LORD OF THE RINGS MODELING ARTICLES.

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Rocky Outcrop Terrain.

Materials and components used.

MDF baseboard 10" x 10" x 9mm.                 GW Static Grass.                    GW Sand.

Pieces of 1" Expanded Polystyrene sheet.    PVA adhesive.                       Interior Fine Surface Filler.

Two Part Epoxy Glue.                                   Lichen.                                  Selection of pebbles, (round and flat).

Purity Seal varnish.  

Other item's you will need.

Mixing bowl for the Fine Surface Filler.  Jug or bowl of water.  Spoon or Spatula, (to mix the Filler).  

Knife or Spatula, (to spread the Filler).   Sharp craft knife, Stanley Knife or similar to cut the Polystyrene sheet.  

Small piece of sponge, (the bit you get in the GW Blister Packs is ideal).

                                  Paints used.                                   

Codex Grey.       Fortress Grey.       Jade Green.       Skull White.       Bleached Bone.       Chaos Black.

Introduction and notes... 

I wanted to create a terrain piece that featured rocks or stones. So I decided on an outcropping of rocks as the piece of scenery that I would go for. I liked the look of the rocky terrain seen in the Fellowship of the Ring, when the companions rest on their journey south after leaving Rivendell.  So my rocky terrain scenery project is very loosely based on the scenery that is seen in the film.

I used 9mm MDF as my baseboard, mainly because this will fit in with the other terrain and ruined buildings that I have built recently.  You may use whatever you like as your baseboard, but remember that if you use thin card, foam card or similar, that it might suffer from warping.  It is worth bearing this in mind when choosing the material for your base.

I have used 1" Expanded Polystyrene sheet on this project, however, provided that it is not too thick, any Polystyrene sheet or packaging will suffice for the project.

I used a non branded Fine Surface Filler to texture the whole base, Poly Filla or any other similar brand is identical to the product that I used.  I used the unbranded Filler simply to save on cost, as it is less than half the price of the branded version.  For overseas readers of this article, Fine Surface Filler is used to fill cracks in walls etc prior to painting or wall papering, and should be easy and relatively inexpensive to obtain.

You will also need a selection of pebbles, about 50 or so should do.  Use flat pebbles as well as round ones to vary the effect of the stones, please see the accompanying pictures for reference.  I raided my next door neighbors driveway, (with his permission I will point out), as he had just the type of pebbles that I was look for.  You can purchase similar stones from Garden Centres and Aquatic Centres if you are having trouble finding any laying around.

On to the construction...

Stage 1...

Take your baseboard and a piece of 1" Polystyrene, the piece of Polystyrene you use needs to be smaller than your base board to allow you to build up levels and make the ground uneven.  Glue this into place using your PVA.  Please refer to picture 1.

Now cut the sides of your large Polystyrene piece with your craft knife etc, so that they slope and are not square, (I cut mine at a 45 degree angle), you can use the off cuts from this to build up around the sides, and glue these pieces into place using the PVA.   

Using small cut or broken pieces of Polystyrene, build up an uneven tumble around the edges and to the front of the base, and glue these pieces into position using the PVA.  Leave the whole lot to dry for about 24 hours.

Click to enlarge

Stage 2...

Mix the Fine Surface Filler into a smooth creamy paste, (if the mix is too thin add more powder, if it is too thick add a little more water), you need to have the filler mix fairly stiff though.  Apply the filler all over the base, do not apply too much in one go, and make sure that you can still see the ridges and uneven area's under the filler.  See picture 2.  It is better to mix up only a small amount of filler at a time, and mix up more as you need it, rather than mix up a large quantity and then have to throw it away.

Fine Surface Filler takes longer to dry than Plaster Mould or Plaster Of Paris, and this is important, you need the mix to stay wet longer, so that you are able to texture the surface of the filler and add the pebbles and stones.  You will not be able to do this if the material you use dries too quickly.

Note... The filler should stay workable for about two hours or so, obviously the thicker the mix, the quicker the mix will dry and vice versa.  I mixed my filler quite thick so that I could work on next step more quickly, if you leave the filler for too long it will start to dry out and you will not be able to work with it.

Now taking the piece of small sponge, dip it into the water and squeeze out all of the excess water, the sponge should be only damp and not wet.  Now lightly dab or stipple the entire area of the filler on the base, if the sponge starts to clog up with filler, rinse it in the water and squeeze it out again.  You should see the filler taking on a very lightly textured appearance, if the filler starts to lift up with your sponge, the sponge is too dry or you have too much excess filler on it, and you need to moisten it more.  For reference please see picture 2.

Click to enlarge

Stage 3...

While the filler mix is still wet, you now need to add all of your pebbles and stones, arrange them as you please, but a pile of tumbled stones will look better than just the odd stone scattered about the base.  Push the pebbles into the filler, you will not need to glue them at all, the filler will hold them quite firmly when it is dry.  The filler should be dry enough to paint within 4 - 5 hours or so.  

I laid some flat pebbles across some of the larger stones to add to the overall jumble of rock, (see pictures 4, 5, 6 &7).  You will need to glue any pebbles that you lay like this with Two Part Epoxy glue.

Click to enlarge

Stage 4...

The next step is to undercoat all of the terrain base with a Mid Grey undercoat mix.  I mixed enough paint for the job in an empty jar, (I always keep the old paint jars and do not throw them away, just for this purpose), Codex Grey and Chaos Black at a mix of 85% to 15% was mixed in the jar and applied to all of the base.

You will need to paint on two coats of the undercoat, as the first coat dries you will probably see small pinpricks of filler appear where the paint has not filled tiny holes in the surface, this is quite normal, the second coat will fill all of these area's. 

Click to enlarge

Stage 5...

When the undercoat is dry, it is now time to dry brush all of the stone area's. I added some Fortress Grey into the Grey undercoat mix, (exactly how much you add at this point is entirely up to you, but do not put too much Fortress Grey into the mix as you do not want to lighten the colour too much at this point), and dry brushed all of the terrain.

Add a little more Fortress Grey, and a small amount of white into the mix, and dry brush all of the terrain again.  Now add a small amount of Bleached Bone and a tiny amount of Jade Green into your mix, dry brush all of the terrain again.  Add a little more Bleached Bone and a small amount of Skull White into the mix and dry brush again.  

Now mix up a small amount of Jade Green/Golden Yellow approx 65%/35%, and add this to some of your Light Grey mix.  Lightly stipple this mix over and around the bases of the stones and into any cracks and crevices, (you can dry brush instead of stippling, but stippling works better in this instance).  This will represent weathering and discoloration of the stones, and it will also give the terrain an extra dimension and depth.

Finally mix 80% Skull White into your light Grey mix, and very very lightly dry brush all of the stone area's again.

Click to enlarge

Stage 6..

Add the GW Sand to the area that you want to cover.  Brush on PVA adhesive and scatter the sand over this.  I went for the foreground and a narrowing pathway up between the boulders, and a little area down each side

Now apply the GW Static Grass, again apply PVA adhesive to the area's that you wish to have grassed.  I applied grass around and in-between the boulders and along the border with the sand, blending the grass into the sand, so that there were no sharp edges visible.

Glue clumps of Lichen into the cracks and crevices and between some of the rocks with the PVA to finish the effect.

Click to enlarge

When everything is completely dry, give the whole model a coat of Purity Seal varnish.

Click to enlarge

And there you have it, one rocky terrain piece for use in your LOTR tabletop battles.  The cost of the project came to about £10.00 (US$16.00), for the component parts and all materials used. 

I hope you have enjoyed this terrain building article and it inspires you to build similar scenery.