AK47 Republic - Objective Markers part 2: Materials

With some initial ideas planned, the next stage was to gather my materials.  Blender, toilet paper, water, jug (here shown containing loo roll soaking in warm water), mortar dye, paint, CDs, twigs, cardboard, hot glue gun. Casting plaster also used, though I missed it off the picture below.

Lots of useful things for making scenery.

The first thing to make was the bases.  I found my box of old computer magazine CDs, saved because they contained useful programs.  Being 20+ years old, they probably won't run on Windows 4 generations removed from the original version, so it's safe to recycle them for a new purpose.

Old CDs ready for re-use.

I tore some cereal packet card into small pieces to stick over the holes in the middle of the CDs to stop my texturing mixture from oozing through and gluing them to the work surface.  I used UHU glue to ensure a quick grip and waterproof join.

Holes covered.

Next task was to mix up some sculptamold/modelling compound type mix from pulped toilet paper.  I tore off about 1/3 of a toilet roll (cheapest ones purchased for use in model-making) and left it in a jug of warm water for about 5 minutes while I gathered the rest of the materials.  Using a hand blender, I pureed it into a fine pulp.

Well-blended toilet paper.

I added some of the mortar dye.  If possible, I prefer to work with pre-coloured materials so that if the terrain piece should get damaged, you don't have glaring white patches of the material showing through.

Adding the mortar dye.

The mortar dye wasn't really strong enough, so I also added a good squirt of brown acrylic craft paint too.  The end result was just what I was after, despite looking rather unpleasant.  Having a flatulent child nearby added an unnervingly realistic aroma to the proceedings...

Make up your own caption.

I half filled a yoghurt pot with casting plaster, added an equal amount of the coloured pulp and then mixed well.  The resulting mixture was smeared onto the first few CDs, I had enough for 3. It was sculpted into the rough landforms I wanted and left to dry quickly in the sunshine.

Ingredients for the ground sculpting.

I wanted trees on some of the the objective markers.  These would be made from privet hedge clippings, in this instance carefully selected from a dead bit of privet hedge to guarantee they were already dried out.

Privet hedge clippings.

The bits of privet were cut straight at the base with a fine saw, then poked into the basing material to leave neat sockets.  When the material had dried, the trees were hot glued into position.

In the third part, I'll cover the next stages of the texturing process.