Hi everyone. I am starting to build my own WWII terrain. I have just built my first rock. I cut a piece of styrofoam and carved it. Then, when I was satisfied with the look, I rolled an aluminium foil ball on every surface to add texture. For the painting, I began with mixing Mod Podge with black primer paint to make my rock more resistant. After that, I painted most of the rock with a dark grey acrylic paint. Then, I drybrushed it with a lighter grey and finally I lightly drybrushed with a light beige color. After the painting was completed, I add a black wash on all its surface and let it dry. I then decided to sprinkle some clay on the top. To make sure the clay stayed in place, I use an eardropper to cover the clay with a mix of 50% water and 50% white glue. I let it dry and add another layer of this diluted glue. Once everything was rock solid, I added some static grasses. I mixed different colors of static grasses because in nature all the grasses are not from the same species. And that’s about it. I am now building a second rock, a little bit different this time.
Quicker and easier is to use drywall joint compound (aka "mud") mixed with 120 to 400 grit sand (sand blasting sand is best but even coarse play sand will work). Put the mud in a bucket putting what you'll be using. Mix in the sand until it visible in the mix everywhere (somewhere by volume about 1 to 3 to 1 part mud). You can apply this over any sort of underlying form like wood, Styrofoam, etc. It takes hours to dry even in thin layers so you have plenty of time to work it. Coarser sand will give a rougher finish. By adding sand, the mud won't crack and will dry hard with just a small amount of shrink. You can add additional layers on top of the first if you want or need to. Joint compound is relatively cheap and you can get it at any home improvement store. Plaster of paris and joint compound are the best two materials to use to make things that are masonry, rock, etc.
