"Making Hills - Tutorial with pictures " Topic

This past week I found time to put together two hills from scrap foam lying around. I was experimenting with a mix of glue/water/paint/sand to coat them as well as my own mix of flock. I wrote up a small tutorial on my blog with pictures of my process.

One question though, what would you recommend I seal the hills with to keep the flock from coming off during use?

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Thanks for looking,
Dan
thecommandtent.blogspot.com

I seal with spray on acrylic.

Like this.

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Michael.

I do hills with a brown painted and then drybrushed sand base then flock on top.But never bother with the sealing bit- some flock comes off? So what

some flock comes off? So what

Can't speak for Dan from The Command Tent, but I don't like it when the flock comes off.
So I seal it.

Good hills!

My first paint coat on terrain is usually textured masonry paint – it gives a nice texture for drybrushing, a bit of a key for the flock/static grass, and it makes the foam just a little bit tougher (not a lot, but every little helps. Maybe that's just my imagination).

Seal the flock by spraying on diluted PVA/white glue – be generous. On a flock base, it dries matt. Same procedure for shop-bought model trees.

AB…I don't actually like it when it loses flock but itys no hardship and I find sealing the stuff usually darkens the flock too much- my terrain mats end up being a different colour to the hills. If they ever get too bare than the hills will get another coat of flock.

I find sealing the stuff usually darkens the flock too much

Me too and that vexxes me a lot, that clear spray I use hardly alters the shade at all which is great.

Anyway, as long as we are all happy how we play then that is the most important thing.

Sealing it does darken it, but if you seal everything then it matches.
You just plan for the darkening.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I don't like the flock coming off from being used so I'll seal them. Perhaps I might try one with the clear spray and the other a mix of water/pva. Does anyone know if a water/pva mix darkens the flock?

I seal my flock with a diluted mixture of clear flat decoupage glue. It works pretty well, use an eyedropper to drip it on all the surface. The flock is still flexible afterward. Sometimes needs a coat of flat acrylic afterwards to kill some satiny shine; I think that problem has to do with low application temperatures. It doesn't change the colors noticeably.

I find water/pva does darken the flock, static grass less so but both sorts get darkened when I use pva/water/fairy liquid.

Actually my hills do not lose their flock very much. I use a static grass and a PVA/water mix as adhesive. I pour the grass over the glue and then press it in quite strongly with my hands then invert the hill and tap the underside to remove an excess of grass and make it "stand up". So to be honest I have lost some flock but never yet enough to make the hill unusable or to require reflocking…or to make it worthwile sealing it in the first place.

Good discussion though…I have learnt a bit here.

I seal foam board with drywall primer mixed with beige house paint. Cheap, dries fast and can be sprayed with gray enamel primers for rock effects w/o reacting with foam. For desert terrain I thin down drywall compound to a watery slury. This I apply to the foam with a 3" brush dragging it and wiggling it to suggest waves of sand. Base coat in a buff color and drybrush highlights. Quick and very effective.