GENERAL TIPS
in (pretty much) no particular order...
1. The absolutely most important tip is to HAVE FUN! This is a hobby. If you're not enjoying what you're doing, then why are you doing it? If a procedure becomes frustrating or tiring, put the hex down, close up your paints, glues, etc., clean your brushes, put sharp tools in their places, and walk away for a while. Often, I have found that the solution to a frustrating problem will come to me "later" -- maybe in a few minutes, maybe the next day... Taking the time to think about the problem will often yield the solution!
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2. Hand in hand with the "have fun" tip is to HAVE PATIENCE. Many steps call for painting a color or gluing something, then waiting for it to dry. Do not expect to finish anything more complex than the simplest hex in less than a day. And rushing your work will lead to miscalculations, errors and mistakes. Take your time... wait for the paint or glue to dry... Something that will really help with this is the ability to work on more than one hex at a time -- or even more than one type of hex at a time.
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3. Water/glue mix -- There is a "trick" I've learned from model railroading to keep scenery in place -- and I've found it works VERY well here. You will need to mix water and Elmer's White Glue in about a 50:50 mix, with a drop or two of liquid dishwashing detergent. (The liquid detergent helps to break what is called "surface tension", and allows the mix to flow more readily and soak into materials more easily.) I use a two-ounce bottle I got at a local craft store for my water/glue mix. What you will then do is to very gently dispense drops of the mix onto your scenic surface. It will soak in to the scenic material -- and when it dries, the material will be rather securely bonded to the hex. You want to thoroughly soak the hex -- don't worry if the hex takes on a milky, whitish look. It will dry with a clear, flat finish. And if you find that you've missed some spots -- just apply more of the water/glue mix and (again) allow it to dry. When it completely dries, your scenic materials will be relatively tough and durable, and will only flake off / break off if handled rather roughly! This durability will help give you "peace of mind" when your gaming cronies are battling over your terrain -- let them play, they're not going to tear up your hexes!
A few notes on using this water/glue mix:
(1) Make sure your work surface is covered with a disposable material, such as old newspapers -- the water/glue mix will run off the sides occasionally and onto your work surface.
(2) If possible, use something to elevate your hex off of your work surface. I purchased some small (two ounce) disposable plastic cups to mix putty, etc. I use these (turned upside-down to make a larger base) to elevate the hexes off of my work surface. This way, when the water/glue mix runs off the side, it drips onto the work surface, but does not bond the hex to the work surface!
(3) Take special care to soak the edges of the hexes. This is where they are handled, where they bump up against other hexes, etc. You really want your scenery solidly attached here!
(4) This water/glue mix can alter the color of your scenic materials; when first applied, the gray ballast I use to cover my roadways is a medium gray. But after application of the water/glue mix -- when dried, the ballast is a darker shade of gray. The slight color shift did not bother me -- but be aware that it might occur. So far, I've not noticed any other color changes...
(5) Occasionally, the material being soaked with the water/glue mix will shift. This will occur when one side of a "clump" of ground foam will soak up the water/glue mix before the other -- and in that fraction of a second, the piece will "roll over" onto its (temporarily) heavier side. Or some material will "float" away into a depression (such as a ditch) or off the slope of a hillside. As I see it, you have a couple of options at this point: (a) leave it where it lies -- after all, Nature seemingly grows at random, why shouldn't grass, bushes, etc? -- or (b) use tweezers to re-locate the shifted piece back to its intended location. Do what looks right... but be advised that once the water/glue mix dries, your scenic materials will be bonded into position!
(6) One place I would not use the water/glue mix is after applying static grass. As the water/glue mix dries, it pulls the fibers of the static grass down onto the "ground", thus losing the "standing up" effect of the static grass. I learned this one by experience... and while the hex I made is still quite "playable", it just doesn't look the way I intended it to. (In case you've never heard it, there is an "old saw" about experience -- "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment!")
