Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Mr. White on 17 December 2020, 08:01:43 PM
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After 30 years of playing with little mens, I'm finally going to work on a table proper. I just received some buildings in the mail (from the wonderful Fogou DUN! DUN! DUN! KS), but I think I'd like to base them.
What are people finding is a dependable material that's easy to cut and work with?
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I have yet to find anything that doesn't warp when paint and glue dry on it, but this depends on the size of the base and how much paint and glue you put on it. There probably are some materials or paint/glue types that won't warp, but I haven't found them. One old carpentry trick is to use two thin plywood sheets and stick them together with the grains running at right angles to one another. That is meant to cancel out warping because they push/pull against each other, but I've never tried it myself.
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I base most of my terrain on mdf, usually 2mm. Thicker would be less likely to warp, but 2mm is very easy to cut.
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I always use plasticard.
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I've just ordered a couple of A3 sheets of this stuff - 3mm PVC Foamex Sheet (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00QQGGRKY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00)
It's the stuff that estate agents use to make signs and it hasn't warped with the few pieces I've done so far, although they're not building sized.
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2mm MDF works out if you spray it down to seal it to prevent warping. I was planning to try some of that sign styrene in the future though. Thinner AND wouldn't need a coat.
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2mm MDF works out if you spray it down to seal it to prevent warping. I was planning to try some of that sign styrene in the future though. Thinner AND wouldn't need a coat.
I use the sign styrene a lot and it's great for bases, but it does warp like wood if the base is big enough and/or it has enough glue on top, as I've found to my cost. That's a great shout with the spray.
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Laminate flooring, a little heavier than other materials but easy to cut with a saw and rasp-file-sand a chamfered edge which helps offset the thickness (8-10mm). The underside is sealed and the top is, well, laminated. Buildings sit a little higher than on most other materials but Ian Weekley recommended raising buildings on their own little hill and I think it's still a good look.
The Jesmonite Fogou use is light but robust but it still doesn't hurt to have a bit of extra protection for their fine models. The larger up to 400mm wide tile type laminate might be needed for the circular fort or join two pieces together.
Andy
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If I can’t get mdf then I use cheap wooden place mats from Poundland or similar.
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Foamex all the way.
Probably the most stable material i've used.
3mm is great for buildings, 6mm for bigger stuff.
Cuts with a sturdy knife too
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PVC foam boards are the way to go!
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Whatever I base on, I assume that once I’ve applied glue and sand, it will all warp. With this in mind - and generally after any warping has occurred - I do one of two things:
1) For buildings in the landscape, I generally use 2mm plasticard, 3 or 6mm MDF, or much thicker ‘kitchen cabinet’ type panels for terrain basing. I put a smear of milliput around the edge of the base, which serves to levels things off while giving a faintly irregular edge that blends nicely with the table surface..
2) For cityscapes, I use 6mm mdf and glue a strip of plasticard to the edge of the tile, which I engrave to become a kerbstone.
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Like Scrubber says, cork backed table placemats are my go to base of choice. They never warp, have th3 added advantage that the cork stops the whole model sliding on the table and if you shop around, not only are they dirt cheap, but are also available in larger sizes suitable for most buildings.
If you are worried about the shiny surface adhesion for your basing materials, simply score it or rub a few times with coarse sandpaper.
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Another vote for Foamex. Easy to cut, stable, reletively cheap and no warping. But PVA glue doesnt like to stick on it (maybe sanding the surface helps), so I use hot glue gun or when I dont want bumps, superglue on it. And if you want to spray paint it, try a little piece before, not that the solvents in the can attack the material.
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Very interesting topic…
Is there a difference between Foamex and regular Foamboard? :?
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As I know, Foamboard is soft foam between two paper layers, Foamex (PVC foamboard, Hartschaumplatte) is hard foam between two plastic layers. Its basically a thick an light plastic card.
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Cork placemats, that’s the way forward.
