How to….. TRENCH SECTIONS

Fig#1 Basic straight trench piece.

Single straight trench. I firstly painted the grassy areas with the standard Salisbury Stone emulsion. Make sure you also paint the sandbags at the same time. Tis makes things easier later. On reflection, what I should have done was to paint all wooden areas with desired colour. We used a dark brown acrylic, but a lighter tan or sawn wood type colour can look very nice.  You can use this time to paint the areas where the sandbags join, allowing you to drybrush the bags and keep a dark join area for enhanced effect. I also paint the end the same colour where the wood is adjacent to the sides. [NB colour is strangely off. Inexperienced camera work on my part!]

Fig#2 – Painted grassy areas.

I then painted the wooden areas. It can be very easy, particularly if using a darker colour, to miss little pieces. Check when dry to avoid patches of the original PLA model being displayed J

Fig#3 wooden areas painted.

Dry brush the sandbags and wooden areas. This example is not the best of my dry brushing for sure but gives you an idea.

Fig#4 wood and bags drybrushed.

Use a medium brush and apply a healthy coat of PVA [unwatered] but be careful not to push adhesive into the gaps between the sandbags. Sprinkle on your flock and press down gently but firmly.

Pro tip – When you think you have got all the loose flock off, think again. You almost certainly haven’t. I lightly tap the underside to help get the excess off. If it’s the first flock then there are no great issues with mixing, but remember that when you remove the next application, you will undoubtedly be adding small amounts of previous flocks to your container. I tend to lightly shake off excess on second and subsequent applications and then tap it off into another container. This container will build up with a combination of all your flocks and you may well find it of use in your modelling, but even if you don’t, you will avoid heavy contamination of each of your flock stocks.

I use a ten-drawer unit with a different flock in each. Makes it easy to just pull a drawer out and crack through your work.

Fig#5 grass flock applied.

I now apply the extra details. On the inside edge of the sandbags there are small ledges that I apply PVA to and then apply small quantities of either the grass flock or a darker mix, possibly from my trash flock tray of all the bits that I tap off mixed applications. This creates a small but noticeable effect on the inside edge of the trench boards. I also apply small amounts of PVA down on the boards themselves, just to break up the floor area.

Again, when tufting, think about practical use and storage.

Figure#6 finished single trench section.