Groundwork Class with Anthony Reeves

[TREEMENDUS]

Re:Groundwork Class with Anthony Reeves - update

Now is the time to start detailing the terrain we have already laid down. The first thing I have done is to give the wooden beams some heavy graining to give the immpression of old weathered timbers. For this I use 6 or so very sharp blades held side by side and drag them along the surface of the wood. You can do this before gluing them down but in this case I have fixed them first then added the grain. Apply enough pressure so as to give nice deep cuts. When you are happy you have enough grain brush all the loose bits off, A firm tooth brush is ideal for this.

I have given all the timbers an undercoat of a tan coloured aerosol. These will be detailed at a later stage.

A small area of the base has been cut away here to allow for a "cornerstone" to be dropped in place. By cutting the area out (rather than just sticking to the surface) the stone will appear to be embedded in the ground and adds more realism to the overall appearance.

Cornerstone added - the gap will be filled in with various materials as we progress.

Now for the [strike]messy[/strike] best bit! cover the whole surface of your base with with a 50/50 mix of water and PVA glue. Try not to get any on the timbers but try to get it right up to them as this will help the impression of them being stuck firmly in the ground. When the whole surface is covered take the Earth powder and liberally sprinkle it all over the glue, 6" is a good height to sprinkle from. Brush any that gets on the timbers off with a firm bristled brush.

Give the whole base a really good soaking with hairspray so it becomes really wet and apply some of the Forest Floor material. This will add some colour and texture, Then give another light sprinkle of Earth Powder.

Note how the timbers become part of the woodland floor. Remember we will be adding moss to these soon.

Whilst everything is still wet add some Scree to the surface and push it into the glue. You can add as much as you like but sometimes just a little amount works better than too much.

The above step should take no longer than a couple of hours and is best done in one go. Remember there is no exact science to this and you may choose to add twigs branches etc at this stage too.

If i'm not being clear enough with my text let me know and i'll try to be a bit more concise.


Cheers

Ant

 

[Tankbuilder]

Hi there.

Do you spray the hairspray over *WET* PVA glue/water mixture?

Thanks and cheers from Peter

 

[TREEMENDUS]

Hi Peter

Yes I do, it tends to all meld together to give a very strong surface.

When we start to make the foliage for this dio we will do it the other way round - initially use the hairspray to hold the "leaves" in place and then eventually spray the whole dio with scenic glue so as to hold everything together.

Thanks for looking in

Ant

 

[moon puppy]

This looks like the fun part, not sure I understand the purpose of the hairspray while the glue is still wet.

 

[TREEMENDUS]

I find hairspray works well because it can be applied as a mist so doesn't disturb the layer of Earth below. The wetness of the hairspray seems to draw up some of the glue from below thus holding the Forest Floor scatter in place. This way there is no need to push the scatter into the glue. I use it all the time.

One thing to add to yesterdays post is that when "sprinkling" the Earth Powder onto the glue I take a large pinch of it between my thumb and forefingers and apply it like you might do with salt when your cooking! You will use a lot less than you might think.

 

[moon puppy]

Got ya. Gonna make a mess this weekend ! Woo Hoo!

 

[Tankbuilder]

TREEMENDUS wrote:

I find hairspray works well because it can be applied as a mist so doesn't disturb the layer of Earth below. The wetness of the hairspray seems to draw up some of the glue from below thus holding the Forest Floor scatter in place. This way there is no need to push the scatter into the glue. I use it all the time.

One thing to add to yesterdays post is that when "sprinkling" the Earth Powder onto the glue I take a large pinch of it between my thumb and forefingers and apply it like you might do with salt when your cooking! You will use a lot less than you might think.

Hi there.

I too was wondering why use hairspray. Thanks for clearing that up. Now I'll have another problem because I *DON'T* use salt in my cooking. VBG LOL

I really do appreciate you (and others) sharing their techniques.

Cheers from Peter

 

[TREEMENDUS]

You're welcome Peter.

The next step will be to add another layer to the forest floor, Leaves, twigs etc. More to follow soon.

 

[TREEMENDUS]

The next step for our groundwork is to add the next layer, this being all the other bits and pieces that collect on the floor. I will try to achieve a result that resembles all the decomposing matter underneath the growing weeds, plants etc, the greenery will be added at a later stage.

To get a pretty good match to the photo I will be using very finely chopped rubberised horsehair (it is actually fiber off a coconut shell), crushed dried leaves, TREEMENDUS Forest Floor scatter and TREEMENDUS Natural Leaves.

Cut the tip off the glue lid and dribble the glue over the dry surface of the previous step. Use a paint brush to help you spread it all over.

Next sprinkle the crushed leaves (or dried herbs work well) horsehair and finally the leaves - I also sprinkled some more Earth Powder on randomly . Add more dribbles of glue if required and add a few more Natural Leaves to the surface. Spray well with hairspray. Everything is still very wet on the photos below.

When mine had dried I decided to give the whole base a very light spray with a light tan aerosol just to tone it all down slightly to match the photos more.

The prototype -

Where we will be once the above steps are complete -

//

I have also added some detailing to the fallen trees' rootball, For this I have added some Scree, Earth Powder and roots (from the Forest Floor scatter)

Once you have nailed this stage we can move on and add some greenery to the scene. Be sure to save a few Natural Leaves for detailing later.

Ant

 

[moon puppy]

Right, couple of Honeydoos to do and I'll make my feeble attempt. Amazing how quickly you transformed your base into a forest floor.

 

[TREEMENDUS]

Honeydoos? - honey do this honey do that?? LOL

The above step should take you a hour or so, if it takes longer then no sweat. Relax and remember it is a random, natural thing we are making here so use artistic license and scatter the materials how and where you want. Use plenty of glue and hairspray. When it dries 99% should be stuck fast.

