Sunday 28 October 2012

Take To The Hills


 
I have been wanting some proper Old School hills for sometime , you know the sort of thing - as used C.S.Grant and attempts using various foam tiles etc have been doomed to failure - just not strong enough and start crumbling at the edges . So I came across a piece of 1/2" MDF  at work and tried cutting that with my little jig-saw , the result was horrendous - it looked as if I had used one of the smaller but vicious meat eating dinosaurs to cut it to shape ! . Back to the drawing board . I happened to mention it to 'S' and he said he could cut it to shape using his band saw ( he runs S & A Scenics)  . One week later I am the proud owner of several large hills cut from 1/2" MDF  and so set off to paint them - of course the paint that I had stored in the shed had dried up !!!  Blast !. A trip to the local DIY  store was needed  and of course I had problems getting a suitable colour , finally settled on 'Grasshopper Green' and I purchased 6 small 'match pots' , the young lady at the till (yes I've reached an age when one refers to 'young ladies' !) said "we do them in large tubs" but I decided not to enlighten her on the ultimate purpose of the paint . The exact shade can be seen in the accompanying photo which seems to have got everywhere ! - just noticed a cat with traces of 'Grasshopper Green' on his tail !. Photos of the finished product will follow .....

8 comments:

  1. We look forward to seeing photos of your cat once you have finished its coat of paint :)

    Jim

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  2. I've heard of painted ponies......

    I need to paint my pine hills but its going to require repainting the whole table so they'll match!

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  3. I've had similar luck cutting MDF with a jigsaw. More recently, I've resorted to to high density pink styrofoam insulation and a bread knife/Stanley knife combo. The place looks like the small dino ate the foam, but it does an ok job without risk to injury to myself.


    Any blood sacrifices to the gods of handiwork, or was annointing the family pets enough for them?

    Cheers

    PD

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    Replies
    1. No just the odd spot of paint on most horizontal surfaces.

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  4. Hi

    My hills are made out of MDF (salvaged from skips) and I have had no problem cutting with a jigsaw and finished off with a light rub down.

    Have you checked the type of blade you are using.

    Cheers

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    Replies
    1. Think I may be using one with to large a set of teeth

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  5. I want to see the painted cat!

    I've had some success with upholstery foam for hills. When will we be seeing your fellas in action.

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    Replies
    1. Hopefully on my next post - not sure I like the colour though - maybe TOO bright !

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