Last night, I got to work on the most anticipated part of this project for me: the cliffs and the roads. I started off with the pine bark and my hot glue gun. Hot glue will work more effectively when gluing to felt than white glue, and it also allows me continue immediately. So I laid out the bark and attached it. Then, I took a scrap of foam and started to back fill behind the bark. Cut and fit the foam around the bark as well as possible. I used white glue and skewers to hold it. Fill in gaps with small chunks of loose foam. Anything you can fill in with foam will save you on plaster later on. I also worked on three ramps that will allow access to the hill. This is a messy process. Make sure you blow the tables off before you start on the plaster.
After the cliffs were filled in, I started to work on the plaster. I laid it on the bark eccessively. The point here is to bridge the gap between the top surface of the bark to the foam. You want the cliffs to look like they are a part of the hill, not like someone laid them next to it. There were a few spots where the bark was taller than the foam, so I had to double up on the foam. We'll see later if I'll regret that decision visually, but it will give some elevated platforms to shoot from.
Once the cliffs were molded, I started on the roads. Put the plaster in the middle of the road, spread to the edges, the run the spatula down the middle of the road to give it the proper flow. I also ran the edge of the spatula through the road to make ruts, then lightly dragged it over them to lessen its impact.
These boards are nearly done and ready to paint. I will likely hit these (at least the cliffs) with my sander (or sand by hand) just to smooth it out a little. I also have some felt to put on top of the hill. Once these are finished, I am going to hit them with textured paint and start the painting process. Before that, these will need a lot of time to dry, so I likely won't return to this till next weekend.
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