Making my Normandy Table: "Trois Ponts" Part 2

Hi Folks,

DiceHex here with a sit-rep from my forward table workshop. It's quiet and I have a cold.
The picture above is of Royal Engineers in Caen after its capture. Not so picturesque anymore...

MORE SURFACING, and TREES.

I found that some of the natural-style grass flock looked a little too neat, so I sprayed on some urethane glue (can of "spray-grip") and lightly sprinkled some more flock over it, just to blend the two shades of green a little better. After this was dry, to be sure the material had stuck down, I sprayed the sections with matt varnish (an artist sealant product). When the table is finished, I'll apply a heavy coat of matt varnish over everything but the water features, just to add that little bit more durability.

Unfortunately, I've run out of static grass again, so the rest of the surfacing will have to wait.

Adding trees to the table was at first, a problem. I did not want to have to build placable woods sections, and individually based trees always seem to fall over, or shift position as a game goes on. I even thought about magnetising them, but that seemed an expensive and fiddly option.

In the end, I found an easy option, and just drilled through the surface of the table, into the MDF baseboard. Be careful not to drill all the way through. The pack of trees I bought have fairly uniform stick-things for trunks, which slot into their sockets with ease.
There we have it. Removable trees, with only a subtle hole to show they were ever there.

Progress so far...

Having planned out which parts of the table would have groups of houses, I decided to go for a more artificial grass look on those sections. Neat, well tended lawn looks different to natural fields. I simply cut out a piece of grass mat and glued it down with yet more PVA. A thin coat is all that is needed for this, as you don't want the papery grass mat to warp or crinkle from pools of wet glue.

The edges, where the land meets road, will be blended with greenery. I also hope to add little paths and picket fences around the buildings.

Coming Soon: Hedges, Water Effects, Roadworks, Buildings and Bridges.

Cheers