About three weeks before Halloween I decided to create one horror themed diorama for each day of the Halloween week. We would then publish them along with a themed discount code. I had a ramble on the internet and found some corking horror miniatures over at Hayland Terrain. I knew they had to be set outdoors as I wanted to use at least a couple of our products in each build. With that in mind I decided on the following.
Halloween (Hiding behind the hedge scene)
They are all 15cmx15cm mdf bases, so I started with that. Marked out where the paving would be and then simply scored it into the base. The raised section is 3mm mdf that was laying about the warehouse, left over from some old kit. I cut the shape out and sanded it smooth. Glued it down, gave the whole base a grey undercoat. Bit of a dry brush to highlight any edges. Added some static grass and the base was done.
The hedge was made from a foam play mat, I cut a section out, covered it in contact cement and gave it a nice thick coat of green foam flock. It took a few layers in the end to get the chunky hedge effect. I applied coats of sealant spray then more flock. After it was dry I sprayed it with matt varnish. This does two things. One it seals it in really well and two it softens the edges of the foam to give it more of a leafy look. I then sprayed it with tan brown paint to knock the green colour right down. After another coat of matt vanish it was ready to glue down.
The miniature was glued in place and a sprinkle of brown scatter foam was added for the loose blowing leaves effect. Yet another spray of matt varnish to hold everything down and that was it. Sorted.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Miffed Leatherface final scene)
This one was probably the easiest to make. The road is sieved city rubble with arid earth along the sides (this would end up mostly covered in flock.) The shrub is sea foam and mid green foam flock. The fence was made from a bamboo bbq skewer. I used a wire brush to roughen up the skewer before cutting it to size and painting it grey with ivory drybrushing for highlights. The barbed wire is the stuff that they sell for wargaming, sorry no idea as to the brand as it was just laying about the warehouse (a lot of the stuff I have used tends to be found in old dusty boxes, hidden under shelves etc.)
The Ring (Sadako walking from the well)
Another quick one. Mostly just flock and foams over a base of sieved soil. I sculpted the well by hand. Sadly the first image that came up when I looked for reference was the well from the remake and not the concrete well from the original. I really should have checked by watching Ringu. So I suppose technically this is Samara.
Classic Graveyard
Another quick one. Nothing special here really. The graves are from the Terrain Crate Graveyard by Mantic. I chopped and sanded them here and there so not to have them looking too cheesy. Skull and crossbones don't work for me when it comes to graves, but the angel and sarcophagus are corking. The tree was a cheap foam railway type, no idea as to the brand as it was yet again a warehouse find. I sprayed it with varnish and added some foam scatter before spraying it brown. Came out not too shabby.
Caribbean Zombie Outing
And yet again the warehouse provides. The plastic trees were in a box of wire brush christmas trees, along with a few surprisingly not too horrible ones (watch this space.) I stripped the leaves from the trunks (pulled the tops off) and then mixed and matched them up, painting the smaller sets brown and popping them onto the larger trunks before adding their original canopies over the top. A quick drybrush with various greens and brown and they were display ready.
The road is sieved arid earth topped with tropical beach. The jungle floor is a custom mix of mine Sadly we don't sell it. Costs way too much to make. (But I'll see what I can do about a tutorial showing how it was made.) The graves are hand made from balsa wood. Alas the zombies are just plastic ones with sack like clothing sculpted over the base miniatures as the ones I really wanted to include did not arrive.
Anyway...
That's the lot. I really did enjoy making these. Anything horror related is an instant good time for me. And it's sort of got me back into painting miniatures as I was away from them for a long long time. Now off I go to spend my hard earned wages on little metal men and undercoat. Thanks for that!
If anyone has any questions about these things or the products used in them then give me a shout through one of the usual Geek Gaming channels.
Wayne Cooper (What's My Job Title This Week?!?)