
Another useful gadget I picked up in a
kitchen supp ly shop is called a cakemaker's
turntable over here, but I believe in the States
they arc referred to as ' Lazy Susans'. Inte nded
to be used when icing cakes, they make ideal
bases on which to stand a model while you're
adding stuff. You can keep your hands off the
groun dwork and turn the model to any angle
you like without knocking lumps off or leaving
fingerprints in th e fresh plaster.
Finally, I always keep an old hair-drier to
hand. It is very useful sometimes for 'hu rrying
things along', and for creating ripples in 'water' .
I picked one up in a junk shop - I wouldn't dare
liberate the other one in the house.
MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES
T he materials you use to create your scene can
be as cheap or expensive as you care to make
10 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
them. Shep Paine, the ' grand master' of Amer-
ican diorama rnodellers, was once asked what he
used to achieve such realistic dirt effects; he
replied, 'dirt'. Where you can, usc the real thing.
The bamboo stems in the 'Cave-Busters'
diorama on page 81 are actual stems from a
miniature bamboo in my garden, with paper
leaves added. Good effects can be achieved with
all kinds of twigs, roots, dr ied plants, CK., and it
is always worth checking the dried flower stock
at your local florist's shop. At the other end
of the scale, you can buy very detailed photo-
etched brass foliage and.complete tree kits, but
these will naturally cost you rather more.
T he accompanying photos show a variety
of the materials that I use, including grass
and gravel matting, static grass, ground cover,
pclyfibre, plaster of Paris, Celluclay, plaster
bandage, white PYA glue, and various other
items. These come from hobby companies,
model shops, florists' and doll's house suppliers,
and are all fairly easy to obtain. Rather than
repeating the same basicadvice over and again as
I describe the different vignettes in subsequent
chapters, brief explanations of the use of these
materials follow here. (For sources of a ll
product s m entioned in this cha p ter, see th e
Appe nd ix on page 128).
Glues You will obviously need different
glues from time to time when building your
Rapid or Evo-Stik Extra Fast Wood Adhe sive.
On occasion you' ll wan t a glue that can be
..pr3~'ed onto th e groundwork; you can, of
cou rse, just let down your PYA with water, but
I len d to usc Wood land Sc enics ' Sceni c
Cement. T his is, almost certainly, simpl y a
thi nned-o ut PYA; but ir gives me just the
~ t consistency every time, and rather than
fiddling about mixing my own I can just pour
hb into a spray container and I' m in bus iness,
llh the excess going back into th e bott le.
\ noth er good poin t is that it drie s to a matt
linish, so you don 't get the light picking up
ipUkly reflections among your bushes. Woodland Scenics do produce an amaz ing ABOVE This turntable came
In a later chapter I de scrib e th e use rang e of excellent materials. They stick very from a kitche n supply shop. It
another specialist ad hesive mark eted by easily with PVA glue, and are qui te economical is ideal for rotati ng your
\\OOdland Scenics, called Hob-e-Tac, so I as well. J ust place your diorama on a sheet of model, enabling you to wo rk
newsp aper and scalier your ground cover on. on any aspect of it witho ut
n't repeat myself here .
getting your fingers in wet
Wh en the glue has drie d, carefully tip the
groundwork.
Grass .\latti ngThis can be bought from most mod el, or blow gen tly across it ; you can shake
!BOdel railway suppliers, model shops and the surplus ofT th e paper and keep it for
BELOW Virtually all the tools I
several cra fr companies; the par ticular matting another day. use for my dioramas. On the
ust rated is from Gaugemasrer. It is useful to Ground cover is also useful for making left is the 'Arty's' refillable
as an unde rlay when you have fairly large foliage for your tr ees. I usua lly usc aerosol mentioned in the text
.aeeas of flat grass to put down, suc h as on an photo-mount sprayed onto t he frame of the (see also Appendix on page
.wi1eld . You can vary the colour and text ure of tree , stick on poly- fibre, sp ray once again, 128).The tools in the centre all
. by adding patches of static grass to it, or and t hen scatter some of the finer flocks on to came from the 4D Model Shop
Jr)--brushing a contrasting shade lightly over it the fibre. T his is the lazy man's way, of course; and are ideal fo r spreading and
a random fashio n. Another useful trick is [Q for trees which look like t he real thing, see shaping small areas of ground-
et an area of the matting - say in the shape Chapter 4. wo rk. On the right are spatulas
and an artist's palette knife
a path, or a circular pat ch for a gun emplace-
from my local art shop.The
-.mt. Leave it to soak in for a while and the n, Stat ic G rass T his is also available in a range
clear jar with the perforated
-'ng a spatula of some kind , scrape over thc of colours, from brig ht spring shade s to dead disc in front is for scattering
dam p surface; th e grass will peel off, leaving winter tones. It is made from nylon flock and large areas of static grass or
ou with a clear area [Q work wit h. is best ap plied with a shaker, onto areas of your some of the finer ground cov-
S imilarly, Gravel Matting is usually used model over whic h you have pr eviously sprayed ers. Glass mixing rods are great
10 represent ballast under th e t racks on a an adhe sive. If you drift it on from your hand for stirring up Celluclay or pias-
mod el rai lway layout, bu t it can also be or a spatula it tends to clump. I should warn ter as they wipe clean so easily.
used for any gra velled area you want - paths,
par l ing areas for tr ucks, and so on . L ike t he
~..s matting it is glued to a tough paper
\
hid ing; it can be cut with ordi nary scissors to
shape it and is flexible enough to follow t he
contours of your groundwork.

G ro u nd Cover I often use ' ground covers'

from Woodland Scenics in the USA, which are
made from ground- up latex ru bber. T hese are
available in a wide range of colour s and
textures, enabling you build up from very light
cover re presenting gra ss to very coarse cover
for weeds. I' m not quite so keen on using
the ext ra coarse for hushes or shrubs, since I
pre fer to make these up from wire, plaster and
poly-fibre; but, this said , ou r friends at

PREPARATION, MATERIALS & TECH NIQUES 11

Very basic work with grass mat
( I) damping an area to be
'shaved' for a track;
(2) the 'grass' is scraped off,
leaving the paper backing:
(3) a neat gravel path is added
from Talus ground cover stuck
down with PVA.

RIGHT Rubbe rised horsehair,

used for making a low ungte of
bushes.
•

or" • • :
,-'
•
: ."
-
..., , , . ,', "

RIGHT Plaster bandage, used

over ro ugh form ers as the basis
for a frozen riverbank scene .

12 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERCLASS

j " \..i l' ~i \..i" h . [II" "X"": c IM I i. V I .I U U I mUU lO l
"'Hy'DiiO~~r
t hat you want to grass over, othe rwise you' ll
find you' ve got it growing on your buildings,
figures, tan ks and anything else in sight . As
.=-
CASTING
PUSTEFl

:~ -
soon as you have appl ied the grass, blow \ ....0

gently across the model from one side; this

will cause the little fibres to stand up, creating
a very realistic effect. You can obta in a nice
appea rance of varied grasses in one plot
by mi xin g th e various co lours, and by
dry-brushing once it has dri ed .
Another mate rial available is Fi eld Grass.
This is finer and lon ger than st atic grass, and I
use it anywhere that tall reed s or grasses are
needed. Ir is available in a shade of green or a
ligh t tan, but you can colour it with acrylic
paint if you wan t different finishes.
Po ly-fibre T h is is a very fine . nylon-li ke
wadding which, when teased out, is ideal for
t he basis of tree foliage, bushes, ctc., and can
also be used for ground cover. Stretch it out
far eno ugh and you can use it for vines and
creepers on your hillside or jungle floor, or as
a base cover on the framework of a hed ge. You
can add any type of flock or leaf scatte r to it
with PVA glue to create different kinds of
foliage.
Rubberised Horseha ir This material has
a hund red-and-o ne uses, but you will
proba bly bless it for enabling you to create (at
last) realistic brambles, tangled unde rg rowth
and hed ges. It is available in blocks or in
hed ge-like strips, an d can be secured to the
groundwork with PVA. It is covered with
small, uneven blobs of what I assume to be
dr ied adhe sive - t his merely adds to th e
appea rance of leaves growing. Tan gled ground
cover is one of t he hardest types of growt h
to model con vincingly; it is seldom, if ever,
just one layer of a single growt h. Look at
bushes and hedges: some grow vertically, some
at an angle and some horizontally, They grow
into each other and mingle with th e growth
un de r th em . T o make realistic ta ngled
und ergrowth you must add it to your d iorama
in layers, starting with the grass or weeds and
working your way up to th e coarsest or tallest
growth - in ot her words, do it the way natur e
docs it.
One more t hing: as far as I' m concerned,
lichen is only good for making camel thorn
bushes in a desert scene or a pr ickly growt h in
a jungle sett ing. A strip of green lichen for a
hedge just doesn't do the job.
Celluclay I must admi t to a great liking ABOVE Roughly clockwise
for working with Celluclav, Originally only from left back: Glass Etch
available from the USA, but now to be found aerosol, for frost ing plastic
in many UK outl ets, Cellu clay is a packet of surfaces to look like ice;
Lightweight Hydrocal plaster.
instant papier machi which you mix with water,
for casting rocks and adding
as you would plaster, but unlike plaster it docs
layers over plaster bandage:
not set to such a smoot h fi nish. Unless you are Ce lluclay insta nt papier rnache
modelling icc or still water you want a textu red for bask groundwork, and
finish to your groun dwork, and Celluclay can FADS fin e surface filler; Nimix
be controlled to give you as ' lumpy' a finish as Artificial Water: Artist's
you want . Another bonus with this product is Medium gel (gloss). and Loctite
that, unlike plaster, if you mix up too much for Wood Bond Rapid f7IIA glue;
the job in hand you can just leave it in t he plaste r bandage:Woodland
bowl; the additio n of water will bring it back to Scenics roc k moulds; ultra-fi ne
a workable texture, after any interval up to po ly-beads for snow effects:
earth-colo ur pigment for
about a week. If you can't find a stock ist
co louring Ce llud ay;Woodland
of Celluclay near you, a good altern ative is
Scenics Scenic Cement and
Claycrete, made by the American Art Clay Co.
Hcb -e-Tac adhesive.The two
of Indianapolis, US A. This is anoth er instant plastic bottles, one with a
papier macM and is also available in art s and black cap and one with
crafts shops in Britain. white. are a tw o-part resin
called Ultra-Glo from the
P laster Both plaster and plaste r bandage, Micro-Mark company in the
which both set after the addition of water, USA; I use it to recreate
will almos t cert ainly be necessary for your wat er. It is very easy to
dio ramas. Wh ile Celluclay is excellent for the use since you do n't have
complicated ratios of hardene r
basic soil areas of the model, for your rocks
to resin, you just mix it 50/50.
and cliffs you need something toug her which
The Rainbow cement
can be shaped, sanded and painted. I prefer co louring is JUSt that - it's used
the plaster bandage as it sets much qu icker to dye cement, so it's ideal for
than th ick layers of powdered plaster. This can co louring plaster and Celluclay.
be found in most good chemists' shops, and
this is usually a cheaper way to buy it th an in
br and-named packs in model shops.
Dampen the bandage in a bowl of water
and dr ape it over th e shape of your slope or
hillside; it will natu rally follow the contours of
the groundwork . Once you have completely
covered th e area you can, if you wish, add
furt her layers. One is usually enou gh un less

PREPARATION. MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES 13

 ABOVE The Field Grass on the
left is fro m Woodland Scenics, as
are the packs of Talus. In the
centre is a block of rubberised
ho rsehair: and on top of that a
pack of sand from the German
company Busch, which I found in
a local model shop. Behind the
pieces of driftwood is a st rip of
horsehair that you can get for
making instant hedges: the twO
jars in the middle ho ld Deluxe,
another type of resin to create
instant water.
14 TERRAIN MODElUNG MASTERCLASS
you are cover ing a very large area or have [0
bridge a fair-sized gap, in which case you will
need to make some form of suppor t such as
cardboa rd or plywood for mers. Make up your
shapes and then lay the wetted bandage over
them; wait a few minutes and it will be ready
to take paint or grou nd cover.
Powdered plaster, on the other hand, is
tougher and more suitable where you need
some really solid scene ry; thi s is the best
medium for cast ing rocks. The type I favour
is Li gh twei ght Hydrocal, which has the
advantage of working just like plaster of Paris
but, as the name im plies, the finished casting
weighs only about half as muc h. In a fair-sized
di orama this can be a serious consi dera tion.
Snow Effects In the photograph on page 13 a
small pile of 'snow' is just visible. T his comes
from the 40 Model Shop and is, in fact, made
of minute separate poly-beads, so fine that if
you tip the container they flow across the
surface like water. T his material is ideal for
freshly fallen or powdered snow. (Do take care
not to sneeze while applying it to the model, or
[0 inhale with your face too near it - it is
sensible to wear a mask while working with it.)
Once it is in place, drift some hairspray across
it to hold it down. Don' t spray directly at it or
you will just blow it straight off t he model -
hold the aerosol parallel with th e sur face
and let the spray drift down onto the snow. If
you're just addi ng a dusting, gently blow it
about in swirls on the grou ndwork to simulate
the effect of the wind on powdery snow. Again,
you can hold it in place with a drift of hairspray.
Other mate rials for snow inclu de baking
powder and, for slush, Alu m BP - another
mate r ial which you can buy at a chemist. Both
can be mixed with PVA or secured with a
coating of hairspray, To add a bit of sparkle to
your snow, take some Alum HP, which is
cr ystalline, and crush it to produ ce a vcry fine
powder. Add this to whatever you are using for
snow, and the light will pick up reflections
from the tiny crystals. An altern ative to this is
to buy the packets of snow sold by Hu dson &
Allen Studio in the USA (sec Appendix); th is
incorporates ' sparkle' in the materia l, and can
be used straight from the packet. (They also
make useful packets of Muck and Slus h.)
For really heavy snow the best medium is
plaster, added [0 water until you have a thick,
creamy mix that will just about pour from the
bowl. Pour it over your bu ildings, fallen trees ,
boulders, etc., and let it set. If you've got the
mix just righ t it will flow slowly down to the
eaves of a roof and then stop, just before
dropping off. Even if some docs fall off, it
doesn' t matt er - that's what snow docs.
Rock Moulds Wh ile you can make rocks by
moulding plaster over formers made from
taped -u p balls of newspaper, the best resu lts
arc obtained by bu ying some of Woodland
Scen ics' Rock Mou lds. Ma de from heavy-
duty rubber, these moulds enable you to cast
a variety of different types of rock: stra tified
mix your plaster, till the mould, and tap It on
the table ro remove any air bubbles. Once the
plaster is set, simply peel off the mould , and
you are the proud owner of a detailed lump of
rock that would have taken Mother Nature a
few million years to form.
Ta lus is the broken-up remains of rock - the
slopes of scree seen on mountainsides are rock
talus. Woodland Scenics make three grades:
coarse, mediu m and fine. This pumi ce-like
material is ideal for all kinds of broken rock,
stones or gravel, and can be scattered amongst
larger, moulded plaster rocks to great effect. It
comes in two shades, natural and brown, but
you can paint it with acrylics to change the
colour.
The photo graph on this page also shows
some other items you can usc for stones,
including lentils and split peas. Both these are
good for representing water-smoothed stones
in the bed of a stream, but use them sparingly,
mixing them up with a variety of other stones
- they are usually of a uniform size, and too
many of them in one area look very art ificial.
Wat er Effec ts One thing to bear in mind
before discussing the various mediu ms that
you can use to represent water is that, before
using any of them on your diorama (with the
exception of painted plaster), you must ensure
that you have securely sealed the bed of your
pond or river, using layers of PVA or varnish.
One useful product is E-Z-\Vater from
Woodland Scenics. T hese are small pellets of
resin; you tip them into a disposable tin can,
and heat them on a stove until they melt.
Don't heat them for too long or they tend
to go brown. Once you have an almost clear
liquid in the can, lift it off the heat with a pair
of tongs and pour the resin carefully into the
prepared depression in your model.
Another medium for creating water is
two-part clear resin, of the sort used to embed
items for display. Alex T iranti is a useful
source for this; he also provides a booklet on
how to use the stuff (see Appendix).
Available from H istor ex Agent s is an
imitation water called Nimix. This is a gel
which you melt down and pour into your river
or pond , leaving it to 0001 and set. It comes in
two tints, and the very faint olive green shade
is the one I would almost always use - it is an
ideal colour for almost any type of standing
water.
medium to create puddles and wet areas on
your diorama; but if you don 't want to wait for
ages for it to dry, only lay on a th in layer - it is
not the medium to use for creating streams or
pond s where you need any real depth. If you
wish you can tint it with acrylic paints to
achieve a muddy appearance; but it dries very
clear and your groundwork colour will show
through, so you may prefer to let this provide
the colouring in your puddl e.
If you don't want to get involved with resins
or melting stuff down, represent water by using
clear or tinted plastic sheet. Paint the bottom of
the pond or stream in shades of dark and light
earth colour, grading from dark to light as you
move from the bottom out to the edges. Plant
any weeds or stones you want; and then lay your
plastic over the pond . Hide the edges by
covering- them with Cclluclay or plaster and BELOW The feathers at the
add some groundcover, reeds, etc., to bring the back can be coloured a
growth right down to the edge of the water. suitable shade and used for
droopi ng foliage or some
WARi\"I:\'G I must point out at this stage that exotic jungle growth.The rear
resins should never be used in a room with three piles are Woodland
poor ventilation. The fumes of what is, after Scenics Talus in coarse,
medium and fine grades .The
all, a fairly potent chemical can be quite
middle row are a heap of
dangerou s, and anyone using these materials
ground -up kitchen herbs ;
shou ld not only ensure good ventilation
lentils;and the meltable
but would also be well advised to wear a beads of Wood land Scenics
mask - these are available cheaply in many E·Z·Water. In t he foreground
hardware stores. Child ren should never be left are split peas, and leaf-litter
unsupervised by an adult if they are intending made from the seeds of dried
to let them use any of these mediums, nor if silver birch catkins.
PREPARATION, MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES 15
 pack is ideal for creating a
heath er effect.
ABOVE This flour sifter is
JUSt right for covering areas of
your diora ma with static grass
or snow.The mesh is pretty
fine, so it is really only effective
for these two materials.
16 TERRAIN MODELLI NG MASTERCLASS
they are building a model using some of the
more potent adhesives, whose solvents can also
give off dangerous fumes.
Miscellaneous materials The accompanying
photos show various materials which I some-
times usc for foliage effects. Feathers can be
coloured a suitable shade and used for drooping
foliage or some exotic jungle growths. For the
all-imp ortant 'ground scatter' representing
fallen leaves and litter I have had good success
with the ground-up seeds from dried silver
birch catkins. The kitchen provides ground-up
herb" - very useful, and they smell nice, too.
I usc bot h bass wood and balsa wood in my
models, usually for trees but also for large
timbers; both are obta inable from most model
shops. Bass wood is better when you want a
nice smooth sur face on which to work and to
paint. Balsa is better for such things as tree
stumps and hollow tree tru nks, as it has a more
fibrous textu re and can be made to appear
more lifelike. If you have to use balsa for some-
thing requiring a smooth finish, rub it down
with line wire wool before painting or varnish-
ing, as this will remove most of the fibres.
I' m well aware that this section of the book
appears to be almost "oldy about Woodland
Scenics products, and since they produce some
of my favo urite groundwork materials this isn't
surprising. Contrary to appearances, however,
there are many excellent ground work materials
produced here in the UK. T he 4D Model
Shop in London markets an excellent range of
scenic materials und er the title of 'Green
Scene'. A company called j avis Countryside
Scenics make various ground scatters, includ-
ing a granulated cork which is ideal for fallen
leaves, litter under hedges, ctc.; they also mar-
ket a very good tar macadam finish, as you will
sec later. Scale Link, initially best known for
their World War I figures and accessories, now
market a wide range of etched- brass foliage
(sec the 'Ju ngle' photos on pages 74-75 ), and
also tree kits. I have tried to include as many of
these companies as I can in the Append ix at the
end of the book, as well as any other useful
addresses.
PLANNI NG YOUR PRESE NTATION
cfc rc you go to great lengths to create
B your diorama or vignette, it's worth
spending a bit of time thinking about
how you will present it to your admiring
audience. I am assuming, at this poi nt, that the
finished scene will be built up on a rectangular
baseboard . M ost dioramas have one side
whic h you have chosen to be the 'vie wpoint',
so a rectangle makes sense, but it also allows
you to rotate the scene easily to be seen fro m
another side.
O nce you have decided up on t he dimen-
sio ns of your baseboard, get a piece of
Med ium D ensity Fi breboard (.\l D F) of the
same size. T urn ing it ups ide down, fit a small
' foot' at each corner so that when place d on a
table or d isplay benc h you'll be able to get your
fingers under the edge to move it. If you
intend placing it on a po lished su rface it would
do no harm to get a piece of 'sticky- hack'
green baize and p ut a piece on each foot .
Turning your hoard righ t side up again,
score the top with a hobby knife to give a
roug hened sur face that will allow glue to get
a good gr ip. Apply adhesive across the who le
surface and then press your diorama baseboard
onto it; weight it down with a couple of books or
anything else suitable, and set the whole thing
aside to dry. You can leave it at that if you wish,
hut once you r model is buil r you mig ht not be
too happy with the raw edges of the ,\lOF that
will he showing all arou nd the base. The easiest
way to sma rten this up is (0 buy some instant
mould ing from your local D IY ou tlet and, after
carefully mitring the corners, to stick a length
to each side of the base. Finish it off bv either
polishing or painting the fra ming .
T he p hot ograph below sh ows another
way you can finish off your mo de l. The
baseb oard has been set temporarily ins ide a
custom-made wooden frame, which can be
finished to taste. I am no woodwor ker, so I
asked a colleague to make me this base in such
a way that I could use it for any of the
vignettes whic h I would be building on the
same size of baseboards. It is made like a
picture frame, and is rebated inside to form a
ledge at t he same depth as the th ickness of my
base hoard so the vignette sits level with t he
fram e. A piece of hardboard has been glued
underneath to bra ce the rectangular fra me
fir ml y, but a hole has hee n left in the centre
of the hardboard so that , when I wish to
change the model on display, I just pu sh up
gently from un de rneath and lift it out for
replacement. When working on the mod el
with the baseboard dro pped into t he frame I
pro tected the latter with maskin g tape. (Any
plaster that slopped over the edges of the
baseb oard when I was worki ng on it out of the
frame had to be pared off, of course, so that
t he base would still fit within the framc.)
This idea is quite useful for models of
all sizes. If, like me, you have a limited amount
of display space in your home, you can 'ring
the changes' and dis play one of ;1 number
of dioramas at diffe rent times, ra ther like a
pict ure gallery changing its exhibition.
LEFT T he 'Slash & Burn'
vignette from Chapter 6, set in
the 'pictu re frame' display base
described in this section.
PREPARATION, MATERIALS & TECHNjQUES 17

ABOVE Even a bit of gravelly
soil and a few ferns add realism
to a small vignette, such as this
Scimitar on the ranges -
Salisbury Plain,
perhaps!
18 TERRAIN MODELLI NG MASTERCLASS
PLANNING YOUR LAYOUT
Before you even start on your base you m ust
sort out a num ber of points tha t will affect
your choice of materials, paints, and so on. We
must assume that you have settled upon a
particular geographical area for your scene
and some part icular time in history. You now
decide up on the time of year and the terrain. A
spring or summer setting will call for a palett e
of br ight greens and ochres whereas a winter
scene is m uch more effective if you use greys,
blues, blacks, and even a touch of mauve here
and the re - this gives it the necessary cold feel.
If you r choice is the autumn, t hen your palette
will be comprised of shades of Raw Sie nna,
Burnt Umber, Burnt Sien na and Ochre.
Once you have a clear me ntal pict ure of
the scene in which you are going to place
your model, your next move is to look at the
propor tion of model to groundwork. Of
course, the final size will probably be dictated
to a degree by the amount of space you have to
dis play the finished diorama ; but you don' t
want the impact of you r model swam ped by
the scene ry - and conversely, neither do you
want your T iger tank hanging over the edge of
the baseboard . It obvious ly depends upon
the subject - a single figure, or th e Retreat
from M oscow. For a min imalist ap proach, see
the pho tos on this page. This base is quite big
enoug h to display a fairly small model, while
t he modest amount of gravelly soil and
bracken gives a nice representation of a British
mi litary range somewhere in the H ome
Counties. Get t he balance right; the idea of
the groundwork is to suggest contex t, to
compliment your model and act as a setting for
your handiwor k.
Decide up on the posi tio n of all t he main
com ponents, and don't forget the ang le fro m
which the fin ished sce ne will be viewed.
Placing your model bang in the midd le of
the scene, neatl y parallel to all four sides, is
the classic error; it will look much more
interesting if it is set at an angle, and perhaps
offset towards one corner of the base. If I were
placing one or two N apoleonic figures on the
model of the l Srh cen tury road in Chapter 10,
I would place them towards one end rat her
tha n in the middl e. T he decision is yours;
move the model aro und a bit and look at your
choices befo re settli ng on the final position.
It makes life easier, when first laying ou t t he
gro undwo rk, to make a rough sketch of where
the areas of groundwork an d the main
ob jects are to be placed and then copy this
onto the baseboard wit h pencil marks. T hey
\ \ -i11 obviously be covered up progressively as
wishing you'd pu t the tren ch on the ot her side
of the hill later on - a few pencil lines arc much
ea sier to remove than nicely hardened plaster.
The first picture of the 'Firefly' diorama on
page H shows what I mean.

