TABLETOP GAMING - "Making a MAMMOTH CAVE" Pt.4

Got a new piece ready for the Mammoth Cave theme...a ROCK WATERFALL!

The runoff stream disappears under some boulders into a vertical shaft of darkness. Any brave explorers willing to repel down and see what's there?

I made this set in two sections, to make it easier to store them. They could be used separately as well.

Since I have already shown the basic building process in earlier posts, I won't take too much time explaining things. However, this is a good example of what you can do with leftover chunks of pink foam. I glued together several random pieces, and just started carving away with the hot wire tool. It makes it challenging, but also gives it more interest than with a large flat slab of foam.

I decided to raise the water level of the falls a little higher than the lower section of the stream. So I just carved out a groove into the big rocks...added some little pieces of foam to a board, then hot-glued them into place.

Here is the set with all the carving done.

I did the usual process of covering everything with spackling paste, for added rock texture...when dry, I sanded off the sharp edges. Then I made a mix of wood glue and dark brown acrylic paint, and gave a base coat to the whole thing. When dry...I painted all the rocks and water areas to match with the other sets in this series.

Okay...here's how I made the waterfall. I got a large sandwich bag...cut a strip about two inches wide from the edge of the bag...then spray-glued the inside of the bag together, so it would be a sturdier and thicker piece of plastic.

Next, I taped the plastic to a board...then I used a hot glue gun to make strips all up and down the plastic. I left a gap in the middle, to add interest. When the glue had cooled down, I cut off the excess baggy, and trimmed the ends of the glue near the tape.

Once I had hot-glued the falls into place, I used the hot-glue gun to add splashes to the water, and spillway. I gave the water a bit of aqua-blue glazing with very thin acrylic...then added a bit of white paint to the splashes and ripples.

Here are all the set pieces so far! Actually, I'm getting close to being done with this whole project. Even though I have ideas for making lots more sets, I've been making terrain every week since mid-December...I think I'm ready for a break. But I'll hang in there a little longer...I've got some stalagmites to make!