The set up:
Flak crew just finishes "sprucing" up their whitewash on the gun and in a moment of mischievious fun look to the mascot for help (or camoflage him)....
The base is mdf. (Medium density fibre board) and is a very stable material for bases. It is heavy and does not suffer from wood movement. I score it or drill some holes for "tooth" and then apply the ground material. The ground is celluclay (70%)with plaster (30%)and white glue. Once the consistency of cookie dough or wet clay, I mix in my sand, dirt, rocks, pebbles etc. and start making mud pies. This can be spread out with the back of a spoon and it works well. It can be pushed, pulled and formed to make all sorts of features. It will "float" like cement and once it starts to set up, I put in things like more debris, grass (frayed cisal rope) logs, tree features, vehicle ruts etc. THe plaster speeds up this process and I found out that when you mix plaster in with it, silverfish don't think that you've made them an all you can eat buffet! Just don't clean stuff up in the sink as you'll need to blast to get the drain clear. This is then painted with acrylics and finshed up. Puddles are two part resins that are tinted to look like mud. They level out and make a nice wet look. Some of this is dripped into the ruts, low areas or foot prints where appropriate. Then the snow. Bakingsoda. A white glue water mix is made up and atomized and over the surface. Baking soda or talc is then sprinkled where I want it to sit. Figures and equipment are added and then the whole thing is left to sit for a week so I don't try to over work it.
MDF can be faux painted to look like any material from wood to metal and machines very cleanly with a router and other woodworking tools. (Dremels work fine) Just wear a dust mask because it can be an irratant. Its heavy so you can make some top heavy bases for figs and a/c and it will do a pretty good job of support. And it's cheap. The embankment is just a piece of mdf built up. a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" mdf is about $10. Thats alot of bases.