CREATING THE BASIC GROUND

The base of your d iorama will usually be
wood. I don't use plywood since there is a real
danger of this warping when applying wet
plaster or Cclluclay; my preference is for
-'II)}': which makes a good, firm base. This is
available from most timber merchants' shops,
and you' ll usually find that they will cut it to
your fi nished size for you. I try to have a
minimum thickness of Y.in (6mm) irrespective
of the area of the model; and I paint both sides
with varnish or paint to seal it (though this
doesn' t always work. ..).
I add layers or ch unks of polystyrene
ceiling tile when I need greater thickness to
include built-up embankments, or sunken fox-
holes, craters, gulleys or watercourses in the ones I use for colouring the basic groundwork ABOVE A more usual [}'pe
scene, using white P\'A glue to stick the and for rock features come from Woodland of basebo ard and basic
polystyrene to the baseboard. Should you need Scenics. A few drop s of pigment added to the topography: the first steps in
a really deep hole then a block of polystyrene water with which you mix your plaster will give making the 'Napalm' vignette
is certainly the answer (see 'T he Shell Crater' you a good variety of shades. For colouring in Chapte r 6. Pieces of
pobswrene ceiling tile glued
in Chapter I I ), rather then trying to excavate a almost anything else in my scene I tend to use
down to 6mm MDF, with
-olid block of hard .\ IDE the Andrea Colour range of acrylic paints from
Celluday infill, make up the
Ve hicle modellers often prefer to fix their Hisrorex Agents. These come in plastic embanked base for this model.
models to the base with a small bolt or screw, containers rather like small inhalers: their
particularly if they wish to give an appearance narrow nozzles prevent the paint drying O Ul as
of movement in the suspension of their tank or quickly in the container as is the case with fully
tr uck. If this is the case, now is the time to opening jars, so the shelf life is longer.
BELOW This is the basis for
mark out and drill the fi xing hole, and then Now add your base coat to the board and
the pond vignette in C hapte r
insert a small piece of rod to prevent the hole work it in around any hollows until the board
8: a thick block of po lystyrene
gelling filled in during your landscaping. is completely covered. Leave it to dry; this has been hollowed o ut to
The basic gro undwork material will nearly could be overnight but, if you have a thick base make the shape of the pond,
always be plaster, Cclluclav or some similar coat, it could take several days. It is best to be and the depre ssio n has been
material. At this point you should consider patient - it is much easier to work on a fi rm given a first coating of
adding colour to the plaster or Cclluclay which base than on a treacherous layer of 'po rr idge'. Ce lluday.
forms the base coat of your d iorama. Unless
the base coat is to be completel y covered at
a later stage, it is a good idea to mix the
appropriate shade of your soil colour into the
plaster - anythin g from a deep black loam to a
light sandy shade. This is worth doing so as to
prevent the appearance of those glaring little
-po ts of white which always seem to !ihow up
" hen you have fi nished the model.
There arc several colouring mediums you
can usc. The most generally available arc
powdered poster paints, from almost any art
supply shop, or water-soluble acrylics. T he

PREPARATION, MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES 19

 ., ,.." .." .., ..
TORRENT
ocks come in all shapes and sizes - great bette r they look, the more effective a backdrop

R craggy slabs; layers of striated rock,

ABOVE The real thing.An
intricately fissured limestone
boulder in central European
woodland, tu mbled from the
mounta inside above. Moss will
grow in even the tiniest crack.
tilted like spilled books; smooth,
water-worn boulders; hulking masses of
granite and limestone; wind-carved sandstone;
cooled volcanic lava like swirls of solidified
plastic - the variety is huge. Most of them
emerge from the soil like the bones of the earth
breaking th rough its split hide, While I do
accept that boulders spilled down a slope
do sometimes sit on top of the ground like
discarded marbles, you still need to marry them
to the earth underneath. Noth ing looks worse
than a collection of rocks scattered like an
aftert hought - like those elephant-grey rubber
fakes dotted about on the sets of early 'Star
Trek' episodes - with no attempt to blend the
bases into vegetation or turf.
As usual , .vou must decide which are the
most approp riate rock features for your model.
Your mode l soldiers are not going to be
simply 'generic' - so why should your rocks
be? March them to the time and place. T he
they will form for the flash of colour and
animation provided by your model fi gures.
If you arc creating a scene from the Indian
Wars in the Old West then there are many
sources of reference for the wind-sculpted red
outcrops and buttes of Arizona and New
Mexico, which can range from a single
pinnacle to something large enough to support
a small town. If you' re modelling winter
warfare in northern Europe or the USA, then
it's easy to find a travel broch ure which
will give you pictures of the snow-covered
mountains. T he rivers of the world canoe their
way down throu gh the earth, and where they
have washed for centuries the great plates and
slabs of exposed rock are polished smooth by
the water's action, and furred with bright
moss. Above the tree line in the mountains you
have slopes of scree, where rock faces have
been reduced to fi ne rubble by interminable
cycles of freezing and splitting. All these
effects can be achieved with a little care.

ABOVE These rocks, pushing

through the scrubby turf of
upland or moo rland terrain, are
cast in plaster from Woodland
Scenics moulds, and set in a bed
of Celluclay. The idea here is to
show the ro cks 'growing' from
the ground, rather tha n sitting
on top of it.

CENTRE A later stage, showing i:

the addition of static grass and
scatter for weeds and coarser
growth. The ro cks have been
washed with Burnt Umber
acrylic paint in such a way as to
shadow the crevices and
highlight the edges.

BOTTOM The fini shed vignette,

with longer grasses and weeds
added around the edges of the
rocks. Re member that in any
natural landscape growth of
various kinds delineates the
edges of things, where differen t
surfaces meet.

20 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

 10 lJcglll wn n li lt: must l.:llaJkllglllg s ubjec t,
base, so as to be fairly
I modelled a complete cliff-face vignette
lightweight. PVA glue ho lds
from top to foot - the type of setting which it all togethe r.
would suit a diorama of an ascent by British
Co mmandos or US Rangers.
I used some different types of material for
th is mod el, in view of the size. If I'd used the
us ual ~IDF and plaster I would have don e
myself a serious inju ry when trying to lift it.
To avoid this, I built the box-like base from
foam board. This is a ,"ery light but strong
board const r ucted of two coated faces with a
filling of foam between, which I bought from
the 40 .\ lodel Shop. I cut t he profiles of the
rwo sides of the box at the same time so that
they would be identical; and the n glue d the
sides, bo n cm and top to t he back , using
P\·.\ glue and strengthening the joints with a LEFT The morning after: t his
second coat. is the foam fill ing, with its
The next step was to fill t he box shape with oddly unpleasant visceral
the basis of the cliff face. Since plaster would appearance. It has expande d
have been too heavy I used an expanding foam to fill the whole box, but
despite the volume it we ighs
cavuy filler from a DIY store. This one was by
Virtually no thing.
Polycell and called 'Polyf il la Gap Gun" but
the re are several other makes. I sprayed the
foam into the box and left it overnight to set . .
In the mo rn ing it had expande d sufficiently to
611 virtually the whole of the box (and looked
vaguely repu lsive).
I took an old bread knife and rough ly
carved th e sur face of the foam to the sha pe of
the finished rock face. This done, I laid on two
byers of plaster bandage to give me a good key
for the layer of H ydrocal wh ich I intended to
use. I mixed up a bowl of this lightweight
plast er and covered the whole of t he rock face
with it. Before it had completel y set I too k a
sheer of cr umpled baking foil and pressed LEFT After carving the face
u ont o the damp plaste r, creat ing a lumpy, of the foam to approximat ely .
fissured surface as the basis for the cliff. the shape required , I covered
While this was drying out I began casting a it with a laye r of plaste r
quantity of rocks, using rubber moulds from bandage to provide a key for
Woodland Scenics. Secu ring these with the later work. You'll not ice
P\·.\, I gradually built up a craggy face; adding that I decided I hadn't
extended the foot of the cliff
these ext ra features prevents an unrealistic
enough, so I added a deeper
'ali-i n-one' look, and crea tes convincing
strip of MDF board to the
fissures. I next covered the top and foot of the original base.
cliff with Cellu clay; and when all was dry I
~" e the whole th ing a wash of stone grey
acrylic paint .
I used a mixture of different grades of
Talus to spread arou nd at the foot of the cliff,
sprinkling it amongst larger moulded plaster
bou lders to rep resent the typical res ults of
periodic rock falls. Rough turf and weeds
have an ama zing ability to root t hemselves on

ROCKS, CLI FFS AND A MOUNTAIN TORRENT 21

 oerore UlIS cnec. presseo a
crum pled piece of kitchen foil
into it to create outcrops and
fissures in the rock face.
CENTRE RIGHT The next step
was to cast sections of rock in
Woodland Scenics moulds and
stick them to th e face. Once
the main blocks were in place
I fi lled in with smaller,
rando m-shape d pieces.
BOnOM RIGHT A layer of
earth-coloured Ce lluclay is laid
on the cliff foot, the clifftop and
various ledges whe re I will be
placing static grass.
22 TERRAIN MODElliNG MASTERCLASS
scattered static grass over them and amongst
the scree at the base. For the moss on a couple
of the larger rocks here, I applied the tiny
polybeads that I use for fine snow; once they
were stuck to the rocks in patches I dripped on
a bright green shade of ink, and the resulting
'fuzz' looked just right. I planted a spindly,
etched brass sapling among the scree, and then
turn ed my attention to the cliff top.
I fi rst covered this with static grass and,
when dry, stippled in a small path along the
cliff edge, using an old paintbrush with a light
huff acrylic paint . The gorse bushes were
made from bits of a strange, spiky dried flower
which I found in a florist's . I dipped them in
spots of yellow paint . The tiny flowers in the
grass on the face of the cliff are just that - tiny
flowers; once again, these are from dried stems
found in a florist's shop.
A-lost cliff faces arc stained with water and
salts leeched out from crevices in the rocks, so
I decided to add a small area of seepage at
the top of the cliff. I mixed some green ink
togethe r with gloss varnish and dribbled it
down the rock face. After repeat ing this
several times I touched the edges of the water
in with a slightly stronger green to represent
algae on the stone. I planted a couple of etched
brass weeds in the crevice; and my lightweight
cliff was finished.
 ~l i ~l;: at me case. wnere mey
woul d have fallen over t ime.

LEFT Gras s and weeds are

• • being added on the rock
ledges and in between the
debris at the foot. One or
two rocks have had moss
added, made from the tiny
polystyrene beads I normally
use fo r snow, and co lo ured
with green ink.

LEFT I have cove re d the

clifftop with static grass, in
w hich I have marked a
footpath by stippling with an
o ld paint brush . using tan
acrylic paint. Note the gorse
bushes, made from a spiky
plant I fou nd in a florist's,
which I covere d with dark
green scatter before touching
in the flowers with spots of
yellow paint.

ROCKS, CUFFS AND A MOUNTAIN TORRENT 23

 ~t<""<l U lk.~ lor ur e ~la l ll U rg, dUO
then dribbled on thre e or four
layers of gloss varnish, making it
run down the rocks as water
would nawrally do.

ABOVE Deta il shot of the cliff

foot, with a small sapling
sprouting from a crevice and,
on a ledge above it, a fern.
Both these are made from
etched brass.

RIGHT An overall view of the

finished cliff after its final wash
of grey-brown paint and the
addition of various weathering
streaks . I have also added
little white flowers and
Static grass to th e ledges.
(JUSt a thought; but as I gazed at
the finished cliff it occured to
me that if the same method
were used for a horizonta l
surface of fissured rocks,
with gorse scrub poking out
here and there. you would have
a perfect setting for a diorama
of either Britlsh.Ame rtcan
or German troops during the
battles o n the hills above
Cassino in Italy in 1944.)

24 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERCLASS

 ternporaruy set In a trarne.
with a leaping mountain torrent, suitable as a
setting for a Colonial American or Old West
diorama. In my mind's eye I could see it BELOW The blocks of
brought (0 life by the bright focus of a British polystyrene are covered with
plaster bandage.
light infantryman's red coat, or by the figures
of Indians and Mou ntain Me n cro uche d
beside the perilous 'b ridge' of the fallen tree. BonOM The whole thing is
I had laid out the usual markings on the covered in a coating of plaster.
base for the relative positions of the rocks and
the pool area; the rocks were then cut from
polystyrene block and glued with PVA to the
baseboard . T hen came a covering of plaster
bandage, which I find ideal for base work as it
dries so quickly. (By the way, try to ensure that
your bandage is fairly fresh; if it is kept for too
long you'll find that it doesn't absorb the water
very well and it won't be flexible enough to
follow the contours of your basc.)
Once the bandage was dry I added a layer of
plaster and, before this had dried, I once again
pressed a crumpled piece of kitchen foil into it
to create a craggy finish. A layer of Celluclay
was spread over the whole of the lower part of
the scene, and then I gave it a coating of earth
colour acrylic paint . Once this had dr ied I
began casting rocks from plaster using my
Woodland Scenics rock moulds; I added the
larger ones to eithe r side of the watercourse
and some smaller ones to the bed of the river.
I blended these in with plaster unt il I had
achieved the outline shape I was looking for,
and painted them using shades of stone grey
and stone brown.
Anothe r layer of pre-coloured Celluclay
was then added, marking out the areas that
would later be covered with grass. Colouring
the Celluclay green helped to ensure that no
nasty light spots appeared later on. I also , J"J,;: o\s" "
added small areas of the green cover to some of
the Hale ledges and outcroppings on the
model.
.I'
'",.
~£: ,
.....
-1.1"'"
-
, ."..:; • Ii'! i .
~ "' ,
-;
"'. \
(
r{

" •••
.. ~ ,':
Having laid out the grass areas I next paint-
ed the river bed with a shade of dark green, .'
and coloured in the staining on the rock face
where water was seeping down. I laid a central
stream of brown staining and then edged this
with a brightis b shade of green to rep resent
algae growth. I used water-solu ble inks for
these two colours, rather than paint, because I
didn 't want a hard edge where the two colours
met and inks flow together very nicely.
..
T he next step was to seal the riverbed,
which I did by applying several layers of gloss
varnish. It is a good idea to do this if you are
going to pour any form of 'instant' water onto

ROCKS, CLIFFS AND A MOUNTAIN TORRENT 2S

 A coating of green-colo ured
Celluciay has also been applied
over all those parts of
the model to which I'll be
adding static grass.

RIGHT The riverbed is

painted dark green.

BELOW The real thing. Even

whe re mo ss does not get a
hold, rock surfaces are often
spotted with stains and minute
lichens in many shades - white,
greys, browns, yellow s
and gree ns.

your model. Mos t of these are either a mixture
of two liquids, such as resin, or they are a
material that has to be melted before pouring
it on. Nothing is worse than seeing your pond
or river slowly disappearing down thr ough the
baseboard and spreading gently out across
your workbench: I know - I've done it.
Whi le the last coat of varnish was still
tacky I added smaller rocks and stones to the
riverbed. I knew it was unlikely that many
would show through the final finish, but at
least they were there if a clear spot should
appear in the water. I inte nded to add a fallen
tree to the scene, so I now made a shallow
crater in the soil where the root ball would
have torn up the earth. Static grass was then
applied over the areas of green Celluclay; and
some etched-brass foliage was planted near th e
top of the two rock faces.
T he water medium I used for this model
was E-Z- \Vater from Woodland Scenics.
Naturally, you must build a dam at each end of
your river, and in th is case I used plasticine
stuck behind the two rocky bluffs and across
the front of the scene. After gently melt ing th e
resin pellets in a tin can set on a stove top, I
poured the liquid from the highest point so
that it would flow naturally down the slope,
and then left it to set. Now is the time to add
any ripples or eddies you may want; just blow

26 TERRAI N MODElLING MASTERCLASS

 boulders and smaller sto nes
have been put in place in two
stages.Water sta ining has been
added down the face of the
rocky bluffo n the right; and
"l've start ed to scatt er the
static grass over the ground
and rock ledges.

LEFT Some etched brass

vegetation is fixed in place at
the to p of bot h bluffs: and I've
made up the plasticine dams
which will control the resin
when I pour it on.

R<X:KS, CUFFS AND A MOUNTAIN TORRENT 27

RIGHT & BELOW The root ball
of the uprooted tr ee is simply
some Celluday with short
lengths of varying th icknesses of
wire pushed in. Static grass and
small stones were added to the
top surface and the wire 'root s'
were painted in varying shades
of brown and grey.
28 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCIASS
across the surface with a hair-dryer as the resin
sets.
As you can see from the photo above, the
resin, once set, looked too smooth and treacly
for the effect I wanted; but it was necessary to
have this as a basis, since the stream at the head
of the gorge would be smoot h, with very little
disturbance or foam, until it tumbl ed over the
edge.
Once the resin was set I started streaking it
with white paint, starting at the top of the fall.
I pulled the paint very thinly over the resin so
that the colours under the white just showed
th rough, and added some very lightly applied
strea ks of plaster for foam. To create the

heavy foam over the rocks in the fall and th e
churning, foamy water at its foot I buih up
layers of plaster and then, just before it set,
stippled it with a br ush.
T he final touch for the water was to
add Artist's Gloss .\tedium over the pool and
stream, and to push in ripples and wavelets with
my fingertips. I left all the water to dry for a
couple of days; then, when I wa.s sure it was safe
to do so, added several layers of high gloss
varnish over it all, with the exception of the
areas of foam. Foam glistens where individual
fall th ey pull up only a shallow,
saucer-shaped roo t ball, th ough
the width will vary w ith the
age and size of th e t ree .
LEFT The foam down th e face
of th e wate rfall is thi n plast er.
dragged out so that you can
JUSt see some of th e green
col ou r that I painted under the
resin.
droplets catch the light, but not with an overall
glossy sheen like a body of water.
The fallen tree was from an old kit and did
not need much extra work. I built up the base
with Celluclay and then stuck in some short
lengths of different diameter wires to represent
roots, both large and small. T he root ball and
roots were then painted with a fairly neutral
shade of eart h grey/brown, and I stuck in
some small pebbles. Static grass and some
small stones were added to the uppe r su rface of
the root ball, and the trunk was laid in position.
ROCKS, CUFFSAND A MOUNTAJN TORRENT 29
ABOVE The boilingfoam at the
foot of the fall is made fro m
several layers of plaster.As each
layer was nearly dry I stippled
th e surface with an old
paintbrus h. until I had built up a
suffiCiently thick deposit. For the
rest of the water in the
foregro und. I dabbed on layers
of Artist's Gloss Medium
and created ripples with my
fingertips. This material dries
almost tr anspare nt, so you get
an impression of seeing through
the ripples into the water
underneath. Several layers of
gloss varnish were finally applied
over all the running water but
only sparingly, in spots here and
there. on the built-up plaster
• foam.

RIGHT For comparison.

the real thing.

30 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERClASS

 pocio-eccoeo orass snruo.
growing from the water stained
roc k face.

LEFT The finished vignett e,

LEFT For co ntrast, a detai l

from a dioram a which I called
'C ave-Buste rs' (see also p.81 in
Chapter 7,'Jungle'). The cliff
face was cast from plaste r
using a Woodland Scenics
rubb er mo uld, and then
washed with a grey-bro wn mix
of acrylics.The large leaves on
the roc k face are cut from a
soft metal drinks can and
stuck on with PVA.The rotten
tree trunk in the centre at the
foot of the cliff is a piece of
driftwood, detailed with
Milliput fungi: the terns are all
etched brass. In jungle te rra in
all rock faces soon acquire a
heavy 'beard' of greenery
growing in th e crevices or
looping down from above .

ROCKS, CUFFS AND A MOUNTAJN TORRENT 31

 GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES

RIGHT Meadows left untended

are not 'made of grass '; the y are
a lumpy, uneven mixture of
do zens of kinds of grass and
weeds of varying heights,
te xtures and colours, ofte n
thickly dotted with wild flowers
in spring and summe r. Before
the arrival of 20th century
her bicides and petrol engines.
most arable fields and roadsides
were much mo re varied
and multicolo ured than
the y are today.

ost of the open countryside of sometimes to waist height. Before 19~5 most

M Europe and North America where

OP POSITE This model of
a Neolithic fishing village,
c.5000-2200 Be. is one of six
dioramas which I was
commissioned to build for the
Kanto nales Museum fur
Urgeshichte in Zug, Switzerland.
The scale is about 1/62nd - an
awkward size, dictated by the
display space. Between the huts
and the wooded slope being
cleared by felling and burn ing
are vegetable gardens. Orderly
ro ws of planting and realistic
fe ncing can create a convincing
impres sio n of gardens of almost
any period ' (and given the
age-old tendency of soldiers to
forage, the se could make
suitable setti ngs fo r many
military fig ures ).
modelling subjects are set is
covered with grass and bushes, or cultivated
and divided by hedges. l et rnodcllcrs seem to
find this most common of all types of ter rain
surprisingly difficult to render convincingly in
miniature. T he first trick, as always, is careful
observation.
To take the simplest surface first - the
variety of grasses, and the small weeds which
grow amongst them, is endless. Very few
expanses of grass look like a lawn (and if you
look at even a lawn closely you will notice
variations in colour). You can make a single
patch of grass come alive by varying the
colour, length and coarseness of the growth.
Since most of us model uncult ivated areas
or terrain that has been ravaged by war, you
can also add weeds to the scene - and these
don' t haw to be just little dark green bits of
ground cover, Weeds grow to all heights and in
many shades of green and reddish brown.
Look at pictures of World War II bomb sites in
cities, or at the aftermath of fire sweeping
through ,Illy wilderness area: they are a mass of
colour, with no urishing growths of deep pink
'fire weed' {rcsebay willowherb) standing
meadows and road verges were heavily
sprinkled with wild flowers in season. If you
want to have some variety in your hed ges then
get hold of pictures of pre-war examples,
which were often ' laid' - i.e. the heavy frame
growth was par tly cut throu gh, bent sideways,
and tucked into the next piece to produce a
sturdy fence of natural growth.
The seasons also offer you a chance to vary
the appearance of your ground cover, with
bright summer colours giving way to the rusty
shades of autumn, to the blue-grey shadows
and tints of winter. 1 admit that 1 don't try to
recreate accurately the actual appearance of a
hawthorn hedge or a patch of wild primroses
in my dioramas - I feci that some artistic
licence is permissible, and the groundwork is,
after all, meant to act as a background for your
model; but if you do want to copy nature
exactly, then there are a vast range of natural
history books available for usc as reference.
Ree ds , tall grasses and standing- crops
are easily made with bristles; 1 find the best
ones to use are from a cheap wallpaper pasting
brush . They are usually a very pale tan colour,
ideal to use 'as they are' for dead grass,
and they're softer than ordinary paintbrush

32 TERRAIN MODElUNG MA$TERCLA$$

 , ,

---,.., . -, (.,.. .- -.:-

- ~ ~ - --...~

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 33

 ABOVE Using the metal tank
trac ks to impress the (rack
pattern into the groundwork.
34 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
bristles. Plant ing: them in the groundwork is
hest done using a pair of tweezers - just grip a
small dump and press them into the plaster or
glue. If putting them into gro undwork that
has d ried, drill a small hole, dip the base of the
brist les in P" A and pus h them into the hole.
One effect of ' planting' grasses in this lI'ay is
that the~ always tinish up in a V-shaped tuft.
Try 10 plant them so close together that this
shape is disguised - or push them into the
groundwork to such a depth that the sides of
the hole push the bristles parallel. (I realize that
this is not always possible, say when puttin g in
a line of grasses as opposed to a pnrch.] Once in
place, make sure the grassis not all the same
length - trim it in a ragged fashion with scis-
sors, and also leavesome lengths of it lying at an
angle from the upr ight stems; this helps to
break up any uniformity.
,\ tmlelling this sor t of vegetation IS
unavoidably time-consuming; hut it adds a lot
to a diorama, and if you want the best effects
th ere is nothing for it hut 10 persn ere.
Obviously, it is easier In summon up the
stamina to tackle modest vignette buses rather
than large areas of a major diorama.
TANK TRACKS
T he depiction of tanks ploughing through
deep mud is an effect that is ofte n used in
d ioramas; so for .1 change I thought I'd like hi
show the effect of a lank crossing fairly hard
grou nd and dry turf, suitable for a model
of Normandy or a Russian Front summer
campaign. Again, this is \'ery simple, hut I lin d
it best to lay your groundwork like the real
thing - i.e a layer of Cclluclay to represent the
eart h, ami then sraric grass for the turf. Having
applied the Cclluclay to the baseboard I let it
dry, and then misted the board with Scenic
Cement. I made up a mixture of both green
and straw-coloured static grass, and scattered
it across the scene.
Wh ile this was still damp, I placed a I /35th
scale Sherman on the base and pressed it into
the Cclluclay to mark the width und gauge of
the impressio n the trac ks would make. I then
made up a short length of Friumodcl's white
meta l She rman track, and pressed it hard into
the tu rf. As the Cclluclay was fairly dry the
tracks made quire a shallow impre ssion. I also
added a piece of corrugated iron and a bit of
barbed wire at th is point, for a touc h of local
colour. I then cut back the bristles on an old
paint bush and applied FX ,\ l ud along the
track marks, using a stippling motion as with ,I
stencil brus h, to represent the torn-up soil.
Don't carefully scrape all the stat ic grass away
- in reallife it would be mashed into the soil. If
you feel the track marls arc a bit too indistinct
when you've finished, emp hasize them a little
by pressing the blade of a screwdriver into the
groundwork just behind each impression of a
truck bar, throwing it slightly into relief
Wars thro ughout history have been fought
across some poor devil of a farmer's fields, so
with slight ad justments this would make a
realistic setting for fighting men or machines of
just about any period. However, I' ve chosen here
to show a peaceful scene that might he found
,
anywhere in the 20th century countryside.
T he basic shape of the fi eld is covered with
Cclluclay, the areas of the path and the hank
being slightly raised by the addition of strips
of polystyrene stuck to the baseboard. At this
point I added a tree stump in the corner.
Un like the othe r stum ps in this book I did
not make this one from balsa dowel, but used
a pre-forme d plaster stum p. Personally I like
plast er accessories, as they take acrylic
water-paint s so well.
Once the basic shape had set I added the
fence, made from bass wood st rip and
coloured with ' Weather- It' for instant aging
(sec Appendix). This is not a paint but a
chemical that actually changes t he colour of -,
the wood and penetrates into it, so the more
you add, the darker the wood. I next added the "

grass with Woodland Scenics Static G rass,

mixing two shades to give the uneven effect of
dead and live grasses together. The taller
grasses around the edge of the field arc made
with Woodland Scenics F ield G rass; this
comes in packets of much longer lengths of
tine materials for usc as tall grasses, reeds, ctc.,
made in a couple of different shades for usc
at differen t times of the year, Summer and
Autumn. Don't try to cut these to the finished
length if you arc placing short clumps like
these - it will drive you mud. Stick the d umps
onto the base full length and then, once the
glue has set, trim them to the desired height.
Don't trim them all to same level; using the
scissors at angles from the vertical, cut down
into the dumps to achieve an uneven fi nish.
When gluing light , wispy marcrial Iikc this,
I usc an adhesive called Hob-e-Tac (yes,
Wood land Scenics again ). This is a very
viscous, clear adhesive (with a ,-cry strong
fume odour, so usc it in a well-ventilated
room). It comes in a glass jar with a brush
integral with the lid. I nor mally dip the br ush
in the glue, touch the base of the clump of
grass to the glue, and immediately put it in
place on the model. T his adhesive starts 10 dry
almost at once, on contact with the air, so
it holds lightweight ground cover such as
d umps of gr,lss upright alrnost as soon as they
arc in place; you don't have to spend ages
holding it in position, waiting for the glue to
l
, .
dry, as you would with your usual P\':\. white TOP The basic shape of the
glues. field has been formed with
T he ridges and furrows in the field were Celluclay over the baseboard
initially formed with strips of plasticine (yes, I and polystyrene strip banks.
know blue isn't exactly the best colour but The plaster tree stump has
been set in place. At first I
it was all I had at the time). T hese were
made this post-and-rail fence
roughened lip to give them some texture, to from bass wood; I changed my
represent newly turned clods of earth . O n top mind later, and converte d it to
of this I added a th in layer of pre-co loured a post-and-barbed wire type.
Cclluclav, into which I placed some small
stones to help break up any uniformity (not
on ly docs Nature abhor ,I vacuum , :IS my ABOVE The first layer of
science teacher once said, out she's not too static grass is scattered aro und
keen on straight lines, either). If you look at the edge of the field, alongside
any piece of eart h that has been turned up by the path.
ploughing, digging, or :10 explosion, you will
always see myriads of small stones embedded
in the exposed surface - a uniform expanse of
chocolate brown is simp ly not realistic. (Yo u
might also sec tiny fi brous roots and tendrils,
but in I135th scale I don't really think it is
worth while trying to model these - they would
be so fine as 10 be almost invisiblc.)
Anot her point worth mentioning IS the
difference between a ploughed fi eld III the

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 3S

the edges. and tr immed it to the
finished height.The tree stump
has been painted with acry lics.
and I have str ung the barbed
wire - this is photo-etched wire "-L
, *
from my spares box. suitably
r usted. I have also started to
scatter the litter along what will
be the hedge line.

RIGHT This show s t he additio n

of the layer of plasticine over
the ' plo ugh', churned up to give
a rough surface o n which to lay
the to p layer of Celluclay. Doing
it like t his saves you having to
build up a very thick layer of
Celluclay,wit h the cons equent
very lengthy drying time.

RIGHT The Celluclay has been

painted with acrylics and a
scattering of small sto nes has
been added .The hedge has been
added. as desc ribed in the te xt
opposite .

