Let's Make - Cheap & Easy Scenic CD Scatter Terrain Bases

[@Dylfunkle]

The sound of cutting styrene is absolutely from another level of hellscape.

[@Searchopher]

i have to say, you're like the Bob Ross of Wargaming Terrain.

[@TactiTurtle]

I was just about to comment that until I read this! LOL! The odds...

[@thebadnotes7628]

😂😂😂 let’s just pop in a happy lil’ tree

[@negotiableaffections]

I think I'd call Bard's Craft more the Bob Ross. Mel, like Luke Towen are more the hyper-realists [with Luke going for photo-realism]

[@bourne817]

Christopher Thompson I couldn’t have said it better

[@dekleinegoblin]

100% agree! Our wargaming terrain Bob Ross! Watched this video multiple times before making my forrest

[@SynthOSphere]

You are an AMAZING teacher!!!! Making it simple, no fuss, errors allowed, inexpensive and, best of all, often giving word of encouragement to instil confidence in your learners. I wish I had teachers like that when I was a kid. So kudos to you sir!

[@NewSquallor]

Between you and Neil from the old 90s show Art Attack you're keeping the PVA glue industry healthy. Burrows & Badgers needing me to get on to some greenery for once. Thanks for this. Looks fantastic.

[@DungeonMasterMaker]

If I ever had to choose just one terrain crafting video this would be it. I keep coming back to these tecniques. Love it

[@onetoomanyz]

I never comment videos, most of the time is a hopeless fight with nonsense. This time, I really urge to say thanks for a beautiful tutorial. Quality material, perfect pace and you're a natural teacher. Thanks again for the time you put into this and for sharing it. The 16 people that down-voted this video need to shut their youtube account and throw away their computer or phone!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Thanks buddy

[@charleslatora5750]

agree. once I built my pond, nervousness disappeared. made a short wall section perfect for 28mm. going to have to rebase my trees. put pennies under them to hopefully keep them from falling over but they're still falling over. (actually, mostly, getting knocked over-lol). working on a well right now. gathering material to make rivers panels. straights, curves, whirlpool, ford's... I got mostly 20-28mm figures. I still have a ton of GHQ micro armor that I bought last century. maybe half are still in blister packs. We do have some vehicles that appear to have disappeared over the decades of not playing any games. going to say I started out last century is more of a hex encounter player with again the GHQ and some Dungeons and Dragon, what's the usual happen life work family ex-wife etc etc. Now retired buying board games until I discovered the fun of miniatures. started with a bunch of Ral Partha figures that I had from last century and now... need to build... OGRE vehicles +-85 maybe 250 Napoleonics +- 2 dozen motorcycles for Gaslands 30+- SciFi/Fantasy individual figures Man further off of deep end I'm not sure I remember how many figures but I think I bought enough for a small army (I will base them like they were Napoleonics) for sci-fi fantasy army size gaming. Finishing an Orc vs Ogre (bad guys) fight using Fistful of Lead rules from Wylie Games. again great video. 👍👍👍👍👍

[@zombielandiii2711]

"Don't Buy from your hobby store guys, buy from contractor store, it's cheaper" Golden piece of advice for beginners. Love your accent ! Saludos from Mexico.

[@GiftofChaosStudio]

Gotta say I never had an interest in building terrain. My son wants to do it so I will too. Your teaching and excitement have really gotten me excited to do it. I love you style man! Thank you for doing these videos

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Awesome, go build with your lad mate, you'll love it!

[@ChiseledDiamond]

Hot glue is my savior when it comes to fastening rocks and scenery to my base, I actually use beach-glass for my rocks, cleans up the beach as well as free material! I find that the beach is a great place to find stuff to use for my scenery

[@TheTerrainTutor]

I used to love beach combing

[@PaladinDusty]

I find that many terrain wargaming channels don't seem to have the goal of teaching people to make their own terrain. This channel does seem to have this goal in mind. My favorite aspect of these videos is how you show that you can go to the hardware store to get many of your materials. You don't have to buy wargaming products to make quality wargaming terrain. Brilliant. Truly the Bob Ross of terrain. The Joy of Terrain lol

[@Emtbtoday]

3 years on and I'm still coming back this wee base is well nice!

