Thursday 7 June 2012

"Das Rattenloch" – Part 3: ground cover


Another quick update on the (now-(correctly) renamed) “Das Rattenloch” terrain board.  I’ve added the ground covering this evening.  By comparison with the endless sticking of cardboard planking onto the trench sides in my last post, this stage was completed pretty fast.






A while back I’d dyed a collection of old towels dark green and dark brown to provide some “grass effect” ground cover on the Great War terrain boards.  I’ve mentioned before that I really like this way of simulating grass on terrain.  The towelling is incredibly tough once painted with PVA and gives (at least to my eye) a very passable imitation of grass.  Having the towelling dyed and painted in different colours allows you to mix and match to get a varied coverage on a trench board; some grass faded and worn (perhaps having been trampled or where a gas pocket had formed or lingered), but with some grass remaining healthier despite its location. 

I mixed up some more of the dark-brown paint/PVA/Polyfilla combination and spread this over the ground areas of the terrain board.  I’d pre-cut the towels to provide the grassy areas, and suck these down, liberally sprinkling the un-towelled areas with sand and gravel.
 
I did the same for the intact bunker insert, making sure that the edges of the insert (and the insert areas in the terrain board) were free from over-spill of the paint/PVA/Poyfilla combination.



All this took a couple of hours to model this evening and tends to take about 36 hours to dry out completely at this time of year (longer in winter).  While ground effects dry through, I can work on the interior and exterior of the intact bunker, and make more substantive progress on the destroyed bunker insert.

Hopefully, I’ll have a bit more to show over the weekend.  Catch you soon.

16 comments:

  1. That's looking really good Sidney. Nice trick with the old towels - I'd heard of people using old t-shirts as a protective layer o terrain boards, but using towels to give some texture makes sense.

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    1. Thanks Tamsin. Nice to see you here! I've not heard of the T-shirt trick...I'll have to try that one!

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    2. Thanks Tamsin. Great to welcome you here! I've not heard of the T-shirt trick, but I shall definitely look out for that one!

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  2. I have no further interest in WW1 but you've done some seriously good work there. I've seen many ideas adaptable to other periods as well, and I'm looking forward to your progress.
    A minor quibble though: In singular it's "das Rattenloch"/"der Rattenkeller", in plural "die Rattenlöcher"/"die Rattenkeller". If in doubt, omit the article. Just in case the Germans will signpost it – they are a hypercorrect bunch, I'm one of them. ;-)

    Cheers
    SG

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    1. Sire Godfrey - fantastic, thank you. My German is pretty bad....as you can tell. So it's fantastic to have you adding the grammatical details. Thanks so much - duly corrected in the post! I hope you like what's to come, even if you don't game in World War One. All the best!

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    2. You're welcome. Thus German pedantry can be somewhat useful at last. ;-)
      I enjoy following your blog quite a bit, it definitely gives me ideas. Hence, thanks for sharing them here.
      On a sidenote, after reading about your "cleanup" I tried the snippet feature on my own blog. Looks much tidier to me now, indeed. Again, thanks for the tip.

      Cheers
      SG

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  3. I'm a great fan of WIP shots as they break down, even the most ambitious project, into obtainable and reachable goals for us lesser mortals. Just with the addition of the ingenious dyed towels the piece is taking on much of your trademark quality. Looking forward to more!

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    1. Thanks Michael! I think people differ about whether they like WIP shots. I really do like them, as it gives me the chance to pick up new tips and techniques. Really pleased you're enjoying it so far. For those who don't like WIP shots, please advance forward to Part 6 :)

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  4. Looking ever better! I second SG... Take a look at my last comment on the part 2 post! ;-)

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    1. DHC - thank so much, and huge apologies for my inability to even be able to correctly transcribe what you mentioned in Part 2!!! DOH! Correction now made.

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  5. Really impressed with progress so far Sidney. I enjoy doing a bit of terrain work for a change and doing some WW1 trench systems is coming up soon. Great tips to be had here. Looking forward to part 4.

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    1. Thanks Rodger. Much appreciated. Part 4 should be arriving in the next couple of days

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  6. Excellent work once again Sidney and I am another who enjoys your WIP.

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    1. Thanks Pat, much appreciated. Hope you like what's rumbling down the track...:)

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  7. WOW!!!! I just found your blog today - WOW!!!

    Could you PLEASE contact me? I have so many questions about gaming WWI and you look to be the guy who can help. Last time attempted to game WWI was 30 years ago using AIRFIX minis.

    You can contact me at: correus at yahoo dot com

    I really look forward to hearing from you.

    Larry

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Larry. I've dropped you an email. Welcome to the world of Great War wargaming!

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