36 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS


20lh cent ury and the same field a cou ple of
hu nd red years ago. With the introd uction of
mode rn ploughshares the soil looks almost
as though it has been cut in facets, with flat
surfaces reflecting the light. If you want to
replicate th is effect, ' plou gh' your field with a
sharp blade, using it ar an ang le.
On ce the field hall dried overnigh t, I gave
the ' plough' an overall wash of ear th-co loured
acrylic and , when that was d ry, I dry-br ushed
a lighter mix across the sur face to gain even
more colour contrast.
I finished the vignette with the addi tion
of a small hed ge. T his is mad e fro m
r ubberis ed horsehair (sec Append ix) already
cut int o strip for m to make instan t hedges. I
glued this to the back of the fence, and then
coated it with PVA glue thinned with water,
While th is was still tacky I spr in kled it with
leaf cover. T hese ' leaves' are, in fact, litt le
seeds from the catkins found on silver birch
trees. Collect these in the early autu mn when
thcv. arc brown ' and drv. the'
m' once thc.v arc
d ry, roll them gently between your lingers, and
finished scene. set against a
crisp autu mn sky.
you'll gel hu ndreds of these little leaf shapes
from each catkin, I use them in practically any
scene for which I need ind ivid ual leaves:, -vou
can also make excellent 'ivy' with them, as we
will sec in Cbaprcr 10.
Once the leaves were d ry, I add ed clu mps
of horse hair to the front o f the hedge to
represent growth pushing through fro m the
back. and scattered these with some more of
my instant 'leaves', ..\ t the same time I adde d
scalier below the hed ge 10 represent the
normal litter of dead leaves and twigs which
will always be visible u nd er alm ost any
hedgerow for about six mo nths of the year,
from autumn 10 early summer when new
growth hides it, I applied a w ry pale buff
paint to rhc path area, using nn old brush and
working it like a stencil brush, to give the
appearance of pale, dried mud. I also used the
same colour to dry-br ush rhc grass to add to
the appeara nce of a 'live/dead ' mix of growth.
Finally, a very thin coat of dilut ed P \':\ was
spr ayed O\"Cr the whole hed ge and path, and
some more leaves were scattered over it all.
GRASS & FiElDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 37

BELOW Yes, I know they look
like rabbit droppings ... these
are the pellets of Celluclay
placed on the groundwork,
ready to be feathered in
to the top of the soil.
38 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
\ ta ny show-gocrs will recall with ho rro r
various 'Normandy !/(J(IIge' d ioramas in which
beau tifully real ised S herma n and Pant her
models are d isplayed forging th rough str ips of
giant salad made from lichen straight from the
pac k. Convi nc ing hedges take care and
patience, but amply repay the effort. T h is
section describes a model of a rather more
detailed hedge than the one in the previous
vignette, nnd made in th ree stages.
For the pur poses of this demons tratio n I
have no t attempted one of those great
embanked Norman hedges, with centuries of
tangled un dergrowth and full -size trees
""'i' -~"b""" " "' .' .• ,," ,~ "" " . . " : " ~ "b ~ ", ,,
peaceful field boundary; hut the pr inci ples arc
exactly the same. and you could recreat e the
bllfll,f!.( by applying them to specific picto rial
rete renee frum Xcrrunndy in Ju ne-J uly 19-1-4.
Hedges are not just sim ple st rips of 'l inear
growth'. hut have a defin ite shape and
frame. T he basic framewo rk is formed by the
spaced-out matu re stems, as th ick as saplings,
from which twiggy branc hes protrude in all
directions. From these spr ead even lighte r
shoots and small twigs, and finally the leaves.
The bank on which my hedge is placed was
formed by the usual strip of polystyrene glued
to the rear of the baseboard, the whole of which
I then covered with Celluclay, Into this I pushed
some thickish twigs (from an old garden broom)
to represent the heavy; mature growth that
form s the frame of the hedge. Next, I scattered
a mixture of material - the ' litte r' that gathers
over the ~'ea rs under a hedge - all arou nd the
base of these twigs and along the hank. T his
scatter was a mixture of gro und herbs from a
delica tessen (some herbs nrc exactly right for
dead leaves), gro und- up dried tcalcavcs, und a
large d ried leaf which I also ground to a fine
litter. All this was sprinkled onto a layer of
Woodland Scenics Sce nic Ceme nt.
I then added a layer of lighter hor izontal
and diagonal growth to the hedge. made from
rubbe rised horsehair, to which I glued some
foliage material; and finally a light spri nkling
of ground cover in shades of gR'C n, to give
varying colour and textu re. All this was then
given a final spray of Sce nic Ce ment.
Fo r the surface of the meadow in the
' foreground' of the vignette I rolled up some
irregular-sized pellets of Cclluclay and worked
them into the gro undwor k in from of the
hedge; such ' humps and hum ps' arc fou nd in
most uncultivated fields. T hese were feathered
in to blend with the groun d; then the whole
area was sprayed with thin ned PVA, and
sprinkled with 'Rough Pasture' ground cover
mix from j avis Countryside Scenics (see
Appe ndix). You can. of course, mix your own
multi-coloured gro und covers from various
diffe rent packs so as to achieve ,'a r~'i ng shades
of green or autumnal colours - you very rarely,
if ever, see a meadow or area of grassland
which is all an ident ical shade.
O nce ever yt hing was dry, I added a
slight ly dar ker mix to the 'bumps' to give the
LEFT The pellets of Celluday pressed into the
groundwork to make the uneven humps in the
surface of the meadow.
 scatte red over the meadow,
and darker, coarser material
has been added to pick out
the tussocks. (If your meadow
scene is set in winte r, the grass
o n these hummocks could be
longer. and a dead yellow
against the washed -our gree n
background of the field grass.]
Pushed into the Ce lluclay on
the bank, the thicker pieces of
tw ig make the older framing
growth of the hedge.

LEFT Before adding any fo liage

to the hedge I started fi lling in
betwee n the twigs with
crushed leaves of rosemary
herb and small cor k chippings.
to represent the leaf-ltteer
found unde r all mature hedges.

LEFT Rubberised horsehair

has been glued to the twig
frame of the hedge to form
the lighter growth. and then
fine green scatter has been
added as the leaves.

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 39

 backdrop. flowers to add a slight touch of colour. T he
small yellow ones arc made of wax and I found
them in a shop selling doll's house accessories;
the others arc simply discs of paper, punched
nut using one of Hisrurcx Agents excellent
' Punc h & D ie' sets. The edges were snipped
with a pair of scissors and thc)' were coloured
with acrylics, They aren't meant to represent
any parti cular flowers, bur in the scales to
which most of us work they arc perfectly
accep table. (It 's wor th noting that wild
flowers arc null' re-appearing in the English
countryside in larger numbers than for m;my
years, since so many farms arc now reduc ing
or even completely abandoning the usc of
pcsticidcs.) ,\ lost urcas of grassland will have
quuruitics of tiny white, yellow und mauve
flowers growing in thick clumps in amongst
the grass, and - in smaller numbers - others in
blues, pinks und reds. If your diorama is set in
prc-J thh century times then the wild flowers
should be found in even greater profusion.

ABOVE I confess that these

flowers · made from paper
and wax , aren't supposed to
rep resent any particular types;
but they add a nice touc h of
co lour to the scene.

RIGHT An occu pant for the

meadow, which is photographed
here butted up against the
woodland vignet te from
Chapter 5. (Ho rse painted by
Charles Davis.)

40 TERRAIN MODElUNGMASTERCLASS
D urin g World War II alm ost eve ry
infa ntryman in the com bat zone had to ' dig in'
almost every night, usually in a two- man slit
trench about the size of a grave; one man
kept watch while his mare slept. Whenever
circums tances allowed they tried to rig up
some overhead cover over half of the slit - at
least with their shelt er- halves. to keep out the
rain, and where possible with something mo re
subs tant ial to give some protectio n against
mortar fire. If they were ncar bu ildin gs then
nny wooden door in the vicinit y was qu ickly
' liberate d'; the more serio us veterans even
dragged out ches ts of d rawers and tille d them
wit h earth . British Tommies were particula rly
known fur their nest -bu ild ing insti ncts; if rhey
stayed in one place for mo re than 24- hour s
they ten ded to construct cozy ' doovcrs' with
improvised crea tu re com forts. It occurs to me
that modc llcrs miss out on the possib ilities th is
oile rs for rath er mor e imaginative N W E urope
dior amas; and th is vign ette illust rates a very
basic 's lit' with hasty overhead cover in the
cor ner of a N or man dy me adow
As I d idn 't have a block of polys tyrene
hand y for this model , and I needed some
dep th in the groundwork for the trench, I bu ilt
up the base by gluing five polystyrene ceiling
tiles toget her with PVA and add ing the bank at
the bad with a furt her strip. T he next day I some line wire and a few pieces of my prec ious TO P The basic groun d cover
cu t out the rec tan gle for the trench; this fan coral (see C hapter 5), and pressed them into of Celluclay over a stack of
sho uld be abo ut 4- to 5 feet deep in sca le, und if the wulls of the trench to represent fine roots polystyre ne tiles, with the slit
yo u really wan t to detail the interio r then one thu t luul been cut when the trenc h was d ug. At trench cut out of the top
end sho uld be ste ppe d down deeper than the the same time I adde d in some small stones. I layers.
othe r - th is 's ump' was for water d rainage. repeat - it's important to remember that in
I also decided to show the impact mark almost any pan of the world and certa inly
from a mortar bomb. Un like art illery shells throughout Europe and North Ame rica, if the ABOVE Rough meadow cover
and bombs, mo rt ars d on 't make cr aters unless earth is disturbed by man or nat ure you will lind is sprinkled over the field. and
they fall in very soft ground; on hard summer thousands of tiny stones coming to the sur face the wooden door has been
ground they explode upon impa ct wit hou t or showing in the face of a cut. made to lay across one end of
pene trat ing, and th e blast scythes sideways I now made the covering tor one end of the the tre nch. Sto nes and roots
have been added to the cut
across the surface, leaving only a sh allow trench . I started by making an old WOOllen
eart h surfaces inside the
saucer-s haped de press ion some 9 to 12 inch es ledge-and-b race door, still with its rusty hinges,
trench.
deep and abou t six feet across. and painted it in a nice faded pale blue. I knew
I covered the whole base with a layer of that it would be almost completely hidden, but I
earth-coloured Ce lluclay, building it into a always ma ke any components for my dioramas
slope so the ban k did n' t rise too abrupt ly out as though they will he fully visible; that way I
of the field. T he resulting layer of Cclluclay know that wherever dOL'S show will look right.
W.IS fairly thick in places, so I lcft the model on With rhc door in place I also laid a piece of r usty
a night storage heater for about 4-8 hours to d ry cor rugated iron across the end of the trench . I
tho rou gh ly. then made a few sandbags from Millipur and
T he next step was to cover areas of the stuck the m on the door - British in fantrymen
meadow with a mixture of different gre en often carr ied a few emp ty sandbags for
scatters and a few clu mps of coarser scatter to co nsolidat ing their positions. The final layer of
represent grass and weeds, leaving the areas of ear th and tur f spoil from the trench was then
th e trench and mortar st rike bare. I then took uddcd with Cclluclay;

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSH ES 4 1

 the left of the trench,
The rest of the ground cover
has been added, including the
brambles on the bank and the
heavier growth along the edge
of the field.The low 'parapet' of
turves from the cleared lip of
the trench has been added.A
piece of rusty corrugated iron
covers the extreme end of the
trench; sandbags have been
piled on the door, and turf and
spoil forms the to p layer
of this improvised roof,

:\ lost slit trenches had a smal l cleared
'ledge' aroun d them, giving just enough room
for the occupa nts to rest their dhows and their
weapons and mu nitions, T he turves from
th is were ofte n thrown forward to form a 10\\',
parapet- like mound, and in this scene they arc
once again made with Cclluclay, I mixed some
of this up and spread it in a thin strip to dr y.
Once drie d, I cut it into uneven rectangles and
laid them around the trench, mixing in some
loose soil as well,
Next came the vegetation on the bank: the
large clump of bra mbles was made from
rubberised horseh air, sp rayed with Scen ic
Cement and scattered with a covering of fairly
fine gro und cover. T he st umpy bushes to the
right arc made with plaste r on wire arm atures;
then I stuc k on some poly-fibre which, once
again, was covered with green scatter. I used
an old pain tbrush with short bristles to stipple
acrylic paint over the groundcovcr to create
the bare, earthy patches under the bushes . T he
tall grasses along the foot of the bank arc
Wood land Scenics F ield Grass; once this was
in place I added some heavier growth at the
edge of the meadow and .11 the foot of the
bank.
The final det ails for the tr ench were
provided from an old Airfix .\ Iultipose set: the
Bren gun, two ammunition pouches and a
water bottle.
I was unsure how to fin ish the base of this
scene as the edges of the polystyrene tiles
weren't very attractive; so I decided to make
the front face appear like a 'slice th rough the
meadow'. and coated it with Cclluclay before
adding roors and stones embedded in the earth
- see the bottom photo opposite,

42 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCIASS

 LUJ)~LrlJLljUII . IIIC j r a fl1 C~ arc

plaster-covered wire. the

foliage is poly-fibre, and ground
cover will be added to make
the leaves.

LEFT A view along th e field,

with all undergrowth in place.

LEFT The finis hed scene, with

the Bren gun. two ammo
pouches and a water boule on
th e lip of the slit tre nch.

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 43

 anc I.he rail way tra ck are giued
and screwed in place o n the
baseboard, which has been
marked out with the positions of
the main components of
the diorama. On the left the
majority of the embankment
has been covered in plaste r
bandage;o n the right are the rwc
last cardboard formers waiting to
be covered with masking tape
and bandage; and to t he left of
these is the gap I have left for the
coal bunker. In the foreground is
the basis for t he edge of the
muddy track, where I plan to put
a standing figu re.
BonO M T he whole mod el has
now been co ve red in earth-
colo ured Celluclay, apart fro m
t he railway t rack. whe re small
ballast Sto nes have been adde d
from Woodland Scenics Talus.
. l
44 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
T his diorama is larger than most of the
vignettes in this book; the baseboard measures
12ins x 8.5ins (300mm x 2IOmm). I had already
completed the model of a Sherman Fireflv of
13th/ 18th Hussars on the Scheidt in Holland in
October 1944; now I wanted a seuing that would
show it off I find the contrast between the
narrow Sherman hull und the long 17-pdr. gun
burrel and rear turret overhang of the Firefly
particularly attractive, so I wanted a reason to
pose the tank with the turret traversed. T he
scene would benefit from a high fc..uur c to d ose
off the back visually: so I decided to have my
hussars halted for a brew-up under cover of the
embankment of a secondary railway spur, with
the gun traversed in the direction uf the
enemy. T he embankment would also give an
opportunity lor some really challenging scrubby
undergrowth.
I made my usual preliminary sketch plan,
and mar ked off the main areas of the scene on
.;-
, Cclluclav.
• T he next step was to mix up an amoun t
the track, and the CO,I] bunker set in the
embankment face. Next, I stu d down a
strip of polystyrene ,IS the basis for the
embankment. On top of the polystyrene I
added a strip uf wood to which I had
previously screwed two sections of Verlinden
resin rail track. T his track tended to curl Up.1I
either end, hence the need to attach it 10 the
wood: glue would not have held it securely 10
the polystyrene. Once this had dried I cut out
a number of formers from cardboard 10 make
the shape of the slope of the embankment.
This is one way of forming shapes such as hills
and slopes without using large quantities of
polystyrene block. Note, in the photo on this
page, the gap left in the embankment for the
coal bunker; it is easier 10 leave holes like this
rather than trying to 'dig them out ' later from
the finished groundwork.
I stud the for mers along the face of the
embankment block and covered them with
masking tape. T he next layer was added with
plaster bandage: smooth the bandage down
and leave to dry - this won't take very long. I
repeated this for the area in the foreground
where I planned to put a standing figure; and
when it had all dried I applied a layer of white
P" A glue over the whole. I didn't bother to
colour the plaster bandage ,II this stage, as it
was all going to be covered with coloured
of pre-coloured Celluclav and spread it nvcr
the entire work area, with the exception of
between the railroad tics: this was going to be
covered with ballast. While the Celluclav was
still damp I pressed the tracks of the tank into
the pathway as ,I positioning mark for later.
I then added the first layer of grasses 10
the hank and the foreground area. T his is
\\'omlland Scenics ground cover, with a layer
of fine scatter going down first followed by a
scattering of coarser material for texture. Xcxt
came the rub berised horsehair to represent
brambles and general scrubby' undergrowth.
T his was gradually glued over the entire bank;
a thin layer of PVA was sprayed over it, and
further coarse flock and leaves were scattered
over to form the final layer of growth. Lo ng
grass was added in one or two spots at the foot
of the bank before the horsehair was stud on
in this area, and photo-etched brass ferns were
strategically positioned, At rbis stage I also
added the small stones between the railway
sleepers along the top of the embankment.
Although it doesn't show up very well in
the photographs, I lined the coal bunker with
 spread over the
embankmen t and the
fo regrou nd. Rubberised
horsehair, with scatt er added,
has been placed along the
edge of the rail bed and down
the slope on the right. I have
started adding tuhs of dead
grass at the foot of the bank
before ext ending the
ru bberised horsehair do wn
over this area.

ABOVE RIGHT Rubberised

hors ehair has been spread
over the who le slope and
covered with coarse scatter,
Mo re dumps of Field Gra ss
have been added , and
gradually the whole thing
begins to come together,
imitating nature's way of
everything growing in a
tangled mass.

CENTRE Puddles have been

added with Johnson's 'Klear'
polish tinted with ochre. I
offered up th e tank model to
mark out its position, then
built up strips of Celluday
mud pushed upwards and OUt-
wards by the cacks • it's
easier to do this before finally
placing the tank.

LEFT The finished diorama.

seen fro m 'beyond' the
embankment. Note the tele-
phone pole, trailing wires , and
rusty oil drum .

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 45

 ABOVE A rusty 4S-gallon dr um polish, tinted with a yellow ochre acrylic paint
lies discarded at the edge of the - my favourite colour for mudd y water. I then
rail tra cks near some spindly added strips of Cclluclay mud where the tank
birch saplings.Note the tracks have churned it up; while it would be
characteristic black stain dow n easy enough to add this to the outside of the
the middle of the tracks, over
tracks after the Firefly was fixed in place, it
both th e sleepers and the ballast.
would be very fiddly to try and get at thc inside
edges of the tracks under the belly of the tank.
I then coloured in these str ips of mud and
blended them with the groun dwork. x tore
gloss varnish was sprayed over the whole base
to ensure a good wet look.
Next. I went back to the bank and added the
silver birch saplings - made from twigs frum
RI GHT A view between the
Sherman and th e embankment, a garden broom - and a final scattering of leaf
sho w ing the blend ing of th e line r. I added some details, such as the rusty
mud between t he ta nk tracks 45-gallon d rum and the old truck wheel ar the
and the gro und surfac e. An old base of the bank. Once I had airbrus hed a fine
truck whee l lies in t he mud. wash of black along the centre of rhc railway
track to stain bot h the ballast and the sleepers.
corrugated iron made from corrugated copper I added the telephone pole (for which I had left
sheeting from olD ).lodels, and put in the a hole in the groundwork) and its trailing
heavy support timbers at the back ami sides. wires.
" 'hen all were in posit ion I 'gri med up' the It was now time to place the Firefly onto
whole bunker with black pastel chalk, and the base and blend the mud aroun d the tracks,
added some bracken aroun d the edges. T he finishing off with another coat of gloss varnish.
piece of corr ugated iron was also added in the With this done , I placed the standing crewman
foreground. and the final small details - a broken shovel in
T he track needed tu be very mud dy and the coal hunker, and the British ration box,
wet- looking, so I made puddles in the mud wine bott le, field stove, etc. beside the standing
by pour ing on some Johnson's 'Klear' floor figure.

46 TERRAIN MODELLING MA$TER(LA$$

 ABOVE An overhead shot of
the undergrowth on the
embankment. Note also
the tank stowage, and the
dismounted crewman standing
by a 'Compo' ration box with
a bottle and an opened ration
tin.

LEFT The crew are dressed in

M1943 'pixie' tan k oversuirs.
here with the white/blue flash
of the 13th/ 18th Hussars o n
the left sleeve, and black RAe
berets. The 'Benghazi burner'
was an old 4-gallon 'flimsy'
petro l can, cut down and with
holes punched in the sides to
allow a draught; it was half-
filled with fuel-drench ed earth,
and set alight.A second can
went on top with water, tea,
sugar and tinned milk mixed
toge ther. Many would allege
tha t this concoction won the
war fo r 21st Army Group.

GRASS & FIELDS, HEDGES & BUSHES 47

 ......01 I r-\ I I L.. n. -,.
MODELLING TREES
(with Barry Bawen)
RIGHT The real thing.
deadfalls, new growth and
undergro wth in il mountainous
centra l Europeiln forest.
BEl()V.I The differe nces
betw een the barb of many
types of trees are so marked
that even in 1135th scale you
should be able to give il
convincing impression; here, two
of the rmny different
varieties of oak and fir.
ShOUld perhaps sian this chapter by adm it-
I ting: the d ifference in approach between
Barry Bowen an d myself when it comes to
making trees, lie models specific IHll"S of trw ;
u..ua ll~', I merely male a 'ge neric tree ' - some-
thin g: which locks like a tree hUI is not intended
to repres ent any particular species. This also
applil"S (0 m~ hus hes. hed ges, Ilowcrs and any
othe r typcs of vegetation that yOIl will Sl'C in my
models. I realiz e that m~' method is probably the
hlzy one, but I believe that the effects obtairuxl
should enable the average meddler to display
his work in a reasonably realistic background,
even if we arc raking a bit of artistic licence.
Trees nrc probubly the most diffic ult things
10 represent re alisticilly in ;1 diorama (apart
from running water; and fire). To begin with, \\e
norm ally have no choice but to compromise
when it comes 10 scale. We have to judge the
heigh t that will appear in balance with th e res t of
our scene. Let 's say that, like most of us whu
build military moods, you arc llUrking in
1/ 35th scale, and ~ ou want 10 inclu de a couple
of mature beech trees. In real life a beech can
grow ttl 60 feet tall; so you would need a model
tree of just under 2 feet high (6 IOmm). Even a
silver birch. which grows to between 35 and hi)
feet, would be at least 12 inches (.105mm) high
in scale. (If you really want to get carried awaj; a
48 TERRAIN MOOEWNG MASTERCLASS
II.l5th scale giant redwood would be about
9 fee t tall in scale
0 0 0 )
In I'iew of thl"SC hard facts, you must either
pick another scale to work in; Slid; to th e
smaller species, or IUy young: tree..., in I / 35th
scale; compromise, and scale your chosen tree
down; or model only fallen or broken-o ff t rees.
In this book the s ubjects of the vigne tt es were
obviously planned for phorographj; so I han '
been able 10 limit myself to ' fil m prop ' tree s
which end lit the top of th e picture, so 10 speak -
Sl'C Chapter 5. (If all this really worries you, you
could switch til making only boxed dioramas,
whe re you would enjoy the same advanragc.)
If you do want 10 achieve absolute realism
and true scale, may I SUl;:gl'St you try to get hold
uf two lxKlks, either second -hand or through
your public library. The CIIII/pfell: Guidr If) Has
of Brilaill f5 XElIrfJpr: by Alan Mitchell,
pu blish ed in 19M5 hy Dragon's World of
Lim p-field. S ur rey (I S B~ I M502S 0011 2)
lists practically a n~' tree you cou ld want,
together with ;l dcscnprion and colour d rawing
of the size and shape of a mature specimen.
1C".If shapes, the ir heights, and much other infor-
mation. T he superb colour identificatio n plates
in 17Ir: OxforJ B'H,k If Trus b~' Il E.:"ichoISl>ll
& A.R.C1apham, Oxford University Pr ess
(1975), are particularly good on the differi ng
 \ ,
appearance of hark; but for modclle rs this
book has a huge extra advantage. It includes
a range of marvellous colour painti ngs of
comple te woodland habitats, showing nor only
which trees grow to get her in di ffere nt
te rrains, hut even t he typical associated
unde rgr owth and ground cover (the subjects
arc British, hut apply equally to many N orth
Ame rican and E uropean habitats). Talk about
being; hand ed it on a plate ... this is the SOf { of
reference wh ich coul d turn you in to an
nbss cssivc.
E ven at my 0\\-0 level. one can obviously
model the difference between a conifer and a
broad- leafed tree witho ut too much difficulty,
but personally I don ', try to go far beyond
that. T he other difference that is most obvious
between conifero us and deciduo us woodland
is the woodland floor, and surprisingly often
modcllcrs fail to spot this. In the con ifer forest
the floor is a thick, spongy mass of greyish-
brown. long dead pine needles - and virtu ally
nothi ng, apart from nthcr conifers, grows in
this acidic mould . By con trast, the deciduo us
wood has years of leaf mould piling up, rotting
down and fo rm ing the compos t for the
seedl ings of trees, shr ubs, fern s, brambles,
wild flowers, fungi, and almost everything else
that grows on God's gre en earth.
.\ lodellers whose personal experience ABOVE The tools of Barry
extends no further than sanitiscd 'subu rban' Bowen's trade: PVA glue,
woods should remember that the grou nd in real Tetrion, packets of ground
wilderness woodland is also littered with fallen scatter, three or four different
boughs and the stumps and broken tr unks ofold gauges of wire, coconu t fi bre .
and, in the plastic container at
trees. In the wildwood, branches d rop and trees
the front, chopped-up pieces
arc blown oyer all the time; after a few decades
of sisal str ing dyed green. This
without human interference a forest nom can be last is for making pine needles
a virtually Impassable (and potentially deadly) and the foliage for fir trees. If
maze of these deadfalls at eyery stage of decay, you plan on using this metho d,
often entangled in undergrowth - and all the you must ensure [hat you get
more dangerously chaotic if the underlying sisal string, not the modern
ground is rocky and uneven. Deadfalls, stumps, nylon type, as the latter will
and the living trees themselves support mosses, not absorb the dye.
lichens, fungi, ivies and other parasitic growths
which add contrasts of textu re and colour. If
you arc modelling a tropical forest you can add
luxurious growths of creepers and vines In both
the ground cover and the trees. Find yourself
some decem reference pictures, and all of this
can cont ribute to a realistically detailed and
eye-catching backdrop for your models.
Of course, not all woodlan d is created by
nature; mankind plants trees for coppicing ,
pollarding and harvesting. In the rub ber
plantations of ,\ Ialaya and Vietnam rows of
neatly grown trees stood on comparatively
d ear ground, allowing the passage of men
and vehicles.X Ianv soldiers have marched and
MODELLING TREES 4 9
 stage of making a tree is the
tw isted wire frame o r skeleton;
this method is described in
sequence in [he accom panyi ng
te xt. It is extremely versatile,
and simple adjustments produce
a wide range of realistically
d ifferent shapes.
fought through orchards of fru it trees; and
the olive gro"e is almost a trademark of the
M edit erranean landcapc.
As to the best way to make your tree, I
person ally believe that there is no liner mud-
cllcr th an Barry Bowen; one glance at his
excellent models in this chapter should prove
my point . The method he describe s here is one
that he has very successfully devised over
many ye,lrs of practice. 11 has the add ed
beaut y of needing no expensive materials: just
some wire, plaster, PVA glue, flock, and a pair
of pliers. If you follow his guidelines - of
which an extrac t is reprodu ced here, with his
per mission, from his d uplicated hooklet Tnt's,
which covers the subject in much greater
dept h (sec Append ix) - then I am sure you will
he delighted with the results:
50 TERRAIN MODElliNG MASTERCLASS
' If you have an ample supply of small or
medium wire you can usc this for your main
frame; it is easier to handle, but it is rather
wasteful if a heavier ga uge can be used. The wire
is used in multiples and twisted together,
separated at a bough, divided and twisted again,
and so on, working your way up. T he amount
of strands you twist together determi nes the
thickness of the branch, and you will find if you
can finish up with just one strand you will
achieve the natural tapering appearance of the
tree as it grows. Keep in mind that when you
cover the wire frame with plaster, it will add
slight thickness 10the whole tree; so it is best 10
make your tree, the branches in particu lar,
slightly under-size in thickness. You can always
add a second coat of plaster to build up a trunk
or branch if you find it is too thin.
'T he main frame will be a simple tree shape
and this method is best appl ied to trees over
Sins high. First decide upon the height of the
tree you wan t, and cu t your length s of wire
2 ~ times the height you decide. If you have
decided on a tree l Sins high, using 9 strands of
heavy gauge wire, you will need 9 lengths of
wire -I-Oins long. You can vary the amount,
length or gauge of wire to determine the scale.
l\ow to building the tree:
( I) Bend the 9 strands in half. You now have
18ends togethcr.fZ} Hold the wires at the bend
and make a loop large enough 10 fit three
or four fingers (this loop will form the base).
(3) Twist the 18 strands together; this section
for ms the trunk. T he length of the trunk
de pends upon how many twists you make.
(4) Di vide the base loop into 3 group s of
3 loops. (5) Twist each loop und bend at right
angles. You now have a base to stand your tree
upright. If you intend to have surface roots
coming from the tree, you could usc a cou ple
or more strands of your base wire separately to
make these.
(6) Now for the top half of your tree. Using
-I- of the 18 strands, twist these together for
about l ~i n . This will stan the first bough.
(7) D ivide the same -I- strands in 2 pairs and
twist each pair. (You should now have a forked
bough with .j. single ends). T he amount of
twists will determ ine the length of th e bough
you arc making. .\ Iake each bough slight ly
different in lengt h. (8) Now continue with the
tr un k, twisting th e remaining 1-1- str ands
together f or ubout l in; this extends the tr unk.
(9) Using -I- more strands, twist together for
about l in to I ~i n; divide into 2 pairs; twist
each pair for about li n or so; and you now have
to the tr unk and t wis t the remaining 10 strands of the completed w ire
together for about li n to I ~ i n . Whe n taking skeleton coated with Tenton,
out strands from a bunch. lake them from which is then carved with
different positions aro und the {funk . the bark detail. Not e that
( I I) Using ~ more strands, rep eal as at St ep 9. the ends of the branches
are left uncoated, to accept
(12) Using the last 6 str ands, twist together for
the eventual cement ing of
about I hin (this forms the last part of th e main
the foliage.
tr unk). (13) Divide the last 6 strands in half;
twist J together; leave I strand, twist th e last
2 (makin g a hough with J bra nches). ( l ~ ) Use
the last J wires as at S tep 13.
' Yo u should now have 18 single ends at th is
stage, and you can shor ten them had , if
necessary .. ,. You can now bend and shap e to
com plete the first stage of the main frame. To
make a tree with a dou ble trunk, make up
anothe r frame, place th em together, and bind
th e bottom lin or so togeth er; ~'ou will find
this easier than making it in one.

