Here's the start of the base work fellas....
I had a bit of luck when rooting for a suitable base. I came across a thick piece of polystyrene that was already scooped out for my flat bit of water. I don't know what was originally in it, but it's perfect for my 'pool'...I put the horse and rider on it and compressed the base as much as I dared - it finished up 11" x 9".
I have formed the landscape with scrap bits of styrene, just torn up in a random way and stuck down. I use UHU POR, this is for polystyrene and doesn't melt the stuff.....I have made the lip for the waterfall and as it stands, the straight drop is scale 12ft, so should be interesting forming that!
I'm trying to get the area looking like a place that's a bit short of greenery and more rocky...Like wot we see in the cowboy filums!
The flat area on the left is for a rundown shack....
If you have a go at this sort of thing, I'm finding if you start at the bottom of the stream with the first scrap bits, then work your way up to above the waterfall, things seem to somehow fall into place and start to look natural, then start again and place other bits on top of those already there, thus forming ledges. Don't mess about carefully positioning things - just bung them on rough and ready....
You can just make out where the three water elements will go.....The waterfall down onto a flat slab, down into a big pool, then down a small rapid at the front of the dio.
This is just the initial rock work, next I will get trowelling with the tile adhesive to get a bit more form into the rocks and overhangs. I'll also bed some scale boulders and the like into the adhesive whilst it's still wet.....
The pictures show the basic layering stages.
I hope you approve of the start of our journey into the Black Hills of Dakota!!!!....Or The Lake District if you prefer!
Cheers all,
Ron
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