A Change of Scenery

 Scenery Board Mark 2

Finished board with sunset sky

Over Christmas, I decided my photographic scenery board needed an upgrade. I wanted where possible to use stuff I already had instead of buying a load of extra stuff (leaving more money for figures!). And I just about had enough pink polystyrene when I chopped it in half. Also found a suitable bit of board lying around in the garage.  I wanted a raised area  at the back to give a couple of levels and to hide the horizon. 

The board chopped and glued. 

First mistake was to use PVA glue to stick the polystyrene to the base board instead of hot melt glue. The PVA glue took over a week to dry even when left in the office and there was still  little bit of glue was still leaking out two weeks later. Rather than have a couple of small hills, I chose to made a cliff face instead to break the horizon. Using broken up corks from wine bottles. Funny we had enough of them left over after Christmas. 

When selecting corks make sure they are made from solid pieces of cork and are not made of little bits of cork glued together. I cut foam back so that cork could sit under the front of the cliff face giving an overhang. I remembered to use the hot melt glue this time.  

After a bit of vigorous filing with a coarse file, the basic shape was formed. Pound shop filler was applied to blend in the over hang for the cliffs and reinforce some of the features. I did think about adding a water feature but this board is smaller than my original board even with the cliff. So I decided against it in order to have enough room for larger groups or battle scenes. 

Time for filler and sanding

After this it was time for lots of coarse sand and PVA (Sorry no photo for this step) and then was painted with a large (cheap) tube of burnt umber from the local hobby shop. Followed by dry brushing in light browns, greys and a bit of green. Finally dark green scenic scatter, grass clumps and small pieces of dyed sponge. 

Finished board with early evening sky

I have ordered a second bag of different coloured flock as the grass needs a bit more mixing up and I will get a couple of dead model trees to help break up the skyline. The statue isn't fixed so I can swap it, I have seen a gibbet which would make a good alternate. I now need to work out how to light and photograph this new board. But overall I think it makes a nice improvement on the mark one board. Now back to the dwarves... 

Trusty mark one board. 

Rob