Shape of things to come

I know there has been a small break in my posts, but bare with me. I have been painting air supports for three armies, some 88s, and some Long Toms. Since I made a decision early on that I wouldn't write any painting tutorial, I would not be writing about them. There is lots of blog and tutorials concerning figure painting, by more talented painters, so there you have it. I wouldn't be stepping on no giants toes.

Things I've done, vol. 1: I bought three huge boxes to house my terrain.

However, on the side I have been making US Fire Direction Centre - scratch built - that I'm going play as a normal staff team. Or in case of some huge Total War game, my artillery battery's second in command. Yeah, I have that sort of perverse idea.

Things I've done, vol. 2: Sturmovik - work in progress.

Also, I have a sheet of foam-core board that I'm going to turn into house ruins; I have made plans to make a garden for Manor House Arnhem (hope that the Wife - an interior design and garden blogger - concludes the plan); my minefields and barbed wire obstacles need to be finished...

Things I've done, vol. 3: Played a Bulge game with a convertee.
Sturmvogel pilot has madskillz in low flying.

So stay tuned. Lots of posts coming. In good time.

New front

Yours truly was asked to join in VonRichthofen's Lounge and I gladly joined forces with them. I will be sharing posts from this blog there, so stay tuned.

We wants a SHRUBBERY! - Making bocage

I think has came across, that I like to play Normandy battles, so there has to be bocage for those games. I started the project last year, have played almost every homegame with them, and today I finished. I think.

I bought two kinds of wood profile, triangle and half-round, for about 6 metres of 20 feet. Yeah, it was a lot, and theres still half of them in the first and second stage... But the half of it I finished.

At first, I drilled holes in the half of the profiles and then stuck a bamboo barbeque sticks in those holes. These would be the tree-trunks, because some of the bocage have, not only bushes, but trees too. Then I added some various grains to make the stones.

On the foreground, adding tree-trunks; in the background, stoned bocage.

After that I sprayed them brown.

And had a beer.
(Yes, it's lite, deal with it - even Homewargamer should look fabulous)

Next I forgot the sprayed and dry-brushed bocage outside - as I had sparayed them outside - and  came to realize, that birds don't mind if the grains have poisonous paints over them.

Notice the absence of stones.

 I didn't mind much about eaten stones, because I was going to add the bushes and it would not show.

Just turfed.

The only problem - that I later learned - was that I had used turf, that made really cool looking bushes, but all the loose turf fell off, leaving only a thin coverage.

Turfed bocage.
Notice the big clump of turf, that - and it's kind - lead me to believe it was okay.
It wasn't.

After a year of gaming, the turf had come to a really thin layer. The bocage didn't look like bocage. So this, time I added clump foliage.

Lots of PVA before adding clump foliage.

Finished. Looks a lot better.