Instructions for Assembling and Painting the Overgrown ......Assorted Paint Brushes, Assorted Vallejo Paints, Super Glue, India Ink, Rubbing Alcohol, Matte Medium, Assorted Flocks

Instructions for Assembling and Painting the “Overgrown Stone Wall Set”

www.ArchitectsofWar.com

Materials/Tools Needed to Finish Kit…Assorted Paint Brushes, Assorted Vallejo Paints, Super

Glue, India Ink, Rubbing Alcohol, Matte Medium, Assorted Flocks matching your terrain, Assorted files, Toothpicks, Clippers, Hobby Knife, Various small drill bits 1/16, 3/32 and 5/32( an 1/8

th inch bit

may be substituted).

About the “Overgrown Stone Wall” Set… The Overgrown Stone Wall set adds lots of character to either our Hedge

Row Set or Random Stone Wall set. It’s a timeless set that can be used for just about any period and is a nice set to add to a village or farm scene. You can paint it a number of ways for arid, temperate, or even winter scenes.

Gaming Ideas… Stone walls are an obvious choice to provide cover or as a linear defended obstacle. The Overgrown set

can also be used to represent section of stone wall that can’t be crossed over. The set can stand alone or be readily used with many of our other products.

Contents of box for the Overgrown Stone Wall Set …2 resin

base castings, 2 trees; a pipette is included for applying scenic cement (used during assembly).



The Bubble Wars…We do everything we can to keep bubbles out of our resin castings. They are all poured and filled

under pressure. We then inspect them before packaging and pull out any inferior products. However, despite our best efforts, a few bubbles can sometimes be found in our castings. We hate bubbles. Here is a way to wage war on them: Poke around on the bubble (a round void in the casting) with a pin or toothpick to make sure you find its bottom and remove any thin film around it. Next, gather a small drop of super glue (the thicker kind) on the end of your toothpick and let it fill the void. Use just enough to level the surface. Spray gently with accelerator or allow it to dry for 30 minutes or so. If you find this tedious, imagine that when you are poking the bubble with a sharp stick that you are actually poking us in the eye for letting it get into the casting in the first place. As always, if we have really screwed up and you aren’t happy with the casting, return it to us for a new one or a full refund.

Prepping to Paint the Overgrown Stone Wall Set…Wash the resin pieces with soapy water and let dry before

proceeding to remove any residual residues from manufacturing. Make sure the one interlocking piece that matches our other stone wall sets is free of flash. After the parts are dry, drill all the holes (indicated by depressions in the casting) with matching drill bits and test fir a tree or two before you move on.

Priming Your Model…After cleanup and assembly, paint all of your casting with Spray Primer and set them aside to dry

thoroughly. Refer to the instructions on your chosen primer for how long this should take. Our preference is to use solvent based automotive primer. These types of primers are readily available and provide a toothier surface that is much tougher than most primers sold for figure painting. This type of tougher finish from these primers will make your finished terrain pieces far more scratch resistant and work better on urethane castings. Make sure the primer gets into all the little nooks and crannies. Acrylic modeling paint will not stick well to unfinished polyurethane castings. Always use spray paints in a well ventilated area. We primered our Overgrown Stone Wall set black.



Painting Guide Stage Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

A Primer all the resin castings black and let dry thoroughly.

Dry brush everything with 984 Flat Brown

Dry Brush everything with 875 Beige Brown

Dry Brush everything with 874 US Tan

Move on to Stage B - Stones

B Stones, roots, fallen logs

Paint all the stones, fallen logs, and roots with 994 Dark Grey

Add some white to the Dark grey and dry brush the stones again.

Paint “wood” not outer bark, on the fallen logs with 874 US Tan Earth

Let it all dry thoroughly.

C Wash Step – See “How to Make Your Own Wash” then coat your ENTIRE model and let thoroughly dry

Let the Wash dry completely before moving on.

