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Helms Deep Terrain
This piece was made using 5mm foamcore board,
breakfast
cereal boxes, bits and pieces found
about the house.
I originally decided to make this after
seeing the cost of the
official piece in the shops.
First, I did some research on the web
and found several gamers
who had made this piece.
I used ideas from all areas including:
reference found in books and magazines.
I then developed a plan, which was
transferred to a large piece of board.
I drew this out on a large piece of
foamcore board (1) and then worked up. (2)
The walls were made from the card of
cereal packets strengthened (3,4)
with more foamcore board using upva glue.
At each stage I pinned the bits
together and waited for the glue to fully dry.(5)
As the boys were going to play with
this piece it had to be fairly strong and also
dismantle for storage.(6)
Using the foamcore made the whole thing
very light yet tough.
I am not sure if the photo’s show
this but the model is actually six pieces.
The outer wall is three parts. The
internal ramp two and the internal castle is one big piece.
The outside walls were covered in cut
up wall paper samples. In fact any wall that would be seen from the front.
These had the texture of stone and when arranged in a brickwork pattern and
painted give quite an authentic effect.
Steps were probably the most time
consuming part. First they had to be calculated to fit the spaces on the piece
and then cut. Gluing also took time as each step cut from the foam board has to
be glued individually.
The last part to be fashioned was the
battlements. They were made from balsa wood. I found that as they would need to
be carved and also on a curve the wood fitted the bill.
The only drawback with the balsa is it
has a wood grain. This I tried to cover by heavy painting. First, as with most
of my game pieces, I spray painted the whole thing with black Hammerite
textured paint. This not only gives a nice texture but also makes for a good
base colour and it’s quick to do.
For the interior ramp courtyard area
and walkways on the wall, I used more cut up wallpaper samples.
Everything was dry brushed with various
shades of grey to give it a weathered stone effect.
The whole thing could do with some more
weathering, with some greens to look like moss has been allowed to take hold.
I did make some doors that open for the
main gate. They can be removed in a game scenario for better access to the
inside. Also I have detailed the front gate house but don’t seem to have
a shot of these yet.