Down in Dorset - part the first

An ongoing commission for this post (and a for a few to follow) of a complete terrain build for the Dorset coastline and surrounds including buildings etc.

Some of you might have seen this on the LAF but I'm putting it here as a more succinct record of the build.

My good friend Dobbie Nick asked me to make him a six by four board to be used for some Dorset smuggler gaming but with the proviso that it could be used for other genres so the decision was made to have all the building etc as removable items to allow for the change.

4x4 of boards, made up of 2x2, 50mm thick blue foam where to form the back of the board and a 4x2 section was to form the coast (more on which in the next post).

Below ypu can see the basics for the build, the tub is filled with a mix of wood glue, sand, textured masonry paint, wall filler and some brown paint. This was coated liberally over the boards with my hands; a messy process but worthwhile in the end.

The colours for Dorset were taken from images off the internet and also from another friend who happens to live about 20mins from the Jurassic coast (again, more on which later).

I bought a few pots of differing coloured browns and tans from my local art shop and started applying.

The flocking was a mix of four different types stuck on in separate batches. The idea was to give a random, but natural look to it but also to make it generic enough for our other periods that we play.

Water was also added to some depressions that I made in the foam with some scenic water.

The colours are difficult to make out but the effect was quite pleasing. The building will be covered in a later post.

The sunken road was to be contained on one board and therefore it was felt that it should go off one edge. It was carved in with an extendible craft knife and the sides were raised up with some of the scrap and blended in with some filler before being coated with the tub of goop.

It was given the same treatment for colour and flock the same as the flat boards but with the addition of some trees and bushes along the hedge line.

I think the addition of the water really adds to the whole thing.

In the next part I'll show the rock outcrop with the crypt and the church...

ttfn