COVERING THE WIRE

':\ variety of materials "an be used for this, hut

my personal choice is Tetrion . T his comes in
ready- mixed and powder form. T he powder
is best, as it can be mixed easily to any
consistency. You can also add white glue to
your mix to make it more pliable, hut th is is
on ly suitable for trees with u smooth bark, arul
it also takes longer ro dry. l\ lix the Tetrion in a
bcwl tu suc h a consistency that when applying
it to the wire, it is neithe r too runny nor too ,

-'
lumpy. Hold the tree by its base, upsid e down
over some newspaper, and start to paint the
mix ont o the underside of the boug hs and
branches, working: up the tr unk.
' \Vhen comp leted, stand the tree on some
grcascproof paper in a tray or dish, which you LEFT The first wash of oil
ca n usc as a turntable, and paint the mix onto paint is applied and has soaked
the tr unk , starting at the base and wor king up into the Tetrion.
to com plete the branches. If you have surface
roots, don't bury rhem in too much Terrien .
T he only part s of the tree frame that should
not he covered arc rhc single, terminating ends
(twigs). T hese arc painted later, and if you arc
int ending to add grasses ,IS foliage, the ends
will take the glue bett er if they arc not covered.
' By the time you have com pletely covered
the tr unk, the top should have d ried sufficient-
Iy to enable texturing. If not . let it stand for a
few minutes unt il you can score it with a small.
pointed knife. This is best done just before the
Tetrion hardens off Only the larger boughs
and branch es will require textu ring In achieve
the bark effect, not fcrgcning knot s and
hollows as appropriate. Using a small pointed

MODELLING TREES 51
 ABO VE & RIGHT A finished
model: the gnarled skeleton
of an ancient oak tree. The
close-up shows the massive
surface roots and growths
of moss on the bar k.
BELOW & BOTTOM A smooth
grey-green beec h trun k
contrasts str ikingly wit h
the almost 'net ted'
appearance of elde r bark.
knife or stiff piece of wire, score the larger
bou ghs with upward and downward move-
ment s, crossing over occas ionally, to achieve
the appea rance of bar k. After scoring, using an
old toothbrush or stifl' paint bru sh, stipple the
sur face all mer, gi\ ing the tree a rugged look.
PAINTING BARK
For painting the trees, I find art ists' oil colours
give the best results. T he main colours you will
need arc Burnt Sienna, Raw & Burnt Um ber,
and black. For the base coat, dilute the paints to
a \'CTY thin wash with white spirit. Using a large
hrush, hold the tree Imrncwork upside down
and paint as m uch of it ,IS pllssiblc. Then stand
the tree upright and paint those parts you will
have missed. You will find that when the paint
touc hes the tree it spreads out and soaks into the
Tct rion, makin g it e,tsy 10 paint and also
quickdrving. Be careful not to make the wash
toll thick ur the tree will look awful. It's a lot
better to apply two or three thin coats rathe r
tha n one thick one. When you are satisfied with
the overall basic coat, you can shade the cracks
and grom"Cs using a small brush and a slightly
darker wash; it somet imes helps 10 rnuke this
wash a little thicker.
52 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERClASS
'Here arc ,I few notes on techniques and
colours used Oil some specific types of tree:
Sm ooth Silver- Birches T he bark on rhes c trees
is \"Cry smooth and mostly white, A thinned
down coat of mart white enamel usually does for
the base coat. The mar kings un the trunks ami
branches can be applied with a small brush, and
the app ropriate colours and shading in the forks
with a shade of off-white. T he upper branches
and young growth arc a reddish brown ami for
this I use Burnt Sienna. Elm s & Oaks Usc
Burnt or Raw Um ber for the b ase coat and shade
with black, hut don't overdo the shading.
Willows, Ash es , etc. Add ;J little white and a
touch of green tu the base coat 10 give a fresh,
green wood look.
P la n e T he top layer of bark on plane trees
peels in some places, revealing a lighter layer
underneath. ')0 achieve this effect, put small
dabs of )IVA glue on the hark where you wanr rhc
light patches. and allow to d ry. Then paint the
whole tree in the darker base colour. The areas
with PVA will appear lighter under the paint.
' If yOLl make a complete nonsense of the
paint ing of your tree, don 't despair: just apply
a fres h coat of thin ned Terrien , let it dry, and
start again .
FOLIAGE

'There arc ;1 number of materials that can he

used to provide trees with a variety of f oliage . .
here is a list of some that r h'I\'C fou nd "cry
satisfactory: various dried gr.lSSCS ami plants:
coconut fibre; rubberised horsehair: sawdust;
flock or scatter ; soft drink ca ns: dried fern ; dried
fibrou s roots: hessian rope or sisal string; silver
birch seeds: lawn moss. All these can be used in
various ways f or differen t effects, as follows:
Dri ed G rasses & Plants T hese can be found
in most good Florists' shops, sold for dried
flower arrangi ng. Be selective and get the small-
er-seeded types. These fine, small grasses arc
sold in hunches and arc usually dyed in a wide
variety of colo urs. Stick to the 'natura l' looking:
colours - tan. shades of gree n, yellow; etc. These
can easily he coloured to your choice, whereas
the darker blues. mauves, reds, etc. cann ot.
'In on e hunch you' ll find several stages of
growth - loose, semiloose and tight . Sorted
into their different stages they can be used for
d ifferent effects . T he \"Cry fine, loose grass gives
a nice spri ng or ear ly aut umn look when
paint ed the app ropr iate colour. T he semi-loose ABOVE The foliage has been added BELOW Foliage detail; the
and tigh t grasses make good late spring or and set with hatrspray,compl eting this accompanying t ext lists a wide
summer trees. ,IS well as being useful for beautifully finished model of a mature variety of possible materials for this
weeping trees. T he growths can also he varied tree in full leaf. stage.
on the S,lOlC tree, thu s giving the effect of a tree
with a bushy lower half, which then th ins out
further up. T hese grasses are also used in
conj unction with other materials, e.g. scatter,
sawd ust, silver birch seeds, etc. . . . added after
the grasses have been attached to the wire
frame. Some of the d ried plan ts can he used 10
good effect for flowering shr ubs and small trees.
Gvpsophilia and heather can he usefu l for this.
Coconut Fibre This can he purc hased from
upho lsterers or can he found as st uffing in old
matt resses and furni tu re. It can be leased ou t
int o different shapes and atta ched with PVA to
your wire frame for oaks, elms and the like.
Also, flatt ened out, pieces form th e ' umbrella'
shape for pine trees . It makes excellent hedges
and coni fers. S imp ly roll a bunch of fibre until
you have the desired size and shape. :\ lake a
wire foot with on e sta nd in the middle and
glue the con ifer to this spike. Paint the con ifer
with diluted PYA glue and sp rinkle it with the
app ro pr iate scatter or sawd ust. Let this dr y,
shake off ,lOy excess, and trim off any odd
fibres with a pair of sci ssors. Using thi s
method , you can make any size and shape of
tree you wish.
Rub b eri sed Hors ehair This is obta ined
from good model shops and IS used in the
same way as coconut fibre.

MODELLING TREES 53
 other, you can indicate the
difference betwe en spring
and summe r growth, as in these
two weeping tre es.

RIGHT You r model trees can be

scaled up or down to suit what-
ever size of model you wish.
using the same methods: these
were made to match a I/nnd
scale Milicast model.

BELOW O ne of Barry's
amazingly lifel ike models of a
bonsai tree. Normally you
would have to wait a hundred
years to get an effect like this.

Sa wdust Your local joinery company will

probably give you as much sawdust as you
want, at no cost. Gra de it into fine, medium
and coarse, using a sieve. Whcn used with
grasses it gives very bushy, fully cloth ed
summer trees. Attach it to the grasses with
diluted 1'VA, let dry, and paint the appr opriate
colour, Sawdust can also be used with coconut
fibre and rubberised horsehair.
Sca tt er or F lock Also obtainable from model
shops, it is sold in a variety of colours and
grades. Use in the same way as sawdust.
Drink Ca ns Most drink cans are surprisingly
soft and can easily be cut into sheets with a
pair of scissors. These are used to make broad-
leaved plants such ,IS Palms and Y UCC,IS.

54 TERRAIN MODElliNG MASTERCLASS

 LEFT The fi rst t hree stages of
the constr uction of a pine
tree: from left to right, the
wire skeleton : the wire
covered with Terrie n: and the
Dried Fer n This is also sold by florists and is
painted tree awaiting foliage.
used for buttonholes at weddings. Try to get
the dried and treated variety that is sold in ABOVE The first layer of
large spr ays and packets. T his fern is used for foliage consists of chopped-up
fir trees with re ry good results. Break up the cocon ut fibre.
sprig of fern into \'ary'ing sizes and attach it to
the tree frame by dipping the ends in PYA and
placing them in the desired position. Start at
the bottom of your tree , using the larger sprigs.
and work your way up getting smaller as you
go, thus forming the 'Christmas tree' shape.
Dr ied Fi brous Root s T hese are the small
roots to be found on dead plants and shru bs.
Azaleas arc a good source of supply'. Once you
have removed them, wash them and set
aside to dry: Usc these roots on winter trees to LEFT The finished pine t ree .
represent the fine. m iggy' ends of branches; with contrasting gree n needles
these arc part icularly' suitable for 03 1.: S, elms - made from dyed and
and other such trees. chopped-up sisal string - laid
Hessia n rop e & Sisal st ring T his fi brous Over the brown coconut fibre.
material, when chopped in tiny' lengths, makes
good needle-ty pe coverage for pines and
cedars. To colour the rope or string, place a
length in a howl with a coldwater dye in a
shade of durk green. When the dye has set into
the material, remov e it and leave to dry. Don't
worry if the resulting material has a blotchy or
uneven colour - this will merely give you the
requ ired variety in the shade of the foliage.
When dry, chop it up into tiny' pieces. Apply
PVA to the framework of your tr ee and
sprinkle with the 'needles' . Repeat this process
several times to give a build- up of foliage.
Si lver Bir ch Seeds Excellent results can
be obtained with these when maple, beech,
chestn ut or autu mn silver birch trees are being
made. Paint them red and green for maples.
copper red for beech, yellowI green for LEFT Detail or the base of the
chest-nut and yellow for autumn silver birch. pine tre e, with a 'cushion' of
L awn Moss T his is to be found in the long fajlen needles and bracken.

MODElUNG TREES SS
 dying; mix upa wash of green dye and di p the
moss into it. Once the moss is llry it can be
glued to the bra nches with PVA glue. You' ll
find this eas ier if you bend the ends of
the branches to the ho rizontal, thus giving
a larger area for the moss to stick to.
High lighting may be re qui red , and this is done
by lightly br ush ing the moss with :1 brush of
undiluted paint . Sc rub most of the paint off
the brush and stroke it gently O\'Cr the \-cry
hig hes t points of the surface. A light green or
yellow will p rod uce the best results.
'All foliage is attac hed to the tree framework
with white P VA glue. 'to u'I l find it easier if you
let some glue sit in a sauce r for five minutes or
so; this lets the glue go tacky. Dip the ends of the
grass, ferns etc. into the glue and then hold it in
position on the tree for a mom ent or two. T he
grass is so light it will Slick without roo much
trou ble. Always work from the bottom cent re of
the tree, moving up wards und outwards. 'tou will
find that the lower, attache d fbliugc will su pport
thut which you arc attac hing above, thus making
it easier as you proceed . Apart from attac hing the
fi)liage at the ends uf branches, p ut it into forks
or between branches, creat ing new; small
branches out of the foliage stems.
'Once the foliage has been fixed , the glue
needs to be paint ed . In som e cases a thin coat
of Tetrion nee ds to be placed where the grass
joins th e bra nch before it can be painted .
PAINTING & FINISHING
Pa intin g- The two colours I usc fer the
varying shades of gree n arc 'Permanent G reen
D eep' and 'Cadmium Pale Yellow' . By mi xing
these twu colo urs you can create most shades
of green. If you requ ire :1 really da rk green,
add a touch ofhlue. .\ lix your paints up in a jar
and add white spirit to make a med ium wash.
' H old the tree ups ide down over some news-
paper and paint the foliage using a half-i nch
brush . T hen turn the tree upri ght, stand it on a
plate and paint the topside of the foliage, using
the plate as a turn table [SlOC the ' Lazy Susan',
Cha pter 1 - Auth or]. Le ave it to dry and rccoar if
nCt:ess:IrY. To highl ight the foliage, gent ly brush
over the surface with yellow (not HM) thin) .
Fi nish ing After pain tin g the foliage you will
probabl y have spattered some pain t on the
trunk and bra nches, so it will be neecssary to
to uch these up with the appropriate colou rs. At
this stage you could, if you wish, apply a thin
wash of green/yellow down one side of the
S6 TERRAIN MODElLING MASTERCLASS
of hairsprav .. this helps hold it ill place.
FIRTREES & PALM TREES
Both fir and palm tre es have one main tr un k,
tapering as it grow s. T he bas ic trun k for bot h
is made in the same way:
Fi r Tr ee (I & 2) " lake :1 wire fiMlt and trunk in
the same way as for other trees. but usc wires of
differing lengths, twisted togethe r .. this will give
you vour taper. Fin ish with one single strand ut
the top. (3) Usc 3 strands of thin wire together
and , starting at the base, fasten them to the foot
and then wind them up the trunk, making large
loops at intcrvuls .. . When winding up the
trun k, keep the st rand :IS close :IS possible
between each loop, (4) Bring the loops ou t ar
right angles and cu t each one. (5) Twist the CUI
loop to rrmkc a thickish branch, and when you
have reached the desi red length, stop twisting ..
the cut ends make twigs . (6) Coat with "lct rion
and paint, using mid- and dark browns and
adding a touch of Burn t Sienna fer the reddish
tinge in fir hark . (7) Add dried f .. TIl to the frame
with white glue. (8) Dead firs can he made in the
same way, hut add short, stumpy branches at
intervals to re prese nt broken boughs. O nce
again , cover with 'Jctrion and paint.
'As always, it is best to get your reference
from books and rnagaztncs to show you the
various colour ton es of fir rrcc hark and foliage.
Pa lm T ree 'The palm tree described has a
straight trunk, with all the gro wth at the top.
Oft en these trees grow in clumps of two or
three, which arc easy to model usin g two or
th ree main trunks. On ce again , look for colour
pict ures for your reference. A palm tree trunk
:lppe:lrs quite 'humpy'; these humps arc formed
where old palm frond s have becom e too heavy
and have snap ped on: ( I) 'Io achieve these
bumps, start with the basic trunk (as for fir
tr ees) und usiug one piece of medium thickness
wire, start at the base and wra p it rou nd the
trun k, leaving g-dpS of abou t a l~i n on :I tree of
about Sin high . (2) Using anot her piece of wire
of the same size, repeat the exerc ise sta rting
from the opposite side of the tr unk. T h is gives
you a cr iss-c ross look. (3) Twist these two wires
together and cu t them off leaving llin protrud-
ing from the to p. T his will support you r leaves.
(4) When the tr unk is covered with 'Ictrion you
will sec that the added wire produces the
desired ' hum py' ap pearance. M or e Terrie n
should be added to the base of the tree, as this
is us ually thicke r and smoo ther d ue to erosion .'
D .H I r ~ ' L' '' ' 'r V l b L "': ~ "': ~ . W'C; L "

pair of coconut palms. The

pirate figure is IOOmm. to give
you an idea of the scale of t he
tree s. Not ice the ripening
coco nuts - green, with a
groove run ning around them,
not brown and hairy as we see
the m in the shops.

LEFT One way to make palm

fronds.These are leaves from a
cheap silk newer. Pull the vein
detailing off the back and stick
the leaf to a piece of wire.

Cut the leaf into fronds with a

sharp pair of scissors. and
bend the wire stem to the
angle you want.

LEFT These spiky tropical

growths have been made from
the spare sprue around etched
brass plants from Scale Link.
C ut the sprue into short
lengths, trim one end to a
point. bend to shape and glue
them into the stem,

MODELLING TREES 57

ABOVE The armatures for the
tr ees. carved from thick balsa
dowe l and glued toget her.
BELOW The layer of earth -
coloured Celloclay spread over
the base. Before applying this I
spread a very thin coat of
plaster whe re the narrow
stream bed wou ld run across
the scene; whe n the basic
gro undwork went down I
cove red the edges of t he strip
with t he Celluclay.
RIGHT Having coated the trees
with f lexibark I the n added
branches made from coral. I
pressed the tr ees firmly into
the still damp Celluday,adding
some PYA to the base of each
one befo re setting it in place.
Another layer of Celluclay was
added to blend the tree roots
into the ground . Here I've put
the tree stump into position,
and placed the fallen boughs
temporarily to make sure
t hey will look right when
fina lly stuck down .
58 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
.....,. _
... .....,._. . ... .. -- ---
his vignette is an exercise in t he
T creation of a woodland setting with
convincing miniatu re trees, of my
'generic ha rdwood' species (pluJ/lej'llrlm r
windrowitlnll?), on the basis of balsa dowel rather
than a wire arm ature. As the accompanying
photos make clear, the trees were always going to
be strictly ' fi lm prop' jobs. In other words, as the
vignette was [0 feature the detailing of a forest
floor, and the final photos would be taken at a
low level, I didn't finish the trees off to the
crown; but I hope this won't detract from the
fi nal effect too much.
Using 19mm balsa dowel, I built the basic
armatu res of th ree large, mature trees. I only
took th em as far as the basics, as I needed to
build up the gro undwork next to see how I
would position them. I covered th e baseboard
with a thick layer of Cellu clay mixed with
water which I had colour ed with Burn t Sienna
acrylic paint . I left a clear strip whe re my
muddy strea m would flow and, after pressing
the t ree bases into th e Celluclay so as to mark
the ir position, I left it to dr y for about a week.
T his may seem excessive, but it really is
necessary when you lay down such a thic k
layer of Celluclav - it takes a long time to dr y
right through. You can help it along by placing
it over a source of gentl e, indirect heat such as
a night storage heater.
In the interim I got back to t he tree s. I
wanted trun ks with a fairly rough-t extured
hark, so I covered the balsa with Fl cxibar k.
Obviously not all trees have such a rough
surface - look at beech trees or birches: so
don 't auromnticallv use this covering for all
your trees. Beeches and other smooth- barked
species can be coated with Terrien or ordinary
plaster and smoothed with a wet brus h to
achieve the right finish .
T he next step was the add ition of the
branches. T he thickest boug hs arc balsa dowel,
attached with PVA. T he th inn er branches arc
made from a slightly unusual medium. Some
years ago, when tu rn ing out an att ic, I came
across some strange pieces of what I thoug ht to
be some kind of dr ied flower, but they tu rned
out to be fan cora l. I believe it is now
impossible to bu y cora l since it is an
enda ngered and protected species, so I have
been hoarding these ever since - it is an ideal
material for twisty branches. I drilled holes in
t he balsa dowel and glued these boughs into
place, covering the m in turn with Flexiba rk.
T he next job, once the basic groundwork had
d ried , was to place the trees and, using
Cclluclay, to ' feathe r' th em seamlessly into the
ground . When this was secure I tu rned to
the foliage. I used PVA to stick teased-out
pieces of Woodland Scenics poly-fibre to the
 fence is in place at the back of
the scene; and the stream bed
is painted with a khaki colour.

-,

LEFT Here I have started

adding the foliage to the trees.
using polyfibre and a medium
green ground cover as
'scatter',

LEFT The real thing. a

hardwood forest floor in
autumn. Notice the overall
covering of dead leaf litter. the
black rotten twigs. and the
bright seedlings of this year's
growth pushing through.

AN AUTUMN WOOD 59
 ABOVE Some of the material I
used for the heavy leaf litter in
the vignette .This is an old leaf
that I dr ied out and gro und up
with a pestle and mortar.
Before using the resu lting mix I
took out the th in,fibrous
rema ins of the leaf veins.
RIGHT The tree foliage is
finished. and the heavy leaf
cover has been spread across
the base.This is a mixture of my
ground-up dried leaf and
silver birch cat kin seeds . I have
also spread the first layer of
gloss varnish over the stream
bed. and dropped in some 'float-
ing' leaves.The fallen boughs are
now fixed in place .
BELOW Detail of the fungus o n
the tree stump. J made this from
Duro, and co loured it with
Win dsor & Newto n sepia ink.
60 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERCLASS
br anches: then. having sprayed this w it h
Scenic Cement. I added a coating: of fine
grou nd COler.
I wanted a large fallen bough in the scene,
so I used a bit of twig glued into one end of
a small piece of balsa dowel. Once this was
firmly set 1 used my Dremcl motor tool with
a ball-headed cutter to hollow out the other end
of the piece of dowel, as though it were rotten,
and covered the whole thing with a light coating
of Flcxibark. This done, I took a pla.srer tree
slump and a sawn- up piece of tree tru nk and.
together with my fallen bough, I placed them
on the model to check their relative positions.
Happy with this, I glued the tree stump in
place and feathered it into the ground with
Celluclay,
I mixed up a grey-green colour for the U·Cl"S
and stump and painted them with a fairly wet
solution, which soaked well into the Flcxibark
coating. With this dry, I dry-brushed the rough
texture of the Flcxibark with a paler shade of the
grey-gn:cn ; and dusted patches of green pastel
chalk onto the tru nks to represent areas of the
bright gn.'cn moss and lichen you find on old
rn..1..'S., especially in damp woodland.
I felt I needed somethi ng to draw a fi nishing
line across the hack of the model; so I made up,
a barbed wire fence, using matchsticks for the
posts, treated with \\'t.'a ther-It to achieve an
aged, unpainted fi nish to the wood, before
adding some photo-etched barbed wire coated a
suitable rusty colour. I made another fallen
bough from twig and laid it across the fence,
dragging the wire down under its weight and
pulling a couple of the posts out of the vertical.
(By the way, many arts and crafts shops selllarge
bags of matchsticks for those modellers who
build things like galleons and St Paul's
Cathedral out of them. These naturally come
without a striking head, and are very useful for
all kinds of bits of timber; an inexpensive bag
will last you for yea rs.]
I next painted the bed of the diagonal
stream a shade of dark earth and then . before
the first coat had dr ied. worked in swirls of a
ABOVE The moss on the
fall en branc h is made fro m the
tiny poly-beads sold by the
4D Model Shop for snow
effects, but here coloured with
gree n inks. In front of t he
branch tiny toadst oo ls. made
fro m Milliput, spro ut fro m the
rich loam.

LEFT The fems are in position

along the fence line; these are
Scale link etched brass leaves.
as are the tiny fresh green
shoots poking up through the
litter, coloured with Humbro l
enamels.

AN AUTUMN WOOD 6\
ABOVE The comple ted
vignette. (I chk kened out of
try ing to make a 1/35th scale
squirrel to fin ish it off).
62 TERRAIN MOOEWNG MASTERCLA5S
light tan colou r and added some lea f litter.
Then I applied several coats of gloss varnish fur
th e water, not forgett ing to add so me more
floating leaves into the last coat - in autumn
woodland d ead leaves cover absol utely every
surface until they arc blown or swept away. T he
vari-coloured swirls of brown acryl ic I had
painted on at first now looked like sediment
moving in the water. O nce the st ream was
finished, I left it to become com pletely d ry
before moving on to the next step, which was
adding the leaf litter to the fl oor of the WIMK!.
The litte r was made from my favourite leaf
material, silver birch catkin see ds. I sp rayed
Scenic Cement over the base and then scattered
liberal qua ntities of the litter, m isting another
out of ad hesive over this first layer to secu re it.
When it was dry I repeated the proces.<;. Wh en
' flooring' an autumn diorama, remember that
fallen leaves come in a hu ge range of colours -
from lime green 10 lemon yellow, through gold,
ochre, or ange, red , and e\ ery shade of brow n to
dead blad : - so you can mix yo ur own litter to
match your references.
Xext I placed the fallen boughs in position ,
securing the m in place with P\'.\. The moss
un the large bough was creat ed by sticking on
some of th e \ery fine poly-beads that I usc for
powdered snow, and then dripping two shades
of green ink o nto it, th e ligh ter shade for the
thi nn er grow th at th e edge of the patch and the
da rker in the centre; the add ition of the ink
tend ed to make the beads clum p up in to a
mo re conv incing mossy growth.
Now I added th at year's fresh, new growth
pushing through from ben eath the leaf mould,
and the ferns growing under the bar bed wire
fence . T he new seed lings and baby saplings and
th e fern s were all from photo-etched brass sets
which arc made by Scale Link. Wh ile these were
still attached to their frets I undercoatcd them
with Halford's G rey Car Primer, and then used
lI umb rol enamel s for the shades of g rt.ocn,
fini shing by mating them all with matt varnish .
Once th ey were dry I drilled small holes in the
base and secured them all with Supcrglue. The
toadstools growing by the fallen bou gh were
mad e from .\ lillip ut by my wife (who has a thin g
about modelling toadstools') and timed with
acrylic paints. And that was that; apart from
making scrunching sound-effects, I could n' t
think of anything else to add.
ABOVE & LEFT The
aftermath of an autumn storm
outside an early medieval
village (c4oo-8oo AD) -
another of the 1/62nd scale
dioramas commissioned by
the Cantonal Early Histo ry
Museum at Zug. Switzerland.
The deta il shows a hunter
venturing into the birch
woods. The trees in this case
were 'ready -rnades' from an
architectural model supplier in
the USA: they were made of
some kind of latex over wire
armatures, with gro und-up
rubber foliage.At this small
scale I on ly had to add the
odd finishing touches with
paint and scatter.

AN AUTUMN WOOD 63
 the silvery appearance of the
wood. with darle; streaks VKf
insect holes.

