Thanks for the comments guys. I was tired and had other things I needed to do last night so I wasn't able to post a recipe at the time. Get ready this is going to sound like an add for
Woodland Scenics...
The first thing I did was to build the little foamcore platform. Originally I had intended for these to be used as a way to find a 'zero' elevation we could use to piece the real pieces together at. But for these samples it really was just a way of making the presentation look better. And because I'm anal about things like this I covered all the little foamcore seams on the outside with mat board, like I do for all of dioramas that involve foamcore edges. I hate the way the foam and the paper stand out against each other, so I always have to cover the edges.
Next I used a ready made grass mat from Woodland Scenics and cut it to size and with a spray adhesive I attached it to the base. I only purchased the small project sheet size, which was more than enough to cover my space, but was more expensive per square foot. I used the summer grass variety so that it was a little darker, and had some browns in there as if it was being seared by a hot summer sun. At this point i had a flat box with a flat grass mat on top.
I wanted to put a dirt road on the edge there, so I wet the mat where I wanted my road, and used a utility knife blade to scrape away all the grass. These mats are some of the coolest things I've seen.
Now I had a flat box with a flat mat on top that had one little strip of the grass missing. I saved all the grass I shaved off BTW, it will come in handy later.
Looking at the dio so far, it looked like nothing more than a box. Which to me is incredibly boring and were I a regular old person at C4 and I saw a completely flat roughly 50 square foot diorama I would immediately move on. Looking at anywhere around here on this planet it is hard to find anywhere that is COMPLETELY flat, with no little hills or valleys or mounds, especially in a wilderness area. Water erosion, the wind, plant roots, decaying plays etc simple don't allow it. So I decided I needed some sort of elevated area to break it all up a bit.
I got out some old newspaper and scotch tape and made a little disk shaped object out of the paper and covered in the tape so it would hold it's shape for me. I then cut a square of the Woodland Scenics grass mat, from the excess I had from earlier, so that there was plenty of overlap. I then used a hairdryer set on high, a heat gun would have been preferable but I don't have one, and blew the hot air onto the mat. I put an oven mitt on my hand so I wouldn't burn it in the hot air, and began to shape the mat to contour the paper. These mats are made out of vinyl so they can actually be heated reshaped and then when they cool they will retain their new shape, all without losing the grass on top. So I continued with the heat until it was formed so the edges lay fairly flat to the ground while the center sat on my paper.
Think ahead I wanted to be able to pose someone walking on the hill, or standing on it, and I figured it would be near impossible to stand a figure on it all alone. So I flipped my hill over took the paper piece out and cut a tiny little hole in the mat just big enough for the peg of an action figure stand. I then used on of the little white stands that came with the Early Bird Kit, and glued it so the peg was sticking through the whole. I then glued the newspaper in place just so I would have more support underneath when pushing the figure's foot onto the peg. I then used scissors and trimmed around the edges of the hill just so here were no sharp corners or an obvious pattern so I could cover the seams easier later on.
Because I didn't buy the Mat adhesive from Woodland Scenics, I had to find a different way to attach my hill to my dio box. I decided to use some Gorilla Glue. The stuff works great and is incredibly strong but you have to be careful not to put it too close to the edge or it will seep out and when it dries it is all yellow and bubbly. I had that happen it two spots, but it is easy enough to cut the excess off with a knife and then cover it later using a bush or a tree or something. It would just be preferable not to have that happen. Be sure to weight the area you are gluing too.
So now I had a flat little box, covered in grass with a little hill in the middle. Looking at the grass it looked far too plain again. Texture wise it looked like a golf course green with a darker color. Not at all the look you'd want or see in a wilderness area. So I decided it needed to be layered with a few toppings to add depth, texture, and something a little more interesting. So I sprayed the whole mat with Woodland Scenics' Scenic Cement in a spray bottle. I had a bag of Woodland Scenics fine turf, the soil variety. So I sprinkled the area with a light coat. Really in areas where I wanted erosion, so mainly around the hill i a few places and then where I was going to place my tree. I then sealed it with another coat of the Scenic Cement Then I used Woodland Scenic static grass, the wild honey color, and covered the area with it, not too thickly so it didn't completely cover my mat, but also thick enough to add some really color and depth. I avoided adding any where I was going to put my road.
