Bark bark bark
October 12, 2017It’s terrain time! Lately I’ve been working on a variety of fairly low intensity scenery builds – pretty much things I can work on while watching Killjoys and The Expanse.
I picked up the idea for these somewhere online, as these things happen. Someone had used bark to make rocky outcrops, and as I was about to head to our summer place, I figured I’d pick some up and give it a try. Pine bark is plentiful in Finland, and after a few days without rain it was easy to gather up more than enough dry pieces.
The whole process was delightfully simple. I chucked the bark pieces into the oven for a 20-30 minute bake at 200°C. This not only dried them out and got rid of all sorts of teeny tiny little critters, but it also gave my apartment a lovely wood-fired sauna smell.
I glued the pieces to large oval mdf bases I picked up at a local convention, and went to work. After sealing the bark with watered-down PVA, I started painting them. Using mainly cheap craft acrylics, I first painted the pieces black, and then followed it up with progressively lighter shades of grey, drybrushed on, up to pure white. A quick Agrax Earthshade wash followed, as well as a few licks of green wash here and there.
Before and after
Finishing touches were done by adding in a variety of decorative stones, sand, tufts and shrubs, some undergrowth cut from an Ikea plastic plant and static grass. The end result is…surprisingly nice! I feel these just might be some of the nicest scenery bits I’ve ever produced. I snuck in a secret hatch in one of the pieces, made out of coffee stirrers. An old, battered hatch hidden in the bushes under a rocky outcrop – it just screams “pirate” or “smuggler” to me.
Click for a larger version
Click for a larger version
Click for a larger version
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Captain Pemberton-Smythe leads his men on a hunt for pirates
A special mention goes out to Tajima1 Miniatures, who manufacture wonderful tufts and shrubs for miniatures. Fellow blogger Paul of sho3box fame somewhat gushingly recommended these to me, so I decided to give them a try. I’m happy I did! They’re the first tufts I’ve tried that actually live up to the claim of being self-adhesive, and they look lovely to boot. I’ll definitely be using plenty of these.
Dawn of the Lead 
Superb job mate, they are perfect!
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Cheers Alex! Quite happy with them myself 🙂
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These look fantastic! Now thinking about a local source of pine bark to give this a go
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Thanks! Definitely recommended. These are quick and easy to put together and the end result is pretty pleasing.
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Very nice – a good combination of realistic (the rocks) and game-friendly (the grass). Top stuff!
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Thanks! Game-friendliness is definitely a requirement 🙂
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Very nice! Will be using when I run out of lead/tin slag from casting. Thanks!
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Glad to be of help Mark!
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