Author Topic: My New Board (Read 1552 times)

SotF · « **on:** June 22, 2015, 07:01:28 PM »

Initially, I was planning on doing this as a tutorial for a rather cheap method of making a smaller board, unfortunately, I had a slight issue with the camera in my phone because the Micro-SD it uses for storage went bad on me (I did get a free replacement though) when I was finishing it up. However, the board is still a rather interesting thing to have and I can give a list of instructions.

It's a 2' x 2' play area board with about another inch or two from the frame, and is generic enough to work with just about anything 15mm or up...though the path might be a bit off with a lot of modern or scifi stuff, still useable there though.

For the basic how to, get a picture frame that you like, the 2x2 one was $19.99 and had an acryllic "glass" though a cardboard backing.

I also used several of the wooden discs from the craft store on the back, 5 two inch ones (one for each corner and one in the center) along with some old felt off cuts for the underside of those.

The easiest boards would be sea boards, paint the underside of the acryllic as an ocean, then seal it up before attaching the legs, then take a small hot glue gun to make some ripples over the top and then use the glue gun to seal it all together on the underside.

With my board, I glued a layer of cork sheeting over the entire acryllic, then a second one with the areas removed that would be filled with the path along with the edges cut down to fit inside the frame glued in place. Run hot glue along the edges where they link inside, don't use it to hook the cork down entirely because that tends to be a mess. If you want some irregularities rather than flat ground, attach some other pieces of cork beneath the second layer.

I then added another layer on top in a few places to add a bit of interest to the larger areas. Again seal the edges down with hot glue.

Use masking tape to cover the edges of the frame, the finish makes it look more presentable in the end...make sure its down tight though because paint and other things can get under it if it isn't and I had a few issues with corners there, though it's not as noticeable in the end with just a tiny bit.

Attach the acryllic into the frame, run hot glue around the underside edge of the frame to make sure it's secure, then attach the wooden disk legs with more hot glue to the underside of the acryllic.

Use white glue to fill the path areas with small rocks/aquarium gravel as well as a few stones here and there for areas that you want to stand out more, and let dry.

Take some patching plaster, tub was only $1.99 for me and I didn't use the entire thing, and water it down to an easy gel, and cover the areas other than the gravel, you can get a bit over the edge there. Make sure the stones are cleared off, and try to make it look like a natural surface.

After the plaster dries, a quick sanding to remove any problem ridges in the plaster, followed by a layer of watered down white glue and a light dusting of fine sand works well to both seal it up for a stronger layer and adding a bit more texture.

Then you can prime it with spray easily enough, go for full, even coverage. Then paint it up followed by flocking.

Carefully remove the tape and you get a good looking board that can be dragged around easily and most people see as easier than the standard boards that you can leave on the table with little issue...