More Tiny Terrain

 You have probably noticed a delay in fighting the next Dark Ages campaign battle.  That is due to my wanting to create a better terrain piece for the boggy ground which is going to be used in that battle.  I made an initial version a few weeks ago but wasn't at all happy with the design or the execution, to be blunt, it looked pants!  I did like a couple of things and I learned some useful lessons.  The key lesson being that Woodlands Scenics' Realistic Water shrinks as it sets and can warp the terrain base if a large area of water is being modelled, even with thin pours.  I did learn that it is worth taking time to paint the area under the water to show deepening water through darkening colours though.

This time I changed the design.  I decided that using several small areas of water on a felt former would be easier to model and less prone to problems.  It cuts down the chance of warpage and gives flexibility as the water elements can be used on different felt outlines for different shape/sizes of boggy ground.  

I used some heavy card salvaged from some packaging for the base layer of the pools, I painted the under side with a cheap craft acrylic to help stop warping. I then edged each pool shape with my normal PVA and sand mix which was left to dry for a couple of hours until hard. I followed that with a dry brush over the sand in an orange tawny colour to represent the sedges and reeds fringing the open water and gave a final dry brush of olive green for the areas of new growth.  Once that had dried I worked on the pool floor areas which were painted chocolate brown, then a darker brown then black in concentric rings from the edge towards the centre to give the look of deepening water.  This looks a bit stark at this stage but pouring the water effect compound in the final stage softens the impact.  A word of advice here DO NOT shake up the realistic water as it creates bubbles which are next to impossible to remove from the pour. 

I pour some of the realistic water into a container and add some blue acrylic ink to tint the clear fluid and gently mix it with a bamboo skewer (an old a brush handle would do just as well) the secret is to be slow with the stirring action as speed creates those pesky bubbles. You can use quite a deep tint as you are only going to use a thin layer of the water effect (although I went a bit OTT in this case).  That said where I grew up boggy water was always stained with peat so it needs to be dark.

The mark two bog!

The problem with the Realistic Water is avoiding bubbles and getting a smooth final finish right up to the edge of the pour area.  I used a small measuring syringe we get with liquid medicine for our dogs (not the sort with a needle) if you don't have dogs then they can be found online I'm sure.  I suck up a few mils of the tinted water effect in the syringe and place a few drops onto the bases and gently tease it out with the skewer point.  If you get any bubbles the syringe can be used to suck them back up which is a bonus. By using the skewer it ensures that the fluid flows right up to the edges and adding more drops of the 'water' once that is done gives the depth as it flows across the are already covered.  If there ant areas not covered just add a drop to that place.

Now comes the hard part! Put the terrain aside and wait 48 hours for the water effect to completely dry.  A good trick is to do a test piece you can check for drying so you don't ruin a piece you have spend time on...don't ask how I learned this it was a painful experience, but touching tacky water effect leaves marks that are impossible to smooth out or cover over!  

Looking at the photo I can see a couple of places where some touching up is needed along the edges of the water features and a couple of tufts of longer grass might add to the effect.   I may add a layer of clear to the water to mask the slight ridges in the card which are showing through too but overall I'm fairly happy with the look.