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4. Don't be afraid to "go back over" things that didn't come out the way you planned. Did you cut your ditches for a road hex too deep? (I've done this...) Just turn the hex over and use the hex to make a "crop hex" or a "forest hex" or the base for a "hillside hex". Did the wash you added to the ditches slop over the side you'd already painted green? When the wash dries, just repaint the green over the "spill"! Or did some of the water/glue mix flood out onto your nice, glossy water surface -- and when it dried, it's not "shiny" any more? Just repaint the gloss finish over the top of the (thoroughly dried) spill.
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5. I store all of my scenicing materials in those "inexpensive" plastic containers you can get at the grocery store or Wal-Mart or whatever. I usually buy the Glad 3-cup "Soup and Salad" size -- the are about 4" wide by 6" long by 3" deep, and come five to a pack. After opening the bag of scenic material (ground foam, grass, turf, whatever) and pouring the contents into the container, I cut the "title" off of the bag and tape it to the top. And sometimes, I cut out and tape "instructions" onto the sides or bottom of the container -- serves as a reminder! (I also make up labels and tape them on the ends... this way, I can see where a particular container is within a stack.) The clear sides allow me to see at a glance how much is in the container, the lid keeps the materials from spilling, and the containers are large enough that you can sprinkle the materials onto the fresh paint or glue on the hex surface, and the excess materials fall right back into the container for future use!
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6. I use a hot wire cutter to cut the styrofoam hexes to make my river hexes. It makes a "cleaner" cut -- using a coping saw leaves lots of little styrofoam flakes to clean up. I have noted an added bonus, but this may be (in part) due to hands that aren't as steady as they used to be -- it seems as though my cuts leave little lines and gouges -- which look a whole lot like "erosion lines"! If (when!) I get around to making desert terrain, this may be a big plus!
Along with a hot wire cutter, a woodburning pen is a handy item to have at hand; it makes quick work of carving in details, small streams, etc. A soldering iron would do just as well; I got lucky and found a woodburning pen in the "discontinued items" section of a local craft store for $9, and have found it to be a very useful tool! The only caveats that come to mind is (a) be careful in its use, as the heat generated can cause bad burns, and (b) be sure to work in a well-ventilated area when using these "hot" tools.
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7. This applies to all forms of modeling -- actually, for anything you might cut! -- and not just TM®... Before you start to cut, make sure your blade is SHARP! It will give you cleaner cuts with much less effort. And my father advised me once, many years ago, that more often than not, when you "get into trouble" and cut yourself with a knife, you're working with a dull blade -- you have to use more force, and thus have less precision / control -- and that's where trouble begins!
Here's a personal recommendation. I purchased a blade sharpener from Micro-Mark; they call themselves "The Small Tool Specialists" and I would say that's a pretty apt description! I spent less than $20 for it, and I would say that it's paid for itself several times over -- I can't remember the last time I purchased new blades!
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8. Don't be afraid to experiment. Sometimes things don't work out quite the way you'd planned -- but the results can still be "acceptable" nonetheless. For example...
This "flat" hex didn't work out the way I'd intended, but it is still quite usable. (I didn't take "step-by-step" pictures -- I only have the end result to show...) After painting the edges dark green and the top tan, I applied a layer of Elmer's White Glue, then sprinkled on Timberline Scenery's Fine Bristlecone Green ground cover. After that dried, I soaked the hex using the water/glue mixture (mentioned above), then applied a layer of Woodland Scenic's Light Green Static Grass. So far, so good... Then, I sprinkled on different colors of GHQ's ground foam -- Pale Green, Light Green, Medium Green and Dark Green; then a few "pinches" of Woodland Scenic's Weeds and Burnt Grass (both very fine particles). Then -- and this was my "mistake" -- I soaked the hex again with the water/glue mixture. While it did adhere everything to the hex, it also pulled all of the static grass down to the base level of the hex -- thus negating the effect of the static grass. (sigh) So, while the hex still looks pretty good, it wasn't what I'd intended it to be.
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9. This is a very helpful tip I've learned from model railroading... As you are "out and about" -- stop for a minute and look at "something" -- a building, a hillside with trees, a small bridge crossing over a stream -- then answer the question "How would I model this scene? What materials would I use?" This is a "mind exercise" -- and I have found it very helpful in building more realistic scenery.
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