After the alcohol wash is dry, was all the embankments with 75% thinned 984 Flat Brown

Let dry, then go to Step D

D Finishing

Dry Brush the stones with a mixture of half 951 White and half 994 Dark Grey

Dry brush fallen logs lightly, inside and out, with 992 Neutral Grey

Highlight the ends of exposed wood on the logs with spots and streaks of 912 Tan Yellow

Carefully and randomly dry brush exposed ground with 874 US Tan

You can selectively dry brush some areas with 890 Reflective Green mixed with a little yellow to represent molds and moss.

E Random Stones

You can add a little more character to you model by painting a few stones random colors

Try a little brown wash (very THIN brown paint) on this stone or that. Don’t use too much. You don’t want a checkerboard pattern.

Painting Guide… This is meant to be a basic painting guide for your model. You should get some nice results with these

methods. If you are an experienced hobbyist, paint it your way and send us some pictures! We love having great painted products in our web gallery. We have chosen Vallejo Paints because of their quality and almost universal availability. Complete the steps in each STAGE before moving on to the next.



Making your own “Washes”…We are confident that in time we will be producing our own brand of hobby paints, inks,

and washes especially made for terrain modeling. When that time comes we will want you to purchase our “expensive” premade washes because they will be better than anything else. Well, that is what we think. In the meantime, you can buy washes and inks from hobby suppliers, or try this method. It is older than miniature gaming but seems to have served the model making community well for a very long time. It is especially useful when you need large quantities of washes or stains when making big terrain pieces… Purchase a bottle of genuine India Ink (black) from an art supply store. Some stores also sell other colors. If they do, pick up some brown as well. On your way home, stop buy the local drugstore or chemist and buy a big bottle of Isopropyl alcohol. This is the stinky stuff the nurse uses to clean your skin when giving you an injection. These materials should be really cheap. In an old paint pot or other sealable container, add alcohol until it is three quarters full. Figure out how much alcohol is in there by pouring it back out into a measuring cup. Now put it back into the container. For every ounce( 30ml) of alcohol, add 25 drops of India Ink. Stir this mixture well. You now have a very useful basic wash you can put on nearly everything. The alcohol will flood into all the cracks and crevices leaving behind the ink when it evaporates and “staining” the model. Don’t be afra id to flood the model. This method is pretty forgiving. If it looks REALLY dark and you are scared, flood the model immediately with clear alcohol and set it aside to dry. DON’T use this method on anything that is already flocked. The alcohol evaporates more quickly than water, so it shouldn’t take too long to dry thoroughly. There are two down sides to this method- it can be a bit messy and it smells bad. Make sure your modeling area is well ventilated (as it should be anyway!) Isopropyl Alcohol is flammable so do this away from open flames or high heat sources. Note that the ink will stain many things it comes in contact with so, treat it as if it were paint. The upside is that you can generate a useful “wash” in big quantities and by playing with the mix and adding in other colors (some Vallejo paint seems to dissolve in alcohol too for example) you can get lots of different effects and colors. Experiment away on some old models and enjoy yourself. Just write down your recipe or formula so you can repeat it later. If you find one you think is really, really good, email it to us so we can post it on our web site.



Flocking Your Model To Flock or Not to Flock…That’s not that much of a question, but here is our view. ‘Flocking” a model is a word some use to

describe adding model ground cover to represent grass, dirt, snow, etc to a models base. Some gamers like to flock their terrain to match the playing surface. Others think it just wears off and it’s a big waste of time. We disagree and DO add flock, or ground cover, to the bases of our scenery items just like we do with our figure bases. The trick to keeping it from wearing off is to do it properly. Also, effective ground cover is about layered texture. Look outside. Ground with vegetation or even just dirt consists of a variety of textures. The more textures we add to a model the more convincing the outcome. We use a method to add ground cover to our models first popularized long ago in the model railroad hobby. If you don’t want to add any ground cover to your model, we make them with sufficient texture cast in that you should be able to just dry brush your model and go play. If you want to add ground cover, try the following tips.

