Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woods

Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
I'm still waiting for the master casts of the Oakbound Kickstarter minis to come through, so whilst I'm waiting I thought I'd make some scenery to photograph them in front of based on the stunning Vassal's park here in Bristol.

DSCF1090.JPG


There aren't any oaks in this wood yet (Vassal's is beech) but there will be at least one gnarled Stillmanic tree. More in-progress photos on the blog.
 
axiom

axiom

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Oooh! Nice :) Those are some great looking slopes
 
Niibl

Niibl

Member
Re: AW: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound

Great work so far.
Quite a lot of work for a few photos but I always respect mad projects that are so well executed.:!:
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

I am taking photos for an online shop, so they have to be good! :) Plus I'll be using the scenery for published material in the future so worth investing the effort at this point. :grin:
 

Dooz

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

It's starting to look really great. Wish I had the talent, patience, space and time to make terrain like that
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Dooz":2t71cilc said:
It's starting to look really great. Wish I had the talent
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Practice, some good tools and copious amounts of tea- on the model and off it!

Dooz":2t71cilc said:
patience,
Click to expand...

My work colleagues know otherwise!

Dooz":2t71cilc said:
space
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Fortunately I have a joint workshop, there just wouldn't be room on the narrowboat... not sure where exactly it's going to LIVE!

Dooz":2t71cilc said:
and time to make terrain like that
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I start a new, full-time job in just over a week... making the most of the two days free I have left before then! :)
 
Suber

Suber

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

You just took this to another level -I mean, literally, with different levels :grin:
The 3D conception of this is absolutely incredible, bravo!
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

I remember walking through woods in Devon when I was younger and imagining elven scouts skirmishing through the trees... I know battles typically need wide, flat terrain but I'm picturing snipers and scouts setting up in the trees alongside the field and picking off the foe from the cover of the woodland. :)
 
Count Von Bruno

Count Von Bruno

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Looks absolutely brilliant.

If only I had the room to do something halfway as cool as this and not have it broken by marauding savages.
 
Niibl

Niibl

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Really nice.
And it contains several tricks I will keep in mind of when I start my next terrain project.
Btw. how did you cut the foam?
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Niibl":bgjogsqs said:
Btw. how did you cut the foam?
Click to expand...

I have an industrial hot wire cutter with a hand-carver (basically a handle with a loop of wire coming out through which a current is passed to make it heat up and melt the plastic). You can make one of these tools quite, easily, just make sure you have a lot of ventilation as melting foam releases cyanide which is not great for your health! The hotwire has the added bonus that is leaves a rocky texture on the cut surface which drybrushes nicely. You can shape the wire to whatever curve you like, it's very handy for hollowing out rivers (especially where they cross modular terrain pieces- you can guarantee the same cross-section). For this I used the MDF side panels to give me a uniform edge shape and ran the hot wire tool along the edge of the MDF to make sure the foam on each module ended in the same shape.
 
Asslessman

Asslessman

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Spectacular job, real real spectacular job. I just love when scenery is not only another detail but becomes the source of a whole atmosphere, just what you achieved here. 8-)
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Thanks. I'm hoping to use it for a Christmas-themed game of nursery rhymes and gluhwein! With any luck it will get enough use for this effort to have been worthwhile, but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time so it already seems worth putting the time in. :)


Oh, and we went to the Harry Potter studio tour in August and I've been craving a 28mm Hogwarts castle for some time... or at least wanting to prove I could have worked on that stunning model!
 

Harry

Moderator
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Looking good. Well worth following the link to your site to look at all the other pictures. Great stuff.
What are you going with for foliage on the trees?
and
Have you come across Birch seeds .... as a modelling material? (For forest floor debris)
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Hmm, I will have a look at birch seeds. My debris at the moment is architects' fake leaves but I need more colour variation and I don't think the ones I have would be easy to dye. I'm hoping for a kind of autumnal look to the trees, so bare branches and smattering of brown leaves ready to fall. I've got some plans for the branches (and subsequent hedgerows) which I need to test, but I'll be looking back at Nigel Stillman's trees articles beforehand to see if there are any nuggets there I've missed. :grin:
 

Harry

Moderator
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Well birch seeds look pretty much like dried leaves towards the end of autumn naurally.
They are perfect for scale.
You can buy hem dyed ... but why would you?

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daddyorchips

Member
Re: Can't see the woods for the twigs! Building Oakbound Woo

Dooz":a6cx9o6h said:
It's starting to look really great. Wish I had the talent, patience, space and time to make terrain like that
Click to expand...

me too. thats amazing.
 
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