Saturday 9 February 2013

A river runs through it

I've started work on the additional baseboards that are needed for the Cravant game. In fact they are essential, as the river Yonne ran across the battlefield; initially dividing the two armies before the fording by the Anglo-Burgundians and subsequent attack.



I'm aiming to make boards that fit in with my existing ones, all of which I purchased from Realistic Modelling Services over a number of years. However Keith at RMS can no longer make bespoke boards, so it's down to me to make my first ever terrain. Generously Keith is assisting with guidance on what I need to purchase and sending 'how to' emails for me to follow as best I can.
The baseboard construction follows a typical manner. I had 12mm MDF sheets cut to size at my local DIY store - two sheets of 100x50 cms and one of 50 cms square. To this were glued sheets of blue foam, purchased from Antenociti. These had been cut beforehand with a long bladed knife to create a meandering river course and sloping sides cut roughly at an angle down to the water level. The river width is about 8 inches.



The riverbanks (and some corners which were off true) had a covering of mixed PVA glue and wall filler brushed over to create some texture (the rest of the boards will be flocked). Once dried the edges of the river bank contours were smoothed with sandpaper, then some stones and sand were glued on to create some details to pick out when painted. I also inserted some hollow plastic rod into holes drilled into the foam layer, along the river bank to give me options to insert trees I have which have brass rods coming from the base of the trunks. The river banks will now be painted, to match my basing as best I can, before I tackle the water.

Here's the rough layout that I've drawn up for the game, showing the proposed placement of troops and the main terrain features (if i can them all done).


Some figures should be up next....

7 comments:

Ray Rousell said...

Looks good so far, I'll be watching carefully because I may have to make my own river terrain pretty soon.

Dalauppror said...

Very interesting to follow your Salute projec Simon!

I realy hop I manage to get there this year to...

Best regards Michael

Steve h said...

Great! I'm about to start some river sections to match my terrain, so looking forward to see how you do yours!

Stuart said...

Great post, i've always been interested in how terrain boards are put together.

It's something I follow with some awe as I just dont have the storage to do any of my own.

Keep us updated as the boards take shape (just in case I ever convert the loft !)

Stuart

Willie Anderson said...

Watching with interest hopeing to do some myself this year!

Silver Whistle said...

Looking forward to seeing this progress and the finished model at Salute. A nice touch with Keith at RMS giving his time and advice, excellent after sales service.

painterman said...

Thanks for the comments - bit concerned now that you're all looking to me for inspiration!
These are my first terrain tiles and I'm relying heavily on keith's guidance...somehow they've got to blend in OK with the ones he's done so skilfully.
We'll see how it goes.... :-)
Cheers
Simon.