How to make large wargaming display hills

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In this tutorial, we look at making large display hills for when you want to go large with your terrain!
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[@michaelg.1786]

Nice work! Using the wire brush to smooth out the sides of poly styrene is new to me. Excellent tip!

[@SebastianMineur]

Wow, this looks bloody awesome! I do hope you'll show the rest of the process on this thing. You're the man!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Sebastian Mineur That's the plan matey :-)

[@minipop1138]

Seriously been spending weeks looking for how to do this! Thank you for this!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

no worries ;-)

[@richardthomas8415]

Wow!!..that IS a hill, brilliant stuff as always Mel

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Richard Thomas Cheers matey

[@joshuagundamu]

im watching this as research for my giant robot stopmotion animation set building. :) much thanks!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

***** That sounds awesome!

[@jamesevans886]

Great part 1 Mel, looking forward to your next installment. Between the layer stage and the wire brush (love the wire brush) I use a single edge scalloped blade (old school) bread knife to shape it down. It is faster than just the wire brush and less toxic white dust. Before I lay down the plaster bandage I imbed irregular 3mm MDF shapes where I will later place any trees. Lord of the Ring wargamers like using this sort of hill and larger especially if they play goblins but storage is an issue with them.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

James Evans I like the mess mate :-)

[@elspoko]

Plaster cloth...fucking brilliant. I'm always amazed at the great tricks you have and give away freely. Thanks again!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Spock It's all about sharing the knowledge matey :-)

[@jjab99]

Nice one Mel, this was really great.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

jjab99 Cheers bud :-)

[@Pedro116092]

outstanding as usual looking forward to the next vid

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Cheers bud

[@SgtOddballz]

Excellent video can't wait to see the next one :)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Sgt Oddballz Me neither ;-D

[@IDICBeer]

Awesome stuff Mel that's great

[@TheTerrainTutor]

***** Cheers bud :-)

[@RxPxD]

Yay another vid by the best terrain guy :)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

RxPxD Cheers matey

[@cruorangelussilicis]

Great stuff!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

cruorangelussilicis Thanks matey

[@josedanielm.l.8575]

Hola GRACIAS por el vídeo Muy interesante un saludo

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Jose Daniel M.L. Gracias! :-D

[@Paradox0nBlogspot]

Very cool. I am curious how this turns out when painted, flocked and planted.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Paradox0ns Wargaming Blog Keep watching, should be finishing it this week mate

[@Tech2Rush]

What approach would you suggest for making indentations to fit bases/models? I'm thinking along the lines of running the same theme on model-bases and display board, and maybe even having specific places for certain models, so you can blend them in almost seamlessly.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Tech2Rush Cut the recesses into 3mm mdf, put plasticard underneather and then fix them into the display board in the relevant places and then blend in with filler. Hope that helps mate.

[@natem4824]

Nice!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Nate M Cheers

[@braggminiaturesAnthonyBragg]

That's a whopper......It is good see Mel the builder back on our screens....

[@TheTerrainTutor]

2009braggminiatures Anthony Bragg Good to be back buddy :-)

[@unkhter]

nice tutorial :)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

unkhter Cheers bud :-)

[@normanrowe2831]

Nice work Mel. Was there a part 2? Bye

[@TheTerrainTutor]

I don't think there was mate

[@dars861]

whats that stuff called. The black and white stuff. Ive looked in all hardwares and can't find it! HELP!!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Insultation from B&Q

[@joebill4105]

When will you be starting your Burma terrain?

[@TheTerrainTutor]

joe bill As soon as I've got this off the kitchen table mate

[@GeorgieaMeg]

Was there ever a follow up on how this turned out?

[@TheTerrainTutor]

+GeorgieaMeg Still working on it :-(

[@GeorgieaMeg]

No problem, I was just worried I'd missed it somehow. Looking forward to seeing it finished :)

[@dougsundseth2303]

I'm a bit surprised to see you using plaster-cast material rather than Hydrocal/Ultracal/whatever and making your own substrate with cloth or paper. The plaster has the reputation of being crumbly, heavier, and less strong than gypsum cements and the like. Is there a special reason for that other than the easy availability of the material you used? And now, that said, I'm wondering whether fiberglass casting tape (Orthotape and the like) might make for a particularly durable choice for terrain. I know from experience that it's far more durable than plaster-cast cloths. Finally, it might be worth mentioning that if you want to replicate a particular piece of terrain, the contour lines on enlarged pieces of topographic maps can be used as templates to cut your foam layers. (Apologies if you mention this elsewhere; I'm only part way through your archives.) Very strong video; thank you for your work.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

I've never had problems with it but then I coat it with pva and grit before painting mate. Fibreglass works great but that's high level work and not really for the home hobbyist mate. I've heard on the contour thing before but never actually gone from map to piece, I rarely mate really big mountain ranges. Thanks buddy

[@dougsundseth2303]

The nice thing about fiberglass casting tape is that it's no harder to use than plaster-cast cloths. Wet it down and apply it. It's used by orthopedists in the same way the plaster cloth used to be, but it's darn near bulletproof. I saw it in use when my son broke his leg. Just a thought, though; I haven't tried it. As for sculpting contours: the subject doesn't have to be a mountain range to use contour maps. A club that I used to be a member of did the Little Bighorn battlefield on 4 separate 4'x8' foam boards (so 16' x 8' in total; call it 5m x 2.5m, close enough) with terrain contoured for the area. No place was thicker than (IIRC) 3 sheets of foam, but the effect was very nice. The rolling ground was well represented by the board.

[@dars861]

its not polystyrene is it, because that stuff is all flakey and falls apart?

[@TheTerrainTutor]

you can get high density polystyrene as well mate

[@gericatt]

Is this to display an army at a con of some sort?

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Geri Aultum Actually, it's part of a display board for a Noah's Ark for a display at a church :-)

[@gericatt]

TheTerrainTutor Cool beans! It looks like a lot of fun.

[@DerMartexus]

That looks good, but until now it looks like train model terrain. ;)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

***** I know, I feel dirty ..... ;-)

[@DerMartexus]

Hehe, choo choo. ;)

[@flyagaric29]

Good video but I wish you wouldnt keep saying "Yeah"....

[@TheTerrainTutor]

+flyagaric29 Trust me, I've tried