At this point I had a nice grassy area but if you walk out into any grassy field around you'll notice there is more than just one type of grass and some bushes. There are always weeds and sometimes other grass types. So I added some Woodland Scenics coarse turf, the Yellow grass variety. Rather than spreading around the entire landscape I put in on in clusters so it was a little more sporadic and the lighter grass was still dominant. I spread it out around the base of the hill in distinct but random looking clusters and putt a little on the front hillside and on the top. I sealed it with that Scenic cement. And looking at it I thought it could use a little more color depth so added the scrapings I tool off my mat for the road. They had the same consistency as the coarse turf but worked well as a darker weed type. I then sealed that again with the Scenic Cement.
Now that the majority of the turf work was done I moved on to my road. I used Woodlands Scenics Ballast, the dark brown fine grade. I covered the area I had scraped for my road with it. At this point it was a very even road and had a straight edge along the turf area. I rolled over the road with a round glue bottle to even it out and make it have more of a packed, man-made look to it. I then wet it with water that had a small concentration of dish soap in it, so it would soak up the scenic cement better. Once it had absorbed most of the water I sealed it with the scenic cement. While it was still wet with the cement I used an action figure and pressed in footprints all along the road, they are hard to see in the pictures but they are there. I then lightly sprinkled the road with that fine soil turf to erode it some and sealed that. In the future I think I'd like to mix grades of Ballast for a better looking road but this works for now, since it is just a small area.
The road still had that fine sharp edge that dirt roads never have. So I used the ballast and the fine soil turf to erode the edges over the grassy area, so a little grass still poked through. I just sprinkled it on to get an uneven look, and then sealed it with the cement again.
At this point the grass portion was done enough that I could add my tree and some bushes. The bushes are lichen, Woodland Scenics brand natural color lichen no less, attached with Woodland Scenics Hob-e-Tac adhesive. This stuff is pretty cool. It starts out white and pasty, like plain old white Elmer's glue, after being exposed to air it will turn clear, but it doesn't dry so it stays nice and tacky. It works wonders for trees. Anyways, I attached several bushes with that.
My tree was fairly simple to make. I took a big wad of newspaper, taped it up with scotch tape in almost a cylindrical shape. This served as the core of my tree. I then used some galvanized steel wire and formed the trunk, the roots, and the branches out of it. I wrapped it around my news paper to start so I had something to go off of. I left the core in there to help it hold its shape and strengthen it some. The tree is modeled after some of the trees that were seen on Dantooine in KOTOR, since that is the type of landscape we are looking for. So it has got the thick trunk and then five big branches coming off the top. I believe two or three of those split at the end into two parts. Once I had a frame built I covered the outside with Instant Paper Mache. The stuff looks great but it is quite messy and at first doesn't adhere too well, I didn't have the sheets either so that didn't help. But after fussing with it for a bit I got it all covered. Being rather inpatient I stuck it in the oven at 170 degrees F for a few hours to speed up the drying process. Once it was completely dry I painted the whole tree country tan, let that dry. Then I gave the whole thing a black wash and let that dry. Then I went back and dry-brushed it with a flesh tone.
Once the paint was dry I applied that Hob-e-Tac to all of the branches at let it set for about 15 minutes until it started to get clear. I used Woodland Scenics light green Foliage clusters for the leaves. They come in cubes and are kind of sponge like. You just tear them into uneven pieces and press they into the Hob-e-Tac. And it should stick right away.
I then used some Gorilla Glue to glue the tree to the base. It was kind of tricky but I found a way to weight it down. Then once the glue was dries I blended the edges in with an additional bush and more turf/static grass.
Then I wanted some longer grass, and this was actually really easy. I used Woodland Scenics Field Grass, both the Natural Straw and Harvest gold varieties. What you do is just take a little pinch of it with a cluster of strands, hold them at uneven lenghts and snip one side with sciscors so it is all even. Dip that end into some Hob-e-Tac and then press it into the ground on the dio and hold it in place for 5 seconds or so and then let it go. It's that easy. The Hob-e-Tac will turn clear and the grass will look like it grows up through the mat.
Just as a finishing touch I wante dto add some color so I added some wild flowers. So I used some Woodland Scenics purple flower foliage, tore off a few pieces stuck them on and sealed them with scenic cement.
I'm going to contact Woodland Scenics and see if they might be interested in sponsoring us, and might be able to hook us up with the landscaping materials for free. They are a Model Railroad company and that is their primary market. But I really think we could convince them they have a sizeable cross market in action figure dioramas, and this would be a great chance for them to get that market's attention.
