This is Planet Hex

Whilst I had considered putting together a diorama depicting a scene from a Doctor Who episode to display my TARDIS and Doctor figure, I have opted in the end to take the simpler option to create a very basic display base which perhaps takes it's inspiration from Wargaming rather than railway modelling. 

Wanting something different from my "standard" display pieces I have taken a design clue from Gallifrey and created a hexagonal base, which is 70mm deep in a concession to my standards! To create a hexagon with the parallel lines a set distance apart and the length of each side initially unknown required use of a protractor to draw out the first corner and then a pair of compasses to plot the remainder of the points. This was drawn out on 6mm MDF and cut to shape.

The edges of the base were treated with superglue and sprayed with accelerator to harden them, before smoothing back and repeating. The whole piece was then painted in grey emulsion from a tester pot. I then added a layer of 5mm foamcore slightly smaller in dimensions as the basis of the landform. A square was marked out as the space required for the TARDIS to sit in, then the remainder carved away as the basis of the landform. A layer of additional foamcore was added at one point to add extra relief.

 

A layer of PVA over the foamcore was followed by DAS modelling clay, textured with the bristles of a paintbrush to add texture. Once the DAS had set the surfaces to be treated as rocks were scraped away/textured with a dental probe and two additional rocks made from more DAS were added at the front corner.

The rocks were painted with grey emulsion paint and once dry washed over with black-grey acrylic to get into the crevices, and then dry-bushed with various shades of grey, beige and green to highlight the texture. 

Once the rocks were dry I added the ground cover, this used a mix of emulsion paint, PVA and grey tile grout, applied with a brush and then a mix of ballast, fine turf fine sand sieved over whilst wet and tamped into place and allowed to dry. It looks rather regular at this point but will be broken up in the next stage.

To give the impression of a hostile, barren planet I added brown grass tufts from the Peco range, cutting some into smaller clumps to break up the evenness of the size. Some weathering powders were added into the ground surface to vary the colours and texture a little. At this stage the edges of the piece were painted in grey primer in a contrast to the wooden trim pieces I usually use. This is something of an experiment and can be changed if desired in the future

In the next update I will reveal the completed piece with the centrepieces of the scene added. Watch this space...

Colin