[@johnlittle541]

Sir, as I embark on my new journey, retiring from the forces, and looking to connect with battlefields I can't be apart of any more... I picked up a paintbrush and started into models. Then, likely years too late, I found Bolt Action and its been incredible building them. Now, with your tutorials, Ive been able to give them, the cheapest, best looking homes, bases, and battle spaces ive created so far. From and old soldier, Thank you.

[@lucioluciolucio85]

That's a good use for Bieber's albums

[@TheTerrainTutor]

:-D

[@rxbranbran4651]

Defiantly!

[@edvardlonn4651]

yeh but I don't hope that you have those albums home right? :D

[@sethsponhower]

I have been doing landscaping models for railroad layouts since I was a kid and later got into D&D and 3d role playing in school. One thing an older railroad modeler taught me on making trees is to pull certain weeds and plants up by watering the ground so you get the root system out without ripping it up, wash the dirt away so its just the roots and the details of the fine root system hairs, turn it upside down so the roots fan out like tree branches and spray it with hair spray to "glue" its form into place and you have instant tree structures with the fine branches and so on. From there you can spray paint them to make them into dead trees, early spring trees, or lightly spray the branches and sprinkle the fake tree leaf stuff over it to give it the leaf canopy. I even used an air brush to focus the spray of my glue when doing this so the branches don't get the green stuff on it and make it look more like a powder coating than real leaves on the ends of the branches. I'm a stickler for details!! I have never cared for the look of metal cast tree trunks that I have bought before or using sticks, too clumsy looking to keep that realistic effect. I even used fine copper wire to make my own "adjustable" trees and other than being a little more ridged, still lacked the reality of what a real tree looks like in model scale and it very time consuming for what you get!!!!

[@davidfreitas3992]

wow!

[@PeteTheWargamer]

A CD as a base? That is genius! Now I wonder if AOL still send out free trials....

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Is AOL still going? lol

[@davedogge2280]

I've off to my local Chinese wholesalers to see if they have any CDs in stock still.

[@Radio4ManLeics]

The War Gamer Try the poundshops for cheap blank discs,.... and paints.

[@davedogge2280]

I'm in Spain and it cost me 70 Euro cents per CD which aint cheap but it's ok.

[@VilhjalmrVilhjalmrsson]

AOL is a smudge on the landscape compared to what it once was. They stopped sending out the free trial CDs when I was working there, and that's been about eight years ago.

[@AnneAndersonFoxiepaws]

These are great for practicing your terrain techniques in smaller scale. I mean I am in 18th scale and scatter terrain is obviously bigger for me but little one off scenes are perfect to practice things like water features, trees, static grass, all in smaller areas so you can learn without messing up something bigger. Your videos are much appreciated Mel even for us almost "dollhouse" scale people!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Thats a lot bigger mate, I'm working 1:300th at the mo

[@jrjustiss]

I love how kind and enthusiastic you sound. Reminds me of a terrain version of Bob Ross with a British accent.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

You're not the first to say that

[@PattyIce93]

Now I found a use for old cd's. You're the man! Thank you sir!

[@davidmcbride3843]

Old CDs, that's a good idea. I suppose old records would be too brittle for bigger bases but if you have any ideas for the bigger bases let us know.

[@cuttygrass]

Excellent stuff. Just getting into terrain after joining the hobby last year. As others have said, your vids really make beginners feel like they can actually do it. not only that, but they look excellent too! Cheers

[@woody12i2]

I watched this video yesterday and afterwards went to my local hobby store and home depot and got started. I made three different scatter terrain models right after!! This tutorial was great, simple, easy to follow and jam packed of good information and loved your calm and happy voice!! Keep the videos going!! Mine came out great...and I have never ever done this before! I made these for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign as just details for my world! Thanks!!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

That's awesome mate, welcome to the Terrainiacs!

[@cissevaniseghem5767]

This video is without a shadow of a doubt the best one i've seen so far. It really makes a beginner modeller get the feeling like he can do this shit!!!!...Thanks very much for letting the newbies around here get the hang of making terrain. Great tips...great video..great teaching...can't wait to check out your other videos.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

That was the point to it, I'm glad it's worked bud

[@NSYresearch]

I've been following this chanel for ages but never done anything about building stuff, but I've painted my first units of soldiers now so I'm revisiting the tutorials again... brilliant again... hope you are feeling better Mel...

