Terrain Maker's Challenge...
Crooow99
>surrounded by a built up dike, then painting the undersideof the plexi, but
>want to know what some of you have done or would do to make rice paddies,
>
>Just Curious,
A similar method I've seen described is to pour clear, cold-curing resin into a
concave surface (made from whatever), after gluing plant-analogs onto the
surface; The plant-analogs can be brush bristles, etc..
Ripperdoc
plastic flourescent light cover pieces (about $2 ea at a hardware store). Since
these can be bought with a variety of textures, it was easy to paint the water
on the bottom (smooth side) and drybrush the wave-patterns (did coastlines and
rivers) on top. Would also work well for rice/foiliage. You could also just
build the paddy and use pouring resin to create the water, but that gets tricky
and expensive.
Ripperdoc
Jim P. wrote:
> A friend of mine is setting up a Vietnam skirmish game for the local club
> and is about half way through making the terrain for the first scenario.
>
> Me being the nice guy I am and a guy who loves to make terrain (one of my
> fav. part of this hobby) I said let me help...I said okay....he said, "make
> the rice paddies."
>
> Well, I have run through several different ideas, but we've never been a
> group to settle for felt or carpet tiles. We try to make as realistic
> terrain as possible so I brainstormed and thought of using plexiglass tiles
> surrounded by a built up dike, then painting the undersideof the plexi, but
> want to know what some of you have done or would do to make rice paddies,
>
> Just Curious,
>
> Jim P.
Taisou
>...he said, "make
>the rice paddies."
>Well, I have run through several different ideas, but we've never been a
>group to settle for felt or carpet tiles. We try to make as realistic
>terrain as possible so I brainstormed and thought of using plexiglass tiles
>surrounded by a built up dike, then painting the undersideof the plexi, but
>want to know what some of you have done or would do to make rice paddies,
>Just Curious,
>Jim P.
I have made swamps, similar to rice paddies I guess, by first creating
your base (out of cardboard ) Adding texture with plaster of paris,
when texturing the base, set up a rim of plaster (you could first glue
bits of balsa or cardboard on the base to set up the perimeter of the
paddie ), cover this rim in plaster to look 'natural'.
When it drys paint the base with earthtones. Pain the floor of the
paddie area a mud color.
Now the fun part. There are polymer beads available at model train
stores that when melted in a tin can or other disposable article, can
be poured out and will harden clear. I even think that you can mix
acrylic paint with the melted beads to pre color your 'water'. You
can apply a heat gun (hair dryer) to bring out any bubbles /
imperfections. Now to imitate the rice stalks, you may have to get
creative. If you want them to stick out the paddy water you will have
to get a friend to stick them in as right after you pour.
Good luck!
Taisou
Jeff Ewing
actual paddies I've seen in the Sacramento Delta are extremely muddy, such that
the water is nearly opaque. Have you thought about building up several layers
of glaze -- that is, gloss medium mixed to about 15% opacity with acrylic --
over a yellow-brown base? I've never built any paddies myself, BTW, so I'm
just suggesting.
Jeff
Jim P. wrote:
[snip]
Doc Middleton
{snip]
> he said, "make the rice paddies."
>
>
Excellent challenge!
I'd probably pour melted polymer (available as beads from railroad hobby
shops) into a pre-heated mold that won't adhere to the polymer (stone
mold or a brick maker's mold). Use a tin can in which to heat the poly.
Color the polymer a mud-brown by mixing in acrylic paint during the
melting. You'll have to carefully control the heat and keep hot for a
long time so that there will be as few bubbles as possible. Before
pouring, insert bits of broomstalk by stuffing them into a styrofoam
block and suspend the block upside down over the cooling polymer blend.
when the poly is cold, it will grab onto the stalks and you can pull the
styro off leaving nice rice stalks standing in the mud. During gaming,
you can bust off the stalks if you need to.
The dikeworks can be built from the styro you just used by cutting it
into strips and coating them with plaster. Paint over the plaster of
course and line the poly paddy.
