Crater Terrain

Here is another easy piece of terrain that can be made quickly and easily for any tabletop games.

The first piece like this was mounted on an old CD. But for this one, the base is 3mm lazer cut MDF (medium density fiberboard).

I used a tinfoil pastry case (2 apple pies bravely gave their lives for this project!)

Before glueing to the MDF base, turn the tinfoil case upside down and push down in the center to create the crater.

For this terrain piece, I made a double crater to make maximum use of the sapce on the base.

A single or tripple crater can be created as needed.

When you have made the first crater, glue around the lip using white PVA glue.

Add a second crater if desired.

When the glue has set completely, I then used toilet paper and watered down PVA (approx 1:1 ratio) to create a more natural rise.

Then wait until the glue has completely dried.

To make the piece more rebust, I like to give the whole piece a light coat of un watered PVA.

Now the fun begins,,,,

When the first coat of PVA has dried, then add some more PVA at slected points and spinkle some sand (I use a marble pestle and mortar to grind up some clean cat litter as this gives nice sized rocks and scatter materiel).

Then shake off the excess.

When dry, I undercoated the whole piece in black using acrylic paint.

Because of the PVA coat, a couple of undercoats may be required to make sure of complete coverage.

Then using the drybrush technique and shades of grey acrylic, brush over the piece and hightlight the raised raised areas. Don't rush when doing this as this can make or break your piece of terrain. If you get too much grey, then brish over with some more black and start again.

Even thought I flocked over the outside of the crater, I still drybrushed over the outside as I was leaving some of the "stone" visible through the grass flocking.

Whe the drybrushing is complete, I spray varnished the piece to protect the paint.

And Finally.....

When the varish has dried, brush PVA onto the areas that you are planing to flock with grass.

I cover a piece at a time (approx one quarter of the model) and add the flocking using tweezers and pushing into the PVA to ensure a good bond.

Don't be affraid to add too much of the flocking. You can always shake off the excess for later use.

Shake the excess off and leave to dry. I usually leave around 24 hours to dry before use

If you are planning on making more terrain pieces, I would recommend buying a big jug of PVA glue from a DIY store.

I've had a 2.5 liter container for years and it;s still going string. It will work out much more economical than buying the little squeeze bottles every few months.

It is also useful to keep little resealable takeaway containers. The PVA can be poured into these containers and diluted as needed then resealed for further use.

Please excuse my pictures. They are not great, some taken with a flash and some without, but they are there for you to use as a guide and not for exact replication.

Please feel free to ask any question and offer constructive criticisms

Thanks for looking everyone :)