RIGHT The butt of a tree felled

with a chainu:w. Chainsaws
were widefy used for cleari ng
land ing zones in Vietnam. but
pre-19-45 U'HS and stumps
should definicely not show th is
effect. Th ink about the W3)'$ in
which axes and png-szovs were
actU3.11y used to noteh and CUt
through treetrunks before
shaping your stumps VKf butu.

64 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERClASS

ABOVE Dead branches
clutt ering the floor of OJ mixed
fo rest of coniferous and
hardwood trees.

LEFT An old coniferous

deadfall in mixed woodland.
showing the remains of a
broad roo t b311. In the right
background note the heavy
growth of bright green moss
up one (the southem~) side of
a hardwood tree trunk .

LEFT The trun k of the old

dead fir tree. with the remains
of bark scabbing off the ro tt en
trunk . which is scraw-<~
and lightly stained wTth green.

AN AUlUMN WOOO 6S
 M
ilitary rnodcllc rs often wish to
sim ulate fire effects - or more
usually, t he aftermath of fire. A
bu rnt-out vehicle or house is a useful visual
short hand which immed iately establishes that
this is a battlefield. ~lodem warfare isn' t the
on ly arena in which you would find 'scorched
eart h' , of course. In ancient and medieval days
an attacking army would routinely harry the
enemy"s land s, burn ing cro ps and villages,
r unning off livestock and killing the wretched
peasantry; in this way th ey dest royed the
enemy's economy, and hoped to provoke him to
come out of his strongholds and offer bailie.
During the cent uries of black powder warfare
the smouldering wads from musket and cannon
often started fires in the dr y campaigning
months of summer - notoriously, during the
bloody Battl e of the Wildcmcs s in .\lay 18M ,
where thousands of Union and Con federate
wou nded perished horrib ly in massive forest
fires .
T he pu rpose of the next two models was to
show the difference between land that has been
bum ed off deliberate ly with the intent of
clearing it for agriculture , and land that has been
sco rched by war. Throughout the centuries and
all al.TOS.s the world , farmer s would normally cut
down the trees, separate the timber that might
be of usc later on, and burn t he smaller
branches; a certain order i s apparent in such
scenes - whereas in warfare. everything goes. If
you look at a picture of a burnt-out tank y'Ou will
sec that around the hulk the earth is completely
blackened, without a scrap of grass left, only
white and grey ash. As your eye moves further
away from the scat of the fire you will sec that
the scorching becomes gradually less severe,
unti l on the \"Cr}' edge of the area the grass will
only have been singed to a light brown colour.

RIGHT The initial co nstru ctio n

of the base is illustrated on page
19.This is the polystyrene and
Ce lluclaygroundwork after I
had sprayed it with a random
patt ern of matt black and grey
acrylics. and added rwc layers of
coarse scatter.The colou rs are
all neutral in this model . so as to
add to the deso late appearance
of the scene.

flJGHT Rubberised horsehai r

represents bumt unde rgrowth:
mis tw else been tou ched in
......c. bach matt black and grey.
rwe $t¥ted adding small spo ts of
ash ;at this stage· this is
jIUSl ~ pastel chalk.

66 TER
 dried plant which had a ve ry
soft, pithy centre that was
easy to hollow out. Once I
had shaped them I added
roots made from Duro epoxy
puny.

LEFT Having attached the

stumps with PVA I painted
them matt black, and added
some more coarse scatter
around the base and in
amongst the roots.

NAPALM
The first vignette represents a t rack through a (I must confess th at I never attempt to po rtr ay
lightly wooded area whic h has been ravaged by smoke or flam es in my models. I "now it has
fire. I called it 'Xapalrn' , hut the same effects been done with both teased-our cot ton wool and
wou ld suit a bu rn t-out area from th e American nylon waddi ng, but it is almost impossible to BELOW Detail of the finished
stumps .The glowing ember
Ci vil War or any other co n flict in history crea te convincing gases or \"apours without the
was crea ted by painting on a
T he terrain was built up on (he baseboa rd much greater control allowed by a boxed
drop of man white and, when
in t he usual way. using polystyrene and diorama with di rected lighti ng effects - so dry, overlaying this with a
Ccllu clav; and then airbr ushed with shades of normally I'd rather not bother. BUI SL'C page 73.) drop of Humbro! 'Day-Glc'.
g rey and blac k acr ylic pain ts. Next. a layer of A final d usting over with both grey an d There are two shades of this
CO;l fSC g ro und cover was glued on , sca ttered in white pastel powder gave the model a nice paint available , orange and
.1 fairly ra ndom fashion . Rubberised hors ehair overall ' ashy' finish . pinky-red. I used the latter.
was used for the burnt -out un dergrowt h, and
th is in tu rn was also sprayed with black and
grey. I used ground- up white pastel chalks ro
add patches of ash. The burnt trees were then
made with twigs tal co from [he DIu garden
hroom and sprayed man black. T ht."SC were pUI
in pos ition by simply pu sh ing th em in to t he
polystyr ene base. I next added more burnt
under g rowth and a few fallen, charred
bra nches.
Fo r t he foregro und I made a co uple of
burnt -o ut, hollowed tree stu m ps. D rilling o ut
shor t lengt hs of a dri ed stalk that I'd found in
a flor ist' s shop, I made up th e rocr sys tem wit h
Duro putt y. T hey, in turn , were sprayed matt
black and glued to the base with P\'A. I added
"o rne more white pastel c halk powder 10 th e
inside of the st umps, and then TOuch ed in a
couple of glowing embers o n the lip of the
bar ". To get thi s 'fire glow' effec t you need to
paint o n a sm all dab of white and let it dry.
Xcxr get hold of some H umbrol ' Day- Glo'
pain t, as used by the uircra ft- mcdclli ng gUpi.
;\ pply th is over th e white und ercoat and leave
to dr y. Have a 100" at the effe ct when th e
Dav- Glo has dr ied und. if it is a hit pale, add
ano the r layer. The whi te un dercoat hel ps
throw th e Day-Glo up; and if you apply th is
on a ma ll black o r shadowy area of yo ur model
it stands out \-ery effectiv ely.

SCORCHFD FARTH "7

 ~ ..
scatter and fallen branches. A
fire moving fast through
woodland sometimes chars
but does not completely
destroy cough undergrow th
like brambles.

RIGHT A shot more focused on

the skeleta l burnt-out trees,
made from natu ral [Wigs painted
matt black and tou ched in lightly
with greyish-w hite paste l chalk
'ash' details.

68 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERClASS

 ..
•

ABOVE Overall view of the

finished vignette from the side.

LEFT Surveying the damage .

Roy D ixon kindly painted the
Vietnam GI figure for me.

SCORCHED EARTH 69

TO P The two basic areas of this
model laid out with Celluday.
Obviously.
the ploughed field area is
on the right.
CENTRE Balsa dowel tree
stumps, de ta iled wit h Duro
putty and then scribed with
bark detail.
BonOM The Cel1uclay soil has
been given an overall wash of
earth-colou red acrylic and the
stumps are in place.
70 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
( give t he look of grass that was just scorch ed
- than burning wood, and for this th e H urnbrol
SLASH & BURN
The second model represents an area of
cult ivated land that is being enlarged by
burning off the nat ural growth .
I start ed off with the field, making thi s
from a Ccll uclay base and markin g in small
furrow s. Next I mad e a number of tree stumps
from balsa dowel. I modelled th ese as though
they had been felled with a saw, cu t at a
slight angle and with the characteristic fringe
of splinte red bark where the tr unk broke away
from th e stump as it fell. I covered the balsa
dowel with a skin of D uro two- part epoxy
putty, and scribed in lines for the bark before
it set. In the photos I' ve shown two ways to
t reat the stumps: on e mer ely has a ring of
putt y arou nd the base, which is feathered into
the stump to make it a bit wider hut without
any visible rom system. The seco nd has
individual sp urs of pu tt y smoothed cnro it so
as to have a few gnarly roots showing above
ground. O nce they had dried, I coloured the
1 1Il,; l- I c v 1l-l,;1> III rue IhU 1\. n 11l,;1l .111 \\01.) IH l1 1>Jl U ..l
I stuck them down with PVA, sprayed th e area
aro und them with thi n Woodland Sceni cs
glue, and scatt ered on static grass.
T he next move was to create the area of
scorched ground under and around the
bo nlire. I coloured th is with matt black paint
where [he grass was completely burnt, and
[hen faded that into a shade of Burn t Sien na to
bu t not cha rred .
Fire s such as ca m p fi res (anot her popular
mode lling scenario} and bonfires arc basically
made the same way. T he logs are unhurnt at
the outer edge, and as they get closer to the
centre of the fire they should be coloured
gra du ally th roug h shades of black, grey, white,
a hot red nea r the ends, and finally a pale
yellow to indica te the hottest part of the fire.
Wh ite ash bui lds up in the cen tre and grey
ashes and bits of burn t twigs for m an oute r
rin g. I have sug gested hot embe rs rat her
' Day-Glc' is best .
When modelling a cam pfire it looks better
to lay down a ring of logs with their ends
meet ing at the centre of the fire - t his gives an
appearance of deli berate organisat ion rather
t han simply destructio n . Anot her type of
cooking fire was made by laying two large logs
para llel on the grou nd and about a foot apart,
and buildin g a fire betwee n them with smaller
fuel. T his confi ned the fire; provided support
for im provised grills and spits; and started the
large logs on a slow process of smoulde ring,
which would later provide a level of warmth
during the night.
For bonfires just a random pile of wood or
branches will suffice. A scatte ring of white
pastel chalk was put on the spot where I would
place the bonfire to rep resent the heavy ash
layer under a fire, and one of the tree stumps
was painted black and then ' charcoalcd' on t he
nearest side to the fire. T his is to represent the
shiny appearance of heavily charred wood, and
is simply done by lightly brushing graphite
(from a 6B pencil) over the bark with your
finger tip. This done, it was time to bu ild t he
bonfi re, made from small twigs from the
garden . I painted a couple of areas of hot
embers in the base of the fire using H umb rol
'Day-Glo', and then added matt black
coloured t wigs on top, with a few unbum t
ends in th e upper and outer areas.
I used some Woodland Sce nics grasses and
some very fine drie d flower ste ms (0 create
 around them .

LEFT The burnt area has been

undercoated in matt black,
with the edges of the grass
and the face of the stumps
tinted with Burnt Umber to
represent scorching rather
than burning.The nearest
stump is completely burnt on
one side, and 'charred' by
rubbing over the black paint
with graphite from a ve ry
soft pencil. A heavy white ash
deposit has been placed whe re
t he bonfire will be sited.

~. -"
, ' 'to .•"
.: . i
LEFT A side view of the
almost comp leted vignette .
Leaf liue r . from grou nd-up
catkin seeds and the herb
thyme - has been added all
ove r the grassed area; weed s
grow up aro und the stumps;
the bonfire is in place. with a
pile of twigs dumped beyond it
ready to be thrown o n the
fire, and on the right a stack of
logs saved for later use.

SCORCHED EARTH 71

ABOVE A close-up of the
bonfire, showing the glowing
Day-Glo embers underneath.
This way of modelling hot coals
is JUS t as effective when used for
campfires. coals in stoves. erc.: it
is best seen thro ugh a part ial
'screen' of bits of wood or coal
so th at it is partl y in shadow,
rather than sitting on top of a
fire.
some growth around the tree stumps. I also
spr ayed the area with thin PVA onto which
I scattered leaves and litte r made wit h
ground- up herbs. tiny pieces of cork and
some catkin leaves. I added a stack of ' flick'
(twigs and \'ery thin bran ches) lying ready to
be burnt on the fire; and a pile of useful
length s of t imbe r have been saved and
stacked by the stumps.
T he crop in the field is made from some
odd plants from a dried flower shop - I haven't
a d ue what they are but they work! (It is always
wort h while checking in this type of shop and
72 TERRAIN MODElLING MASTERCLASS
ABOVE & BELOW Two angles on the finished
model, with an axe fro m a Historex tool set left
stuck in a stump.The crops in the fi eld are made
with tiny dried flower stems. No te the heavy
scatt er of ash, burnt leaves and tr ee chippings all
over the grou nd around the fire and the stumps.
garden centres. You never know what you' ll
lind that will come in hand y one day} When
I'd fi nished gluing the crop in place with
Hob-e-Tac adhesive I scattered a very fine
brown flock over the whole area to kill any
highlights from the dr ied glue; Hob-e-Tac
sometimes leaves gloss patches when it dries.
At the end of the fiel d nearest the fire I
added some bits of grey flock into the sooty
grass, to represent shrivelled leaves from the
crop. For a fi nal touch I took an axe from a
His torex tool pack and stuck it into one of the
stum ps.
ABOVE Detail from one
of the commissioned
1/62nd scale dio ramas for
the Cantonal Early History
Museum at Zug, Switzerland.
This Bro nze Age village scene
(c2200 - 800 BC) was to be
displayed with co ntrolled 'night
time' lighting and fi bre optic
effects. To recrea te
the fi ndings of an actual
archaeological discovery,
the scenario was to be a
thunderstorm during which
lightning has struck one of the
houses : villagersgather their
animals and fl ee to safety
while a group of men pull
buming roof timbers down
in a vain attempt to stop
the fire spreading.
The burnt -out house
(upper leh) is made from
wooden barbe cue skewers,
'chewed up' with a pair of
pliers and painted matt black.
A bundle of optic fi bres were
secured under the model and
led up through a hole in the
middle of the ruined house .
The ends were tinted with
orange ink,and when
illuminated from under the
baseboard the resulting 'fi re
glow' was most convincing.
Next to th is, the partially
bumt house has glowing
embers on the roof, some
made with spots of Day-Glc
paint and some by leading
single optic fi bres up to holes
drilled in the plaster roof.
Although it can't be seen from
this angle, the interior of th is
house also looks suitably
ablaze. Fibre optics once again
provide the illumination, but in
this case I wanted the effect of
swirling smoke lit from below
by the fire. I first tried using
the Christmas tree decoration
called 'angel hair', but this had
a peculiar pro pe rty of casting
the light in distinct circles and
loo ked unrealistic.
Next I t ried some acrylic
wadding that my wife uses
when making quilts. and this
tumed out to be ideal: the
light from the optics was
diffused throughout the
interior of the house and
gave me just the effect I
wanted. (This material is also
used for stuffing soh toy
animals and should be
available from any good
craft shop.)
I wo uld repea t. however,
th at convincing smoke effects
really demand the confinement
and contro l associated with
boxed dioramas or building
interiors rather than the 'o pen
air',The effects arrived at in
this model do not really
show up in this 'natural light'
photO - it was the night time
lighting in the final display
which made all the differe nce.
To clarify one point, all
these 1/62nd scale dioramas
made for the museum at
Zug had to show JUSt a
portio n of each village;
palisades do n't encircle the
entire scene s, and houses
are sometimes cut thro ugh
leaving only the end gable
and a few feet of wall.
SCORCHED EARTH 73

ABOVE & OPPOSITE Examples
o f jungle vegetation using
pho to- etched brass plants.Th is
range of pictures w as kin dly
taken for me by D ominique
Breffon of 'Figurines' magazine at
the EuroM ilitaire show at
Polkestcne in Septemb er 1999.
The mo del is a display by
Scale link Ltd of som e of
their photo-etched plants. and
I' m grate ful for the ir permission
to reproduce it here.
74 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
JUNGLE
ungles come in many guises and you have
j a 101 of cho k e when mode lling them . l ou
need to refer to reference books and any
sources of pho tos wh ich you can find , in
order to estab lish which kim! of jungle grows
in the urea you arc setting out to represent .
You can mod el mou ntainous or h ill terrai n,
nat or swampy groun d, covered with thick or
thin jun gle, bamboo forest, or even - Goo help
yo u - elep hant gr ass. . . .
Primary jungle has massive trees, with
the cano py high above the gr ound; what
undergrowth has managed to sprout be neath
this canopy is starved of sunlight and thus
pretty sparse. It is no t nearly 3S vigorous as
that found in secon dary jungle, which has
masses of th ick, tangled und ergrowth with
everyth ing strugglin g up towards the light.
This is usual ly the result of eith er mankind
cleari ng the tn..res 3t some point in the past, or
some natural catastrophe like 3 forest fire,
which opens u p the soil to the sun.
Repeating my rem arks in Chap ter 4,
believe you sho uld be able to make
anything from spind ly, open-g rowth trees to
magnificent 'j ungle giant s' if you follow Barr y
Bowen's method of tree- building, and these
can be furt her embellished with hanging Hanas
and creepers. In the vignette I've made for th is
book the trees are - as in my autum n woodland
scene - de tailed on ly 'as far up as you can Sl'C"
since on e point of the model is to show what
is going on at grou nd level. For a full-scale
diorama you would be well advised to acce pt
that th e finished height will have to be less
than :1.0 accurate scale represent ation of the
real th ing (in pr imary jung le the canopy can be
well ever 100 feet high) .
There are plenty of good reference photos
from th e Bu rma and South- West Pacific
campa igns of World War II to give you ideas
for your mod el, as well as the vast librar y of
pictures taken d uring th e Yietnam war, which
mos tly have th e advantage of being in colour.
JUNGLE 7S
 I must admit thut this w.IS the one mod el that I
was most nervous about starling. The em..cr of
somone wading through scummy water was one
Ih.11 I hadn't tried before, and so I put it olf unt il
it was the last vignette left to do and I had no
choice but to get on with ir. All which goes to
provt.. that you do n't know what you can do unti l
you try. If there is some new' effect which you'd
like to use in .1 diorama bu t you do n't think you
can. grasp your courage with both hands, your
nose between two lingers, and jump in. You will
probably surprise yourself - ami there arc few
better moments ....
After planning the layout on my baseboard
I laid down the basic g ro udnwork with
Cclluc lay. I pre-colour ed this using a pin ky-
red powdered poster paint to get that distinc-
rive Vietnam muddy clay look. While th is
d ried I started making some fairly he fty trees.
I wanted this to he pr imary jungle, where the
huge trees soar up to the sky and their shadows
restr ict the growth on the jungle floor. T he
trees arc balsa dowel covered with plaster - not
with Flcxihark th is time, because in most of
the photos I' ve seen of this type of jungle the
trees ap pear to have smoothish bark, and I
wanted th is 'generic' effect even though I was
not trying 10 model specific species.
Once the plaster was set I made the big
'buttrcsst-tvpc roots from roughly shaped
pieces of balsa wood, with the edges slightly
sanded down . I st uck these to the tr un ks with
P \,A, and then used plaster 10 attach the trees
to the base. When the trees were set I coloured
the m with a grey-g reen wash, and then added
some smaller routs nuulc from two-part ep oxy
puny. From the same materia l I fashioned
some vines which I atta ched to the tree tr un ks.
, For one of the vines, at the back, I cut out large
tropical- looking leaves from some very thin
filii and stud them ttl the " inc with PVA.
T he next step was to start putting on the
tangled growth climbing up the trees. This was
done by d raping lengths of poly-fibre, with
glued-o n groun d scatter; up and down the
trunks, and tacking it here and there with P\'A.
Then I began adding the growth on the
jungle floor. I've used one or two small pieces
of dried plants which I took from my garde n,
but most of this vegetation is etched br ass.
With most of the plants in place I started
add ing a thick leaf litter made with my usual
mix of thyme and rosemary leaves, ground up
small with my pestle and monaroT hese were
scattered in and ou t amongst the trees and
plants, and given a final light spray with

7" TFDDtJ. IN Mnn FI I IN~ M tJ. c;,T FDrI tJ. c;,c;,

with the balsa 'buttress' roo ts
added.

OPPOSITE CENTRE The

painted tree s wnh [he smaller
rOO[5 and vines added fro m
epoxy PU[ty. Not e the red
earth colour.

OPPOSITE BOTIOM Jungle

growth climbing the tree s.
made fro m poly-fibre and
green grou nd scatter. Not e the
leaves o n one vine cur from
thin metal foil.

THIS PAGE TOP Adding the

jungle noor growth around the
bases of the trees. using
Scale Link etc hed brass
vegetation.

lEFT With the etched brass

plants all in place. I added [hick
layers of leaf scatter across the
whole scene .

LEFT A dose-up of the

completed jungle noor, with
the red d ay path coming dow n
through the trees.This has
been tou ched in with semi-
gloss to achieve a suitably wet.
sticky look for the day.

JUNGLE 77
 l.l lll'"'' U"""'IU""'" 1' <,;"...." '''''\\'111:'''. Il " .l \""}
fine spray and sets quite sufficient ly to hold
light ground scatter in p lace. I added a fallen
branch sticki ng out from the edge and, dr illin g
a sma ll hole in the base board where the swamp
miter was 10 be added, I stuck in a piece of root
as a floating bra nch.
When I built th e baseboard I had cut three
strips of clear plasticard ami stuck them ro the
two sides and the fron t of the board, to con tain
the 'water' when I pou red it on. Because the
s\\"amp water would be opaque I d id n' t bother
to paint any detail on the baseboard , but just in
case rhc colour did show through at any point
I laid a single coat of khaki acry lic across the
whole th ing.
T he two wad ing sold iers arc from
Vcrlindc n, th e sec on d o ne be ing slight ly
mod ified by the addition of an ammo box on
his shou lder, These figures are both mode lled
to just abo ut chest height and can be st uck
straight onto the baseboard after painting,
With the figures in place I left the model for
about 2 ~ hours, 10 ensure that cvcrvrhing \\",IS
dr y before I started pourin g on the resin
'wat er',
Before mixing: the resin I used a small
sp irit level to make sure tha t the model was
sit ting level from fro nt to back and side rc side,
If it had been uneven when I add ed the res in
to it the swamp water, when set, would have
had u dist inc t up h ill slope in on e d irection or
anot her - not very convi ncing .
'\ ly water effect in this case was to be
achieved wit h .\ l iero-i\ la rk ' Ultra~G I ()' SO/ 50
two-part resin. I poured the requi red amo un t
of resin into a d isposable plastic cup and then
added a mix of dark brown and olive gre en
' Virrail' glass pai nt, whic h was then sti rred in
thoro ughly to ens ure an even colour. With this
done, I added the hardener and, once again,
gol\'e the whole thin g a good st ir. When I coul d
see that the colou r was evenly dis trib ute d
throughout the resin I poured it onto the
mod el. As it pou red , I gently ti lt ed t he
baseboard this way and that to make sure I got
the resin as level as I could . On ce th e water
level was up 10 th e soldiers' chests I st opped
pouring and left the resin 10 set, which look
about ~8 hour s.
Befor e it had set comp let ely hard I
scattered some \·ery fine groun d cover. 10
rep resent algae, over th e surface of the resin,
delibe rately making the coal thicker in one
p lace than anot her so that the dark wate r
'grinne d' thro ugh he re and there, giving a nice
uneven, blotchy look to the s\\amp growt h. As

78 TERRAIN MODEl UNG MASTERCLASS

they had pushed the growth aside as they
waded through the water. If you try this with a
stick in a patch of scummy water you' ll sec the
scum doses up again after the stick moves on ;
so, in the mudd. the algae has closed in again
behind the two soldiers. Om.'C the resin was
com pletely set. I gave the algae a light coat of
the Lc traser .\ Ian Varni sh - not in this case to
secure the greenery. since that was stud to the
resin, hu t to ton e down the colou r a bit and to
make it darker. as though the algae was damp
on the surface.
The final touches were the addit ion of
some weed hanging on the floatin g bran ch in
the foreground, and som e lc'a f scatter fallen
frum the jungle canopy onto the surface of the
swamp. T he weed is just a littl e piec e of cotton
wool, teased out and coloured with green ink.

OPPOSITE PAGE TOP The two
Verlinden GI figures have been
stuCk to the khaki.painted
'S'w.lImp' section of the
baseboard with Pl/A.
oPPOSITE CENTRE The
Micro-Mark 'Ultra -G lo' resin,
pre -coloured with 'Vitra il' glass
paints. has been poured onto
the base, confined by the three
strips o f clear plasucard wh ich
had been cemented to the side
and fron t edges o f the board.
OPPOSITE BOTTOM Fine
green scaner has been spread
across the surface of the resin
to re presen t the scummy algae
covering the stagnant water.
THIS PAGE. TOP In this shot
you can see the areas o f clear
water behind the twO figures.
Final to uche s are floating leaves
fallen fro m the trees ove rhead,
and the cotton wool weeds
hanging on the floating branch
in the left foreground,
ABCNE LEFT Coming clea n: an
uncropped shot showing the
true height o f the modelled
trees. At the planning stage you
will have to decide how you
are going to display the finished
modet . whether as a boxed
d iorama, in a display case with
an obscured 'roof, Of" in
some o ther way which
acccmodates the Wirf you
choose to hand le the
problem of scale trees. . .
ABCNE R1GKT .. . But you can
have a lot of fun achieving
photographic effects by lighting
and cropping carefully.This
picture is included for no
othe r reason than that it is
very moody. and I love it.

JUNGLE 79
 Really wet mud doesn't hold the definition of
tvrc treads as well as snow, ,IS it tends to ooze
hack inm the imp ressions lell by the tread.
T hese few shots give you an idea of a wet, sticky
track such ,IS you might lind in the Pacific
thea tre. l first covered the baseboard with a nice
layer of mudd y-coloure d Celluclav, and then
planted the vegetation along the bank. T his is a
mixture of a basic layer of ground cover and
pieces of a plastic flower d isplay I picked up. 1
haven't painted it as I think the plastic gives the
impre ssion of the shiny, fleshy leavesof tropic al
plants in the rainy season . Next. 1 laid on
another coat of Cclluclav and tr ied (Jut the
position for a Jeep that I'd built some time ago.
Removing the model. I fitted a j eep whee l from
the spares box onto a small screwdriver ami ran
it up and down in the mud 10 get the chu rned-
up effect that I wanted. (Incide ntally, arm ies
fi ghting in mud ofte n attach SIl OW chains to
their vehicle ryrcs.) Before this layer of
Ccltuclav had set I put the Jeep back in position
and left the whole lot ro d ry out . T his don e. I
muddied the Jeep up with the same coloured
Ccltucluv ;IS the track, applying a fairly thick
layer along the edge of the body and under the
wheel arches. I then sprayed the track and
bottom part of the Jeep with satin finish
varnish. A lighter application of FX .\ l ud
higher u p the body and O\Tr the stowage
fi nished off this lin k tropical scene.

TOP Unlike snow, heavy mud

do esn't hold sharp
impressions of eyre tracks
very well.

CENTRE Temporarily mount a

wheel of the same size and
tread pattern as those on your
model on some handy 'axle', and
run it back and forth through
the mud.

RIGIIT Don't fo rget that a

vehicle such as this will not only
collect mud around the bottom
of the bodywork, but it will also
be very evident where the crew
have climbed in and out, on the
floor pan, and on any packs
strapped to the outside where
the whee ls throw it up.

80 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCIASS

,", V H'" ~ , " V 'V , .lU' " " '~I''' <:v "1
an M3 half-trac kl40mm Bofors
co nversio n which I foun d
attractively dangerous-looking
(see also Chapte r 2. page 3 1).
Small numbers of these were
produce d by the US 99th
Ordnance Depot at Cooper s
Plain,Australia, and saw
action with the USArmy's
299th AAA Bn in ground
combat during the libera tion
of the Philippines in 1944-45.
The c eues used were to drive
them along one side of a valley
and bombard Japanese-held
caves and bunkers on the
other side.The diorama
shows the crew rep lenishing
ammunitio n and preparing to
change barrels. Note the
water seepage on the rock
face , and th e plentiful jungle
growth ; th e clump of bamboo
on the outer edge of the
tra ck is made from real dwarf
bamboo stems fro m my
garden, with added paper
leaves.