 

[moon puppy]

OK, let's see if I follow right.

Not necessarily in this order but close
Earth powder
Forest Floor
light Earth powder
Scree
Hairspray
Dry

Glue
Crushed leaves
Horsehair
Natural leaves
Hairspray
light dusting of tan/buff color. I'll airbrush this as I don't have rattlecan paint.

we may also add any of the above materials as we see a need but not required. Random is the key. OK off we go!

 

[TREEMENDUS]

That's it!

 

[tomwes]

Ok. This is what I have gotten done so far:

I still have to add the ground clutter, small twigs, etc.


Tom

 

[moon puppy]

I"m still cutting wood for the beams. looks good Tom.

 

[moon puppy]

I went to the original photos and cropped in at full resolution the floor of the area

Just for reference.

Now, I went to the Megalomart to find some poster paint, no dice. I did find this.

More later.

And here we go...

The wood is basewood. From a sheet I was using to solder against. It had gotten pretty burned up so I retired it. Then I thought it would be good to cut it up and make use of it here. the scorch marks may add some character to the pieces. I used the water colors from above to paint the pieces, burnt umber, yellow ochre, not well mixed but blended in some. I used a large devider to score the wood. sharp point but it widens out quickly making deep wide score marks.

I hope the stones don't get washed out too badly, I may need to lighten them up some but we'll see when this stuff dries. Oh, notice the bucket in the bottom right corner, that was the failed bucket from the Halftrack. Figured it looked beat up enough to be a relic lost in the woods.

Detail around the timber and corner stone. Note the scorch marks on the wood and the splintering.

Ant, one problem I ran into was identifying what bag was what. Earth Powder is pretty obvious. I used the colors to try and discern the other contents, the finer stuff went down first, then the more course stuff. May I suggest labeling your bags, or maybe you have them on your website where I can check them out to know for sure what we're talking about.

I mixed some glue with some of the colors from the watercolor set and used this to clean up some of the overspill. If that does not make sense, I made a slury of material, color and glue and then poured it on the over all build up. I moved it around and bunched up around the timbers and stones.

I can't wait to see what this looks like when dried!

 

[TREEMENDUS]

tomwes wrote:

Ok. This is what I have gotten done so far:

I still have to add the ground clutter, small twigs, etc.


Tom

That looks great Tom, just how it should.

 

[TREEMENDUS]

Bob

The paints you got will be fine for colouring the grass. Water them down slightly - 50/50 water/paint. Dab it over the whole area of fabric and then rub it all in to blend it all together. I'd mainly use the 5th one from the right (Sap Green?)and add tiny dabs of yellow, brown etc to give some variation. I like the bucket you have added, it reminds us that this was once a dwelling.

Sorry if I have confused you with the contents of the Scenic Kit. The Rubberised Horsehair is an extra and not available in the kit. It is used by upholsterers for stuffing furniture but is actually coconut fiber not horsehair any more. This adds texture to the forest floor, you can substitute it for something similar - If you take some of the "Canopy" from the kit and spray paint it a suitable colour (this also thickens it up a bit)and let it dry this can be then chopped up and used in a similar way. Or go and buy a coconut and trim away. This represents all the very fine twigs that accumulate on the floor. You can also use the roots that I sent you both, just trim them up and scatter them instead but you may want to keep them to one side and use them as little saplings later. In actual fact any fine roots will do, see if you have anything suitable in your local area garden/woods etc.

Ant

 

[TREEMENDUS]

OK ready for the next step?

Today I made some time to add some tufts and grasses to the woodland floor. When all the glue has dried out I will probably thin out the grass a little more.

Once your Raw Grass has dried out comb it so all the fibers seperate so it looks, apart from the colour, like it did before you coloured it. Keep the fibers that get stuck in the comb to one side - we will use these to make the moss on the wooden beams

It is probably best to do the tufts first. This way you can get a feel for how much or little you need to trim off. Try not to take too much off for the tufts, just little trimmings will do. Compare the size/bulk of this to one of the leaves on the floor. To create these tufts simply hold the tip of the fibers in one hand and trim with a pair of scissors to the height you require with the other hand. This gives you a nice flat underside. Dip the flat end in your glue and position on your base. Keep your fingers free from glue or else the fibers will stick to you instead of the base.

Next we tackle the grass in much the same way as we did the tufts. This time we can cut more off and fill larger areas in one go. I am going to cover most of the rear of my base with long grasses of various shades.

Cover a small area at a time with the glue.

and add the tufts as you go

It is useful to have a piece of wire or cocktail stick to hand to help you stand the grasses upright and also to push the fibers right into the glue.

The grass is now in place and will be further refined when it has all dried. I have already given it a light trim and a very light spray of tan aerosol to tone it down a little.

 

[TREEMENDUS]

Whilst I had all the materials on the bench it seemed like a good time to add the moss that grows on the wooden beams - This is a fairly east step

Take the "fuzz" that gathers in the comb when you comb the Raw Grass. Trim it with scissors into tiny fibers, almost making a dust with it.

Paint glue onto the tops of the wooden beams.

Onto the glue carefully place the fuzz you have previously chopped, Use a cocktail stick to help you position it. Also make sure it comes into contact with the glue. When in position give it a blast of hairspray. You may also want to add some moss to the stones on your base.

So this is where I will leave it for now. There is still lots to do in the way of refinement but that will mostly wait until all the other forest growth has been added. Then there's the trees and of course the stonework.

If there is anything I've not explained properly let me know.

Thanks

Ant