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| 12 x 6 custom built and scaled central section of Waterloo I made a few years back |
After so many years of doing it, we are getting tired of lugging around car fulls of terrain boards. Storage and transport thereof is a pain. I have admired the teddy-bear massacres of the last few years and recall being impressed by the Waterloo terrain of the Loughton? Strike Force at Salute a few years back and also some masterful set ups I'd seen up close at Historicon.
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| Now, what the heck am I supposed to do with this on a Sunday morning? |
I fancied doing a bit myself, bought the materials and tools but conflicting priorities prevented me from actually starting the job - Net result - more clutter sitting there gathering dust. As the weather in Scotland has returned to seasonal norms and as I was unusually at home over a holiday weekend, I decided whilst drifting into consciousness to the sound of the Archers Omnibus, to get up and at it. The target was to have a 6 x 5 table ready for CRISIS 2018 on November 3 in Antwerp. I was giving myself two days to complete.
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| In for a penny - I got to work with my hair trimmer - about 90 minutes worth |
Commencing at 1035 without a clue about what I was going to be doing, I located the faux fur bale in the garage, cut a length of 5' x 6', laid it out under the eaves to avoid the Lanarkshire smirr and scratched my bonce. Having asked Mrs H to purchase a set of combs and a hair trimmer the previous day (which raised an eyebrow), I unmasked my batteries.
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| Always encouraging if you can get a bit of perspective - my mind was 9 hours ahead of my clippers |
My research consisted of watching a very instructive video by Red Beard Baron on how to make a mat. This chap taught me everything I needed to know in 11 minutes, forty three seconds and for that I take my hat off to him.
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| 9 hours later - I only meant to practice on the top right green corner! |
Doing it outside was wise. I hacked my way through and carved the roads out first. That took me about 90 minutes. I then spent about another two hours with the #1 guard on shaving the areas immediately adjacent to the roads.
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| The blending will give you good bicep development. I combed out more hair than Brian May has on his head |
Having completed that, I slipped on the #2 and gave the entire mat a trim but actually very little came off as my raw material seemed to have shorter fibre length than RBB's long haired fur bale.
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| Beginning to lay my road - more of this in the next post |
With sore knees and back I thought - it's about 1400, I'll dollop on a wee bit of paint and see what happens. OK, I had passed the point of no return. I thought of imminent business trips which were going to prevent me from ever having this window again before CRISIS in November and I went for it.
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| I needed encouragement so created some practice upland - nice! |
It took me till sundown to get the mat covered in paint but what a sense of achievement. No stranger to terrain making, I learned loads about working with new techniques and materials. This was physical work. The constant combing was exhausting for a man of my mature years but RBB's techniques were highly effective.
I retired knackered but content. On holiday Monday my road ideas would be road tested! See how I got on in the next installment cos, we're not at the end of the road yet!