All About Matte Medium…Matte Medium is available in art supply stores or you can buy Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement

which comes premixed and specially formulated for scenery making. It is a heavy creamy white liquid used to thin paint and cover painted surfaces. It makes an ideal adhesive for ground covers because unlike regular white glue (PVC glue) it dries flat and is not water soluble after it dries. After purchasing your Matte Medium, add some to an empty container and then add water. You want about one part Matte Medium to 5 parts water. I like to mix it all up at once and store it. Just remember to stir well before using it. Commercially, you can buy Matte Medium premixed as Woodland Scenic’s Scenic Cement or from SenicsExpress.com.

Once all of your paint is dry, you are ready to flock. Using a paintbrush, “paint” your mixture of Matte Medium on the area you would like to flock. Be generous with the matte medium but not to the point where it is running in areas you don’t wish to flock.

Sprinkle your chosen flock over the areas painted with Matte Medium. Leave the flock in place for a bit, even the loose stuff. Flock the whole piece as quickly as possible so you don’t get any lines caused by drying between each area. After the Matte Medium has thoroughly dried, shake the excess flock off and add it back to the container it came from. Here is where using Matte Medium really shines. If you would like, you can now add more flock of different colors and textures to other areas of the model or on top of the flock you have already put on to get layers of texture. Sprinkle stuff on to your heart’s content and use a soft brush to push flock around to wear you want it or off of areas you don’t.

Once you are satisfied with where the flock on your model has been placed, gently spray all the flocked areas with a fine mist of water. Any old atomizer bottle will do the trick. Here I am using an old accelerator bottle. You just want to get the flock you have applied already wet, not soaking. Once this is done, the water will hold any loose flock in place.

Now take a pipette (included in your kit) or eye dropper and gently dribble you Matte Medium mix all over your newly flocked areas. This will glue down any loose flock you have applied but also seal all the flock together making it tough and resilient for gaming use. Don’t freak about it all turning white. As soon as the Matte Medium is completely dry, it will turn invisible again. On occasion, I have had the finished piece pick up a slight sheen. This is relatively rare and can be corrected by giving the entire model a light coat of spray matte varnish when everything has thoroughly dried.



Trees and Shrubs…After you have flocked your bases (or not) now is the time to add Trees and shrubs to your Overgrown Stone Wall Set. I add the shrubs first. Take some of the clump foliage material and tear off chunks. Glue it randomly to the bases using either super glue or Woodland Scenics Scenic Glue. As you do this, make sure to tear off little pieces from the bigger chunks to insure your shrubs aren’t square or have straight edges. Let the shrubs dry and adhere well before adding the trees. While I wait for my shrubs to dry, I paint the trunks of my trees with the same paint I used to paint the roots. This is a lot easier than it sounds. You don’t have to worry about all the little bits “up in the leaves” but just the main trunk and branches. Painting the tree trunks is optional, but it sure makes them look more realistic. After the shrubs are dry, glue your trees into the appropriate holes and let dry. Now, some of the flock may have come off your trees and you may be wondering how well they will hold up. Have no fear. This next step makes them a lot tougher and able to handle the rigors of gaming.

Take a small spray bottle (we used an old accelerator bottle) and gently mist your trees and shrubs. You don’t want them soaking, just wet. Then take the pipette and gently dribble a little Scenic Cement all over the tree and shrub foliage. On occasion, you may need to glue a chunk back on with Scenic Glue or Super Glue. After all our dribbling is done, you can carefully sprinkle appropriate colored flock onto the shrubs and trees to give them a little finer texture. After this dries, it will hold everything together quite nicely. Let everything dry over night and then enjoy your new Overgrown Stone Wall Set!



Documents

Instructions for Assembling and Painting the Overgrown ......Assorted Paint Brushes, Assorted Vallejo Paints, Super Glue, India Ink, Rubbing Alcohol, Matte Medium, Assorted Flocks