Rocky cliff facility part 1: Building the main structure and painting the rocks

I made some rocky plateaus for my games table as part of the "Five Quid February" challenge on the "Super Cheap Wargaming" Facebook group.  These were made from scrap foam sourced free from a local building site - even though it's waste, always ask before taking it!

Gloves and safety specs are recommended, a dust mask is also a good idea. Those little foam fragments aren't good for your lungs.

 I've sharpened an old table knife with my sharpening stone to make it more efficient at cutting foam.  You can use an extended craft knife, but there is always the risk that the blade will snap off inside the foam and it could be quite hazardous trying to remove it.

Scrap insulation.

This block of foam is 4 inches /10 cm thick, so big enough to make a substantial rocky plateau for my 15mm games without needing to add any extra layers.

4" / 10cm thick.

The first task is to peel the foil/card facing off  both sides.  This is quite thick and can be a bit sharp, so be careful!

Peel off the outer foil/card coating.

The basic shape is carved into the foam.  I try to make them all slightly irregular so that if you put them close together, you get winding passageways between the rocky walls.

Cutting the foam to shape.

This plateau will have 2 levels, and some sort of embedded processing facility with a doorway on the upper level and a ladder providing access from below.

Basic shape of 2 level plateau.

The rough shape is enough, as the surface is textured, the sharp edges disappear and everything rounds out into a more uniform shape.  Horizontal cuts are made that will give the effect of the sedimentary rock layers.

Horizontal striations engraved.

Vertical cuts are next, which will allow the sedimentary layers to flake off in small sections.

Vertical striations engraved.

I've made sure the upper level curves seamlessly into the main rock face.  Smaller chunks will be left scattered around the base of the rocky wall.

Don't forget the upper layer.

The messy part is scraping the knife edge across the sides of the plateau.  The little bits get everywhere and the static charge makes them cling to everything, so it's best to have a vacuum cleaner handy.  Don't do it in a room with carpet!

This bit gets messy.

After a couple of experiments, I've worked out the best order to paint the rocks for the look that I want.  The starting point is a brown texure coating made from powdered tile grout, PVA and some brown mortar tone.  I'm using deionised water, but only because it's more convenient than going into the house to use the tap.  A clean yoghurt pot is the idela size for the quantity I want to mix up.

Grout, PVA, mortar tone, water, mixing tub.

I use about a dessert spoon of grout (could have used brown but white just happened to be what I had left over from tiling the kitchen), half a level teaspoon of mortar tone and just a splash of PVA.

Ingredients ready for mixing.

I add an amount of water approximately equal to the total amount of dry ingredients which should mix to the consistency of thin cream.  Or maybe a very unpleasant milkshake.

Mmm.... chocolate milk.

A soft, long bristled brush is best. Used in a stabbing motion, it gets the paint into all the nooks and crannies.  Various extra bits of the foam flake off at this time but they can be wiped off at the base of any cliffs as fallen rubble.

Mmm.... chocolate cake.

Because it's been a chilly, damp few days here, the grout mixture was left to dry for 48 hours.

Grout layer all dry.

The texture of the rocks is getting clearer now that the grout has set.  There is a small alcove into which I can stick a door.

Rubble and door alcove.

 A 15mm figure gives an idea of the scale of the block of scenery.

15mm figure for scale.

With the main rocky plateau complete, it's time to think about the structure I want to build onto it.  I was originally planning some sort of dwelling, but I found an old, broken water pistol and decided to switch to a mysterious industrial facility.  A few bits of Lego, some 5mm mesh from a bird-feeder, bits of 3D printing supports, some MDF scraps, old wires and plastic rods, a Robotix beam.

Ready to scratch build some structures.

First thing to do is grab the junior hacksaw and chop up the water pistol.  Off comes the handle, trigger guard and a few other small parts.

Water pistol trimmed to fit.

A small strip is trimmed out of the side of the plateau to allow the structure to fit neatly.

Tower in place.

The tower needs some sort of chimney on the top, a piece of waste plastic tube trimmed to a shorter length will do.  A small hair curler will act as a protective cage around it.

A piece of plastic tube, hair curler and a bit of the water pistol.

 A test fiting of the parts looks pretty good.  These will be painted separately and then glued into place as the very final stage.

Chimney dry-fitted together.

 A 3D printed door will provide access into the interior of the plateau.

3D printed door.

 The doorway is a little large but I can fill in the gaps around it to make it look right.

Door in place.

 People will need a means of access to the plateau and this is where the bird feeder comes in.  Trimmed into strips, it forms the starting point for the ladders.

Bird feeder cut into strips for ladders.

 

The ladders are cut down to appropriately sized sections.  One will be useful to provide access to the machinery tower/chimney.

One piece to provide access to the tower machinery.

The other two provide access from the ground to the top of the plateau, the other from the top of the plateau to the lower level.

Ladder height test for proposed locations.

The side bars on the ladder fold back and push into the rockface.  Folding over the top couple of rungs helps fix it in place.

Ladder fixed in place.

With the main plateau completed, it's time to move onto painting. The first stage is to apply an ink wash, approximately equal quantities of  PVA and matt acrylic varnish, twice the amount of water, a few drops of black ink. Over the brown grout, this gives a well-shaded dark brown rocky look.

Black wash applied.

I should probably have used a bit more water in the mix, it does look slightly whitish when it dries due to the matting agent in the varnish, but this will mostly be hidden in the later flocking stages.

Black wash applied, ladder and door in place.

A few more paints will be used for drybrushing, starting with the tester pots of Nutmeg Spice (medium brown), then Potters Clay (pale brown - and shouldn't it have an apostrophe in "Potters"?), with a final, very light dusting of Quick Silver (which is actually grey, not silver!).

Greys and browns for drybrushing.

After the drybrushing, the rocks look much better.  The flat areas on top will be painted green prior to adding flock.  The green layer makes the flock look more luxuriant.

Drybrushing finished and ladders in place.

Showing the cut-out for the tower.

Main ladder.

Ladder and door.

For part 2, I'll go into more detail on how the industrial tower and platform was painted and weathered using a chipping technique over a rusty metallic base coat.