Argh... Done more terrain again!

[Indra]

I cant help it. I get a few days off and what do I do? I make more terrain. Except its not. Kind of.

I bought some ceiling tile, the polystyrene kind today, to make small modular boards. Plain ones. Because I used to play Mordheim a lot and really small gaming surfaces (2\'x2\') are acceptable, and convenient for me too. SO, the tiles are 12\' square and are a fiver for 20. They\'re too thin on thier own so I sort out the thickness and compensate for warping by:

Taking 2 tiles, placing them together, sandwich style, textured side innermost, and masking taping the sides up, to hide the gap between the bevelled edges.

I then Texture one side of the newly taped tile with PVA and sand.

Next I spray the sealed and textured side black, folllowed by a heavy dust of Grey spray and finished off with white to dust. I now have 4 complete tiles for Mordheim/Necromunda/VVSmall games of 40k coloured grey. Brill and easy. And cheap too for a fiver! (I can still make up another 6 modular tiles!!!)

I really need to stop making terrain....

[DavicusPrime]

I\'ve been making a mess carving foam to make rock outcroppings. Nearly done with the major sculpting, now I have to cut a base for each and start with the texturing. I\'ve got a week to finish them before we play again... Too bad I really don\'t have any time to designate for it.

-DavicusPrime

[steve bruce]

Can I suggest an alternative to polystyrene for rocky cliffs and outcrops?
Cork.
No not the plug that comes out of your wine bottle, but the stuff just pulled off the actual tree.
I live in Portugal where the stuff is easy to get and absolutely free, but I know the railway enthusiasts use it in chunks for scenery. You will get it at a suitable hobby store in the U.k or U.S, but I don\'t know how much they\'d charge.

Steve

[DavicusPrime]

Cork.

Well... I would but I have found the foam to be extreemly versitile. Plus it\'s avaliable in insane quantities. I bought a half sheet of 1\" foamboard. I haven\'t used even a quarter of it yet.

-DavicusPrime

Post edited by: DavicusPrime, at: 2006/04/29 03:50

[Indra]

I\'l tell you a good way to make cliff faces that everyone will be ludicrously envious of. you\'ll need the following:

1)A surface to be the cliff face in the overall shape you desire (Flat side to a hill for example)
2)Filler (Powder- the kind you have to mix)
3)Greaseproof paper
4)Wire brush

now this is the good bit. Make up some filler, and make it a bit thicker than norm, it needs to be quite stodgy. Paste it generously onto your surface (Keep the surface level or it will cause the paste to dribble like your toothless dog) Allow this to cure for half hour.

Next severely scrumple up the greaseproof paper, and then open it out again so it is creased to hell. Sprinkle a lot of the filler powder onto the grease proof side and then press the crumped paper, powderside first onto the soon to be cliff face. Leave to set for about an hour.

Next phase, the filler should have set substantially, but not completely. Remove the greaseproof paper. Allow to set fully overnight.

Finally, take your wirebrush, now that your filler has solidified and brush the cliff face horizontally, not too soft and definately not too hard. Use your judgement here, you want to roughen up the face without removing the filler from the model altogether.

What you end up with is a cool natural looking cliff face. If you dont believe me try it out on a piece of card about 3\"x6\". That way it wont take long to do the manual labour and you get enough of a surface to see an overall effect.

*TOP TIP*
Make sure the surface you plan to stick the filler to has a rough enough purchase for the filler to stick to. Score it with a knife several times before you start.