Terrain Board (Image Heavy)

[oldskoolrebel]

Good Evening All,

I found myself starting a new project tonight, its inspired by all the stunning boards that I played on at BLAM especially Captain Blood's. I don't expect to be able to reproduce something to the same standard as the Bloodmeister, but I'll give it my best shot.

Stage 1- visit BnQ, purchase a 4 pack of pink foam, some filler and a couple of sanding blocks. Order some cork bark.

Stage 2- Plan, look over examples, sketch, re-sketch and finally mark the foam.

The plan is to design a 3.5' by 4' board (using two foamboards). I spent a bit of time planning it to ensure that the board can be changed order slightly (see layout 1 ad 2 below). Before I start sanding and gluing, I wanted to get the opinion of other people. How do the layouts look? Should I change anything?

Layout 1


Layout 2


Sorry for the poor quality photos.
Cheers
Andy

[DD-Chris]

so far it looks like you have a slid plan, my only sugestion would be a wood frame for the foam, i made a simple 2.5x2.5 board, mounted on hardboard, and even then the edges, and corners start to see some wear, VERY quickly, even with minimal transportation, and careful storage.
just something to think about in your planning .

[gamer Mac]

Looks good so far.
Whats it for?
A question for the man who mentioned a new era!

[oldskoolrebel]

Thanks for the advice DD-Chris, I'll give it some thought. I would also like to know how Captain Blood gets around this.

Colin, its going to be predominantly fantasy; I've got a whole load of LotR stuff that I've never painted so I'll do that. Hopefully it will be useful in more than one era!

Cheers
Andy

[Malamute]

If you don't want to go with the wooden frame add some masking tape wrapped around the corners. It will help strengthen them and will give some protection.

The layout looks fine, should be versatile. Can't wait to see them progress.

[Silent Invader]

Looking good. 

For my pink foam boards, I added a bit of protection by binding all the way round the edges with a ring of gaffer tape.

[Christian]

MY boards all have wooden frames, but they don't see much use anyway  I'll be keen to see how you hand this dilemma...

[JollyBob]

Great idea to make the layout variable, very good thinking.

One question though - is my local B&Q the only one that doesn't sell pink foam sheets? Looked for years and never found any... 

[oldskoolrebel]

Hello jolly bob they're sold as
knaud space board
I found them relatively difficult to find in my store, but they're hidden in the dingy loft insulation corner. If your near the Glasgow Great Western Road store they stock them.

Have you tried ordering online? I'm sure that there must be some way to get some to you.

Cheers
Andy

[Silent Invader]

here  

linky

[Captain Blood]

Oooh. Nice one Andy 

Layout plan looks good to me - that's exactly how I do mine. Just draw the roads, rivers and hills onto the foam, and get carving, sanding and building up.

I've now done 10 of these exact same loftboards from B&Q and I don't bother doing anything with the edges at all. They're perfectly rigid, and providing you're careful, the edges won't deteriorate through natural wear and tear - although clearly if you swing one against the sharp edge of a door frame, it's going to dent!

Looking forward to seeing what you do with them 

By the way, some branches of B&Q don't carry them as a stock item, but they can get them in within 24 hours if you ask for them.

[oldskoolrebel]

Thank Richard! I was just wondering how deep you sanded the river? I don't own a dremmel but I'm instead using a standard drill with a sanding drum.... hmm

Thanks
Andy

[Captain Blood]

I'd say I took the river down by about 5mm. It needs a dead flat bed. Once you've buzzed out the bulk surplus material, you might find it easier and more accurate to use a bit of sandpaper and do it by hand, to get a fine flat finish.
DIY power tools do have a nasty habit of ripping dirty great holes in pink foam 

For added depth, I also build up the banks of my rivers a bit in places, using little pieces of balsa covered in B&Q ready mixed filler.

P.S. Clearly you need a Dremel for Christmas! Best present I ever got, seriously. Soooooooo useful - for cleaning up figures as well as all sorts of terrain making purposes.

[oldskoolrebel]

Point taken! I'll persevere with the drill just now. Can you recommend a Dremel model? There is a 300 on Amazon just now for £35... is it worth it?

Cheers
Andy

PS I'm surprised how easy the pink phone is to work with!

[Captain Blood]

Mine's a Dremel 395 multi tool (like this one - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dremel-Multi-Tool-Pro-395VR-accessories-/120653448559?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item1c1781856f)

I think the 300 is a slightly newer version. Sure it will do the same range of things (pretty much everything in other words!)