The March Game Kastle paint competition model was a Flames of War Sherman tank. I decided to do something a bit different this time and use it as an excuse to go all in on a diorama.

I roughly followed the instructions from Real Terrain Hobbies. I formed the basic land shapes with stryofoam, then covered it with with Sculptamold plaster. I was surprised by the plaster taking several days to fully harden. Maybe I put in too much water.

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Once the plaster dried, I primed it with cheap craft paint, then covered the surface with AK scenic texture. The planks are painted coffee stirrers.

Before gluing down the tank, I drilled holes in the bottom. I was worried that the air in the middle might make it want to float away while the resin was curing. I probably didn’t go deep enough for it to matter in the end.

Next came the water. I blocked in the area using foam core covered with packing tape, hot glued into a simple box. I used Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium to fill the cracks. The main body of the water is Envirotex Lite, with a few drops of green paint mixed in. The wake is more gel medium mixed with snow flock. I used raw gel medium to make the little ripples.

Once the gel dried, I found that it messed up the surface finish. The gel medium was not nearly as glossy as the surrounding Envirotex resin and you could see the brushstrokes. So I coated the whole water area again with gloss Mod Podge, and used an airbrush without paint to blow it into slight rippled before it dried.

I don’t have a fancy static grass applicator, so I just blew on the freshly glued grass, like I normally do for bases.

This project took a lot more time than I wanted it to, but it was a fun excuse to try some terrain / diorama building. I’ve got plenty of plaster and resin left over. Maybe I’ll use it for some actual game terrain someday.