CD Terrain - a road

Mapper · **Posted:** Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:55 pm

Doing this project has been on my mind for awhile, how to build a nice piece of terrain on a cd. Inspired by what Kuribo had done recently, thought it was time to try.

CD picked up for free from a yard sale. Cut out a piece of cardboard and traced out what I wanted - a curved path across the cd. Outside line was for mounted figures, inside line for unmounted. If I wanted to use mounted figures on the board, it would take up too much space so went with a foot path.

In my mind, curved is always better that straight, odd numbers is always better than even.

Rock cropping from using a piece of shaper sheet I had, plastic tree from a craft store and a dwarven ruin.

I usually do more steps than are needed :-D

Added gesso to harden the shaper sheet, then pumice to cover the whole cd to add texture, then gave it all a base coat of paint.

Got too involved in adding ground cover to take any pictures, but basically I worked from earth up in adding layers of different colors of grass, turf, flowers, down limbs, etc.

Looking at the picture, by widening the ends of the path, it turned out more straight that curved, oh well.

The plastic tree I had to drycoat with several coats to get rid of the plastic color and at some point will probably either make or buy a nicer tree.

With the dwarf patrol

The grey pilgrim

Meeting of the wizards

DaveT · **Posted:** Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:46 pm

Very nice! I've got a 10" high pile of CDs stashed for just such use ... hope they turn out as well when I finally get around to them.

Lothíriel · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:20 pm

Lovely stuff! CDs are a perfect size for scatter terrain!

Kuribo · **Posted:** Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:24 am

Very flattered to have inspired such a great project. You're usually the one inspiring me with terrain! I love this piece as I think it is very nearly a diorama (while still retaining the ability to change the scene). It would make great terrain as well. As always, your photographs are top-notch as well. You've got me thinking I may have to revisit cd terrain and see what else I can make now!

Mapper · **Posted:** Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:36 pm

DaveT - thanks, it is kinda fun just throwing terrain on a cd!

Lothiriel - I was making some scatter terrain as I read this. I was using mdf to base scatter terrain on, but think I will use cds now. No cutting or sanding, easier painting, gets rid of old cds.

Kuribo - this might just end up as a window sill/bookcase piece once I get a better tree to put on it.

Latest piece:

Now I remember why this camera is in the back of my drawer, dust spots inside that show up in the pictures.

Mr Gimli · **Posted:** Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:28 pm

Excellent, I love projects making use of old items !

Kuribo · **Posted:** Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:54 am

I like this new piece as well, Mapper! You're really showing off the flexibility of a cd base. I tend to think of it having rocks or trees on it but just the simple wall/ruin really adds a lot of character and this would look great on a board. I will definitely have to think some more about how to use the remaining cd's I bought as these are some really cool and inspirational uses of them.

Mapper · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2020 7:47 pm

I had seen on the http://therenaissancetroll.blogspot.com ... trees.html the use of pumpkin stems as tree trunks. Luckily my daughter had bought a spaghetti squash from a farm so it still had a stem on it.

I let it to dry out, shaved the bottom to stand better and filled in a hole at the top. Decided not to dry brush it with any paints, just to leave it at it's natural color.

Took another cd, added the stem, some sticks, emptied a couple of tea bags and used some woodland scenics turfs.

As a standalone piece on a 40mm base it could be an objective, a druid tree, etc.

Could add a fallen statue to make it more LOTR like.

Definitely will be looking out for more stems.

DaveT · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:32 pm

The pumpkin stems are a great idea, thanks for sharing. The bases look amazing!

Kuribo · **Posted:** Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:22 am

This is definitely something I wouldn't have thought of and it is a good solution to a problem as well. I don't see a lot of mid-size tree stumps that are upright in plastic or resin, so kudos to whoever came up with this idea. With that said, this cd base looks really cool. It is a different kind of color palette which I really like. Were you trying to model a particular part of Middle Earth with this base, Mapper? Whatever the case may be, this is another really cool project!

Mapper · **Posted:** Sun Jan 19, 2020 5:24 am

Kuribo, I just thought of a more forest floor with the tree stump so went to my yellow bags of ground litter. I have added some green to break up the yellow some but the theme is still the same.

Mapper · **Posted:** Fri Jan 24, 2020 10:39 pm

Next time you are out grocery shopping, amaze everyone and say you want to go the vegetable section.

Another squash, this time with only a little bit of the stem on there, but perfect for a stump.

Faced it towards the other stem, at one time it might have been an arch...

DaveT · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2020 1:25 pm

Another great-looking piece. Your vegetable forest is well on its way!

GreatKhanArtist · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2020 4:07 pm

Just think how healthy you'll be after eating all that squash! They look great, though. I always love your terrain pieces, in fact, I have your Gondorian rock sitting prominently on my bookshelf.

Mapper · **Posted:** Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:51 pm

I liked my autumn based stump cd, and will probably do something like that again when I do my Elves.

For now, went back and did them all the same for my orcs to use as scatter terrain.

Had some extra "stumps" that I received from eating our own squash and getting some from a friend that I will use later.

Just a picture.

Kuribo · **Posted:** Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:18 am

That picture looks great with Radagast! I look forward to more cd terrain as you've done a great job with these first few. You're starting to inspire me and making me think that I need to give a couple more a shot for my Shire "board" I'm working on so I guess the inspiration is starting to come back around

Mapper · **Posted:** Thu May 28, 2020 8:41 pm

Started out as a piece of wood I picked up that I thought would make a great base for an heroic stand. Once home I decided it wouldn't work well for what I originally planned and went another direction. Covered with broken decorative glass (see viewtopic.php?f=7&t=32702) that I has got from a craft store to give it sharp edges and some lichen flowing out of the top away from the evil character.

While I liked the idea, I wasn't happy with it. The proportions seemed wrong.

Decided to put it on a cd with more broken glass to give it a more substantive look, added more lichen as well.

Need to make or find a good standing / druid stone to put on top when I don't have a figure up there.

Kuribo · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:12 am

Now that is an ingenious use for the old cd terrain! It really does look like some rocky terrain straight out of Mordor. You're really pushing boundaries of what can be done with a cd now. I would have never expected to see so many cool ideas come out of a simple base but you are very skilled at terrain so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised :yay:

Quendil · **Posted:** Wed Jun 03, 2020 11:53 am

Great stuff, I did something similar for jungle terrain but i had to use cd sized mdf

Grumpy Gnome · **Joined:** Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:17 pm **Posts:** 81

Great stuff mate! I am surprised I did not see this thread earlier. Excellent terrain, very inspirational!

CD Terrain - a road

Who is online