 |
Like Nigel Budd, Robert Spears has found an effective use for the pressed cardboard trays that many electrical items are now packaged in. |
Materials
Method
I ran across an interesting piece of pressed cardboard at work and
decided to try to make something from it.
 |
The raw material for the hill - packaging from a laser cartridge. I liked the texture and hollows on the surface. I also liked the way the general shape of the piece resembles a man lying down. The piece is also very light, yet relatively strong, both good features for a piece of wargame terrain. |
I considered putting two of these side by side with a gap between them to represent a pass between two rocky hills (may still do it) but opted for something smaller.
| I had recently picked up a couple of nice Confrontation © doors from a bargain bin in a game store and noticed how well a door fit into one of the hollows on the hill. I C-clamped the door to the hill after hot gluing it in place. |  |
I had to shape the hollow a little to fit the door. I also applied
bits of plastic as lintel stone. The plastic came from some small
left-over pieces from a cabinet I assembled for my garage. Those are
1" squares on the cutting mat.
 |
Next I attached the hill to the MDF base. I then spackled around the edge to seal gaps between the base and hill.
|
| I let the spackle dry completely and primed the piece black. I had to go back over it with watered down poster paint to fill in all of the crevices where white was still showing through the spray primer. |  |
Finishing
 |
I textured the base with sand (Woodland Scenic Fine Ballast) and a mixture of Woodland Scenic Blended turf and debris from my bag of Floral Moss. The two pine trees came from a XMAS Village set I picked up on deep discount after last Christmas. |
I soaked them in pine-sol to remove the fake snow and then soaked them in a black wash to tone down the green. The shrub is a piece of floral moss I hot glued to the base.
I drybrushed the hill form, lintel pieces, and stones
doorframe with 3 successively lighter shades of gray acrylic paint.
The hardware on the door was drybrushed "princely pewter"
over black. The door itself was painted a chocolate brown and then
given a black wash. When the paint was dry I coated everything with a
matte varnish to strengthen and protect the item.
Updated June 2004