Hoi,

Well July 22nd is the day that the Battle of Salamanca was fought in the year 1812. Followers of this blog concerning my "Big Project", the first phase of the battle is what I am trying to depict on a 1,50m x 1,50m diorama, will not be surprised by this commemorative post.

While progress is still very slow, I have decided to try and finish painting the groundwork plates this Summer. Anyway, I couldn't let slip this day without thinking about the day the battle itself was fought on. The other blog is far more active due to the fact I use it to showcase all my other hobby projects, yet Salamanca is never far from my mind....

Next phase: Priming!

The project is entering the next phase in it's development: priming of the plates! Some days ago the weather was finally good and dry enough for me to basecoat all the dio plates with Rat Fur primer from Armypainter. Sadly I had used up all my primer (3 spraycans!) with 1,5 plates still to go...
Oh well, I guess I need to go to the shop for a new one then ;-)

I took a lot of pictures but most are overexposed, so I only have 2 more or less decent ones to show you guys:

Cheers Sander

Landscaping: a good start of 2014!

Hoi,

Let's start with wishing you all the best for 2014! If 2013 has been rather slow, progress in 2014 is off with a bang. I have managed to put some muck on the diorama modules. This is a mix of wall-plaster, white wood glue and modelling grit. 

This left the plates looking pretty much like this:

Not bad at all, but they had some unnatural straight lines made by my painter's knife during the application of the muck. Which I sanded off before finishing the plates with a layer of thick gloss varnish.

When all plates were supplied with some varnish, which I applied to make sure that the plaster-mixture is less sponge-like, one of the plates had dried enough for a test-layer of spraypaint. I am using Army painter Rat Fur for this and due to lighting problems it looks a lot more reddish in the pictures then it does in real life.

The whole lot drying in their cases:

For highlighting the plates I have obtained a pot of Valejo desert colour structure paint, which I am anxious to apply and see the result of but time is the enemy here!
  
That's it again for today's update!

Cheers Sander