Building terrain with no money

[Veebs]

With that one I formed the hill, then drove the toothpicks in to make "reserve holes" for them to go back into after baking. However, after playing with this a little more (more pics to come! ), I sculpted and baked the terrain right onto the cardboard bases without a problem. So long as you're not baking the stuff right next to the oven elements you shouldn't have any problems at all.

[Veebs]

Here is my latest terrain piece. The walls are made from dough, central pedestal, and one of the tombstones are made from baked dough. The rest of the tombstones are simply from a Halloween diorama set called "Spooky Town" that I picked up cheap at Micheals. The central monument is one of the freebie GW models they give you when you go in and ask for painting lessons. Overall, I love how this one turned out!

[Peg leg Pete]

...alright, dough trench in progress. it's looking good so far. the only problem is that the edges puffed up just a little, so no i have to fill in the gap between the edges of the trenches and the cardstock i'm using for a base.

[iG4MER]

Okay I am sold, gonna try this idea.

[Varagon]

Great work Pinkypie! I'd recommend that you NOT use cardboard as a base. It will warp as water/liquid soaks into and eventually bend, causing cracks and other problems.

Love it!

[Pinkypie]

Before sleep, this is a house build with the dough and baked in the oven. I used cardboard to make walls and "decorated" them with the dough, so there's a house of cardboard underneath it all. To be fair, I didn't have any trouble using cardboard as a base, and I believe if you get any trouble with it, you're not changing your temperatures slow enough, if you rush it, it'll crack no matter what you do, so you have to take it -real- slow with cardboard.



This was my first successful attempt with it, so I got a bit eager to put it up, I'll repost when it is roofed and touched up, just thought I'd give a heads up with how to build walls..

[Peg leg Pete]

whew...that was a lot of work. managed to finish my dough-based command trench in time for the Wrath event this afternoon. first, two pics of the completed project:





two action shots:





the dough was baked on a regular cookie sheet and then glued to a cardboard base. the edges poofed up a little so i used some clay to cover up the gaps. the tin cups and the pan were made out of clay by my wife. the sandbags were made by my stepdaughter and i out of more clay, and the barbed wire was made of...well..wire.

[Veebs]

Those are great pieces! I'll have to see what I can do for a trench soon!

I look forward to seeing the finished house, Pinkie!

[volt_ron]

I'm curious as to how it feels. Is it rock hard, rock hard? Or does it give a little, kinda still doughy?

Thanks!

[Veebs]

Rock hard as in after it's baked, you can bang it on the table fairly hard and it won't even chip the paint.

[Warboss71]

The walled graveyard is nice.

[Scowling-Koldun]

At what temp do you bake? And would the temp melt plastic?

[Veebs]

When I do my stuff I start it at around 250 F for 1/2 an hour, then go up to 300 F for another half hour, then to 400 F for another half hour. I've also found that letting it sit and air dry for a few hours before baking it does help reduce the little bit of poofing and cracking that can occur.

And yes, at those temps, plastic would indeed melt.

[PG_riddleboxjoker]

Quick question on the dough. Should it feel like actual dough or more like play-doh?

[Veebs]

Should feel like Play-doh.

[PG_riddleboxjoker]

Thanks! Will have some newbie items posted later thisweek!

[Bullockist]

I know this is a bit of a necro, but i have something to add.
temperatures for baking 121 c, 176 c, 218c.
Things to remember essentially you are baking biscuit, so if you don't plan to paint it straght away, seal it with something ( i used pva or wood glue) otherwise after a while it will go soft and wet, mine did this after about 1 week of sitting about glued to things.
leAVING IT TO "CURE" DOES MAKE IT EASIER TO WORK WITH. (bah caps) I left mine in an ice cream container (plastic) with the lid on for 2 weeks, it keeps fine and dries out slowly.
a heartfelt thanx for pinkypie and veebs for showing that terrain can be dirt cheap.

[whitekong]

Just a quick suggestion for everyone. If you are using cardboard for basing, use a piece of masking tape on the edge. It will hide the cut edge and will also hold paint.