Sandy Shores - Test Dunes

I wanted to experiment with the sand dune construction. Since I don't yet have the sand, I thought I'd try a method that Neil Rushby had used on Little Point. Looking on my desk I noticed a bit of ply which I had used for notes when I couldn't find a bit of paper! It looked like the perfect piece to practice on.


A few mins of carving polystyrene later and we have the basic shape. The plan is to have a tiny bit of "sea" on the lowest section (the thin bit) rising up to the sand dune where a bit of abandoned track lies.


As per usual, the next step is to cover the polystyrene in PVA followed by DAS clay, in this case the terracotta varient.


And now for the experimentation. The idea is to try and give the feeling of a sand dune without having to cover the layout in sand. So the method is simple, wet the surface of the clay and stipple chinchilla dust into the clay using an old brush.


After the clay hardened it was time to spray the undercoat on. For this I used an old Plasticote Suede Touch spray can left over from Calshot. This was left to dry overnight and this morning I started getting some base colours on. I don't know what I'm really doing with regards to painting, so all this is completely new to me! I only had a few colours to hand, the majority of which was this Model Color Dark Sand paint.


I decided to try and suggest a pathway using a dark coloured base layer, although I'm not really sure where to go from here. I know the sand colour will need to be faded into the "sea", and that the 'deepest' bit of the sea should be darker, but apart from that I've no idea what I'm doing. I'm guessing mixing some colours might be a good idea. Perhaps a lighter yellow, or perhaps white to make the sand paler? I'd appreciate some ideas here as I'm a little clueless!


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