Here are a few more shots of the project with the Wespe temporarily in place.
As can be seen, I used three blocks of ceiling insulation to build up the terrain and then edged it with hardboard. This type of insulation board is very cheap (i.e. free from a nearby skip) and carves very easily with saws, knives, a rotary tool with sanding attachment and a screwdriver. However, it is also very messy, so best done outdoors. I used PVA to fix everything in place with the odd tack nailed in here and there to help whilst it dried.
The road was laid using cork sheet and the bridge was made from high density foam, scribed with a knife and then a cocktail stick. I based it on this picture which I took in Tuscany about 10 years ago:
The next step was to start making the rock texture. In the past I have used Woodlands Scenic plaster rock moulds, which are very convincing. However, for such a large area I thought that this would be too much work. Plus all of the pieces would need to be joined together in a convincing manner.
So I decided to use good old DAS air-drying clay instead. I used two colours - Stone and Terracotta - to help create some contrast between the rocks and the earth areas. I will be painting everything eventually, but this helped me to work out the lie of the terrain better as I went along.
In the image above you can see that I had started building up the foreground. The bridge has been further detailed and by now I had added a roadside shrine to add a little more interest to the middle of the scene. This was put together using another piece of high densiry foam, a resin casting of a saint (from a bag that I found at a model show for £1) and some tiles left over from my last Italian project several years ago.
Thenext step was to start building up the rocks using the DAS (Stone) and strategically placed rocks.
I first covered the foam in a decent layer of PVA before used my fingers to press the clay into place. I then used a small pallete knife and wire brushes to shape the surface using photos as a reference.
In the image above you can see how it looked once it dried after my first attempt. However, I felt that everything looked too rounded, so I went in and added strips of clay which were then blended in to give it a more ‘jagged’ look.
Whilst not 100% realistic I think it will look better once I have added vegetation and paint…
