DIY Cargo scatter terrain

Let's make some terrain pieces, Cheap and quick guide.
(click to enlarge)

In this tutorial I'll show you how to make your own Space Cargo scatter terrain but you can really do this for any wargaming scene you like. Since this is a Star Wars Legion Blog it wil be Space Cargo and will be mixed with my other space cargo. It will look good on the Tatooine markets or Space ports. Let's get started.

One of my favourite things in this hobby is making things myself. I ussually get an idea and then simply have to make it. I want to make my Tatooine buildings look a bit better by adding some tent cloth here and there. I haven't done that yet because I also had another idea for  using paper napkins and lots of glue.

These pieces can be created in just a couple of hours and it isn't a lot of work. You can really easily do this as a side project because you work on it for a bit and then have to wait a lot for the glue, paint and washes to dry. This is a project you can leave to dry and then come back to it again.

This is what you'll need:
-Foam
-PVA Glue
-Thin cardboard (I used a pizza box)
-String/cord/wire
-Paper towel/napkins
-Bitz to make it more interesting(optional)
-Knife
-Scissors
-Brushes
-Primer
-Paint
-Washes
-A SWLegion miniature (to check heights and measurements)

So as you can see these items will hardly cost you anything. You'll probably don't even have to go out to buy anything as most wargamers have plenty of this stuff.

Basic shapes for the cargo pieces done

First you start by cutting the foam in basic shapes like you can see in the picture above. I glued them to a piece of cardboard from a pizza box. The cardboard will be the base of your piece. just make sure that the piece of cardboard is large enough to fit the foam and some space around it that we will use for draping the cloth over. It's handy to have a legion model at hand to check the seize and heights of the pieces your making. you'll want some to hide your models behind completely and some that they can shoot over from behind.
in the picture above you can also see that I added some spare bitz. I used some pegasus hobby components and some wooden crates that I still had. These will make the pieces look more interesting but aren't necessary.

Once your basic shapes are ready you can start with the glue. I mixed my PVA glue with water so it will be easier to use. Put glue all over the piece where you want to add cloth and then drape a paper towel/napkin over it. You then cover the whole paper towel with more watered down glue. Make sure you get all the creases and folds just the way you like.
Then take a piece of string and put that around your piece so it will look like a rope securing the cloth over the cargo.
Once this is done you can leave it to dry. after a couple of hours your piece should be dry and you add another layer of watered down PVA glue over the whole piece including the ropes, leave to dry and later add a third coat of glue. This might seem a bit overkill to you but what it will do is make your fragile piece rocksolid and firm. It will feel like a piece of plastic.

As you can see in the picture above I added some more wooden crates (1). These will look really good on your pieces. As you can also see there is still some of the pegasus hobby panels visible from under the cloth. not necessay but will all add to the piece.
When you look at the lower bit of the picture (2) you can see I trimmed the cardboard base to an organic shape, just as the cloth is draped on the ground. Your piece is now ready for painting.

looks a bit shiny and white because of bad lighting

The PVA coat makes the piece very shiny and smooth so I advise you to use a primer before you paint it. I used Vallejo primer and then painted everything in it's base colors. When dry I washed the whole piece with watered down Agrax Earth wash. Then I did a heavy drybrush with the same base colors and then a light drybrush with a 50/50 mix of the base color and white. you can now pick out a few details if you like but the piece is done and can be used on the table.

Here are some pictures of my pieces used in Legion games:

Space Cargo....any smugglers dream!