JUNGLE 8 1
 MORE WATER EFFECTS
s we have already seen in C hapters 2
A and 7, you can recr eate water in a
number of ways, and which medi um
you choose depe nds upon what your model
represent s. For bod ies of still water like lakes,
po nds and swam ps a clear two-pan resin is
proba bly the best choice.
II finds its natu ral level when poured . You
can usc it 'as it cernes' for really dear water;
and in suc h cases you m ay want to incorporate
visible un derwater derai l wor k. Alternatively
you can tint it before usc to cr eate d irty;
polluted or sragnanr water. If using: resin for a
fairly dee p bo dy of water, don't pou r it all on at
once; add it in layers, giving: each layer time to
set before add ing the next. If you arc tint ing it,
try adding less and less colour to each layer of
resin - this will add to the impression of depth.
Resin sets by a chemical reaction between the
resin ami the hardener, und heat is generated by
this reaction ; add too much too qu ickly, and the
surface of the resin tends to craze, ruining the
effect. If ~ ou want to add ripples 10 the finished
surface, usc a hair dryer or heat gun before the
resin fi nally sets, working it across the surface in
the direction of the 'wind'.
Anot her medium for modelling st ill water
is one of the gel products suc h as Nimix (sec
Appendix ). You melt the gel down and the n
add it to the mo del - it lakes longer 10 set tha n
res in but it doesn't need to he mixed with a
har dener. T he one drawback that I find with
this me diu m is that it stays slightly tacky for a
very long time; if you urc using it, tr y to keep
your finished model in a display case or
cupboard so rhar d ust doesn't collect on the gel
sur face, destroying the illusion.
If you' re ma king a body of wate r with a
very rough or wind-torn surface, or waves
r unni ng on to a beach, then painted and
varnished plaster is probably easiest. T his is
described and illustrated in the sect ion on the
mou ntain gorge in Chapte r 2, and again with
the Norma ndy and Pacific beach vignettes in
Chapter 9; the photos on pages H9 & 90 also
show the effect. Pour the plaster onto the
model and let it star t to set; before it doc s, l;ly
a piece of clear plastic such as 'cling film' on
the surface, and create troughs and peaks in
the water by pre ssing ,I round ed ob ject - like
the hack of a spoo n, or even the ball of your
82 TERRAIN MODELLI NG MASTERCLASS
thumb - intu the plaster. Remove the plastic
sheet and leave the plaster to set. Using acry lic
paints, you can then add your colour, be it
stor my grey or green, with white worked in lo r
the foam. You can also add Artist's G loss
Medi um to build up rbe peaks of waves or
heavy ripples, and then touch these in with ;I
thin coal of while.
To make p uddles in m uddy fields and roads
I always usc Johnson 's ' K lear' lluor polish and
scaler, you just pour a lit tle onto the model,
add a touch of acrylic colour such as ochre or
umher to give a muddy ap pearan ce, and
there's your puddle . Again, this takes a while
to dr y so, as with all wate r effects, try to ensure
thai no du st or bit s of ground cover get
onto the surface unti l it has comple tely set. I
usually cui up a piece of brown wrap ping
paper and lay it over the m udel unti l I' m sure
noth ing unwant ed can stick to the surface.
A POND WITH BIRCHES
To enable me to have a reasonable depth tu this
vignette I made tbe base from a polystyr ene
ceiling ti le stu d to my basebo ard. I penc illed
in the outline of the pond and d ug it out with
a hobby knife. Next I mixed up some Ccllucluy
and lined the pond with a good, th ick layer
and, while this was dryin g, covere d the rest of
the base. When add ing the Celluday to th e rim
of the po nd I deliberately formed an overlap,
to en able me to hide the me niscus at the edge
of the 'water' when it was added (see below). I
painted the botto m of the pond with a light tan
earth colour, und added a blue y-grccn area at
the cent re for an illisinn of greate r dep th .
When the paint had dried l laid on several
layers of gloss varnish to seal the Cclluclay, as
the water mix I was going to add would be
quite hot and would find any leaks in the base
that I might have missed . With the varnish still
a hit tacky, I added a very line layer of green
scalier and also some small stones and gravel,
and made sure they were firmly stuck to the
buttu m. T he stones and gravel, from my
pac kets of Talus, nrc actu ally a very ligh t,
pu mice -li ke mate rial - and it har d ly gives a
convincing im p ress ion if, when you have
add ed your water medi um, your admiring
audience notices tha t the roc ks arc floatin g!
 ·-. depth. I car ved o ut the area
for the pond and coated it
whh Celluclay.The rest of
the base was then co vered
w ith the same mediu m, and
the pond was painted in a
pale sandy-green shade . I've
built the gro und ou t to
overhang t he edge of t he
water [0 try to prevent the
.,. "
"
meniscus showing whe n the

" "• 'instant water' is added.

CENTRE LEFT T he middle

"
of the bed of the pon d has
been painted a darker shade
of gr een. for an illusion of
greate r depth.

BOTTOM lEFT Different

textured scatters in various
shades of gre en have been
added to the ground work
around the pond. 8ullr ushes
have been stuck in the
shallows: these are brush
bristles with a small blob
of PYA glue drawn o ut on
their tips.W hen dry the
rushes are shaded in green
and the tips in dark brown .

BELOW Working on the

silver birch tr ees. A tw ig
from a garden broom has
been painted white for
about the bottom half. with
poly-fibre added. to which I
will next stick the foliage.

MOREWATER EFFEGS 83
 br istles; and p ushed the holes into the pond
bed where the legs of the wooden stag ing
would event ually be set. I coloured in the
reeds; and the n turned my atte ntion to the urea
arou nd the pond.
T his I covered first with ,I layer of fine
flock and then wit h another, coarser layer to
give my landscape a fairly unc ultivated 100"-.
T he patch of brambles in the corner was
made with teased-out rub berised horsehair,
which I then sprayed with thin PVA and added
bright green new growth, once again using
a medium-coarse scatter. T he little flowers
arou nd the pond are merely small d iscs of
paper, punched ou t with my Historcx Pu nch
& D ie set and then painted variously yellow
and white. T he larger ones by the br ambles are
the wax ones from the do ll's house shop.
Next I set about the young silver birch trees ,
using twigs from my faithful garden broom.
Painted white and with the trunk markings
touched in with matt black, they are probably the
easiest tree to model - that's why I like them. I
sprayed the twigs with Pborc- Mou m and
attached some poly- fibre, which makes an
excellent foundation for tree foliage. A second
coating of Photo-Moun t was added to the
poly-fibre and then a layer of med ium grade
scatter was sprinkled me r the tree, followed by
another laver of finer scatter in a slightly differ-
em shade of green 10udd depth 10the foliage.
I pushed the finis hed trees in to the
polystyrene base, and tu rned my attenti on to

ABOVE Close-up of the

fi nished birches, wit h the
distinctive mar kings on the
trunks touched in wit h matt
black, and bright green scatter
used as spring fo liage.

RIGHT With all vegetatio n and

t rees in place, and the bass
wood landing stage in position. I
was now ready to add the final
stage >t he water. Small stones
have bee n added to t he floor of
the pond. and fi rm ly st uck down
• the last thing you want is for
them to rise and 'float' when
yo u add the wate r medium.

84 TERRAIN MODElUNG MASTERCLASS

stained with Weather-It . It is best to stain the
wood before you glue it together if you arc
using PVA, as We,nher-It will act like water
and dissolve the glue. A ru sty mooring ring
was added to the staging, and the whole thing
was then sct into the pond bed and fixed to the
bank with PVA. I didn' t use glue to secure the
legs of the staging in the po nd floor for the
same reason - that the melted gel that I
was going to usc for the water would have
dissolved the glue, discolou ring the water. I
could haw used a waterproof glue but, frankly;
the staging was perfectly securely fix ed to the
bank.
Before moving on to prepare the water, I
checked that I had finished all the other ste ps
in this model. T here is noth ing worse than
adding water to a scene and then realizing that
you have to add some more static grass, d usty
gravel, brick r ubble or something. No matter
how much care you take you' ll never manage
to avoid some of it sticking to the surface of
the water. This doesn' t apply if you have made
the water from resin or plaster and haw left it
to thoroughly cure for some days, hut thegel
which I intended to usc here remains tacky for
some lime.
T he water medium I used is called Ximix
Artificial Water, from His torex Agents. Unlike
some instant water mediums, it requires no
mixing. It comes in a plastic jar as a gel with a
slight greenish tinge. l o u place the opened jar
boil. As the gel heats it melts. Using a pair of
tongs, lift the jar ou t of the pan and pour it
into the water area on your model; it spreads
cut quickly. I then placed the model in a
dust-free cupboard for some H hours to
protect the surface while it dried.
O ne pro blem with almost any medium you
usc to create water is the dreaded meniscus.
T his is an effect that takes place as the
medium dries. Where it touches the edge of
the groundwork (and, as in this case, anything
which is embedded in it, like the legs of the
staging in the pon d), it will crt'e p slightly
upwards, and set with a rim ofwercr' standing
higher tha n the rest.
There is one dangerous way to avoid this. If
you have a fairly wide expanse of ' water' and a
flatrish bank, you can play a heat gun on it and
'smooth' it out with the heat; bur take great
care - you can also either melt, or set fire to,
the rest of the model! In neither this vignette,
nor 'T he Shell Crater' in Chapter I I, was
there enough space for me to try this.
O ne answer is 10 plan for this problem
by undercutting your bank from the start, and
adding a finallayer of groundwork overlapping
above this ' ridge' of water, hiding it under
some bushes or grass; but do wait until the
water is comp letely dr y before you do th is
(sec above). As far as the legs of my staging
were concerned, I just had to live wit h
the meniscus.
LEFT The Nirr nx Artifi cial
Water gel has been po ured in
and left to set . as descr ibed in
the body text.
MOREWATER EFFECTS 85

ABOVE The brick sets laid out
on the cardboard backing.
Although cast in pre-coloured
plaster, these need some
touching up with paint
afterwards to vary their
exact shades.
RIGHT The brick reta ining wall
atta ched to the former s which
provide a frame for the
to wpath.The wall is already
sprouting some vegetation .
RIGHT The coping stones have
been laid along the lip of the
wall and the Celluclay to wpath
and groundwork is being added
over a layer of plaster bandage.
RIGHT The coping sto nes have
been painted, and th e Celluclay
is being bro ught back over [he
plaster bandage at [he back of
the bank.
RIGHT The bank has been
scattered with grou nd cover and
the flowers adde d, I've made
cwo large mooring POSts from
pieces of dr iftwood; these are
black below the waterline, gree n
with growth at wat er level,and
natu ral weather-faded colou r
above. Not e the rusty iron rings
and moo ring chains. Nothing
re mains to be done but [0 pour
on the plaster 'water'.
86 TERRAIN MODElUNG MASTERCLASS
;\ly purpuse in this scene was to tr y to create
a body of water comple tely covered with a
toxic-green scum of algae; so I decided to
au cmp r .1 canal, with a section of bank and
towpath. I have left it without figures lor th e
ph oto s bu t, of course, canals fre q uently
offered obstacles to the advance of ar mies in
Europe, and this sett ing would suit a military
vignette from 1870, 19H , 1940 or 19H , to
menti on only the most obvious campaign s. For
non -m ilitary subjects it would also form a
pleasant stage for any number of single figures,
strolling couples, small groups of picnickers,
ctc.. with or without fishing kit, dogs, or
pr.lms. Or how about a Su nday paint er with
stool and easel?
I made the base from ;\1D1" (see page 19)
and marked ou t my areas as usual, to give an
idea of proportion. You don ' t have to make the
canal section as deep as I did - it's just the way
it came out.
The first job \\",IS build ing the reta ining wall
of brick sets. I used a fairly stout piece of
cardboard for th is, as I didn' t want it war ping
when I covered it with glue. I marked out the
spac ing for th e sets, leaving gaps for th e
mortar, and fitted a small piece of plastic
tubing as th e mouth of a d rain. I made the
bric k sets th emselves by cast ing them in
plaster whic h had been pre-c oloured
red/brown with powdered poster paint, using
a silicone mould (sec Ch apter II , in th e
sectio n on the 'S hell Crater' ). You could
eq ually make them out of th in card or heavy
paper,
I glued car dboar d formers in place to
support my towpath , and th en glued the
retaining wall into place against them , Nex t, I
added a line of fine green ground cover along
(he high water mark on the wall, and also onc
of th e mo rtar courses of the wall, toget her
with an occasiona l dump of dark green
' weeds' .
The forme rs for the towpath were covered
with masking tape and then with a layer of
plaster bandage. On thi s I spread a layer
of Celluclay, pre-coloured with a light
soil-coloured acry lic paint. T he coping sto nes,
stuck alo ng the edge of th e path with P"A
glue, were cast in plaster from a r ubber mo uld
which came fro m a bui lding kit called ' Castle
M ester' . I picked th is up years ago and I do ubt
you will be able to find it in the shops now, bur
it is worth keepin g your eyes open at boot fairs,
crc., because it has som e very useful mou lds
for casting Slimes, stone window arches, pillars
and many ot her 'castle' bits th at com e in
handy in a diorama. On ce in place the sto nes
were coloured with an acrylic sto ne- grey paint
and highlighte d with a paler grey.
The towpat h was th en gr avelled using
Woodland Scenics' fine grade Talus; and I
glued in the line of growth along the inside of
th e coping sto nes, The larger plant s on th at
side of the path arc from Sc ale Link's ran ge of
etch ed brass flowers and river side plant s.
Ha ving paint ed th e ban k beside the path in a
shade of light tan eart h colour, 1 spread a layer
of thin PVA and covered it with a random
scattering of fine gro und cover; deliberately
leavin g o ne or two patches of the earth
showing through since this is not meant to be
a well-kept , cultivated piece of land . Ne xt I
glued coarse ground cover o nto the ban k as
rou gh, weed y growth, and then added the
yellow flowers. Once again, these are the wax
jobs which come from a shop selling supplies
for makers of doll's houses.
The weath er ed t imb ers ar e bits of co nsidcrably.) Once I was happy with the TOP & ABOVE The plast er
driftwood from th e beach. I painted them with colour I poured the plaster into the scene and 'water' has been pour ed in,
an almost black- green at the bottom , and th en left it to set . T he "ery slightly textu red effect and the weeds alo ng the foot
added a ring of bright green algae at the high of the algae o n the water was ach ieved by of the wall have been added
from a mixture of ground
water mark. S mall bits of chain were th readed making no effort to get all the air bubbles out
cover and a few et ched brass
thr ough a cou ple of ' iron rin gs' , which came of the plaster before it set . Once it had done leaves.The te xture of the
fro m an old necklace. The r ust effect is so, I next th ickened up the line of growth algae-covered surface is
created with shades of orange, brown and along the water line, made from gr ou nd cover provided by the plaster itself -
black paint , with a litt le orange pastel chalk and some paper reeds; and added a bit more I deliberately didn't remove
dust m ixed in for textu re. algae to the r ust y chains. the air bubbles.The line of
It was now time to add the ' water'. In th is With the plantin g do ne, I painted in a line glossy black water at the edge
case, as it was to be tota lly opaque, I mixed up of open water along the weed mar gin. D eep, is painte d with Indian ink.
some plaster and added powdered g reen di rty water with no light gett ing to it looks
poster paint unt il I had a lovely poisonous almost tot ally black; I touched this area in with
green. (You have to juggle the qua nt ities unt il black Indian ink, so as to have a slightly shiny
you get the shade you want when adding paint finish. Fi nally, I watered the ink right down
to plaste r; th e whiten ess of the plaster and used it to create the staining under th e
knocks hack the colour of your paint quite mo uth of the drain in the canal wall.

MOREWATER EFFEaS 87
 -"---'~
TO P A shot of the
canal vignett N finished
growing up [~. ote the algae Museum at Z
;ln
ABOVE While rna . g
dioramas for the t he I f62nd scale
anconal Ear ly H"
twO diff ug. Switzer land I . ,sto r y
the knock e pos ts: and . erenr water . ' tried using
sand s
brickwo rk h
the years f
crepes the
as suffe d
re over
ro m passing barges.
view of part
(c5000-2200 ~~ mediums. In this
.~verhead
Neo lithic lakeside r
the stones and ) the wate r is Nimi: age

ak~
before PO" ' weeds stuck <0 th I , .1. with
bristles . rmg it on.The reeds aree painted
bottom
brush

88 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

 -- --- .- - ·-n'---· .---
impression of sto rmy weather. I used plaster; pushing the waves in with
my finger tips through a te mpora ry cover of cling-film. Once dry, I
painted it a murky green with a touc h of sand colour to re-create the
effect of the bottom being stirre d up.The wave tops were built up
with Art ist's Gloss Medium touched in with white acrylics.

BELOW The real thing. Fast streams always carry debris, which gets
hung up on the banks lowe r down - usually at [he outside of bends.
as well as o n rocks or other obstructio ns.

RIGHT The real thing. Notice [he transparency of

this clear mountain stream .The rocky bed shows
different colours: in a model [hey would have [0
be painted in carefully before adding any poured
wate r medium.

RIGHT The real thing. Dead leaves noating on

only an inch or two of water will cast shado ws.
The text ures of the puddle floor show dearly.

MORE WATER EFFECTS 89

 ABOVE & RIGHT The early
med ieval village dion.ma for the
museum at Zug (also illustrated
in Chapter S) had to feature a
river rushing past in autumn
spate , dirty with stirred-up silt. I
made this, too, of painted
plaster with a layer of Art ist's
Gloss Medium laid on ccp.
This was left for about 20 to
30 minutes to semi-set
before the ripples we re
pushed into its surface.

90 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERCIASS

SAND & GRAVEL
t seems logical to d iscuss bench and d eser t
I effects together, since modelling both may
demand, to some extent, the same sort of
materi als.
Sa nd and gravel arc usually to be found in
model s of warfare in the No rth African desert
or the Pacific. Hench sand need s 10 be as line as
you can lind ; obviously, to scale d own what is
already a fine, powder y material in real life to
1/ 35th scale is almost impossible, so once
again we allow some art istic licen ce. Some of
the sands you ca ll find in pet shops for
spreading in the bottom of birdcages can be
prett y fine. T he Western D esert of Egyp t and
the coastal st rip of Libya where muc h of the
lighting rook place is more often stony than
sa ndy. O bviously, if you're modellin g the great
sand J unes of th e true Saha ra or Arabia then
you arc had 10 a fine material. For the more
stony type o f desert there is a "ery simp le
materi al available - cat litter.
j\ lost cat lin ers arc made from absorbent
prod ucts such :IS grnnulared arap ulgi tc. which
will absorb acrylic colours as read ily as they
do less pleasant things. Yo u can crush the
mate rial up very easily and create as coarse or
as line a g ravel as you want. You can also buy
railway ruodcllcrs' Gravel .M att ing, suc h as
that made by Gaugcmasrer (see Appe nd ix), if
you need the basis for covering a large area.
OM A HA BEACH
:'I. 1y ' Omaha Beach' vignette is intend ed to
show .\'{I U how to create the effect of wet ,
rip pled sand , and the way ebbing water scours
dep ressions at the foot of anything set on the
beach.
T he base is a bit of ~IDF covered with a
thin layer of plaster which I mixed u p with
sand -colou red water. I smooth ed thi s ou t
across th e base wit h an artist's palett e knife,
and while it was still damp I used a small,
flat-bladed den tal tool to carve "cry shallow
wavy lincs along th e length of the sand. At the
same time I made the ind entation s where th e
beach defences would stand. T hese are an old
Tamiya pro d uct; I had made them u p before
laying ou t my beach , so as to be able to
measure the correct distance between the feet.
ABOVE The basic sandy-
colo ured plaster has been laid
-- ,
and the shingle bank added . In
this picture the ripples carved
in the sand are not too
distinct, but the scoop ed-our
hollows where the second
beach defence will be placed
are quite clear. I have laid the
fi rst layer of very thin plaster
for the foa m, and washed the
beach over with a layer or
gloss varnish.
W hen the 'sa nd' had set I built up the
ABOVE LEFT W ith the rusty
shingle at the back; I had used the usual str ip beach defence in place I
of pol ystyrene 10 em ban k t his area . T he have added various mar ine
shing le itself is a strange mixture of Talus, encrustations, and strands of
various spice seeds and sago. T his tasty mix seaweed made from a very
was spri nkled on to a thick layer of PVA, and fine moss.W hen the glue
further layers were add ed unt il I had the depth holding this in place had dried
of sh ingle I want ed . I secur ed it with a final I coated it with two o r three
spr aying of Scenic Cement. layers of gloss varnish, which
Nex t I set the rusty beach de fences in place not only gave it a wet look but
helped make it hang down.
in their indent ations in the sand. If you have
noticed, as the water flows off a beach it scoops
out a de pression at the base o f any rock , post,
pipe or any other proj ection ; thi s is cause d by
the swirling motion of the water as it flows
around the obstr uction, taking the sand away.
When my beach defences were in place, the
prepared 'd imples' gave just this effect. The
iro nwork was th en tre ated to a dressi ng of
barnacles and other small bits of detr itus. T his
include d tiny shreds of seaweed, mad e from
very small pieces o f a d ried moss - I wou ld also
add th is for the seaweed left washed up on
the beach. All of this was the n coated in gloss
varn ish. I also filled the dep ressions in the
SAND & GRAVEL 91
 ..
-- - -- .. -
wet finish to the sand.
Xcxt came the sea, which is a fur ther layer of
plaster laid on with a slightl y uneven surface.
When dry this was painted with shades of green
acrylic, with white streaks worked into the green
to look like foam just below the surface; and
fi nished with several ma ts of gloss varnish. T he
white loamy edge of the ripples was formed by
spreading a very thin layer of plaster into which,
once it had almost d ried, I worked the bristle
end of a small paintbrush, stippling it like a
stencil br ush. T his revealed areas of the sandy
colour undernea th, and created the ragged, lacy
look of thin foam. I built up [he foam in odd
places by adding a little more plaster on top,
particularly where it is dra ining OUl over the
abandoned Ml carbine. Fin ally I painted all the
foam matt white, with just a touch of gloss here
and there to sparkle in the light.

ABOVE Both tripod s are in

place, and the plaster 'sea' has
been painted with acrylics.
W hen this has dr ied you will
need to patiently add several
layers of gloss varnish to get a
really wet look - the plaster
tends to absorb the first coats .

RIGHT A view of the finis hed

model with the last thin layer of
foam added; the streaks of white
paine help give the impression of
the water draining back fro m
the beach.A scatt ering of
seaweed has been added along
the shingle bank and in random
str ands over the whole beach.

RIGHT Viewed from the

'landward' side of the scene, you
can see the build-up of the foam
where it is running back over
the abandoned H I carbine. The
wet ripples in the sand show up
quite well here, too.

92 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

B ~' co ntrast with the chilly glisten o f
Normandy's wet sand and shingle, this next
vignette is a \'cry simp le demonst ration of a
Pacific seashore. T hc basic method is
.... .
;' i",.., _
-
""'''' " -',.; . _ .
.~!
.y •• '• • ~M\"I : • . .' 1. , . - " .
• • .• ;- ;1', ~ ~ ...:.
adaptable for any suitable scene, from a b oarlocd
of 17th ce ntury pirates land ing to bury treasure
to the US ~ larines hitting the bea ch 31 Tarawa.
..\ s usual, I star ted OUI by gluing a strip o f
po lystyre ne 10 give myself 3 rai sed 3rC3 of land
31 the rear of the beach. (I have tended to do
thi s with must of rhe vigne ttes in thi s hool; I
think th e raised ernbankrncn t at the hack of a The next move was add ing th e sand. h is ABOVE I've covered the
scene mall'S a neat visual ' finishing po int ' fur qu ire difficult to find a medi um that will give polystyrene base with sand on
rhc rnodcl. ) T his was th en covered with you convincing scale sand, bU I I settled for a the beach. and the dune are a
plaster band age and , when it was d ry, I added grade which I believe is fine enou gh tel look with plaste r bandage. also
painted in a sandy shade.
3 layer of plaster 10 for m the beach itself, th e part . This came from a car rep air shop
fealhering th is int o the plaster bandage so that and was used in it sand-blasting cabinet for
there was no rigid demar cation line between cleaning down panels to base metal prior
the two areas. to urnlcrconring. Til gel the sand III stick, I

ABOVE A second layer of

sand has been added to the
beach. and footprints have
been impressed into it with
the blunt end of a paintbru sh,
using a backwards and
forwards rock ing motion .The
whole area was then sprayed
with Scen ic Ce ment to hold
everything in place.The
plaster sea has been added ,
with the small wavelets
sculpted into it before th e
plaster had dried OUt
com pletely. It was then
painted and varnished.

LEFT Spars e and scrubby

vegeta tion is added to the top
of the beach.This is a fairly
coarse scatte r with mixed
shades of gre en.

SAND & GRAVEL 93

 trees was two sho re lengths of and rocking it backwards and forwards. T he
old multi-core cable. washed-up tru nk is plaster, cast from an old
one which I had in stock, using latex to create
BELOW They were fi rst the mould. " 'hen this had all dried I shook off
wound with wire , the n the excess sand again, and gave the whole area
co ated in plaster. a coating of hair spray 10 hold everyt hing in
place.
The edge of the sea was made frum
another layer of plaster, treated exactly as on
'Omaha Beach' above. This was laid on fairly
thick and then the waves were sculpted in
while it wasstill damp. \\'hen I was happy with
the shape, I painted the water using acrylic
paints. Into the base coat of greene-blue I
blended streaks of while for the combers and
the foam. Blend this in while the base roar is
still we t and you get a good effect of depth. I
finished painting by touching in [he very front
edge of some of the combers and the foam on
the beach with undiluted pure white paint.
When the sea had dried I painted on a coat of
high gloss varnish and, once dry; another, ami
1100ded both the plaster of the beach and the so on until r had built up about six layers of
plaster bandage with Woodland Scenics thin varnish 10 give a really ' wet' look as well as
PVA glue, and scattered a liberal coating on adding to the impression of depth .
from my flour shaker, leaving a bare strip at Go ing back 10 the edge of the 'dunes', I
the front of the base where I was going to sprayed the groundwork with thin PYA and

,,
t put in the waves. I left this 10 dry and, after
shaking off the excess, repeated the operation,
gradually building up a layer thick enough 10
enable me 10 mark in footprint s.
I added these at this stage, at the same time
placing the washed-up piece of palm trunk .
T he footprints were made by pushing the
added some ground cover. I spri nkled this on
quite thinly to get the effect of the sparse
growth often found at the top of beaches.
Next came the palm trees. I made these in a
lI"a~' similar in some respects to the method
used by Barry Bowen (sec Chapter .J.), but
perhaps a bit quicker. Firstly I tool a couple of

• , _ ....I
,
ABOVE With a crown added
from 'thatch' material. they were
painted in a pale grey-green
shade, the growth rings picked
OIJt by shading t he underside of
the 'Iumps' with a darkish brown.

RIGHT The beach with a

washed-up and partly buried
palm log added.The sea was
painted with a deep gree ny-blue
to simulate the deeper water ; "
the same shade was used with
the addition of increasing
amounts o f matt white to show
it getting progressively shallower.
When I reached the forward
edges of the waves and the final
line of foam o n the beach I used
almost pure white. Several coats
o f gloss varnish were added
when the paint W AS dry.

94 TERRAIN MODElLING MASTERCLASS

Next I bound th e trunks with wire, working
from the base up. I worked first from right to
left around the trunk, and then from left to
right , so that I finished up with the wires
crossing nver one another and giving the
' bumpy' look I needed . I then covered the
tr unks in ready-mixed Fine Crack Filler paste.
You can get this from 3.ny D IY shop - Polyfilla
do one, but there arc several other makes. I
finished off by build ing up 3 slightly bulbous
head to each trunk.
Usi ng some material which I bou ght in a
doll 's-house supp ly' shop, which \ \"3.5 being
sold as thatch, I built up 3. 'crown ' around the
top o f th e trees and :I 'co llar' around the base.
I then painted the trunks, using a mixture of
pale ran and gree n, with the 'bumps' picked
out in :I dark er brown. Whcn the paint was d ry
I add ed the palm fro nd s which, in this case,
were from the Scale Link range of etched
br ass foliage.
(By th e W3.y·, :IS voc can see, I used my
favou rite meth od of mounting pr act ically
anyth ing I am workin g on which requires to be
held - thc _\ Ik I Plast icin e-filled Em pt y 35mm
Fil m Ca n ister. Any came ra sho p will let you
have some of th ese free of charge; th ey're
usuall y on ly too glad to get rid of them. Just
fill them with plasticine and stick in your work
piece - a tree , a figure, weapons, whatever. It
allows you to roll the canis ter betwee n your
fingers to get at any part uf the item for
p ainting without to uchin g it . N ot \-cry
sop histicated, bu t much cheaper th an bu ying
an expensive clamp, and just as efficicnt .)

