Dio-Bolical Monday No: 30 – “Death & Taxes: The Earls Visit – Part 8”

Featured by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Dio-Bolical Monday, Uncategorized

This week I started work on the river section that the Mill sits on.  This is a piece that will take quite a while.  Not so much due to the painting but more to do with the drying time when later in the process I add layers of Woodland Scenics Realistic Water.

The first job was to get the section primed and then to get the areas of brick work which are aligned to the base section of the Mill building painted to match what I had already done.  In the image below you can see that I have started by painting the brick work with the basic grey colour I had used before.

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For my next step I painted the river bed with some burnt Umber and applied some early dry brushed highlights.  The three unpainted areas in the image below are where the Mill and the Wheel Support will be positioned later.

You might also notice that I have two problems to overcome.  Firstly, the river section isn’t as wide as the base the diorama is going on. It was therefore necessary to create an additional river piece section at the back and this I made from some plaster board which was then carved to blend in.  You can see the additional piece in its basic form at the top of the image.   It will be a little higher than the river section because I want to create an image of some faster flowing water in due course as this is what would make the wheel turn.

The second problem is one of leveling the base section of the Mill.  When placed on the river section the base is raised a little.  I used some old plastic slotter bases, the sort that come with figures you buy, as these proved to be the ideal height.  You can also see that I’ve started playing around with some slate chippings from my garden.

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The next step was to lay down some Daz air drying clay and to fix the base section of the Mill in place.

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With the base level in situ and no longer wobbling it was time to start building up the area  around the front, back and sides of the Mill and getting more colours and dry brushing added to the river bed.  Due to the drying time for the Daz clay this was a slow process but I did manage to make a start and also managed to add some fine grit between the rocks too.

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Generally base work is something which I enjoy but it isn’t something which can be rushed due to the time for things to dry and cure.  In it’s present state it all looks rather scruffy but all being well that will change when I get to start painting and blending the base work to complement the painted finish on the Mill.  As you might have guessed this will be my work for the coming week.

TIM

30 thoughts on “Dio-Bolical Monday No: 30 – “Death & Taxes: The Earls Visit – Part 8””

  1. Great work on the river section TIM, very nice work blending in the additional section you made. The basing around is coming on well, with a great amount of different textures.

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  7. This is all coming along very nicely. The additional section of river looks great and matches seamlessly with the rest. Good idea to make some rapids as well, makes the landscape feel more natural and alive. 

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      2. I love both to be honest. Big projects enable me to do much more base work which I enjoy but lack the space for. I’d do so many more and on a much bigger scale if I did. Could do things like that all day. Little projects like just painting a figure on a simple base is very enjoyable too. Either way it’s a win win. 🤗

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      3. I’m the same. When I built the treehouse last Fembruary I was in heaven haha. I had a whole bunch of ideas that all came to fruition in one larger scaler diorama. Then, like you, finishing a miniature or a squad or something is equally exhilarating.

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  10. I think this week’s progress is another example of laying down a foundation that will serve you well as the project progresses. It might be the most glamourous thing you work on but it will be paying dividends soon enough!

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