Between Nashcon, being busy with the PTA as the school year wraps up, and trying to organize JohnnyCon, it’s been a week or two since I was able to work on the board for my Gettysburg project. But it’s back to work now, and this is when the fun really starts.

It is time to start laying down the road network and flocking the fields. The road network is done just like the rivers. I trace the areas between the roads, and make a template. Then I paint along the edges of the template with a light brown. But as I trace the road network I’m also tracing the fence lines, wooded areas, marshes, and so on. I’ll transfer this to the board and then model each area of terrain in turn.

There is a LOT of tracing to be done. Here is a shot of the tracing for the area north of the town.

I’m working in stages at this point. I trace the roads and then trace all the terrain in the areas edged by the roads. Then I cut out a major section and lay down the roads with a light brown paint. Here’s a shot of my working space with a selection of flocks and foliage ready to hand:

You can see some flocking laid down at the bottom of the picture. I trace each field and fence line on to the board. Then I flock the fields one by one using white glue and different green and yellow flocks. I really want the board to have that “checkerboard” look of fields full of different crops and vegetation. I’m going to leave glimpses of the black trace lines to stand in for fences. Visually, I think, the lines will give a hard edge to the fields and create the impression of stone walls and fences.

Here is a close up of the first few fields covered in flock. I’m going to let them completely dry overnight before blowing off the excess. Once the board is complete it will get a coat of Woodland Scenics Cement to hold everything in place.

I’m using very fine flock for the fields, but am using finely ground clump foliage along the edge of the stream. The blank spaces on the left bank will become woods but I haven’t decided how to do woods yet. I may just use clump foliage in a variety of colors. At Nashcon last weekend I bought some metal 1:600 scale trees from Oddzial Osmy. I’m not sure how I’d attach them so they were permanently in place, but I’m going to do a test run. But at $10/pack it could be prohibitively expensive.

The same applies to the narrow sliver on the right bank at the bottom of the picture. That is a marshy area, and that’s another terrain type I need to decide how to model. Perhaps some brown and green paint with little clumps of static grass? I’ll do some test runs and see if I can find a look I like. But for now, it’s trace, copy and glue. Repeat over, and over, and over....

Step 6...More tracing, more flocking, and perhaps some buildings.

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