Ola everyone

Well it's been some time since I've been here. For the last four weeks I've been working in the UK and had to put my hobby away. Fortunatelly I did buy some useful materials there and even got me a brand new airbrush, but that's a whole different story.

This is one of my last posts before the tower gets painted. I still have to buy some dry pastels to create moss, some fixative to hold them in place, an air compressor and other different things but basically the last thing left is the base.
I've been thinking about it today and decided to put my tower on a hill, not very steep, something a bit like this:



To see how my tower would look like in the end I build a quick mockup model using an old newspaper:





And this is what I would like to achieve. So my question for you is: what would you suggest to use for the ground? I though of using some foamed polystyrene to create the hill and than cover it with something, but still not sure what to use. Papermache? Wall filler? what do you normally use to recreate ground surface? Maybe some plaster sprinkled on wet paper?
I also want to add a lot of long grass, to actually make my tower a lot like the one on the picture above and on the picture below:



Have you got any tips for fixing the grass in place, so that it looks real? I heard Heki makes some good long grass, so I guess I'm gonna go with that, I will also search Armorama for features about using it.

I added a small crosslike wooden bit to the inner roof construction to make it more "stabile", just two triangle wooden pieces glued together and tied with some rope, here's a picture:



Does it look realistic? To me it looks better because it hides the wierd 8 beam joint beneath. Plus the rope is a nice detail.

So if you could give me some tips on the ground texturing and ground covering it would be great. Thanks a lot in advance.

Cheers,
dsc.

PS. it's good to be back here:)

Looks excellent, i reallly like the string you wrapped around the beams, you have really been work hard on this for a while now. great work

Nice tower - it's has come a long way.
For the ground I would use some type of styrofoam/packing material as a base. Its firm and can support the weight of the tower. Then you can cover it with paper mache (PM) or wall filler (WF) or a bit of both. The PM will fill in gaps faster and easier. The WF will be easier to texture and paint. You can do a layer of PM then WF or just go WF.
You can add sand to the WF to give it texture. I would add a bit of paint to the WF and stir it in before you apply it to the base. If you are going to drill holes or sand then the pigment will be all the way through and white wont show through if you drill it.

Beautiful work Tom, whatever you use [ Plasterof Paris etc. ] make sure you have wire like mesh on top of the paper form. Then coat with your ground base stuff.
I would like to see you tackle the round tower next l.o.l.
The rope is a nice touch how about a bell for it ?
All in all excellent job.
Cheyenne

Ola

Thanks a lot for the input.

I searched the web today and this is what I found:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/885

This is Kevin's feature about Heki's Long Grass which is great because it has an almost invisible net connecting it, so it's really easy to use.
I would probably go for the light beige color, which looks like this:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a320/dsc2/almost%20done/0a_1_b.jpg

Very similar to the grass visible on those pictures I posted somewhere above.

As for the ground I will probably use some wall filler or maybe some gluing plaster, which is normaly used for gluing down floor tiles. And probably some paper mache to create some surface for the filler/plaster to stick to. A will also sprinkle some soil or maybe add it to the mix, to make the surface more realistic. Also some small rocks and maybe a few bigger ones will have to be used to add detail. The core of the hill is going to be made from Styrodur.

Do you think I should add anything more, besides ground surface, rocks and grass? I was thinking about some flowers, but I want to achieve a rather cold and wild look, so I guess it's a no go. Do you know any other plants that would go well with long grass?

Cheers,
dsc.

Ola everyone

Sorry to respond to my own post, but I have an update and wanted to share. I hope it's ok:)

I'm currently in the middle of my base work and below I attached some photos which might be of some help to anyone who needs a base. So here we go:

1. I used some Styrodur (foam like material) and cut out the shape of the hill. I did two layers to add hight. I worked with small pieces (cause I didn't have a bigger piece) and connected them with toothpicks. I cut the Styrodur with an ordinary kitchen knife. Be sure it's big and sharp enough to use and watch your fingers when cutting, cause it's easy to hurt yourself. Also remember to protect the surface on which you are cutting.

2. I added a lot of toothpicks on the surface of the top layer to give the plaster something to hold to. I cut them down to the appropriate height:



3. I also covered the whole top surface with some meshlike material, which looks like this:



and here used on the top layer:



Basically it's a mesh tape, which has some glue on the back side, so it sticks to most surfaces (the bond is not great but it will do for this base). I also made sure it doesn't come off easily by nailing it down with some staples.

4. I used some PVA cover newspaper to create the surface of the hill. You can use a lot of it cause it's light and easy to work with. To create a slope use small balls created from newspaper, cover them in pva glue and stick them to the surface of the hill. This will add height with weight. After that cover the whole surface of the hill with a big piece of PVA soaked newspaper. (I used a mix of PVA and water, 1-1 ratio).

5. Now it's time to bring on the plaster. I'm using ordinary plaster which is used to cover up holes and stuff. Use a spatula to apply the plaster and create the shape you want. Here's my whole hill covered with plaster:



On this picture you can also see a plastic "belt" around the hill. This is to ensure that the outside walls are perpedicular to the surface of the base. It's also easier to apply plaster if you have some borders.
It will be actually used as a cover to hide the Styrodur layers joint and make the whole base more attractive. I will probably paint it black at the end.

So basically that's it. It's really easy to make and is a lot of fun. The base is drying now (and it probably will for the next 2 days) and after that I will apply the last surface with texture and everything. I did a small test piece to check out a technique I thought of and here's how it looks like:





I also glued that crosslike wooden top piece down:



It's all really getting close to the finish:)

Take care,
dsc.

Hi Tom,

I thought that I would take a peek and have to admit that it is an amazing piece of work that has developed, I wish that my imagination could come up with such a great outcome.

I look forward to seeing the work that you do with your new airbrush when you start to bring it all to life by adding the colour and other things to the masonary.

John