[@richardclowes6123]

"Easy peezy lemon squeezy" !!! Haven't heard that expression for years. That in itself put a smile on my face and brought back a few memories. Thanks for that. Just making an Island to place in the middle of my lake and decided now, after watching your vid, to make a few different ones, on a thin ply bases; one will have a little tree den so you'll have to look for it. Got to do one from the kids film 'Amazons' etc. Thanks for the good vid. Cheers, Rick

[@charleslatora5750]

side note: was at a local Home Depot and I sprung for a bag of pea gravel to use for my river panels and my pond and my wall. keep the natural look. we'll be going back over some of my figures that I have built and based and maybe at a rocker too here and there. for our friends in England and the world Home Depot is a major big chain 'hardware' store.

[@notronsivart]

Took me a full 6 mins to realize that I'm part of the Terrain Tutor facebook group! I love that you're kind of a mad scientist, I know a local guy that used to do minis, terrain and all kinds of stuff and he's also a little mad. Perfect!

[@dmarie007]

I've actually made trees watching your videos and man, was I surprised.......they came out better than I thought they would! Then I made the stone walls......Your videos are amazing! Thank you so much for these videos.

[@Lady_of_Ishpeming]

I'm not into war gaming, but I love the terrain pieces for another project I have in mind! Tyfs!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Glad it helped mate

[@mainHERO88]

I'm having a hard time finding cheap PVA basing like you use so CDs seem like the perfect substitute. They would be great for bunkers and pillboxes too!

[@mykyzer23]

Love the minion, pink screen an frozen cup, you got kids 🦄

[@Maxyshadow]

The cardboard tip was fantastic!

[@w.rustylane5650]

That came about splendidly. Crack on, mate. I tend to make all my ground cover-from coarse turf to scatter. I got an electric coffee grinder to grind all my sponge and colour it with my craft paints. I make even the fine stuff and use real coal where needed. I even make my own rust powder out of fine 0000 steel wool. I use REAL rust. I try not to buy any thing except paints. Every thing else can be made. Lichen grows wild out back of my house in eastern Tennessee. I have a Nandena bush growing and get my tree armatures from my bushes. I try to do things on the cheap.

[@stump182]

I think we need some "Dead Simple" t-shirts. Nice tutorial Mel - keep 'em coming.

[@mr.muffindan.m3367]

yes!

[@rat39]

"Dead simple whatchacallit"

[@Fnordathoth]

Absolutely!

[@Gemma_Rashida]

I wouldn't mind a "let's crack on then!" t shirt either!

[@NyuNeon]

i came here to see what else i can do with dnd terrain but honestly, you sound super nice and patient. thank you for the video!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Welcome!

[@negotiableaffections]

I've been watching BMC and Wylock, recently [and been introduced to Bard's Craft too] I can see vastly differing styles emerging and this must make 'away matches' much more exciting. I think the incredible merchandise that is available from major gaming manufacturers is breathtaking [especially in the hands of great model painters] but this breaking away to more DIY styles is a fantastic extension to the gaming experience. More power to your elbow, Mel and all those others who like being covered in glue and paint!

[@____________838]

Keith Stewart Keith Stewart Keith Stewart Try Eric’a Hobby Workshop and Luke’s APS for more!

[@caleriasand8237]

Wet vs dry water lol Thank you for sharing. This technique is truly top notch!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

I true melism lol

[@rc-trassa]

Потрясающее рабочее место. Спасибо 🙏 за ваши уроки 🏫

[@rat39]

Awesome I never would have thought to use CD's. Got loads of them floating around.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Win!

[@sethsponhower]

Also, poker chips work great for bases too!

[@connorstevenson1173]

Sir... You are a genuis! You should go to sleep tonight knowing well that You have inspired an other terreainiac!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Awesome

[@georgeszweden9497]

Hobby channels are wholesome

[@bobgnarredbeard1207]

Lots of great ideas thanks. I have been using tin can tops that I cut off for the CanOpener and file the edges. They’re thin and come in various sizes.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

If it works bud, use it!

[@harambe_andy5134]

Thank you so much for how clear you make the directions. I've started making these for my D&D games and I'm so excited!

[@Witchat1and70]

This is a brilliant tutorial for a heap load of techniques for the newbie miniaturist/modeller. Thanks so much!

[@OverlordOfEcchi]

Once I get myself the Greenstuffworld's leaf shaped cuttout stamper I'll be able to use craftpaper leaves in fall colour for great piles of fallen leaves.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

That'll be a lot of stamping mate :-)

[@elijahhamilton4857]

I could listen to you describe toilet tissue! I don’t know what it is, but I love your voice! Don’t worry, I’m not “funny” if you know what I mean! And on top of all that, thank you for your videos, they really really help!

