Ideas for a homemade terrain mat (1 Viewer)

[jkstew11]

I'm soliciting ideas on how to make a terrain mat. I've not made my own, yet. But, I've thought about using FELT cloth as a base, As any one experimented with or fully developed realistic terrain or ground cover using felt? I was thinking of acquiring a piece of felt, neutral color (beige, light brown), and experiment with gluing on grass flock, coloring the felt with acrylic paint, etc. How well does acrylic paint adhere to felt, does the paint change the felt texture? Glues for grass flock? Can I use the standard Woodland Scenic cement and its grass flock products, or does a different kind of glue or flock need to be used? Thanks for any input!
Joel

 

[whdamon]

With the use of felt as a TEMPORARY foundation, there is nothing better.
I use felt extensively as I continually rotate my displays (lack of space and also like to do small set ups at shows that need to go up and back down in short order) Felt sprinkled with all kinds of "yard" found and commercial ground clutter (to include snow) is easily laid out and more importantly very easily cleaned up and recovered for another day. The felt seems to hold the ground cluter in place so any heavy breathing brought on by the display doesn't necessarily cast it to the wind.

I have also made a number of "accessory" pieces that can be moved from display to display (photo here of one I made up this week to go with future artillery displays that is sitting on a piece of light tan felt) that sit on the felt and then the edges are blended in with the ground clutter. I use old credit cards or hotel keys to build these on as they are stong yet don't have to much of a lip to blend to the ground work. I have a number of other such accessories if anyone would like to see further photos and description how they were made.

In addition is a larger table display set up in the living room of a fellow collector (who has a SAINT for a wife when it comes to TEMPORARY displays in common living quarters), and you will note by looking at the edges sits on green felt..........nothing permanetly attached, and cleans up mess free in no time.

So I certainly can speak to the value of felt as a TEMP foundation for a display

Walt Damon

 

[marco55]

Walt I would love to see more of your work.
Mark

 

[Mitch]

Walt..

Excellent displays and very ingenious ways to create a temporary diorama
Mitch

 

[Mitch]

jkstew11..

Your on the right track. If room is the problem then try building your bases so they can stand down the side of the wardrobe or similar. I simply mean that if I do diorama bases for myself I, because of room, find a board strong enough adhere foam board to it and then build the groundwork say with resin, polyfilla stucco claycrete celluclay an, then add the trees bushes buildings so they are removable and can be placed in boxes etc.

My wife makes teddy bears etc and I have found that this material can be used really effectively and cheaply to make grass matts etc. Using a make up pad and paint daubers you can with acrylic colours change the effect easily to resemble european or wherever battlefields. Using foamboard also means you can make your own walls and buildings by scribbing in the brickwork yourself. You can cast in plaster etc your own rocks or, find your own on walks etc in the country (a great place to find dead or dried twigs also) I buy large bags of a lichen type material which, makes great trees and bushes which, you can get from hobby stores and places that sell trains they always have the stuff.
Hope it helps

I'm soliciting ideas on how to make a terrain mat. I've not made my own, yet. But, I've thought about using FELT cloth as a base, As any one experimented with or fully developed realistic terrain or ground cover using felt? I was thinking of acquiring a piece of felt, neutral color (beige, light brown), and experiment with gluing on grass flock, coloring the felt with acrylic paint, etc. How well does acrylic paint adhere to felt, does the paint change the felt texture? Glues for grass flock? Can I use the standard Woodland Scenic cement and its grass flock products, or does a different kind of glue or flock need to be used? Thanks for any input!
Joel

 

[whdamon]

Walt I would love to see more of your work.
Mark

Reference above here are a few more accessories I made in the past that I use to add interst to vignettes and displays with commerical figures. I blend these in with temporary ground work on the felt base.

Description of the pieces to include the cannon balls and stump from an earlier post.

-fowl on the spit which is from an old Historex kit from the 80”s

-photos however also bring out the finger prints still in the putty that unfortunately can’t always be seen with these old eyes at time of construction.

-Fire smoke from very fine steel wool, black wash at the base, white wash at the tip

-Fire: Black base, then red to the tip of flame. Orange wash 25% up to tip (little red shows through). Yellow paint at tip. Dashes of yellow in lower parts of flame with red wash over that.
Seems to work, or at least from a distance

-Tree stump from Armand B., cannon balls from rolled putty painted black then highlites rubbed with pencil graphite on finger tips

-Used credit cards as the base, then build up with putty. Keeps base a low profile for ease of blending into surrounding ground work

-All grasses and shrubs from Xpress. Note Military Warehouse also carries the landscaping stuff as well as an excellent selection of Armand B. tree trunks

-The base with the soldier (Gordon Highlander from Napoleonic era by K&C) was a plaster casting I picked up for 50 cents while bottom fishing at the Long Island Show.
-Little paint and some grass work (and added chain to the horse
hitching post) and it came out pretty good for staging a figure

 

[theBaron]

I heard a suggestion at our club meeting Friday night, to try using those green plastic scouring pads, like 3M Scotch-Brite or their generic equivalent. We looked at a commercially-made mat that represented a grassy meadow or heath surface, and someone pointed out that it's basically the same plastic mesh. You just have to pull the pad apart to tease it out, and it can be painted as you like. I'm keen to try that one now myself.

Prost!
Brad

 

[marco55]

Very nice Walt.Thank you.
Mark

 

[jkstew11]

I experimented with felt as a potential terrain mat this past weekend. I bought a small piece of felt from Michaels Hobby and tested the application of acrylic paint by brushing it on. Soaks up the acrylic quite readily, and repeated applications was necessary. The paint will soak through, so make certain you have cardboard or newspaper underneath to protect any table surface you don't want wet or stained. After drying, the acrylic held fast -- its a light brown and "Mississippi Mud" color to simulate bare ground.

Next, I tried gluing on grass flock with flock cement (both are Woodland Scenics products) and the flock is also holding fast on both the acrylic-painted felt and unpainted felt surfaces.

Felt as a medium, thus far, using the acrylic paint and flock seems to do quite well. I can also roll up and roll out this felt terrain repeatedly without any of the flock falling off. I'm going to go for it on a larger piece of felt. I think I will try to find acrylic in a spray can, like Krylon H20. I will send pictures if I can figure out how to post.
Joel