Here i am going to teach you how to make cheap and easy to make miniature tabletop terrain buildings

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Materials

MDF or Foam-board
Polystyrene white/blue
Acrylic Paint
Plaster of Paris (optional)
Saw dust
Food colouring
PVA Glue

Tools

Craft Knife set
Paint Brush

Step 2: Building

Grab some polystyrene and cut it up to roughly what shape you want.
If your building is a ruin, break off some of the styrene for a damaged look.
If you going for an undamaged structure make the edges and cuts clean and straight.

Look at reference images of real / fictional buildings and begin to slice of pieces of styrene to add more details to the structure

Make sure your craft knife / Scalpel is sharp to make cutting easier and to prevent the little balls of styrene from breaking apart while cutting.

Once you are happy with your pieces, glue them to the MDF base / Foam board base.

Step 3: Painting

For the first coat of paint apply a black paint over the entire structure.DO NOT LEAVE A SINGLE WHITE SPOT UNCOVERED
After the black paint is dried.Use a dark grey paint and dry brush it onto the building until the building is mostly grey,with the cracks and grooves showing black.

Dry brushing- touch a small amount of paint on the brush and wipe off the excess on another surface until the brush is nearly dry,now brush this small amount of paint left on the building.

Allow the grey coat to dry.

Now dry brush a small amount of light grey onto the corners or edges,this is to make the highlights pop up the stone edges,giving a more 3D look.

Allow to dry Again.

Above are image examples of the 3 stages of painting. Base Coat, Dry Brushing and High Lights.

Step 4: Making Grass

The miniature grass is made from saw dust and green food dye

If you have some saw dust from the shed you can use it or you can get it from timber suppliers or bunnings

Make sure you filter out your saw dust with a sifter or net with holes that aren't too fine (just large enough for half a grain of rice to fall through)
you need the saw dust to be fine enough for it to look like mini grass. if there are random large pieces it breaks the illusion.

With you filtered dust add it to a container and add 1 drop of green food dye and mix well until all particles are coloured,add a few drops of water if needed.
it can be any colour you want even blue if its alien grass :D

Dark green dye = jungle grass
Light green dye = grass plains grass
yellow dye = dry grass
etc.

Once it is mixed well allow the dust to dry for at least a week. IT NEEDS TO BE AS DRY AS POSSIBLE !!!!
After that is ready for use.

Step 5: Adding Grass

Mix 1 part PVA to 2 parts water

Apply the diluted PVA sparingly to the area that grass/moss will most like grow on in nature.
Think corners,edges and crevices. these are some of the spots that vegetation most like will grow on.

Look at reference images of where they grow.

Right after the diluted PVA is applied dip the spot into your container of grass or sprinkle it over the spot
tap the structure gently until all the extra grass falls off.
Allow it the grass to dry on the building

With the extra grass that fell off you can put these back in to the container use reuse.

Step 6: Make More

You can make many more buildings so that you have a whole set and arrange it in any way you want.
Below are the set that i have made.As you can see they can be re-arrange to create different building layouts.

Now go and make your own set of buildings each with a different style or look.

Step 7: Stone Floor

This stage is optional if you want the base to show stone tiles on it

Mix some plaster of paris with water making the consistency of thick batter. apply it on the base and allow to dry to touch but not too dry as this will make carving it difficult.

Grab a scalpel with a pointed blade and start to make a groove for the tiles adding extra grooves for chipping and cracking of weathered stone.

Now allow the plaster to fully dry then paint it with the same method as painting the building.
e.g. base coat, dry brush, high-lighting

Hope you enjoy this instructable and don't forget to vote :)

Now go forth and create your own world