Getting started…
Firstly, we would like to remind our customers that the prints are purchased unaltered. They come as basic printed items without paint, flock, or other dressing. The finished pics are there so you can see what is easily achievable.
Before painting, check the base area to ensure there is no extended print from the initial squishing layer. This can usually be easily identified with your finger. If there is, it can be removed by light sanding or a gentle run with a modelling knife.
Our models accept most types of paints. We apply a coat of emulsion to most of ours [Salisbury Stone by Dulux] as recommended by the leading manufacturer of hex-based gaming systems.
It is recommended that you paint the sides of the pieces, especially if the PLA colour clashes with the terrain you are creating. We find that painted sides ensure a seamless look to your setup if you have slack in between your tiles, although we highly recommend creating a simple wooden frame to place around your area to keep the tiles nice and tight. [See ‘Gaming with DiD…’]
Detail work is done with acrylics, enamels, or emulsion, and sometimes with fine marker pens.
Flock will adhere with PVA glue. We do not water down our PVA. Tap off excess. [Advice, flock will continue to shed, so be careful about tapping off subsequent applications to avoid introducing unwanted residue into your flock.]
Hedges, walls, fences, and other items are attached using Hot Glue, PVA, Evostik, or Superglue, depending on the items.
Trees are placed in a drilled hole and glued in place. Because of the large table we use, the trees in our set-up are cheaper versions to keep our gaming costs down. Obviously improved visual effects will be obtained with spending more on the items you dress your table with.
Water effects on shallow streams are done with gloss paint, varnish, acrylic gel, and special modeller’s water effect.
For deep streams, high quality epoxy resin is used to avoid the possibility of shrinkage when it dries. [Remember to prepare the stream/river bed first J ]. We sealed off with foam strips that are PVA’d in place. We then coat the inside of the foam with more PVA to prevent resin being absorbed. Whilst we have done single pours of resin to a depth of 6-7mm, we recommend two pours at least. If you wish to get truly creative, this allows for the adding of flotsam and jetsam or even fish should you require. Once the resin is hardened, the ends are then removed by breaking and cutting. It may be necessary to sand the rough end. It works for us, but the gamer will have his own way.
As soon as we can do the work, there will be basic tutorials on some basics and ‘out of the ordinary’ items.