ABOVE & LEFT f inal views of

the fi nished vignette.The palm
trees have been installed and
the ir etched -brass fronds
added. A helmet lies
abandoned above a scattering
of seashells at the water's
edge - these are tiny pieces of
, Wo od land Scenics pummice-
like Talus.

SAND&GRAVEl 95
 Sherman o f the US 10t h Army
offers a sailor a tou r o f his tank
du ring the Pacific campaign.The
beach is basically C elluclay with
a top co vering o f fine sand, held
in place with a spray of Scenic
Cement.

RIG-iT Two o f the tank crew

work on an eng ine problem.The
vegetation o n the right is from a
florist 's shop.

RIGHT The palm t rees are

made from plaste r-co vered wire ,
and the leaves are cut fro m t he
soft metal o f a drin ks can.T he
vegetat ion at t he base o f t he
palms is gro und scatter, and the
grasse s are Woodland Scenics
' Field Grass ',

96 Tl'RRAIN MODElliNG MASTERCLASS

NORTH AFRICAN TRACK
.\ lost of the battlefields fought O'e r du ring the
epic \\'e st ern D eser t cam paigns between
British 81h Arm y and Rumm el's Dcu tscbcs
Afrikekorp s looked noth ing whatever like the
rolli ng sand du nes of ' Lawrence of Arab ia' ,
The surface was sand, of cou rse, hut it was
the overal l colour. :\ s soon as this was done 1
alsopushcd ' stones' of varying size into the
soft day - once again. from Wood land Sce nics
Talus. As well as com ing in packe ts of coarse,
medium and fine grades, this is usefully sup plied
in two colours, natu ra l and br own. and both
accep t acrylic paints; I stuc k it to the gr ound-
work with white PYA . I th en put everyt hing to
ABOVE The re mains of the
fire , made by the crew from a
broken-up wooden cargo
palette and a Coraclon carton
to bum th eir trash: you can
JUSt see where it has scorched
some of th e vegetation. Other
. ru bbish is tossed into the oil
drum rags, an empty oil can,
0

ver y stony. thi ckly sca ttered wit h mos tly
light -colo ured rods and gr avel of every size.
In ffi ,my places sheets of bed rock wer e only
a cou ple of feet hclnw the sur face. making
' digging in' almost impossible. In some areas
one side 10 dry.
On ce th e ground work hall dr ied, I ap plied
areas of Woodland Scenics' th in I)VA glue and
scattered gree n flock in ra ndom patches 10
re present low, weedy growths. T he last pieces
and so on.The length of rusty
Pierced Stee l Plate 'sand
matting' is from my spares
bcx.verltnden and other firms
make PSP in resin or meta l 0

there was a random ly sp aced-out growth of
10\\' weeds arul camel-thorn . The vcry simpl e
vigncuc shown here rep resents a small secti on
of thi s type of ter rain, com bin ed with a
"ch icle trac k: using the same materials it
cou ld be extende d convincingly to a full-size
diorama.
First, I stu ck my usual small str ip of
polystyrene 10 the rear edge of the basebo ard
to give a raised feature next to the tra ck. 1 the n
covered the base and polysty ren e with a layer
of Ccll uclaj; tinted with an acrylic Dark Sand
paint. W hile thi s coat was sti ll damp. I used a
kit wheel from the sparc..'S box to make tyre
tra cks in the sand. varyi ng th e an gle of
the tracks as tr ucks wou ld not be following
exactly the same line.
I th en air- br ushed random area s of the
groundwork wit h a Yery th in wash of a
slightly lighter shade of sand 10 give variety to
of vegetation to he added were one or two the latter is obvious ly mo re
d ump s of came l-t hor n. l-or thi s I used realistic.
lichen, both in a green shade and also in a
bleached -o ut colou r ttl rep resent dead bushes,
and again secu red these with white I' '':\..
To add :1 litt le int erest 1 malic up a unit
road sign. " 'h ere th e rock was toe dose tu the
surface for tra il-markers 10 stick a signpost in
th e ground . the y often used old fuel d rums
tilled with stones 10 make a secure base. .\I y
-loS-gallon d rum is from the old Tamyia D r um
& jcrrycan set. I painted the red and white
segments o n the barrel and. when dry. worked
it over with ru st-coloured streaks and scrapes,
again "arying the colour. (Ycs. th ings do r ust
during th e desert night s.} I didn 't fit the top.
but filled it ins tea d wit h sand- colo ured
Cellu clav: the n 1 pushed in the hand- painted
sign and . while the day" was sti ll dam p, added
the large 's tories' that wedge the sign in place,

SAND & GRAVEL 97

 .... ...... ...
........ ' ~ "', "'" '" ~'" ... ,
sand-coloured Celluclay. and
then sprayed with
adhesive to secure layer s of
sprinkled sand. Before it dries
the tyre tracks are pressed in
,
and the spot where the oil
drum will go is marked. • • ,.
•
,•
.s ,

RIGHT The next step is adding

the nones and gravel. from
ground -up Talus.

RIGHT Small are as are

spotted with glue. and fine
ground cover is th en
sprinkled in a random
fashion to simulate low.
scrubby growth .

r
,
,
Q
,

RIGHT Clumps of
camel-thorn are added. made
from lichen (frankly. I believe
th is is about the only thing the
stuff is useful for).

,
,

~ . '._'"

98 TERRAIN MOOEWNG MASTERCLASS

LEFT & A BOVE The final
touch: the unit t rack marker
sign,wedged in its drum full of
stones, is glued into place.

BEl O\'V A shot of a partially

finished diorama of a ruined
Roman building in Tunisia.AII
par ts for the r uin were cast
in plaster using the moulds of
(he old 'C astl e Master' kit
described in Chapter 8.
T he prickly pears in the
background are made from
Milliput.T he gravelly sand is
ground-up cat litter stuck (0 a
plaster base w ith PVA.

SAND & GRAVEL 99

 --- ----- - _.. _- ---
OPPOSITE PAGETO P Static oads appear in a great number of
grass runs down the central
strip of our muddy lane, and the
pudd les have been filled with
Johnson's 'Klear" tinted och re .
R dioramas, whatever the subject or period
of history. Dirt roads and tracks lend
themselves to very effective representations of
the seasons - hard, rutted , hone-wh ite, dus ty
roads in the summe r; churned-u p, wet, muddy
tracks with deep puddles in the autumn; frozen
ruts , slush and puddles skinned with 'cat icc' in
the win ter,
To ring the changes, it can be fun to build ;\
cord uroy road , From pr ehi storic times tn
World War II in Russia this crude hut effective
form of reinforcin g dirt surfaces was used to
help transport men , horses, cans and tru cks
over mudd y ground. It ranged from carefu lly
cut , tr immed and laid tree tr unks, to simply
pilin g: bran ches. saplings or thick piles of
br ush to provide traction. O nly recent ly, such
a prehistoric truck syste m was found in one of
the swamp ier areas of Britain. It consis ted of
b yers of brushwood laid crosswise, edged with
saplings laid across the ends parallel to the
truck and pinn ed down with forked twigs to
hold the whole thin g: in place. In model form
thi s is vefY simply don e by using twigs of
varyin g th ickness, laid into a bed of suitably
coloured Cclluclav, Dirt y the end result with
mu d or, fil l' a winter scene, powder it with
RIGHT The shape o f the lane
has been laid out using pieces of
polystyrene glued to the base-
board, and the overall layer
of Ce lluciay has dried. I've
started adding the ruts on the
trackway and making the slight
depressions for the puddles.
100 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
dirty snow and border it with slush .
;\ 1uddy tr acks or lanes arc best made with
Cclluclay. Puddles can be nude by making
inden tations in your mud and then , when dry,
pour ing in small amounts of gloss varnish
or Johnson's 'K lcar' liquid floor polish. For
small frozen pud d les, paint the bottom of the
pudd le in a shade of dark grey and dr ip candle
wax into the de pression , The wax tends to
moun d in the centre as it sets, so when it is
fully set hold a hot iron just above the wax, and
it will melt again and flow ou t flat. (But don't
touch the wax with the iron - not if you don't
wan t to he ironing your own shins for the next
six mont hs.)
D itch es can be cut into a polyst yrene
baseboard and lined with Celluc lny If it is a dry
ditch, add ;\ growth of weeds and flowers. both
in the bottom and on the lip. A damp ditch e m
be represented by just coating the bottom with
satin varn ish and small amounts of green
ground cover to represent algae. "10 model a
very wet ditch, coat the holl OIl1 with several
layers of gloss varnish with, perhaps, a couple of
small branches made from twigs lying in the
botto m. For one that is actually runni ng with
water, lI SC one of the methods described in this
hook for modelling water, again adding weeds

and reeds to the bottom and banks. Grassy
banks tend to be greener furt her back from the
track or road; the growth by the edge of the
road is often dead and appears as a tan or pale
straw colour. Before the mid - 20th century the
grass along roadsides and tracks would be
mixed with flowering weeds, like the arable
fields and meadows.
I f you're making a road or pavemen t
sur face from plaster and you're engraving
kcrbstoncs and / or a pattern of flag stones
rather tha n making individ ual stones, then
give the plaster some texture by pressing a
piece of fairly coarse sandpaper into it before
it dr ies. If you don' t want to go to the bother
of making old flag stones from plaster, a
qui cker way is to cut them out from cardboard,
stick them down, and then paint them stone
grey with touches of brown or olive green
mixed in. Usc <1. fairly thick piece of card to
give the flagstones some de pth . Don't forget
that unlike modern paving slabs, flags were
natural stone and didn' t have nicely squared or
rectangular shapes, so cut uneven edges. If you
intend to put any son of fi lling - plaster or
Cclluclay - between them, give them a coat
of varn ish fi rst to prevent the water in the
grouting mix warping them.
I have given examples in this and the next
chapter of how I model dirt roads and those
set with cobbles, Roman flags, 17th - 19th
century granite sets and pou red surfaces such
as asphalt and tar macadam . Backgrounds for
models of most periods can be adapted from
these basic methods. T he most timeless (and
useful) of all is your basic muddy track.
ABOVE The hollow tr ee
starts life as a piece of balsa
do wel. I cut it at an angle and
then hollowed it out using a
ball-headed cutter.
•
A MUDDY LANE
T he first steps for this vignette were the
standard ones already described many times.
S trips of polyst yrene were glued to the
baseboard to create the basic shape of the
banks, and a qu an tit y of pre-coloured
Cclluciay was mixed up. The whole scene was
coated with the Cclluclay and, when dry, given
an overall coat of acrylic earth colou r. Xext , I
created the shallow hollows for the puddles , ABOVE Roots have bee n
raising \"ery slight lips around them with added to the tree with Duro
Cclluclav and putting in the ruts in the 'mud' putty, which also provides th e
at the same time. I then added a small amount lip around th e ho le drilled in
of yellow ochre acrylic paint to some Johnson's the side.
' Klcar' liquid floor wax to make ' muddy water'
for my pudd les. ' Klear' takes a while to set, so
I started making my hollow tree.
T he basis of the tree is a length of balsa
dowel of 19mm diameter and about I lOmm
long. I hollowed this OU I with a ball- headed
Sled cutter in a Dremcl motor drill.T he fibrous
nature of balsa gives a very natural torn and
tattv look to the interior of the trunk. I used the
same cutt er to make the .hollow in the side of
the tree, and then added the roots and the burr
around the hollow from Duro. When the pun y
had set I coaled the whole tree with Flexibark.
T his rough-textured paste dries quire quickly.
The inside of the tru nk was painted with
acrylic dark brown, with a light dry-br ushing
of lighter brown over some of the roughly ABOVE The whole thing has
splintered wood . The outside was coloured been coated in Flexibark from
with an eart h base coat paint from Woodland 4D Models.A quick-drying
Scenics. I then added the ivy tendrils, made paste with a heavy te xture. it is
from Spanish moss bought from a florist's ideal for recreating ro ugh bark.
TRACKS & ROADS 10 1
 "" " I" 'd~ ' ~"'~ ""'" i.",,,i.UI'" vi
Flexibark.The ivy ste ms have
, ,)

,
now been added.

FAR RIGHT The ivy is made

fro m Spanish moss and silver
birch cat kin seeds, all stuck on
with PYA glue.

RIG HT The finished tree glued

in place.
, ,,
shop. Next came the slowest part of rhc job -
sticking en the h'y leaves. I' m afra id there is no
q uick \\'ay of doi ng th is; any time you want to
crcare a realistic effec t of leaf cover, be it o n a
wall, a tree or a fence. I'm afraid it's got to be
! the ' one at a time ' method . T he ivy leaves were
made from silver birch catk in seeds an d fixed
I
with PYA glue. When set, I paint ed rhcm
using two or three diffe rent shades of green to
get contrast in the growth, and used yellow
and light brown to add some dead leaves ro the
picture.
Return ing to the lane, it was time to add the
ground cover. For the bank in rhe foreg round
I merely added some static grass. For the far
side I first scatte red static grass and then
began to build up a more overgrown ban k. I
used ru bberised horsehair for th e bramble
bushes, and when th ey were d ry adde d leaves
mnde with tiny pieces of cork and some catki n
seeds. I worked the hollow tree's base into
some wet Cell uclay and blended it all in with
the gro und. I d ry-brushed some \"ery pale tall
over the gr ass to give it an aut umnal look, an d
added the dead bracken by the tree from a

, pac k of br ass-etched fern s from Scale Link.

You can get the m in a variety of sizes, and I
,. - think th ey add a wonde rfu lly realistic touch to
almost any groundwork . I used a rusty acrylic

102 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

accessory shop. The addition of a dead twig
to represent the winter skeleton of a young
tree, and a clum p of longer dead grass at the
side of the track, finished the bank.
T he central, unt rodden str ip of the
lane was covered fi rstly with static grass
and some Wood land Scenics scatte r, and
then I put in some taller dead grass at
odd int ervals. To complete th e vignette I
gave the two str ips of mud another coating
of gloss varnish and. while this was still
tacky. I scattered on some more smallleaves.
I must confess that - seen th rough the
camera viewfi nder against sky paper - the
final res ult gave me a good deal of
satisfaction.

ABOVE The muddy lane

co mpleted.The rough scrub
on the far bank is made from
rubberised horsehair with
leaves fro m catkin seed s and
granualted co rk. Pho to -etched
brass fern s grow at the base of
the hollow tre e, painted a
rusty shade for autumn
colouring. Clumps of dead
grass have been added and
wind-blown leaves have been
scattered all over the scene.A
final coating of gloss varnish
has been applied for a suitably
wet loo k.

LEFT 15th century travellers

meet on t he lane ou tside their
Village.This setting wou ld
suit figures from just about any
perio d of European
history. and many North
Amer ican subjects. (The
figures we re kindly painted
by Charles Davis.]

TRACKS & ROADS 10 3

 A Roman subject was an ob vious choice lo r a
chapter on mode lling road s; but for ,I change I
decided to come in out of the count ryside and
try my hand at an urban vigne tte. All the main
reference for thi s model carne from Peter
Co nnoll y's wonderful boo k PlJJllPl'I'j (.\ lacdonnld
Educational, 1979: ISBN () 356 06303 S). If you
have any interest in buildin g mod els of this
period you cou ld nor get a bett er source of
illustrated infor mation.
T o recreate th is Ro man st reet I began by
cast ing a num ber of ker bst o n es and th ree
ste p p ing sto nes from plaste r. I then laid t he
kcrb ston cs out to give me t he width o f my
street, and put the steppin g stones in pla ce;
in rea l life these h ad to be fa r enou gh ap art to
allow the passage of cart s an d wal;ons, but
close enough for ped estrians to usc them.
•Mix in g so me Ccllucluy, I nex t laid d own
th e foun dation of the two pavements, leaving
a gap for th e wate r trough. T he trough came
n ext, cast from some shap es in my 'Castle
.\Li ster' kit , with the spout rnndc fro m a
sh ort p iece of 30 amp fus e wire. O n ce all t h is
stonewor k was set I used acrylic ston e grey
paint wit h a touch of earth brown to co lour
the kerb s and th e tro ugh, and le ft it all to llry
while I made the sto ne slabs for the roa dwa y.
T hese were ver y simp ly made by casting
a thi n slab of plaster and then breaking it
up int o ir regula r sha pes. rather like crazy
paving. lkforc st icking them down with PVA I
gent ly rounded all the edges off with ,1 file, to
give the slabs a used and worn look. O nce stuck
down o n the roadw ay I gro uted them with som e
more Ccll uclay When the glue had d ried I used
a rounded file to mark in the two grooves worn
by the passage of cart s. U sing a slightly warmer
shade of th e stone colour I then painte d the
, whole roadwa y, laying in a darker, earthy wash ro
emphasize the gaps between rhc stones an d th e
t. wheel ru ts.
, The next ste p was to make the pa vements
'~
(sidewalks); and to start with I mad e a
complete mess of th is job. T he Romans made
thei r p ave m en ts by m ixin g ceme n t ami
add ing in bro ken- up t iles and hit s of br ick,
TOP The kerbstones laid out either side of the street and the stepping stones in so it e nd ed up with a sp eckled fini sh. I
place.The wat er trough w ill fit in the slight gap in the far kerb. I've also added t he tho ught th is was simplici ty itsel f - just m ix
base of the wide r of th e two paveme nts, using a strip of the usual polystyre ne tile. so me te r ra cotta-c olou red p laste r, let it set,
break it up , and th en m ix th e b its in with
CENTRE The paving ston es for the roadway being laid in a bed of earth -colou red
some plain pla ster. Bur no . . . As soon as
C elluclay: the water trough is in place . I've started painting the stones at this point,
I start ed adding my bits o f broken ' rile' to
using a colour mix of earth and grey sto ne acrylics.
the plai n p laster, t he co lour see pe d out
Bo n OM The road stones are all in place and grouted. and I've just fli ed the two and I wou nd up with a com ple tely terra-
grooves to rep rese nt the wear of can whee ls. co tt a-colour ed pavem en t. H avin g exhausted

10 4 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

process, made the most authentic Roman stones for a castle.
The fountain is simply made
pavement ever modelled.
from square bits of plast er
r live quite ncar Canterbu ry; which was with an old plastic disc on the
originall y :1 Roman city. Some while ago from and a short piece of
roadworks were being carr ied out there and fusewire for the spou t.
archaeologists came across the foundations
of a Roman gatchousc in the city wall. One of
the m was kind enou gh to give me a Roman
brick from the excavations, which I had put
on a shelf and forgotten. Yes, you' vc guessed
it: the pavement s in this model are made
from a mixt ure of plaster and fragments of
original Roman b rick!
Since this was a city scene the model
clearly had (0 be ' finishe d off" at the beck with
a section of the wall of a simple Roman shop
(d osed for business, however ~ int riguing as it
would have been to model part of the interior).
T he wall is a piece of foam board coated with
a thi n layer of plaster, which was just deep
enough for me to give the impr ession of
the rubble-filled wall underneath where the
plaster had cracked. The colours are copied
from a building unearthed in Pompeii and , like
the simple wooden doors, are based on Peter
Connolly's paintings.
Alth ough this was supposed 10 be an
exercise in groundwork, having got this far I
cou ld n't resist finishing touches such as the
typical gra ffiti. Excavatio ns at Pompeii and
I Icrculancum show that graffi ti were \"cry
common in 1st cent ur y Roman towns;
but they were not scratched in standard
' monumental' Lat in capitals, and I didn't
want [() simpl y invent mine. Luckily a little
research turned up some examples, in the
characteristic demotic script , in a book called
H erculaneum by Josep h Jay D eiss (Harp er &
Row, NY, 19S5; isnx 0 06 015376 8). The
upper one beside the shop doorway is an
adver t for food being sold inside - roughly,
' Pizzas for four pennies' . The female profile
- tid ied up a littl e fro m the orig inal - is
accom panied by the sentiment 'J ulia, queen
of my heart' . (Many of the graffiti foun d in
the bur ied towns on the bay of N aples
extolled the virtues of, shall we say, ladies of mixed 50/50 resin and hardener, poured ABOVE At left, on e of the
negotiable affections. For the record, the and left 10 set overnig ht. T he water jar was pavements laid, using cr ushed
most pop ular girl in town was named cast in pre -coloured plaster from a silicone (Ro man) brick in plaste r. (This
Primigcnia.) mould which r had made for some of the speckled fini sh see ms to have
T he final to w: hes to this model were the dioramas I built for the museum at Zug, been quite common in Roman
cement, and even in some wall
addition of water in the trough, the broken Switzerland . T he weeds arc simpl y br ist les
plaster] The wheel grooves
water jar in the gutter, a few sprouting weeds from a soft brush, stud between the sto nes
have now been painted in..
and the 'h orse apple s' in the street. T he with PVA; and the horse apples arc suitably
water was made with clear casting resin, coloured pieces of Celluclay.

TRACKS s ROADS 10 5
 y,-,-" ,,, , ...,,, .. ,,,, 6" " ''''·

RIGHT The finished model,

comp lete with the broken wate r
pot and the 'horse apples'. These J.: :..
last must have been an almost
universal Sight on ever y kind of
track and road , throughout
histo ry up until about the
r920s. The scene positively
cries out for the figures of a
couple of off-duty soldiers
heading down town . ..
(Incidentally, the only absolutely
co nfi rmed skeleton of a Roman
soldier ever found was
excavated in a street at
Herc ulaneum, killed outrigh t by
the blast fro m Vesuvius. He was
not in arm our, but was wear ing
his decorated sword and
dagger belts, carrying
a to ol bag on his shoulders,
and had gold and silver
coins in his purse .)

106 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

 T his model of ,I stretch of highroad , based
upon a contemporary paint ing of the
C harleroi- Br ussels road in th e vicinity of
Waterloo, was not complicated to make but
took a fair amo unt of pat ience. (.\ ly reference
came largely from one of a marvellou s new
series of books on aspects of Waterloo b~
Bern ard Cop pens & Pat rice Courccll c.
published in Belgium - sec Appendix.)
.\I ost European paved roads of this period
- mostly datin g from the 17th cent ury - were
sur faced with granite sets, laid across the
width of the road ruther than para llel 10 it, and
had a pronounced camber ru nning from the
centre to eithe r side. To achieve this I firstly
glued a st rip of dowel down the cent re of the
baseboard , and then laid a shee t of thi n
cardboard over this as t he basis for the
road way. A length of polystyrene was stud.
along the bad. and the n coated wit h plaste r
bandage to make the hank . O nce the bandage
had set I overlaid it with Celluclay and sprayed
on a thin , sandy-coloured wash.
Now I had to buill! the road surface itself,
and there was no quick way of doi ng th is.
Using a silicone mou ld, I cast some 1,000
separ ate granite sets from a mater ial called
G ranitcx. Th is is a stone-coloured mod elling
compou nd from the same company th at make
the Sc ulpcy compound, but it has tiny flecks
of black in it, giving it a granite look. Once
mould ed to shape you put it into an oven at
1.'5 d egrees C (275 F ) for about 15 minutes
per q uarter- inch of thicknes s. Ob viou sly my
sets were nowhere ncar that t hick , and
' cooked' much quicker. .Vlaking the sets did
not take too lon g, hut then came the job of
laying them , ami thi s d id take patience.
I st uck them down onto the card board base
with P\,A, a row at a time, working across the
roadbed until the whole road was covered . I
realize that a qui cker way of do ing this would
be to take a moulding of a few rows of sets and
cast a whole section at a time. .\ly objec tion to
.
~.
this is t hat you will end up with a repeating
pattern of stones - my way, each one is visibly
different .
Th e widt h of t hese road s varied two wagons to pass, but ofte n it was only wide ABOVE The eart h strip alo ng
con siderably, and t he width of on e ro ad enou gh for one (e.g. the Charleroi-Br ussels the roadside has been laid.
varied at d ifferent points. Contempora ry road in the Forest of Scigncs). Consequently, using Celluclay pre-colo ured
descript ions m ight list a wid th of, say, even in civilian usc, most roads had broad with sandy acrylic paint, and
the face of the bank has been
13 met res (-1-2 feet ), but this measurement strips of beaten -down earth un eac h side
treat ed in the same way.
seems to have been taken bet ween the front s of where tr affic had been forced to leave the
buildings on eit her side and did not ind icate paving. The passage of armies made thes e
t he usable width . T he paved car riageway was wider, and tore them up badly in wet weath er.
supposed to be wide eno ugh to allow at least The mass of men and horses on the move

TRACKS & ROADS 107


TO P The tree stumps, made
fro m balsa dowel with roots
from Duro, and coated with
Flexibar k and Duro.
ABOVE The stumps in place on
the top of the bank.The
vegetation is made up from
rubbe rised horsehair and
Woodland Scenic scatter; and
note the rabbit holes. For a
finishing touch, you cou ld
always add a small dump of lead
bird-shot below these.
ABOVE RIGHT An overh ead
view show ing the hollow tree
stump; note the fungus on the
nearest stump .
108 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
pro bably spen t most of their marches slogging
along these m udd y side- lanes, leaving the
paved road for the heavy wagons and ar tillery
train s.
I recreated this eart h strip with an area of
Celluclay; t hough to a fairly narrow measure.
In reality they could easily b e as wide again as
the pavement on both sides, but I simp ly did
not have the room , so I used mv. 'bank' to
provide a visual excuse. The Ccllucla y was
then suitably indent ed with wheel marks and
foot- and hoofprin ts. When this was all done I
blended the soil strip into the paved edge of
the road way; and washed it over with my soil
colour, picking ou t the ruts with a lighter
shade.
Next I made up some tree stu mps from balsa
dowel, to add to the bank; I va ried them a bit by
having two of them hollowed out. I also coated
two with Flcxibark for a rough-t extured finish,
to contrast with the smoot h finish obtained
by using Duro to coat the ot her two. The
•
above- ground roots were also shaped from
Duro, smoothed onto the st umps and then
blended into the surface of the bank. After
scrib ing in bar k pattern s I paint ed th e
stumps with an undercoat of grey-green and
highlighted the ribbing of the bark with a paler
shade of the same colour, T he fungus growth on
one stump \\",IS also made from Duro and
coloured with acrylic oran ge. On ce dry, I added
some i\"y leaves to the largest stum p, made from
catkin seeds, I painted the first layer of leaves in
a glossy dar k green shade and then the top layer
in a lighter shade of green , which adds dept h to
the appearance of leaf cover.
On ce the stum ps were in place I sprayed
th e bank, a sec tion at a time, with Scenic
Cement and scatte red on a layer of fairl y
coarse ground. cover. O n to p of thi s I added a
layer of rubber ised horseh air to represent
coarse undergrowth , stuck on with PVt\.. This
was then sprinkled with more flock and left to
dr y. I added a bit of detail to the sandy face of
emerging fro m th e soil, colouri ng: these an granite sets, Standing by the
ear thy brow n. roadside.
To add some interest to the road itself I
rummaged in the span.'S boxes until I came up
with a Historex kit, and bui lt a Napoleonic
whcelha rruw, I paint ed it mi litar y green, and
left it standing with a pile of sets waitin g to be
used to re pair the road bed .
Incidentally, th e book by Coppen s and
Co urcclfc taught me another pleasing poin t
of de tail: that the rood from Ch arleroi had
carried the coal wagons from the mines to
Brussels for generations. O ne Captain Du thilt
wrot e th at it was cover ed with greasy black
coal d ust, and in rainy weather all tr oops and
horses using it q uickly becam e filthy. In a mild
gesture towards th is fact I finished the vignette
by applying: a thin wash of ar tist's black oil
paint acro ss th e whole roadw ay and working in
a few smudges of black pastel chalk here
and there - an effect which is cer tainly a lot
cleaner than th e real thing wou ld have been on
17I1 8 )une 18 15.

