New Pigs

Got our new pigs two weeks ago/ They've had two weeks inside getting accustomed to us and trained to come running when I shake a bucket of feed!

They got moved outside at the weekend despite a slight breakout on the first attempt they've settled in and have made themselves at home. Some hasty re-fencing sorted that out the escape route - now up to three strands of electric fencing to make sure they don't accidentally jump through!

There was an old massive tree trunk in their area which has been utterly demolished in their search for bugs and grubs! Always amazes and pleases me to see them in action rooting around.

Amera River Terrain Trial

I picked up some Amera terrain off eBay a while back, a decent number of river sections and a moorland pond piece. Before plunging in and trying to get all them done up I thought I would do the sensible thing and do a test piece for the rivers.

First up I primed the piece in cheap auto spray, then slapped on PVA and covered it in sand. Once dry it got another generous coat of neat PVA to seal it all in and then base coated in burnt umber.

I've never painted up a river before so this next bit is rather trial and error. Blue and green paint layered on and blended while wet to try and achieve something vaguely riverine!

It looks really dark. Too dark. But a quick google of "river" and a swift click on the images tab has given me a little bit of confidence and I'm going to stay the course (boom boom). I'm hoping once there is some flock on it and some water effects it should hopefully look the part.

The banks get a quick drybrush in a beige sandy colour and the river is given a coat of varnish. I was hoping the varnish might be enough to make it look a bit more like a river but I can't really say that it does! Perhaps if my river painting skills were better.

After having varnished I felt it was still too dark and needed some colour difference to create a bit of visual interest. I painted some lighter areas over the varnish, and then having read up on rivers in Henry Hyde's fantastic Wargaming Compendium it seems perhaps some more layers of varnish will help the river effect. So I've added another three layers on top of the last paint job, and flocked it up.

The PVA needs to dry fully but I think it is beginning to look decent. Mr Hyde to the rescue! I do think those extra layers of varnish have really helped it, I think I can get away with painting the others in a similar manner now. I may still try some clearfix water effects  as per Luke of LukesAPS but for now the test is a success.