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So with Broadside Bash coming up it's time to upgrade my army display.
This is my carry tray made last year. The drawer is large enough to hold all books, dice, templates, chocolate bars, juice boxes, etc. The top was designed to hold a diorama board.


A simple diorama to match my army. My original thought was to do a river scene with a bridge and a Koi fish pond...but at 2000 points (for IG) the Army itself just takes up too much space. I will do this idea later for smaller lists; 1500-1750 points; or different armies with lower model counts. Lucky for me my carry tray makes it easy to swap out display boards.
So I went with a small Tea House or Temple building with a Torii Gate connected by a foot path.
The basic Layout. The board is MDF primed black.

And on to basic construction. A low wall of cork primed black with a heavy drybrush of greys and a stone tile cut into scale sections.

Sand glued down along the path and between the stone slabs. Flocking grass starting to get layered down.

The Tea House/Temple that will be used.

More grass going down and the base of the house.


More to come.

Looks good so far! Looking forward to seeing the progress.

gee thanks gunslingerpro my english teacher saw your profile picture and her first though was probably 'why the is someone looking at p in class?'

Okay when I first opened this I saw the first picture and I was like
"uuuuhhhhh what is so japanese about a plain black board??"

But I scolled down and I see what is going on haha looks good though!

I want a tutorial on how to make the board.

I love the idea of the shelf and everything!

Alrighty then...Got the flocking, sand and structures finished. Also a start on adding wash (Agrax Earthshade) to the sand.



I'll be pulling a 12-14 hour day at work tomorrow so I suspect I'll be taking a break for a few days.


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As for the carry tray, a simple box with internal supports also mounting drawer slides.

The drawer

Testing the drawer

And closed. Fits Good.

Add the front facial to the drawer. Note the interior spaces on the sides. Gives you an area to reinforce if you want to add handles or finger cutouts to carry the case around.

Black lacquer finish (adding to the Asian effect). Note the corner molding around the top and on the drawer. This will keep the display diorama from sliding off.



I'll have to dig around and see if I still have my cut-sheet for all the wood.

Loooong day yesterday so I took an early Friday.
Got the sand washed completely so it has a nice dark base color (I use plain white sand from the local playground). With this sand you really have to soak it good with the wash. Then out into the sun for a few hours to dry.

Once nice a dry I mixed a pewter color (from the Apple Barrel line) with white to get a grey that hints at metallic. Then a quick drybrush.



Once dry I'll add some stray grass into the spaces between the stone slabs along with some small shrubbery (swiped directly from some lad who called himself a Knight of Ni, no less). Then a good matte sealant to lock everything down.

And finished. A bit of grass between some stones and some low cut brush here and their. Nothing big but just enough to give it a look of needing slight care.
In the sun curing the first coat of sealant.

And in the shade for the final coats.

Set on top of the carry tray

And with the drawer open


With a Leman Russ and a Land Raider for scale.

Your woodwork skills are fairly impressive.

Looks great, good job