@Delirivm, yes - the slopes are quite steep, but then again, I like dramatically vertical terrain, even though it might not be optimal for gaming. With enough rough scatter material on the ground, figures should be able to stand on the slopes, too.
@Gandlaf, I just paint the blue foam with latex paint, nothing fancier than that.
I've done work on the summit, with three separate pieces. The topmost one will have the Seeing Seat embedded in it. After the usual foam understructure & covering masking tape, I rolled out the plaster cloth and started making a mess...
Underneath this small hill is a larger one in two parts; the bigger one will one day double as the hill / ridge on the northern side of the Pelennor Fields, where the Riders of Rohan launch their charge against the besieging forces (it will receive an extension part effectively doubling its length).
For Amon Hen, though, I wanted the southern (back) side of that hill to be a steep rock face, so I had a separate, narrow piece to represent that.
A combination of foam and cast rocks were used, and these were blended together with a soft-ice like mixture of hydrocal (which did set rather quickly, so I made several small batches). Thick hydrocal mix was also used to blend in the rocks in the summit hill and the larger hill part, as well as on the south side of the Parth Galen stairs in the lower slope part.
After a bit more than three rolls of plaster cloth, all the contoured terrain pieces were covered. Here's a pic of the lower slope:
I also started work on little terrain pieces with ruins; mdf base was painted with basecoat brown, and earth blend fine ground foam was sprinkled on the wet paint. A bit later, the ruins were glued on and more earth blend turf was piled around the ruins to make them better integrate into the ground. Isoprophyl alcohol was dropped into the thick layers of turf to break surface tension, followed by scenic cement. Once dry, I will add bushes and the ubiquitous covering of dead leaves so typical for Amon Hen scenery.
Once the plaster cloth terrain is dry, I'll paint the pieces with basecoat brown, followed by earth blend / yellow grass turf, fallen trees, dead leaves and moss. I also need to do new trees - instead of green foliage, I'll use predominantly a variety of autumnal browns and yellows for Amon Hen. Many trees will be attached directly to the sloped terrain pieces, but there will also be three separate forest pieces. I'm afraid I have little time to add any considerable contours to these, though, so it'll just be trees, dead fall and dead leaves, and room to blace the ruined pieces shown above.
Then follows the addition & blending of the stairs & the Seeing Seat into the terrain. A bit more work with the Anduin shore piece (3rd layer of Realistic Water and some water effects on top; second layer was poured yesterday) the terrain is pretty much done - and I hopefully still have a few days before the model show on March the 1st to finish the figures I'm planning to use... and paint the boats, of course. I'll add some detailing on the boats if time allows.
{ PORTAL }
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