The first thing you need to make bocage is some foam board from your local hardware store. Cut them into desired length . I cut mine all 6-8 inches long.
Next you want to shape them into the mounds of dirt that the foam will be used to represent, with a hobby blade , and sander just shape them and take out any right angels , and give them a bit of a slope. Next you will want to take some "skewers" I use skewers because I feel their not as strong as tooth picks . First you want to take the sharp end and put them where you want ... Than take some white Elmer's glues and fill the whole and put the skewers in . I put 3 because I feel 2 isn't enough and over 3 is to crowded . The skewers will be used later to glue the foliage to and act as tree or bush stumps . After the skewers are in, you want to mouth them to bases. You can use MDF board or polystyrene cards from your local model train shop ... Cut your bases to the same length you cut the foam piece....I used the polystyrene I think it was a half inch width .. I don't have a picture of that at the moment but I will put one up soon. Let them dry to the bases over night to make sure there sturdy and dry.
Next you want to take Some Elmer's wood filler (stainable) I used the regular color or neutral color because I think that any dark color or brighter color might be harder to paint over, I'm not to sure but I'm sure that other texture would work but t think this will hold the best for what we're trying to do.
Take the wood filler and texture the whole mound leaving the skewers to poke out . This will bond the whole pice and base together to give it a tighter hold.
You want to let that dry fully . Usually over night is your best option .
After the wood filler is dry you want to start the paint process ... With this being terrain and
going to take a lot of paint I used some kraft paints you can get at your local arts and craft store instead of my Vallejo paints. With that being said you want to take some regular Elmer's white glue and some brown paint and mix the m at a 50/50 ratio .. Paint the whole mound with this mixture and let dry. After they dry it will almost feel plastic .. It's gives it a hard smooth but protective layer over your mounds .. THIS
STEP IS A MUST !!! You need to mix your first layer of paint with glue or it won't hold right or feel right and painting your dirt won't come out right and will be ruff and not as resilient.
After
the first layer of glue and paint is dry can can move on to painting the dirt. You can use any formula you have to paint the dirt. To each his own !! Paint the the skewers as well.
The next step is adding the foliage ...... I used GREEN FURNACE FILTER
cut them up to size and pre fit them onto your mounds of dirt you just made .
You want to ruff them up and cut the right angles out and just bush them out and mess them up like a bad hair day !
After you have pre fitted BUT NOT GLUED YOUR GRREN FURNACE strips your going to want to spray paint them .. So take them to a nice ventilated area or outside (if weather permits) and with brown spray paint you want to really spray them .. These hold a lot of paint and will take a few coats to get the desired affect. After their dry turn them upright and spay a lighter tan color just on the tops to give it more contrast ... I didn't keep the factory green because I felt that it was to fake looking and to bright and I choose the brown because it will represent all the overgrowth of branches and stumps that in the bocage .. It will give it a better result when you go to flock .
After the spray paint drys you want to fit the pieces onto your mound so that your skewers are in the bush itself ..put some TAC GLUE on the skewered and top of your mound to secure them onto your mound.. Let them dry for a wile ...before that you should flock your mound with some Green flock on the mounds itself to give it that over growth look .. It also blends into the table and the green filter better
After all of that you are ready to flock the filter itself !! I used sawdust green flock that I've had for years you can it at your local hobby train store .
To flock the filter your going to need a spray bottle, water and glue and water down some Pva so that way it can spray out the bottle
I then taped the mounds with blue painters carpenter tape .. To protect the mounds from the glue you'll be spraying and unwanted flock from getting all over your mounds.(this was my choice) you don't have to cover it with tape if you don't want to. some ppl like all the extra flock on their mounds.
After you tape your mounds and have your water and glue in your spray bottle you want to go outside with your flock hold them upside down and spray the water and glue all over your
"filter" and start flocking make sure you go over it a few times it will take a good amount of flock to cover it all.
This is what it will look like after your done flocking ... Let dry for a day or over night let the tape sit on until everything is dry peal the tape off ENJOY YOUR NEW BOCAGE !!! You can further secure your flock on your bushes buy spraying them with hair spray to harden them like I did ... These are heavy duty and basically indestructible .. I got this idea from a great gaming blog called GAMING WITH SILVER WHISTE YOU CAN check out his fantastic blog for
this and more terrain making.. I've made some slight changes in material and steps and wanted to share mine with you !! Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions on anything I left out or if I just wasn't that clear on a step.. Or you can go to silver whistle blog for his method !
