The presentation
It’s time to start thinking about displaying this model and I had thought about an urban setting but during the construction stage decided against it but would have some of the weathering stages to show rubble dust incorporated and have the vehicle shown in a rural setting. This would help to make the model stand out more against the groundwork.
So to work, a cheap small cheese board was purchased. The dimensions were worked out for the vehicle and sketches were made to show the contours. I cut four pieces of rectangular base wood which would be butted to one another to form a rectangle. This was fixed in place with PVA and panel pins and allowed to dry.
I now cut 1.5mm plastic card to the contours and glued them to the wooden rectangle using PVA and for the plastic to plastic joints used the Tamiya liquid adhesive. The plastic is clamped to the wood and everything allowed to dry. Each joint was cleaned up with files to a smooth finish.
Oasis foam was now cut to rough size and when something like near the right contour, was glued in place. Given 24 hrs to cure I then used a serrated carving knife to cut the foam level with the plastic card walls. I then sanded the foam to get rid of any unsightly edges so that the flow of the landscape is smooth.
The next part of the build was to cover the foam with Pollyfilla (interior decorating filler in a tube) which is kept to a thin layer that will help to keep the drying time shorter; I leave this overnight for safety.
The ground work is given a coat of paint and allowed to dry. The side walls and the base are spray painted with a black colour which took three coats to cover. I then went back to the top using brown acrylics the ground was painted in irregular shapes and for texture I added some pigments both wet and dry.
