Making the Behring Strait, Part 1

I have an upcoming supplement for Pirates: CSG, but first, you'll need some Arctic terrain features. Today we are going to get started on our Islands and Icebergs.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Scissors
Hobby Knife
Hot Glue Gun
Paints (mostly earth tones, blue, and white)
PVA glue (I use Mod Podge Matte)
Wood Glue (AKA Yellow Glue)
Old DVD cases
Cork Tile
Sand, Rock, etc.

You should already have most of the stuff on this list, if you are into modeling. If you don't have them, they're easy enough to acquire.

MODELING THE ISLANDS-

STEP 1:
Cut out irregular shapes that are slightly smaller than a playing card from the large flat front part of your DVD case. I try to open it up and cut up the spine to avoid the thick, reinforced edges. This plastic is sometimes difficult to cut if you don't use heavy duty craft scissors! Coat this initial base with the Elmer's Wood Glue (or your substitute). This glue holds on strong once set, so it makes a good base.

STEP 2:
Using your rocks and sand, cover your island. I place the big rocks by hand first, then dip the entire island into a rock/sand mixture container and give it a shake.

STEP 3:
Set them aside to dry. The wood glue takes a while to really dry, at least a few hours. That means we'll finish them in Part 2 of this tutorial. However, to clue you in, the next step will be to give it a second coat of fill material (sand, ballast, etc).

MODELING THE ICEBERGS-

STEP 1:
Tear off a small chunk of cork from your tile.

STEP 2:
Break up that chunk into smaller, irregularly shaped chunks. Each of these chunks is roughly spherical or cubicle.

STEP 3:
Mix together some blue and white craft paint, or use a very light blue. Totally coat the cork with this paint. Note that your fingers will get coated unless you wear gloves.

STEP 4:
From your DVD case, cut an irregular shape about the same size of your Islands from the transparent cover.


STEP 5:
Using the hot-glue gun, attach these pieces of cork to the transparent plastic. When finished, drybrush the cork pieces with white paint.


STEP 6:
Use the white PVA glue and a brush to build up some glue around the bottom of the cork. That's it! Let this dry for a while, and you have Iceberg floes!

In part two, we'll finish up the islands with a special arctic theme, and we'll work on my special new terrain type!

Until then,
--FP135