When Hank Cowdog's daughter Kaitlin had to make or paint something from The Hobbit for a school project, the opportunity to invade dad's hobby space was too good to resist. Hank has making terrain for a while but although he lent a hand, Kaitlin did the design, and most of the painting, flocking, etc. on her own.
We started with three layers of pink foam, but decided that wasn't enough and ended up with five plus a little piece on top (six layers total). One thing we learned here is that since we cut the foam on a bevel (for the slope of the hill), it would have been much easier to start at the top and work down. If we had done that, we could have used each completed piece as a template for the narrow edge of the next piece down. As we worked upwards, we had to try to trace the smaller edge onto the next piece, which was more difficult.
Glue-up was next and toothpicks were used to skewer the various layers together while the glue dried. Kaitlin also wanted to detail the interior but I talked her out of it in the interest of time. Instead, we left the top layers held in place with toothpicks alone (no glue), so she has the option of removing the 'roof' and sculpting out the interior later. After gluing, the assembly was set aside to dry overnight, with a weight (a can of household paint), on top to hold the layers firmly together.
Before school the next day, Kaitlin sanded the sides with 60 grit sandpaper to soften the edges and make a better match between the layers. This was done outside because sanding foam is messy! She then painted it with brown household paint and smoothed the flat walls with spackle. This covered the lines from the foam layers. With hindsight, we probably should have spackled the hill all over, but we didn't think to do it at the time.
That evening, after school, Kaitlin painted the spackled walls (with cream paint this time) and began flocking the hill. The flocking was done in sections by spreading glue with a brush and sprinkling small amounts of a bright green flock before covering all of the glue with a foam flock. This gives some variation to the "grass" and makes for a better looking hill. Kaitlin finished off the flocking before leaving for school on the third day so it would be dry by the evening.
The project was due the next day and time was running short so I cut the door from balsa using an craft knife, and used a ballpoint pen to mark grooves in the wood to simulate planks prior to painting. The knocker in the centre of the door is a large straight pin, painted gold. I also painted some balsa strips with "flesh wash", to darken them up, in preparation for application to the model when Kaitlin got home.
Kaitlin had already cut out cardboard for the windows and after painting, these were added to the model using hot glue along with the door and timbers. Kaitlin also carved a chimney out of foam and used a "Sharpie" permanent marker to draw on the brick pattern. The marker actually dissolves the foam a little making a mortar line which makes painting easy. A couple pieces of wire secured it in place on the top and the garden areas were created using small pieces of plastic plants.