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I haven't seen anyone mention it but cheap canvas sheets you get at dollar stores are perfect for basing small to medium pieces of terrain, they're designed to take paint and won't warp, they're also thin enough not to hinder model placement while still being stiff and quite sturdy.
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I haven't seen anyone mention it but cheap canvas sheets you get at dollar stores are perfect for basing small to medium pieces of terrain, they're designed to take paint and won't warp, they're also thin enough not to hinder model placement while still being stiff and quite sturdy.
canvas sheets? I'm not familiar with these.
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canvas sheets? I'm not familiar with these.
I'm talking about these (http://https://www.dollarama.com/en-CA/p-flat-artist-canvas-assorted-sizes-and-quantities/0201015).
notice that the price is to buy the whole shipment, individually they're 1.25$ (canadian!) which is still ok-ish as far as basing materials go.
Edit: Here's a link (http://lnmterrain.blogspot.com/2014/07/of-fields-and-farms.html) to a piece of terrain based off of one of those, it says plywood in the blog but that's because back in the day I didn't know what I was using was actually called.
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I’ve made some research on the Internet to find a Canadian distributor of Foamex but didn’t find what I was looking for… Does anyone know of any? I prefer to order from Canada, but, if there aren’t any, a US seller could be fine too.
Cheers!
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I’ve made some research on the Internet to find a Canadian distributor of Foamex but didn’t find what I was looking for… Does anyone know of any? I prefer to order from Canada, but, if there aren’t any, a US seller could be fine too.
Cheers!
My advice would be to keep an eye out for any business - shops, wholesalers, car dealerships, banks - using signs to advertise promotions that have an expiry date on them. When the promotion is over, they will likely just throw away their signage! This is how I got mine. Obviously you're a bit more limited during lockdown, but New Year sales are likely to be a rich source of material.
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That’s a great Idea! I didn’t think of it, but I could ask around for pieces before they throw them away… I live in an area where’s there plenty of grocery stores, shops, banks, etc. I cannot really wait for them to just throw away stuff since, most of the bin they use in this commercial area are tall, covered ones which are hard to access to…
Still, I’m curious to know if there’s a Canadian seller of this kind of board (I suppose so, I just can’t find one).
Cheers!
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I’ve made some research on the Internet to find a Canadian distributor of Foamex but didn’t find what I was looking for… Does anyone know of any? I prefer to order from Canada, but, if there aren’t any, a US seller could be fine too.
Cheers!
You'll want to search for PVC foam board, foamed pvc, expanded PVC or Sintra or Komatex (they are all the same thing). I don't think the Foamex brand name is available here. Companies that make signs use it so you can check there or plastic supply companies; I found a few Canadian companies onine. FYI the prices on Amazon are ridiculous.
I bought my 3mm (1/8 inch) 4x8 boards from here a while back: http://www.signcraftersupply.com/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.browse&category_id=1372
Hope that helps.
Cheers
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Thanks for the info. One of the first place I looked was Amazon.ca… their prices where indeed ridiculous. The link you give and the different names for this product will help me find a place to get what I’m looking for.
Cheers!
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In the UK (and I think Europe wide), Amazon lost the right to force companies to charge the same on their own website as on Amazon.
Now, when I look for an item on Amazon and find it's a 3rd party seller, I'll check their website to see if it's cheaper. It pretty much always is :D
Don't know if that's the same your side of the pond, but it's worth checking
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I've largely used the laser cut plywood shapes and from the craft and hobby stores to base buildings on, not perfectly tight around them most of the time, but they're cheap and sturdy and I can add things around it.
For smaller terrain pieces, I've also used the thin plastic bases that WizKids packs in with Nolzur's/Deep Cuts minis, I use the Reaper bases for most minis since I like them to match up with most of my collection anyway and for minis, they're to thin for people to pick them up by the bases, so I'd just stashed them away without a use.