I am starting this vignette of Lewis and Clark. I am using the figures by La Meridiana. I plan to place them on a base at elevated heights. Sacagawea will be at the top pointing the way. My friend who saw the concept says I should name the vignette, "Starbucks is right over that hill." I decided to glue some blocks to the base so I would have something solid to mount the pegs into. Here are some pictures of the beginning of the base.

Pete, I look forward to seeing it finished.

Mark

Great start, so I will follow this one.

Great idea,Meridiana's figures are among the best in the market,this should turn out great.I'll watch this with great interest.

Oda.

I have so much in the gray army. There's just too little time.

I am adding green floral foam to fill out the base. Next I will add putty to form rocks. My vision is to make it appear as though the trio of adventurers have climbed to a vantage point where they can see the expanse to the West that they must trail blaze in order to reach the Pacific Northwest.

Excellent idea! This will be a great display.

Joe

Fantastic idea and concept. I will be following this one as I have trying to figure out how exactly this only with larger scale figures.

A very cool idea!

All the best,
Dan

Great idea, I like how looks this project. I follow.

Miniaturas militares pintadas a mano

The next step is making rocks. For this project, I decided to make granite boulders. I took little pieces of Styrofoam that I rough shaped, then covered with a two part pool putty. I used a piece of granite gravel to texture the putty. I made several of these rocks all around the base. When all the rocks are finished, I will cover them with a thinned coat of sepia oil paint, then wipe most of the paint off, leaving paint in the recesses.
There is no paint in these pictures. It's just dirt from the gravel.

The rocks are almost done. Next I will color the rocks with sepia and orange oil paint. Thin the paint, cover the rocks, then wipe then off. When the rocks are dry, I will add the paper mache. I will add a dark brown craft paint to it and cover the areas between the rocks.

Looking really good.....Appears to be a nice balanced composition from most angles.......Following.........

Wayne

I have added the "dirt" paper mache tinted with a dark brown craft paint between the rocks and added some roots for the tree. The roots were pressed into the wet ground. The tree and the bigger roots are from a mountain laurel tree, and the smaller roots are azalea bush roots. All of the green foam is covered now.

Looks like taking John Long's class has really inspired you on the groundwork. Are you coming to MFCA next week. It would be great to see this finished!

Bob

No MFCA. And this is far from ready. John Long's class was great.

Working on the tree. Making branches with leaves.

Wow - this is a very original idea. Love your work on the base.

Cheers

Huw

This is looking great.Now the real fun begins.......Wayne

Edit:....P.S........It's all fun...