Sectional Terrain: Craters

I got a little bored making the terrain panels and decided to add some shell holes in the corner of one of the flat ones just to add some interest.  Sometimes these spur of the moment decision end in disaster but this one may work out.

Making shells holes with an extruded polystyrene material is easy - just use a heat gun to "melt" a depression and the base form of the creator is done.  I've used a heat gun to also break up the flat contour of larger panels.

Safety Note: Do this outside for both ventilation and fire control risk.  Polystyrene is flammable and one wants to do this where in the odd change it catches fire you can let it burn out on its own.  Doing this in an enclosed workshop or even worse a basement doesn't give you that options.  Outside also vents the fumes.

 The next step is to build up the crater edges and for that I use my trusty pre-mix grout and white glue mix.  I ring the depression with the grout/glue mix and then carve some slots with my custom crater making tool in the upper left.  OK it's just a wooden paint stirrer but it get the job done.

I then use my finger and a little water to smooth out the slot and make it look like the earth was ejected out of the crater.

And their done - a little creative painting and I'll have some craters.

I also managed to paint all three panels with the basic ground cover.  The grout edges of the crater haven't fully cured so I'll need to touch them up today.

Next step - apply ground cover (mostly static grass).