Mountain base project

I have been working on the mountain base project over the last few weeks but expect to accelerate with it now until it is finished. I mentioned it in my November summary but since then we have amended the design a little. The layout is still 4 ftx 4ft but we have created a better feel of an enclosed and protected base. The final drawing is now

The new bit is drawn in the darker pen.
The first piece of the project that was finished was the cable car-

The figure is just for scale

This was made from laser cutting the panels and building it as a kit. I just need to weather it and add some snow but that is for later. I thought I would use this car to size up everything else but in fact when I came to start I began work in the opposite corner and the redesigned area.
The structures are going to be a series of concrete bunkers and buildings. The winter base from the film Inception helped with the look of the place.

It took me ages working out the shape, size and other design issues- even with such a good drawing. In the end I built up the edges of the boards and then built in from that.

the rough shape starting to appear- this is the gatehouse.

Throughout the build I am using 5mm thick foam board. It is light, easy to cut and strong as long as you brace it well. I use PVA glue to stick it together and then pin the joins for a couple of hours at least.
I now had the basic shape sorted out and all I had to do was build on it and add a bit of details.

You can see how I build up the levels. Each one is about 5cm tall.
Once I had made the basic structures I added some bastions to give it some variety along with adding card on the flat wall surfaces to give it some interest and some ledges for the snow to rest on.

the build so far

the gatehouse taking shape

the added bastions

wider shot of gatehouse

from above- where the villains lair will be.

This half is now pretty much ready to have the texture added to make it look like concrete but I won't do that until the other half is completed to the same stage. I can then texture it all in one go and hopefully will keep the effect consistent throughout the layout.
Thats it for now. The next post should be the other half of the table up to this stage.

London Show and Figarti display

The London Toy Soldier show has been and gone. It was a weird one for me as we no longer have the figures to sell so I was selling off the last of them along with bits and pieces that I no longer needed. It meant the stand looked a bit like a market stall! It means the decks are now clear ready for a new look for the next show in March.
I didn't get as many photos as I had hoped but I did promise some shots of Figarti's snow layout with figures on so here they are-

You can't beat the effect good terrain and great looking figures give you.
I also took a couple of shots of a dio I did for Figarti a couple of years ago. It is still one of my favourites.

Mr Figarti UK himself in the background

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54mm ruined house

Here is another quick post. One of the November jobs was a 54mm scale European house that would go with First Legion's Napoleonic buildings.
It ended up being very ruined as I designed it to be able to get into all the rooms without taking off any roofs or floors.
The chimney stack is carved out of Daz pronto which give the bricks an old worn look. I paint the bricks and then wash over a coat of buff paint which gets into the mortar lines and once I rub it off it leaves uneven but effective looking mortar.
The tiles were put on individually and made out of plasticard. The wall paper on the ground floor is from a dolls house supplier. I find the splash of colour the wallpaper gives the insides is really eye catching.
The final size of the house is about 14" long, 8 or 9" wide and about 12" high to the tip of the chimney.

The front

Inside detail- lots of space to place figures

A good view of the chimney stack

The rear showing the 'extention'

Chimney stack from inside

54mm Snow scene for Figarti part 2

It is finished. I was able to add the snow to the boards on Monday and then patch it up and add a bit more on Tuesday which leaves the rest of the week to dry off.
I use alot of watered down PVA glue so it does need a good 48 hours to dry.
I photographed the boards outside and there wasn't enough room to place both boards together so I had to photograph them separately. The final shots from the show will have them together full of Figarti figures.
Here are the final results:

54mm snow scene for Figarti

The London Toy Soldier show is fast approaching and the 54mm snow scene is taking shape about as quickly as I had expected.
The display is a 4ft x 2ft diorama for Clive at grey Goose who is the European distributor for Figarti. The layout is designed to display their new winter vehicles- Tiger tanks and artillery and limber I think- Clive has the details I am sure.
If you read my November plans post then you will have seen the plan but just as a reminder here it is again-

I think the idea is to have the limbered artillery along the road and the tanks in the fields behind. The whole scene is to be snowy and wintry. I want to make the fields covered with fresh untouched snow except for the tracks of the tanks whereas the road will be churned up full of ice, snow and mud.
I began a couple of weeks ago with the base boards, cutting the ditch out of the polystyrene and adding a couple of small bumps in the fields that will look something like soft dunes when finished.
You can see from the plan that there is a ruined wooden house in the bottom right corner. I wanted it to have a stone chimney that stood up while all around was destruction so I started making that with a frame of foam board covered in Das Pronto clay and then carved to look like stone.

As soon as that was done I stuck it to the board for no better reason than I wanted to see it in place. I then added logs that I had roughly squared up. I ended up being a bit short of space so had to use the chimney as a house corner as you can see in the photo.Over the next couple of days I added the texture to the road by coating it with grout mixed with some builders caulk (I buy it is tubes from B and Q and I use it for all sorts of things- a very useful general purpose bit of kit). I then ran a plastic wheel along the road which left lots of tracks in it- a good base for a snowy, muddy road.
The rest of the board was covered in grout and the ditch had lots of rubbish thrown in it to give it texture. Once it was dry I could start painting and adding the wood work for the fences and bridges

basic undercoat of grey for stone and yellow ochre for wood

texture added to ground work and the start of the fences.

Although I was going to cover the whole thing in snow I still set about painting and finishing it as if I was going to leave it without snow. The only extra things I do is to highlight with a white dry brush over everything to help give the feeling of cold and frost as well as in places over exaggerate the texture so I can have stuff coming up through the snow. This sort of thing really works with the snow effect.
The paint job was just basic browns, washes and high lights. Once all that was dry I added the vegetation, again planning for it to show through the snow so using long grass and highly textured ground work.
The final effect, all ready for the snow storm has turned out OK-

You can see that I have added lots of wood in the ruined house as well as finishing off the fences. The vegetation is concentrated in front of the road and around the fencing with nothing on the roads, as they will all be mud, and the fields behind the roads as they want to be beautiful untouched snowy fields so having grass underneath would be a waste of flock.
You may also notice the heavy white dry brush on the fencing and roads. This doesn't look quite right in these photos but once the snow is on then it will just help the whole wintry effect.
There is just one week to go so the snow will go on on Monday and Tuesday leaving the rest of the week for it to dry. It needs that length of time because I really soak it with PVA glue to make sure it stays and I also mix some of the snow powder with PVA to make a thick white paste to put onto flat surfaces and I can make it droop over the side. I really like the effect it gives.
I am going to try a new product to me and that is the Deluxe shoveled snow that they say you can pile up and squash detail into it and it the detail stays (such as tank tracks) and I hope to be able to pile it up like cleared snow. We will see how it goes. Also, there is a shell hole in the road and I want to try to put a watery puddle in it with smashed ice around it. It should look good if it comes off.....
Anyway, that is it for this one. I will post more photos of the finished job and then photos of it on display at the show.
Talking about the show, if you are in London on the 3rd December then come along. It is a good day out if you are into your model soldiers. Details can be found here:
www.thetoysoldiershow.com
I am sure I met a lardie last December (it was you wasn't it Thomas?)