Build Something 2015 - part eight

My Lead Adventure Forum, Build Something 2015 Contest entry continues  and I have now added a flagstone base to The Horseshoe Forge.

The base was constructed from 3mm plastic card (the sort that is used for point-of-sale advertising) with the individual stones carved into the plastic with a scalpel. I then used a rough stone (actually a broken roof tile) to impress the stone texture and finally sanded the base with some rough sandpaper.

The master terrain builder Emanuel Noullier (who features in Military Modeller and Continental Railway Modeller) is an expert at using this material. see this link and this link for details.

The three images below show the effect better than words. Details will also be posted on the LAF Contest thread, here.

NOTE:
This plastic card is not the thin plastic card used by modellers and written about by scratch-builders, but a thicker and softer plastic card used by sign makers and for use in stores as POS. If in doubt, you should be able to easily flex the card and mark the surface with your fingernail.

The card can be cut easily and textured by pressing stones or sandpaper into the surface and sanding or texturing with a wire brush. It can also be glued together with superglue and if layered can produce very strong structures.

I find that you can pick up off-cuts very cheaply and sometimes for free, if you contact department stores who are usually only too pleased to supply the out-of-date advertising material free of charge.

My latest batch is a Stanley Knife advertising board. Be aware that the same plastic card is sometimes covered with coloured sticky-back plastic, which can be easily removed.

Tony