building a gameboard questions

[aliensurfer]

I've a rough idea of what I want in the way of a 4ft by 4ft gaming board - for skirmish games and smaller scales. What do people recommend for the main boards - 10mm mdf or similar? Also, I'm after a link to be able to get blue foam in the UK, and also, modern roads for 28mm urban but without shell holes etc, intact roads. I have earmarked mdf buildings I want, but I've not seen suitable roads - although I guess I could make some out of 4-5mm cork tiles. I thought I'd ask the collective hive mind of LAF given how much great hobby stuff people post on here I figured someone is bound to know. Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help ladies and gentlemen.

[Vagabond]

Your roads could be hardboard, it's 1/8" thick and I've cut it into 12" lengths as well as curves and used pva and sand sparingly and they didn't warp, I did a dirt road on one side and a tarmac road on the other side which would have helped them not warping. I suspect their weight is an advantage over foam board which will tend to move around.

I used 10mm mdf for a board 800mm x 1200mm and put a lot of PVA and sand on one side and it warped very badly. It's just about ok on it's own but I couldn't marry it to another board. I'm not sure if my method was rubbish or 10mm with a large surface area is always going to warp.
Others here will know better than me.

If you want to see the roads I made you could look on my blog, check the tag for Zombies for tarmac side and  probably Mabel Street Mob for dirt road. The warped 10mm board is under Western.
Good luck

[David H]

I'm after a link to be able to get blue foam in the UK

You can get blue foam here:

https://www.panelsystems.co.uk/products/modelling-foam

[aliensurfer]

Thanks folks, I'll look a the link and the blog when I get in from work.

[Munindk]

You could make roads as DIY caulk mats.

I've made full mats, but I havent tried making roads, rivers or similar smaller pieces yet. Apart from using thinner fabric the process should be the same.

[gweirda]

"Apart from using thinner fabric..."

I've had success using the weed-block fabric found in DIY/garden stores. Since it's semi-porous the cloth should be laid out on wax paper before the caulk is spread on.

[Munindk]

I know the material, I've used it to build houses for LARP games in the past. I hadnt thought of using it for terrain.

Instead of wax paper, I might try backing it with some of the thin plastic you use for covering furniture when painting.

[King Arthur]

For roads, I could recommend using plasticard as a base, get some thin stuff, circa 3mm, sand down the surface with some medium grit sand paper to get some texture and then use grout, I get a 5kg bag from my local hardware store, it dries dark grey and looks very realistic due to the cement content.

[Codsticker]

For roads I think you have to consider whether you want them to run over uneven terrain or not. If you are going to have roads run over hills then you want flexible roads like the caulk on fabric type. You can also buy printed road strips from Deep Cut Studio (link). Otherwise a solid based road on hardboard or MDF would be fine and probably easier to make and possibly more durable.