Building The Nomonhan Table: Part Two

Building The Nomonhan Table: Part Two Painting & Flocking with Casey Davies In the last article to I planned out and constructed the table; this time I'll complete the project by demonstrating how it was painted and flocked. Read Building The Nomonhan Table: Part One here...

Painting After applying the layers of sand; I the table to dry overnight. Next, I gave the table a coat of paint colour matched to Battlefield Brown (FWP324).

Below: The table complete with a coat of the Battlefield Brown matched paint.

After starting to drybrush the table with a highlight mixture of the base colour (Battlefield Brown (FWP324)) andSicily Yellow (FWP362) I decided that the colour didn’t look arid enough so I re-painted the table with my highlight mix. Replacing the original base colour and then started drybrushing on the highlight colour of straight the Sicily Yellow (FWP362).

Below: The re-painted table with a basecoat of the mixture of Battlefield Brown (FWP324) and Sicily Yellow (FWP362) and highlighted with Sicily Yellow (FWP362).

Using a finer brush I applied a highlight of Dry Dust (FWP364) on the streams and areas that are not going to be flocked to make them look dustier, followed by a light airbrush of a Worn Canvas (FWP306) colour to soften the appearance and contrast of drybrushing.

Below: Applying a finer highlight of Dry Dust (FWP364).	Below: Applying a light airbrush of Worn Canvas (FWP306).

Below: The table with its complete paint job.

Below: A close-up of the painted stream bed.	Below: A close-up of the painted section of eroded sand.

Tufting I wanted to make the table look like it was half-way between the rainy and dry seasons, so I glued some grass tufts in and around the stream bed and the areas that are lower to the water table and would retain moisture the longest.

Below: The grass tufts applied to the stream bed.

Below: The grass tufts applied to the rest of the table.

Flocking Right from the beginning of this project I was concerned that the low height of the terrain would make the table flat from a distance. The undulations are plenty big enough to block lines of sight between tanks and guns etc., but I wanted to accentuate the height differences. The other consideration is that a lot of the book photography is takes from a fairly low angle, so varying the flock colour helps give the illusion of distance. So, following the same logic from the tufts I came up with a flock mix, blending a medium green colour in the low areas into dry, windswept areas at the high points. One of the reasons I ended up painting some tracks onto the table was to split it up into sections to make it easier to flock. Right: Blending the flock for the table.

Below: A completed section of the table that has been flocked and outlined by the tracks.	Below: A flocked section of the table near the stream bed highlighting the different colours of static grass.

Below: The flocking of the table nearing its completion.

With the flock applied, the table is now complete. Be sure to check out Rising Sun for more images of the completed table. Happy building. ~ Casey.

Below: The completed Nomonhan table.