Time for some more scatter terrain. I like scatter terrain on the tabletop. Every bit you add vastly improves the ascetic of the terrain. One of the things I had been missing from my WWII open board terrains sets ups were telephone poles. Adding these to a table along a road adds that extra level in my opinion.
The best pace to find these is from model train hobby companies. With that, I went to a local model train shop to see what I could find. Looking at the shelf, I found the models, but did not want to pay the price (sometimes I am just too cheap!). At that point, I decided that I would not pick them up at the price (while I like scatter terrain, I don’t want to pay a lot for it). With that disappointment, I walked around the story to see if there was anything else I needed. While walking to the back of the store, I found a sale table full of used items. Then I saw them, bags of plastic telephone poles for a dollar each. Victory! I picked them up and brought them home.
Next was how I wanted to paint them. They come in a shine brown plastic with the metal bits. I decided that I would not just paint them but would use a Minwax dip. This would give a nice variable dark brown effect that such poles often have.
First step was to glue these to metal washers to add some weight to the bottom. This ensures they do not tip over on the table. I then added ballast to the top for a base of ground dover. Once this all dried, I dipped the poles into a can of dark brown minwax and let them set for a while (ended up being a week, as I was working on other stuff).
Once the poles were dry, I then dry brushed up the bases and added my standard Scenic Effects flock/grass mix with while glue. Once that set, I hit all the poles with a heavy spray of Dull Coat to take of the heavy shine from the Minwax. With that, I now have a whole collection of poles for my gaming needs.
- Manteuffel