Please tell us all how you did it and show us what it looks like if you
can. There's nothing better than playing on good looking terrain.
w...@my-dejanews.com
> Jim P. wrote:
>
> > A friend of mine is setting up a Vietnam skirmish game for the local club
> > and is about half way through making the terrain for the first scenario.
> >
> > Me being the nice guy I am and a guy who loves to make terrain (one of my
> > the rice paddies."
> >
> > Well, I have run through several different ideas, but we've never been a
> > group to settle for felt or carpet tiles. We try to make as realistic
> > surrounded by a built up dike, then painting the undersideof the plexi, but
> > want to know what some of you have done or would do to make rice paddies,
> >
> > Just Curious,
> >
> > Jim P.
My suggestion is to use a clear drying artists gel for the water. For the
base I would use some of the cheap project foam (its about 1/10" thick,
designed for kids and available at most craft stores). Use an artist gel with
sand in it to make a base, such as risen areas and the such. If desired one
may flock some of these areas first. Then let it dry and then paint the area
where the water is going a dark brown-green. Now take the clear drying gel
and fill in the water areas. While this is drying, cut the field grass and
plant your paddies. You can also stick in anyother terrain features (sticks
for logs, lichen for bushes, etc.) that your little heart desires. I used
this type of procedure for creating some really great looking river segments
(Although I used a second layer of foam to build up the river banks).
Whatever you do, experiment first to see what works for you and what doesn't.
Bill Faulkner
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum
Jpattern
I'd go with the Plexiglas, too, or even just the thin sheets of clear plastic
sold in hobby shops. I think Squadron calls their version of this stuff
Thermaform.
Here are 3 methods you could use to easily and cheaply represent rice paddies
for a tabletop wargame. I've used all three of these methods to make ponds and
bogs for military and fantasy dioramas, as well as model railroad scenery, and
they look great when done.
METHOD 1 (an easy way) For young rice plants just visible *under* the surface
of the water. This method is good for wargaming because your rice plants can't
get "kicked over".
1. Decide how large you want your paddies to be, say, 5 inches by 7 inches.
2. Decide how far apart you want your rows of rice, and how far apart you want
individual rice plants in each row. I don't know the exact dimensions of a rice
paddy, but I'd go with rows maybe 2 or 3 feet apart, and individual plants
maybe 1 foot apart. In 25mm or 1/72 scale, you could use rows 1/2 inch apart
and plants 1/4 inch apart.
3. Plot your "plants" using dots on graph paper, or using a simple computer
graphics program like Paint. You should wind up with a grid of dots like this:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
For a less "regimented" look, you can stagger some rows, vary the spacing of
individual plants, and so on. make sure you print enough rows of dots to cover
your paddy area (5" by 7" in our example).
4. Place your graph paper or printed computer paper *under* a thin sheet of
clear styrene, cut to size for your paddy.
5. Using a toothpick, place a tiny drop of "rice green" paint over each dot, on
the surface of the plastic.
6. When the green dots are dry, paint the green-dotted side of the plastic a
swirled muddy brown, or stagnant green, or whatever color you prefer for rice
paddies.
7. When the paint is dry, flip over the plastic. You should see a shiny surface
(the plastic), and just under the surface should be visible rows of green dots
against a swirled, muddy background.
8. Mount the paddy on felt, thin cardboard, or some other surface to keep the
paint from being scratched off, and add thin cardboard, balsa, or styrofoam
edges, textured and painted to represent the edges of the paddies. You should
now have a paddy with young rice "dots" visible under the surface of the water.
METHOD 2 (another easy way) For young rice plants just visible *above* the
surface of the water. Again, good for wargaming because your rice plants can't
get "kicked over".
1. Follow steps 1-5 above (through the green-dot step).
2. Instead of painting the green-dotted side, paint the *other* side of the
plastic with your rice-paddy-water color.