[@MiguelRamos-zs4bs]

All your makes are so fantastic I think I found my new hobby thank you for making them so very interesting

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Welcome to the hobby mate!

[@hellcat64]

ive watch others, but urs seem alot more for the beginner or common person. Which is great, easy to follow and need very little in special tools or money. also your like watching a bob ross video lol. im starting out my self, doing a French/Europe country side for my market garden army.

[@kaibe5241]

Easily my favourite terrain-making channel. Another great video, thank you!

[@Coladita52]

Thank You, for such an awesome video and all your videos, I have not only enjoy them I have learned so much from them, you are a wonderful teacher.

[@vividknightmare4026]

Wonderful work as always. Make it all look super simple. You're the Bob Ross of Terrain building my friend, truly enjoyable and relaxing to watch/listen to you do this stuff and you're so supportive of people trying this, I've been working on my first terrain (Brick house) ever in my life and I always feel like I can do it after watching a video from you. So thanks a ton for the knowledge and the support! I also super appreciate that you've started mentioned the terms and such for those of us across the pond (U.S), I was wracking my brain for a week trying to figure out what the h3ll 'Filler' was, I thought it was spackle and finally after a day of googling I figured it out cause until this video I'd never heard you call it anything but Filler! So thank you so much for taking into consideration you've got fans over here in the States as well! Quick question to anyone, instead of Emulsion/Latex house paint is the .50 cent (half a quid) acrylic craft paint like Apple Barrel an acceptable alternative or is the chemical formula of the house paint important to the process?

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Apple Barrel is fine bud

[@philRminiatures]

Looks clever, creative, simple...and cheap? Wow, very impressive!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

I'll take that as a win!

[@jimzecca3961]

Came across this video and it never occurred to me to use old CDs as bases. I'm definitely going to try this. We've been setting up in a new house so have had a lot of extra foam from the various boxes to use for terrain.

[@tattyman4191]

Recommended to watch this on my first behind the scenery on 5/4/18. Brilliant. Didn't think PVA would stick to a cd case

[@colostomybaguette6122]

I feel like if you put the tree on before you put the filler it would cover that huge base that is bulging out from the bottom of the tree and also adhere the tree more strongly to the base.

[@HardHittingHero]

You remind me of Neil Buchanan from Art attack! 😄. These tutorials are brilliant!

[@Stuart36]

I was thinking totally the same!

[@naughtiusmaximus1231]

Great video, very informative! I use circular cork bases that are made to be used under potted plants, quite a bit larger but works great for stands of trees. You can find them at most home improvement or gardening shops.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Top tip matey

[@geekfreak69]

Excellent terrain project

[@SolvableMattB]

This is fantastic, truly excellent. I'm impressed with how much you can do with PVA.

[@nozhki-busha]

Looks like Mel covered all the bases in this one ;)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

That's my job ;-)

[@photogfrank2146]

Great video and great tutorial! You are a hoot! Two thumbs way up!

[@goblinking2012]

Great video Mel. An awesome starting point for anyone with fantastic looking results. You the man!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Cheers bud

[@billvanderhoff6449]

Awesome videos. I recently tried the CD. I did two they turned out awesome. Thanks for the great ideas and how to

[@MrStingray075]

Great video. Like the various sizes of bases. Time to watch your other vids on how to make flocks.

[@GimmeAweapon]

I have been looking for your channel for so long! Saw a video a while ago! Finally got into terrain building as I’m so glad I finally found your channel!

[@themainman2827]

Siempre es genial ver como las miniaturas van surgiendo poco a poco y tomando vida cuando se usan las tecnicas correctas.

[@aerendil9143]

Great little tutorial Mel, I finally found a use for all those old scratched up and outdated CD's I have, lol

[@Mr.Bassman]

Stellar video as always, thank you! 30:00

[@bobmacphail3221]

You are amazing ! ....very easy to follow you're art, extremely impressed.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Cheers buddy

[@HomeWithDrew]

I don't know if you've heard this before but I kept thinking Jason Plato was giving terrain advice! 😁 either that or Neil Buchanan

[@OvantheWise]

lol I know mell a lot of the time ses to not buy it at the hobby store. But I pride myself in making it easy to build the hobby community. A lot of my stuff is 5-10% off list in a few cases that makes me cheaper then Walmart. Great video as always mell, looking forward to seeing the rest of the playlist.