LEFT The finished scene. with

the ro<tdw;ry sUiDbty grubby
with coal dus L tvy leave$. rN-de
from s.iM:r birch aOOn seeds.
grow up the brge stump. V1d
tree motS grow out from the
bee of the bank.Dumps of
paving stoneS ~ sometn'TleS
left ar int~1s beside main
roa ds for malting rep.1in.
Heavy traffic, winter ~zing
and splitting and spring thaws
will tea r holes in even mode m
surfaces .

TRACKS & ROADS 10 9

 T
h i~ chapter .title .is perhaps a sli g~t
misnomer, SlnCC It groups on e mam
vignette using cobbles (which have
been used for man) hundreds of years ) in a
20th century setting, with brief descriptions of
more modern pou red surfaces. Let us nor get
hung up on semantics, however.
POURED SURFACES:
CONCRETE HARDSTAND
T his piece of gruun dwurk is a very simple base
for an aircraft mod el. I marked oil" the area for the
semi-circle of hardstand and the grass edging of
the airfield. I next marked out a cross to represent
the scams where the concrete slabs meet, and
lightly scribed th is inro the surface of the base-
board. I used black artist 's oil paint , squeezed
near from thc tube so that it was \"er} thick, and
applied it along the scribe lines as the tar scams.
RIGHT Co ncrete hardstand>
t he board marked out with
shallow grooves fo r the seams
between the concrete sections.
RIGHT Adding the first layer of
scatter. The old foil baking tray
helps keep all the spillage under
control, so you can collect it fo r
later use.The shape of the area
that is to be covered in scatter
is determined by the area you
cover with PVA adhesive to
starr with.
RIGHT The board covere d with
concrete-coloured paint.The
seams are still just visible.
110 TERRAIN MODEWNG """-ASTERCLASS
I th en spread PVA over the area to be
grassed , and scatte red a layer of tan ground
cover; over which I added another layer of finer
scatter in green , to creat e the appearance of
fairly scruffy-looki ng gr ass and weeds. While I
was spreading the scatt er I put the baseboard in
a foil cooking tra y; this kept all the flock that
spilled over the edge s under control and it was
easy to pour the excess hack into a bag for later
use.
Once the grass was set , I painted the hard -
stand area with a concrete-coloured mat t paint
mix. When this was dr y I spread a fine layer uf
concrete-coloured pastel chalk powder all over
the hardstand , working it into the board with
my fingertips. I mixed up a \-er} thin wash of
black acr ylic and water in a saucer, and let
drops of this wash drip from the end of my
brush into the ceme nt powder, keeping the
brush away from the sur face to prevent any
obvious brush marks. The thin wash spread
naturally into the dry powder, looking like old
oil stains on the concrete. If you wish you can
add a slightly darker centre to these stains for a
bit of colour vnrictv. I also touc hed in the ' tar'
seams to bring them out again from the
cement. T () finish off! cut a simpl e stenci l from
some thin acrylic sheet and sprayed in the
white lines at the edge of the hardstand.
ASPHALT & TAR MACADAM
There is very little to he said about these two
modern road surfaces. To crcarc an asphalt road
all you need do is get some fine Wct & Dry paper,
and stick it down to the baseboard with PVA glue
with the grey, textured side up permost. Add
some washes and darker stains, and any road
markin gs you may want - and the job is done.
Tar macadam has a differen t appearance to
asphalt. It has an almost blue tone in the colour,
and also a slightly shinier finish. Tu creat e this
effect on th e vignette I sprayed the board with
Sce nic Cement and then spread a layer of the
tar macadam medium made by j avis Scenics. r
used a flour shaker to sprea d this in an even
coat and then, before it had dried, I ro lled it as
flat as I could with a small wooden hand roller.
I repeated this about four times until I had a
solid layer of 'ma cadam' on the board, and then
sealed {he last coat with Scenic Cement. When
this had drie d I sprayed on the white lines.
 art ist's black oil paint. and oil
stains added by fli cking t he tip
of the brush, loaded with a
very wet mix of black acry lic
paint, over the pastel dust so
th at it autom atically spreads

.. - intO a stain. The white lines

were made using a Simple
stencil and matt white paint.

LEFT Asphalt at the top. and

below the kerbing tar
macadam.The difference is JUSt
abou t visible; the tar macadam
has slightly mo re te xtu re than
the asphalt, and has a slightly
blue-black shee n.

MODERN SURFACES 111

crate r and coate d wnh tile first,
sealing layer of Celluday.The
plaster paveme nt section is
glued to t he back, with som e
paving stabs cut fre e and tilted
at an angle.This photo also
shows why I didn't persevere
wit h using split peas for t he
co bblestones.
_ _ _ _d
RIG HT & BELOW Farewell,
split peas... The pavement has
received its first layer of colou r,
and the base of the shatt e red
brick wa ll has been se t in place.
I've set the various bus of
rusted iron pipes in the crater
wa lls and muddied them up.
1 12 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERCLASS
T hIS mudd represen ts a small section of
cobbled street that has been shelled. ~ la ny
streets in Europe during World War II were
still cobbled like this, and it isn' t too difficult
to recreate this type of road surface using
pellets of G ranitcx for the cobbles.
As I wanted to have a fairly deep crate r r
used a block of expanded polystyrene for the
base rath er than ~ IDE First I marked out the
areas of the crat er ami of the pavement, and
then excavated the hole with a scalpel. T his
done, I used ,I plaster casting of a section of
resin pavement that I had in my stock box. I
cut some of the paving stones away from the
casting so that I could set them at an angle in
the rubble of the explosion. Ncxr came a layer
of earth -coloured Cclluclav, which I spread
¥ ;
~, b
, ... 1"'" ~:. •
"'.
--..-•
~
,
\
,
'4
 spread at the base of the wall.
The idea here is tWO fold: fi rst-
ly. it forms an adhes ive to ho ld
the rest of the individual loose
bricks. and secondly. any gaps
betw een the bricks will blend
with the rest of th e
rubble.A secon d application of
Celluclay has been applied all
over the inside of the cra ter in
as lumpy and ro ugh
a layer as possible.

BELQIN The first lot of

cobbles go down: thes e are
301m moulded balls of
Granlrex and. in my opinion.
look much better than
the split peas.

uver th e road bed and to line the crater. This

first layer in the cr ater was merely 10 seal the
polysty-rene and to male a basis for a second.
much rougher coal. I added thi s second layer
to give the impression of rupt ured, torn- up
lumps and dods of earth; the first coal would
have been far 100 smo oth for this effect .
To make a backdrop for the scene I built up
the remain s of a brick wall, using bricks which
I cast from plaster in a silico ne mould. To
dress up the crater I decided III includ e some
twisted iron pipes and a r uptu red water ma in.
T he pipes arc simply bent lengths of wire,
painted a suitable r usty colour and pu shed
int o the sides of the crater.
T he water main is made from a plastic
dr inking Slr'IW. It is a reasonable size in
diame ter and, when cut open, the walls urc ,I
good scale thickness. I cut three short leng ths
of straw, two for th e lon ger section (If broken
pipe and one for the stu mp Slicking OUI of the
op posite wall. I CU I two discs of card board for
the flanges and then pu nched out eight 'bolt
heads' fro m a sheet of plast icard. After
Slicking a flange on to each half of the longer
pipe section. I stuck thes e two together and
glued fo ur holt heads 10 each face of the
nang-c. front and back.

RIGHT The component parts of the shatt ered

water main; three short lengths of plastic
drinking straw. twO cardboard discs for the
flanges. and eight bolt heads punched from
plasticard with a Historex hexagonal Punch &
Die set,

MODERN SURFACES 113


RIGHT Making the spou t of
water from the shattered main ,
uneven lengths of optic fibres
are glued togeth er to make the
armature.
RIGHT The armatu re covered
with Art ist's Gloss Medium and
tinted with Vitrail olive gree n
glass paint.
114 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCIASS
momen t I ocncvc rt us IS cni y available irum
the States - my supply 'comes from the M icro
)' brk company. You just paint this over the
pipe and leave it to dry. If the result is not
rusty enough for you, just lay on another coat,
and so on unti l you're happy with the amount
of 'corrosion' . when the coats were dry I then
went O\Tr the pipe with two differe nt shades
of anothe r rust product which also came
from America. Produced by a company called
Pre-size " lodds, they were marketed under
the name FX Weathering Compounds. T hey
were a excellent produ ct since, when dry, they
n OI only gave you new, med ium and heavy rust
colours, but they also had ,I rough, corroded
texture. (l have also mentioned in earlier
chapters their FX ,\ Iud, ) Sadly, I believe the
'FX' range is no longer available, und I' m
hoarding my last few pots like a miser. If you
come a(fOSS this anywhere, grab it, and if any
of my readers in the States know where I could
still gel some - please get in touch!
While on the suh ject of rust, a nell' product
marketed by the British company Accurate
Armour under the name Instant Rust also
recreates the rough, scabby textu re of rusty
metal. T his is a two-p art med ium which
requires the first coat to be left for about
12 hours before adding the next, hut the result
is worth the wait,
Anyway, back to the crater, To create the
impression of water pouring from the broken
pipe I took some short lengths of an old bit of
fibre optic that was lying around (but any
transparent strip of plastic material will do),
and stuck them together with PVA. The idea
was to make ,I transpare nt armature on which
I could build lip the stream of water. This I did
by adding uneven blobs of Art ist's G loss
Vledium, which is a white, creamy-textured
mater ial, available in small pots from almost
any art shop. When it dries it is almost
transparent. When I had built up enough I
coloured ir with ,I very thin application of an
olive green paint which is used for decorating
glassware, T he part icular brand I used here
is called Yitruil, but there arc many ot hers
available in urt shops,
O nce the 'water spout' had dried I gave it
several coats of gloss varnish, nnd set it aside
while I mixed the resin for the water in the
crater, Defore pouring the water into the hole I
coloured the 100\Tr part of the crater walls with
a greyish shade of soil colour; the soil at a
depth is usually darker and damper than that
nearer (he surface. Once again I used a 50/ 50
·... j .. 1i .. Ilrd ll UIIVe! g r ," ," 11 g las:i

paint. Both layers have been

poured; I added the stream of
water from the ruptured main
before pouring in the second.
so as to be sure that the end
wou ld be below the wate r
level.You can also see some of
the bricks under the water.
added along with various bits
of rusty iron before I poured
the second layer.

BElOvV Dew of the brick

rubble and the abandonded
jerry can, I cast the bricks
in a silicone mould from
pre-co loured plaster.

MODERN SURfACES 11 5
 t. ;. ;"> ~ I M lI l • • \ 1 <.. 111\'11•••,,,. ,-
little of this paint goes a long way, and it is
easy to nuke too dense a colour). I poured
my first layer of resin into the crater and left
it to set.
While waiting, I stuck the spout of water
into the end of the water main, using P" A, and
positioned it over the surface. I added debr is
in the water, and a length of rusty girder.
When the resin hal! set I poured a second layer
in. and made sure it came high enough up the
crater so that the end of the stream of water
from the pipe was just covered.
On ce the second layer of resin had set I
began making the ripples and foam caused hy
the stre-am of water. First I buih up the ripples
by adding semi-circles of gloss medi um
spreading out from under the end of the pipe
and. once thes e had set. I gently stippled malt
while paint in circles until I had my foa m
effect. T he last touch was 10 add some mud to
the various exposed lengths of pipcwork. =,"ow
it was lime 10 lay my cobbled road surface.
I have included a shot of my first efforts at
laying cobbles to illustrate why you shouldn 't
always believe everything you read in
modelling magazines! I had read on many
occasions that the best and quic kest way to
make a cobbled ruad was to use dried splil
peas. Raiding the larder. I started tu lay the
street, but it ,"cry quickly became uh,"ious that
the average split pea was 10 0 large to represent
RIGHT The Granitex from
which I made the cobbles, lying
on the silicone mould which I
used to cast the individual
plaster bricks (and. incidenta lly.
the Granh ex granite sets for
the model of the Napo leonic
road in C hapte r 10).
116 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERClASS
,,, ...... ,,,,, "'''j' , .' " '" . .. ! ... .. . ,,, , , . _ , .. . >" ...., " "'H' ."'" '" ........
photo. and you' ll see what I mean. Unless you
haw ,I sup ply of vcrv small split peas. forget it.
I decided 10 make the stones from
G ranircx. I rolled out a lump into a ribbo n and
cut it up into small pieces, which I then rolled
into balls of ahout Jmm- I mm diameter. When
I judged that I had enough ((I cover une end of
the street, I put these in the Olen on a foil
baking tray and left the m for about ten
minutes at 05 degrees C When they were
done I spread a thin layer of Ccllu clay on the
road and pressed the cobbles into it, one at a
lime. leaving a small gap between each one.
When they were all in plan : I made up Mime
more Cclluclay and grouted them in. While
they set I repeated the proct.'SS for the rest of
the model. and then left it overnight.
The next day I gently rubbed over the
surface of the cobbles with a fine Wet & Dry
paper; just to create the impression of we-ar;
and then applied a wash of Raw Umbe r over
the whole street. T his tended to form a darker
shade on the Cclluclay grouting, thus ere-aring
a natural contrast with the lighter stones. I
then added some more spoil over rhc cohhles
nearest the crater, and dry-b rushed all around
the lip. Fin;lUy I added some more ru bble and
odd cobble stones into the soil; an old icrr ycan
was Jumped in the brick rubb le together with
a couple of rusty girders. and my urban shell
crater W;l S finished.
 sorted to work up the troth
V'OU1d the end of the st rea m
d....xer. 1 used Artist's Gloss
: f'1edun ~ in a stippled
........ -oridnc n>und "
semi w des.. The ~ of R.SJ
_ me pIIl ll'l at this point.
_ p/"<xo <hmaoaly
c:aptureS me menGCUS effect •
in fact it IooIa worse here
dun it does to the raked
eye. In such a ~ space
neither of the tricks d~: Il ed
in Chapter 8 could be ~.

LEFT More circ les of Gloss

Medium are added and a [ouch
".
of off-w hite paint is used to
•
• create the foam.To give the
impressio n of the wat er
foam ing unde r the
surface and to create the
illusion of depth . I've added a
th in w ash of the ol ive green
glass paint over the whit e
foam at the outer edge of
the disturbed water,

LEFT 0venI shot ol the

finished cra ter; with the fiNI
pieces of debris in position.
Note that after grouting with
C elluday only the tOP surfaces
of the Gra nitex pellets show
'above ground ', and that the
cobbles have bee n slightly
smoothed over to create a
worn appearance.

MODERN SURFACES 117

 SNOW & ICE

RIGHT The basis of the frozen now and ice are fairly easy to recreate in
rive r vigne tte.A strip of clear
plastic has had candle wax 'air
bubbles' added to the underside
and Glass Etch frosting has been
S ,I model, and a number (If materials and
techniques arc described under Snow
Effects in Chapter I, so I won' t repeat myself
here at any length,
sprayed on the rep. Now it is
For a scene covered with really heavy snow
glued down to the baseboard;
the black str ip painted along the
and deep drifts the best medium is ,I thick
middle of the base is almost mixture of plaster of Paris. Stir this smoothly
hidden, but still suggests the together until you get the right consistency;
dar kness of deep water plaster is cheap, and you can easily practice by
unde rneath the ice , pouring it over bits of polystyrene scrap
and folded card unt il it moves and stops just
as you want. Pour it from above, adding it
generously to the groundwor k, over logs,
rocks, etc.. U nless you are modelling a
completely snow-covered scene, remember to
leave a gap between the lower edge of the snow
Oil top of these features and the ground. so
that you can still see the side surfaces. when
adding it to roofs, pour from the ridge und let
RIGHT The basic areas of the it run right down to the caves und for m ,I heavy
river banks built up with bulge hanging over the edge.
Celluclay over the edges of the Check your reference photos; you will want
strip of 'ice',
.. to reprodu ce the ways in which snow collects
along the upper surfaces of branches, walls
and fences, and the lumps it for ms in the forks
of trees. A really heavy fall will bend slender
, .. - ,
' .~ trees over and drag the branches of older
BELOW Pads of newspape r /
trees down. Telephone cables will sag under
secured to the Celluclay with the weight; recreating these effects will add
masking tape form the uneven realism to your winter scene.
humps of the rive r bank. If you just want to add a dusting of snow to
the scene, usc poly-heads scattered from your
flour shaker and held in place with an indirect
misting of hairspray. You can gently blow it
about in swirls on the groundwork to simulate
the effect of the wind on powdery snow. For
a frosty finish to groundwork, buildings or
vehicles, airbrush a vcry thin mixture of
acrylic white over the scene. making sure
that the colours underneath can still show
through. Remember that a modest addition of
finely-ground Alum HP will give your snow
'sparkle'. Practice using all these mediums,
separately and in combination, until you arc
confident.

ICICLES

I have made icicles hanging from the caves

of a model house the lazy way; by using

118 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS

 newspaper; and th e old tree
trunk is added to the bank. I
am abou t to drill a small hole
at an angle into the plastic
'ice' to fi x a washed-up
'branch' (made from a small
twig) to one bank.

ABOVE RIGHT The heavy

snow cover ing has been added
with poured plaster, together
with the winte r skeleton of a
tree. O n the right a branch has
been washed up onto a spur
of the river bank, and r have
added animal tracks
coming down to the wate r's
edge. Powder snow dust s
the ice near the banks.

LEFT & BELOW Two angles

on the frozen river,
• phot ographed against a
winter afternoon sky.

ready-made plastic ones from an old Faller

Winter Scene kit I pic ked up years ago. You
just glue them in place along the eaves and
drip on layers of gloss varnis h unt il you have
the lengt h you want . I realize that th is kit is
pro bably not around any more, so here arc
couple of ways of making your own icicles .
T he first way is to sup port a strip of wood or
plasrica rd by its ends across a gap between two
rests, in an edge-up position . Put small blobs of
PVA glue at intervals along the bottorn edge.
When they arc set, get some 'stringy' glue like
polystyrene cement and squeeze a drop onto
each blob of PVA. D raw it downward into a long
d rip and leave it to d ry. Repea t this process until , .,
you 3fC satisfied with the gene ral size and shape
of your icicle. When it is dry, r un drops of gloss
varnish down the icicle and let this dry too.
Remember that a st rip of icicles are not all the
same length. Keep adding varnish unti l you are
happy with the result, and leave your strip of
icicles to set overnight. In the morning, use a
sharp scalpel to gently cut the blobs of PVA free
in one strip along the base of your row
of icicles, and glue it to your roof, rrcc or
whatever. •

SNOW & ICE 119

_;.:.• , ;-,;': ;; '''- "'i ;';¥' .;,;; .; ,.. 6' ;,;;,.;,;,......;,., ... ,-"nu,,-,."l "- u ~ '" ~ el '" u,, ~"uu,,' u '" ,u e, '" -- - - ---- --- --, - --. - - -- ,-
edges of the black cardboard 'water".The fallen tree trunk is a piece of natu ral described above; then add layers of Artist's
driftwood. Gl oss M edium, buil di ng it up fairly th ickly at
BonOM The plaster has been poured over the gro und and the tree and, befor e it the top and d rawing it to a ta per, allowing it to
set, I planted clumps of dead grass at various places.The snow do esn't have to be dry between cuch laver. When you have the
absolute ly feanrreless , it forms mounds of various sizes and shapes over buried shape you want , leave it over nigh t: then add
vegetat io n . but all the surfaces shou ld look rou nded and untouched. If you mess coats of gloss varn ish to achie ve a nice cold
around with it you lose the benefit of a poured fi nish. sparkle.

• •
• this is se t you need an aerosol of H umbrol
l sha pes where the banks and water meet. To
A FROZEN RIVER
& AN ICY POND
Creating the effect uf frozen water is quite
easy. S tan wit h a piece of dear plastic or
polycurbonnrc. Take ,I can dle st ub and melt
drops of W,IX onto the surface of the plas tic in
an ir regular pattern. Xcx t, you need an iro n;
cover the wax blobs with grcasc proof paper,
then smooth the blobs down by passing the
iro n fairly briefly alTOSS the paper. The paper
will stop the wax adhering to the sole plate of
the iron (and p robably save you from a fate
wor se than death at the hands of the owner of
the iro n).
N exr, take your baseboard and pai nt a strip
of black up the cen tre, narro wer than the strip
of plastic. Apply PVA glue to the edges of th e
un der (\\',lXy) side of the plastic, and stick it
down 10 the board so that the glued stri ps arc
either side of the black- pain ted portion. Once
Glas s Etch spr'ly. T his is a p rod uct intended
for usc on decorative glasswork: when sprayed
on it gives the same effect as glass that has
been frosted by etch ing with sand . The
effect you will achieve is that of an icy surface,
partly opaque, but wit h the da rk water of the
river par tially visible th rou gh the icc, with the
blobs of candle wax giving the appearance of
air pockets tr apped under the icc.
The riverbanks are built up in the usual way
with Cclluclav, carried over the edges of the
' fro zen' plastic stri p and making irregu lar
build up the lum py surface of the banks for this
vignet te I next added wads of newspaper rolled
into bun shapes and taped down with masking
tape. (This is often a quick and easy method of
shaping your gro undwork if you don' t have
lum ps of polystyrene availablc.} I covered the
newspaper lumps and the rest of the riverbanks
with plaster bandage, addi ng at this po int
anything that r wanted to have poking up
through the snow - in this case an old tree tr unk.
To make the snow, I ma de u p a thic k mix of
modelling plaster to the point where it would

120 TERRAIN MODElliNG MASTERCLASS

been added at the top right
corner of the vignette. I used
Hudson & Allen Studio 'Slush',
mixed with water and a touch
of earthy acrylic paine.

LEFT The final touch is fine,

powdery snow dr ifted ove r
the ice.This is made with fi ne
poly-beads from 4D Models.

SNOW & ICE 121

 po nd, perhaps on his way to
Corunna in January 1809! This
figu re was kindly painted for me
by Charles Davis.
122 TERRAIN MODELLING MASTERCLASS
rocks, etc. •md left it to set. As r was using a
prett y thick mixture th is took quite a while.
T he idea is to achieve a smoot h, rounded
finish like untouched virgin snow - you
should have the patience to leave the plaster
to set without pushing it around with your
spatula.
When the snow had set, I drilled a small
hole in the icc and set in a tree branch snagged
on the river's edge; then I put in a hare tree on
the bank. The branches of the tree were also
treated to a small amount of the thick plaster,
and I scattered ,I drifting of fine poly-beads
along each bank.
T he model of the icy pond was made in
much the same way as that of the frozen river.
T here are obviously no large humps made
from newspaper under the snow, but the icc
and the thick snow were made in exactly the
same way; in this case I used .1 piece of black
card rather than a painted area to provide the
darkness under my 'icc' . T he log is a small
piece of driftwood, and the dead grasses are
from a pack of Woodland Scenics Field G rass.
T he only difference here is that I hnve added
an area of churned- up, frozen slush.
T his can be done by mixing baking powder
with P\ 'A to create a ' lumpy' look; but
person ally, while I think this is a good metho d
for showing packed snow in tank or tr uck
suspensions or under mudguards, I feci it
lacks the true spar kle of semi-icy slush. T here
arc a couple of ways to achieve this effect. The
first is to make up a mixture of P\'A glue and
Alum DP. Apart from mixing it in with the
plaster or poly-beads which you have used to
make your snow to add reflective points, you
can just usc it on its own to get a really frozen,
slushy look.
T he second way, which is what I did here, is
to buy one of Hudson & Allen's packets of
' Slush' . Just mix this with water until you get
the desired consistency, then spread it on to
your gro undwork and leave to dry. If you
want an area of dirty slush, just mix in some
colouring with the water. Slush is one of a
number of prod ucts produced by Hudson &
Allen for us 'grou nd hogs'; they also market
Mud, SnO\\' and other useful ground effects,
and they arc all worth the money.
LEFT An experiment in
photography: to get an
even co lder look I used a
blue filter over the lens when
taking this on e.

ABOVE 'The Derelict": this is a diorama w hich I
built sometime ago. dep icting a burnt-out Stua rt
in the Ardennes.The tree was my first att empt at
fo llowing Barry Bowen 's meth od .The rusting was
applied after I had built and painted the model.
I'm a great believer in applying weathering over a
tyre treads we ll.While yo ur
plaster is still damp. run a
truck ry re through it unt il you
have a goo d imprint. It helps to
rinse the eyre after each pass ,
o th erw ise it dogs up.
l et the plaste r dry: then
pick ou t the 'low lighu' • the
depressions of m e pattem •
,
-.
w ith ;1.0 earthy co lour, le aving
the ridges wh ite.This cre ates
both visual de pth. and the
effect of mud underneath
being chu rne d up by the ryres .
Build up a ridge of dir ty snow
either side of each ryre tra ck
where it has been forc ed aside
by the passage of the wheel.
complet ely finished painting and marking scheme.
In real life. rust o r scorching won't hide all the
o ri ginal markings, By adding all the sta rs and
serial numbers before starting on the ruse you
get a very realistic fin ish. with faint markings
showing through the w eath er ing,
SNOW & ICE 123
 • case th e impression was
obvious ly chat the tank had
burned befo re the most rece nt
snow fall.A vehicle which has
bur ned in snow-covered terrai n
will melt an area all around it,
wh ich will then re-freeze , filling
any tracks or other depressions
with smooth new ice. in which
any deb ris of the explosion will
be frozen.

RIGHT The fro zen slush around

'T he Derelict' is from Hudson &
Allen Studio. and the frozen
puddle JUSt visible at
bottom right is a drop of candle
wax. levelled out by hol ding a
hot iro n above it.

124 TERRAIN MODEWNG MASTERCLASS

ABOVE Part of an Iron Age
village (c800·0 BC) in the
depths of winte r, modelled in
J 162nd scale for the Z ug
museum ,The snow in this
scene is o nce again thick
plaster : the ho uses are the
usual cardboard shells covered
with plaster castings and held
together with PVA glue: the
gatehouse is made from bass
wood with cast plaster panels
of watt le and daub.

LEFT 'Fallschirmjager,
Leningrad Fro nt, 1942'.The
bracken is etched brass and
the log is a piece of driftwo od:
note the 'cake icing' effect of
the ' bro ken-off' snow along
the top of the le g.The para's
footprints have trodde n some
bra cken down imo the area
of slushy snow - I made the
footprints using the feet from
the kit. The icicle is a piece
of clear plastic built up with
glos s varnish.

SNOW & ICE 125

 ,
,

,
,

.
~
•
•
, -.
1~ ~ .,..
"
"'--
I~-
L
,
, .. .1

ABOV E A nother of the made from thin coppe r sheet.

If62nd scale Zug dioramas was
to depict a Paleo lithic hunt ing
camp of c 13000-5000 Be . The
lake wat er is made with N imix
A rtificial W ater gel; I did nee add
any colouring since at this peri.
od in histo ry the water wo uld
be unpollu ted. The appearance
of depth can be obtained by
painting the lakebed a darker
shade the further away you get
from the sbcre.Tbe rents are
with pole s made from tiny twigs
eme rging from the apex: for
th eir light coating of po wder
snow they received a mist o f
hairspray before I scattered
the m w ith poly-beads.The
base is plaster. scatt ered
with grou nd cove r.The stones
weighting dow n th e skirts of
the tents and scatte red o n the
lakebed are Wood land Scenics
Talus.
 '/ •
"

.'
,
....,.
"
'.
"

A BOVE Details from the

Paleolithic hu nting camp. The
birches are simply painted
twigs; the dwarf junipe rs are
railw ay modelling 'r eady-made'
fir t rees cut down. All the light
snow on the vegetation is
made w ith fl icks of white paint
and scattered poly-beads.

SNOW & ICE 127