A Photographic Backdrop Board

Having got myself a half-decent camera, I decided to build a board with a ground surface and sky backdrop, on which I could place models to photograph. My idea was that the "sky" would be on a board which would stand up in a slot at the back and the join would be hidden by a line of bushes. Like a lot of our projects, this took a good deal longer to realise than expected. But here it is at any rate. We'll very shortly have some pictures of the Russian buildings I have since photographed on it.  

Here's the board, which is built on a sheet of hardboard, first covered with filler plus a bit of PVA, covered in sand and grit and then painted and drybrushed to give some impression of earth. I wanted to get the impression of the "patchwork" of crops that was typical of the pre-modern battlefield. You can see the board curled up a little at the front corners, though that won't show on the finished photos. 

Now from a low angle. I covered it with static grass in different colours, different mixes and using different methods. I'm not a big fan of expensive tools, but I did treat myself to a "Super Power Grass Applicator" from the Italian firm of Diorama Presepe (link added to my list). It set me back about £120, but it's certainly powerful ( 40volts) and rather satisfying, so long as you don't mind the odd little electric shock from the powerful build-up of static electricity. 

The slot, made from two battens screwed to the hardboard. It's concealed by bushes made from rubberised horsehair. I was learning the knack of using static grass here. Some fields came out nicer than others, such as the nearest one came out with its nice blend between colours.

Here you can see what the whole thing look like with a sky backdrop slotted in. I tried to paint a nice new sky, but when I found you could buy one for the purpose for only a few pounds it seemed a better option. The downside of buying the cheapest one though is that it has to find its way here from China (via slow boat it seems), so I'm temporarily having to use my old sky board from 1989.

Now from a low angle with suitable cropping of the photo, you get the picture of how it's supposed to look. The main thing with using long static grass and a powerful applicator is that it looks realistic and pleasingly lush. I modelled some flowers growing in the fields but kept it very low key because garish clumps can ruin the natural effect.

I planned to use a line of trees to further blur the join between board and backdrop, but I'm not sure it adds much in practice. The bases stand out because of the "dead leaf" covering, and we see the downside of tall static grass as a board covering: bases placed on top "float" a few millimetres above the actual board rather than blending in, certainly when viewed from this low angle. Figure bases would presumably do the same. It might not be so noticeable from the normal angle as we sit or stand well above the board. 

A Spaceship Made of Junk

 As I was saying, I went to study "Model Design" at Hertford Uni from 1998. I built a variety of models there, some of which are no longer around or wouldn't be of much interest. I thought you might be amused to see this one though. The project was to design then build a special effects-style model out of "found objects", photograph it and then work up the images in Photoshop to reflect the design sketches. The actual model was about two feet long, but the idea was to make it look huge in the final images.

The first picture here is my "storyboard" drawing for one of the images. Then there are two photographs of the actual model, which was built from a packing crate, bits of kids' toys and parts from discarded desktop PC's. Finally there are three Photoshopped images of the finished thing. How to work Photoshop would have remained a useful skill, but that was something my ageing brain quickly forgot. 

Anyway, something different for today's post, but back to proper wargames models tomorrow!

Time for something different

In 1998 I decided it was time for me and the UK civil service to go our separate ways and accepted a voluntary redundancy payoff. I applied to study a BA in Model Design at Hertford University in faraway Hatfield. The course teaches the making of architectural models, product models and special effects models for film and TV. At that stage I was open minded as to what sort of direction this might lead me in. 

Admission was by "portfolio submission", as they put it, ie you had to show examples of models made, written work, ability to study, etc. In particular, rather than the historical models they saw, I was asked to make a strict scale model of something modern "of architectural merit". The photo below is what they got. It's part of an iconic example of modernist style, the Fagus factory in Germany, designed by one of the future leaders of the Bauhaus architectural and design movement. 

The model is to something like 1/ 120 scale if I remember rightly, and is blank on the rear face. So no use for wargaming in my terms. I gave it to my young son years later as a bit of scenery for his Hornby railway! But it got me on the course.

So I found myself a full-time student again at the age of 46, which was a wacky experience. I would learn new tools and techniques, especially resin casting, and acquired a broader artistic understanding and a lot of experience making precise models. I'll hopefully be able to show you one or two of the things I made at Hatfield later on. I met some nice people, not least James Sharpe, "Big Jim" in those days, who is still very active in wargames modelmaking as Oshiro. I was on course to get a First, but the workload was horrendous and the hassles with lecturers and admin were sanity-threatening. Feeling I was learning less than at the start, and being promised work in the wargames field, I moved on once again. 

More wargames, less autobiography soon, folks!!