[@nighthawkdutchchameleon9815]

Hello sir. You dont know me but i sure know you. Thanks for all the things you teached me/us. Thanks from the netherlands. I was able to make a great medieval wartable using 1/72 for battles.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Thanks buddy!

[@pauln2661]

drill a small hole in the disk and put some thin gauge wire through to support the tree against breakage during play and storage.

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Top tip bud

[@eugenerudman]

and, for such instances, it can also be useful to glue two, or even 3 CDs together, to provide a firmer, thicker base.

[@norseman_5334]

You did it again Mr Bose😃👍🏻 another brilliant vid😎

[@dianadelamer9583]

These are fantastic! I think I feel a new hobby coming on. I didn't even know anyone did this. This is so cool. I've played games like Civilization, and I love that one, but to play a physical game would be so cool. I also really really enjoy making things, so this is a double whammy. Subscribed!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Welcome to the hobby matey!

[@Brandon3739]

You are the Bob Ross of Miniature terrain.

[@alecchristian4797]

Great tutorial! I've been using old CDs to make scatter terrain for Frostgrave for a while now. They are indeed a nice size for it. For the snow texture I've been using Fiber Paste, which also does great double duty as Stucco on the walls of buildings. My snowy trees... need work. :P

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Nice bud

[@tupadre7758]

Thank you so very much ....

[@Finnertoncentralmodelrailway]

Brilliant idea will use this method myself

[@johnatkinson738]

Love to watch you I have learnt so much and have started to use some of your techniques thank you

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Awesome matey

[@mikemcguinness92]

Love the video and definitely going to follow along to it. Can you recommend a UK supplier for the larger trees? Or any trees for that matter.

[@mooncabbagere]

Amazing greatest hits video Mel, well done.

[@christianwende6914]

I really like your tutorials, greetings from Chile

[@Chibart]

Mate, your work is heads above the rest! Love your vids and your terrain. :)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Glad you liked it mate

[@johnnynuttall9851]

Cracking vid as usual Mel,great stuff

[@OlympusHeavyCavalry]

I love your enthusiasm mate, it's always present in your videos, Cheers man :-)

[@TheTerrainTutor]

It's my passion man!

[@andrewgould7002]

Absolutely brilliant, thank you duck

[@DizzySpark]

Youre like Bob Ross, mate. I've been watching you from the start and I'm so happy to see you back on the grind, after that little scare from the KZbin revenue and the commissions nightmare. K I'll be dropping a few coins on you soon, you'll have some genuine Texas coast money. Ive actually been working on a neuron hybrid winter forest to host some necron VS Spacewolves battles. But I can't quite get it done right, I end up giving the pieces to my local store because they just don't look right. Practice practice practice..

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Keep practicing bud, you'll get there. And thank you!!!! :-D

[@elisabethhdawn]

this was super helpful. thank you for this lovely tutorial!

[@TheTerrainTutor]

make sure you check the rest in the playlists, there 500 videos wait for you

[@e-4airman124]

like your shows man!

[@rhaef]

Excellent tutorial. Thank you.

[@francescoguerriero8419]

Thanks for your illuminating tutorial!

[@scottfw7169]

When doing this I use the non-label side of the CD because it is plain plastic and sometimes the label side has peeled off the clear plastic disk. Another thing I do is sand the CD with coarse sandpaper so as to rough up the surface for better scenery glue adhesion than would be had on smooth plastic.

[@giuliopiccolomini]

I think you should spray the diluted glue from farther away. In addition, many model makers use soap for dishes diluted in water and spun before the glue

[@TheTerrainTutor]

No need if you're saturating it mate

[@gedmcloughlin866]

Brilliant! I love your videos mate.

[@artedelpresepediannibaleca3541]

beautiful congratulations, what is that liquid material that rises above the stucco? Thank you

[@jasonelwell2530]

love watching your videos so helpfull and made so easy keep up the good work

[@TheTerrainTutor]

Cheers mate

[@davidmartin1793]

Nice one Mel 👍

[@belindahowe6287]

thank you ..I am new to this ..really appreciate your knowledge

[@davidmcbride3843]

Nice info and great video 👍✨

[@mr.muffindan.m3367]

finely i have some use form my boxes on boxes of old movie and music discs :D