3. When the paint is dry, flip the paddy over. You should see green dots on a
shiny surface, with a swirled, muddy background underneath.
4. Mount and edge the paddy as before. You should now have a paddy with young
rice "dots" just breaking the surface of the water. If any dots get scraped off
during play, they're easy to touch up after the game.
METHOD 3 (the hard way) For mature rice plants bursting forth from their watery
home. Looks beautiful, but more fragile than Methods 1 and 2.
1. Follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as in Method 1 above, until you have your dots
printed out. Note that if troops will be able to enter the paddy, you should
space your rows far enough apart to accommodate troop bases, otherwise your
rice plants will be broken off. You can also use a slightly thicker plastic, or
even Plexiglas, as you'll be gluing in "real" rice plants and you want them to
have some plastic to hold onto.
2. Paint one side of the plastic your rice-paddy-water color.
3. When the paint is dry, use thinned white glue to glue your dotted graph
paper directly on top of the paint, *not* on the shiny side of the plastic,
with the dots facing out.
4. Find some material to use as individual rice plants. I'd use the tips of
broomstraw, scavenged form a cheap "country" broom bought at a craft store. If
they aren't already a bright rice green, stain them with thin paint.
5. Select a micro drill bit slightly larger than your broom straw tips. Use
that bit to drill a hole completely through the paper and the plastic at each
dot. You can do this with a pin vise, a Dremel tool, or a hobby drill press,
but whatever you use, take care not to scratch the shiny side of the plastic.
(The Dremel method is fastest and plenty accurate enough for the purpose.)
6. Turn the plastic over. You should now have a shiny surface with a bunch of
little holes, with a swirled, muddy background underneath.
7. Dip a broomstraw tip in diluted white glue or acrylic gloss medium, and
insert it in a hole. Repeat for each hole. Each rice plant can stick straight
up, or they can lean slightly as if in a breeze. (This is especially effective
for depicting prop wash from a helicopter.)
8. Snip off any part of the broomstraw tips that jut through the underside of
the plastic.
9. Mount and edge the paddy as in Method 1. You should now have a paddy with
healthy, mature broomstraw tip rice plants jutting from the shiny surface of
the paddy water. If any rice plants get broken off during play, after the game
simply redrill the hole and insert a new broomstraw tip.
And that's that! It actually almost takes less time to do than to describe, and
the effect is beautiful.
Speaking form personal experience, it's *much* faster, easier, and less messy
than using 2-part epoxy resins or low-temperature-melt polymers. (They have
their uses, but I think they're overkill for flat, generally opaque water such
as is found in rice paddies.)
For all three methods, if the shiny surface gets scuffed or scratched, you can
bring the shine back with a thin coat of thinned acrylic gloss medium. Then
again, you may want to use gloss medium anyway to add ripples and other effects
to your water surface.
Good luck, and as other posters have said, put some pictures on a website
somewhere when you're done.
Jeff Moore
jpat...@aol.com
John Retzer
Jim P. wrote in message <01bdaac0$ab2ae600$730369d1@default>...
>Me being the nice guy I am and a guy who loves to make terrain (one of my
>fav. part of this hobby) I said let me help...I said okay....he said, "make
>the rice paddies."
I've built a couple of swamps over the past couple of years. Took some sheet
styrene and painted it a muddy color. Then, I laid on a good thick coat of a
thing called "Mod Podge", which can be found in the ladies' craft stores.
Its kind of a gluey thing. Comes in both glossy and flat finish. Use the
glossy. At first, it looks like you've ruined it because it comes out white,
but it's perfectly clear when dried. You can also sculpt it a bit as you're
laying it on to make swirls, or whatever. I made a lake with waves once.
Then, as its drying, I stick in tufts of model railroad grass to make the
grassy parts of the swamp edge. Turns out wonderfully.
Jeff Ewing
going to try your method out just because it's so excellent.
Jeff Ewing
Jpattern wrote:
[*brilliant* suggestions snipped]