Building DIY scenery by Bobscene

I got some questions on how I build my scenery.
The answer is a long story of trial and error (and many more errors), to cut it short, here is where it got me.

Starting out Mordheim the challenge was for me: how to build a ruined Medieval city and not have to, again and again, repeat the same work.
So logically I ended up with moulds.

I make mine cheap, using: corn starch and clear silicone (the cheapest you can find). Mix em up in equal amounts on a plastic/glass plate. If it sticks to much ad some starch if the mix is to dry ad some more silicone. I usually don't make more than 200 gr. at once because after 20 minutes or so the mixture starts to harden.






Of course before putting the putty to the sculp I have to sculp.
As you can see on the above picture. I mainly use plasticine (roll it flat with a bottle). Then I add details (sometimes pieces of a toy I sawed/cut off) or stones or balsa wood (with some extra textures carved in)

My sons collection of toys provide me with some ready made textures such as: brick walls, roofs, wooden planks, stone walls, doors etc… But I have sculpted my own doors, window, wooden beams etc… out of plasticine also.



After the moulding putty has been overnight on the sculpt it will peal of (no release agent necessary). Plasticine and other details can be used again.



At first I tried filling the moulds with caulk (because that was what I had used to make my 'nature battle mat', but that did not take detail enough and shrinks to much.
So I had the idea of filling them up with glue of my trusty hot glue gun.
This was cheap, fast drying (I have little patience when it comes to technique), and very strong. Actually I can drop my collection of scenery because it, now is, made of 100 procent hot glue gun glue.
This however makes small air bubbles so sometimes details are lost.
But I think that it ads to the 'ruined look' of my Mordheim scenery. I also never use any rulers to measure so everything I build is a bit crummy, just as I imagine an run down medieval city.
The glue is so tough that even the finest parts such as: spikes on a fence or branches on a tree become almost unbreakable (because the material bends).
The glue can also be very easily cut to shape and (hot ) glued together.



Here you can see that the build is in effect 100 pro cent glue.
Then I prime it with 'plastic primer' then with black/grey primer and I paint with acrylic paint and mix up my own colors.

I now have a collection of moulds with a wide variety of textures/functions. Sometimes I will fill the door in one mould and combine it with a piece of wall from an other mould. Then cut to shape and glue them together. In other words with the moulds I now have I can keep varying facades/buildings.

But that is where it stops , a bit , for me. I now have solved the problem I put to myself at the start of this project. That is also why scenery making, for me, is disappearing, a bit, to the background.

Recently I made a lamp shade with 'my' mould-placticine-and hot glue gun glue-technique. Because before painting the material is white opaque.
And with the scenery I produced I am thinking on how to use it in a small (puppet/animation) theatre production.

Ciao,
Bobscene

Thank you for taking the time to put this post together.  I prefer the uniqueness of working in foamcore, polystyrene and sticks, but I appreciate your discipline and dedication.

That is UBERCOOL! You you did a SPLENDID job crafting the piece. VERY WELL DONE!  
I prefer the one at a time method merely because I LOVE making scenery...it's a form of idiocy I'm sure.