Sectional Terrain Project

[jmilesr01]

I've started a project to build a little over 70 square feet of sectional terrain boards to be used for an upcoming game at Historicon (July, 2015).  I thought it would be helpful to post my progress in this forum and to describe the techniques that work as well as the ones that fail (likely to be many more of latter!).  Any suggestions on what can be improved will be greatly appreciated.

I've grown tired of the flat dimensions that terrain cloths provide for gaming so wanted to build some boards that have some ability to represent dips and rises in terrain - such as rivers and/or trenches.

The projected inventory of terrain panels will include 8 2x4 ft sections (one will have a river) and 5 2x2 ft sections. 

Here are some photos of the first test panels (some of the 2x2 panels were assembled last summer but never completed)







The last picture has a test of a plowed field which came out too "smooth" as I forgot to throw a bit of sand into the Durhams water putty - I'll need to add a bit when painting.

[beefcake]

70 square feet 

Following with interest.

[jmilesr01]

A very minor update - the joint compound did "OK" but I became worried about durability when there was some cracking after a "drop test" - I dropped the section about two feet to see what would happen.  These boards will travel back and forth to convention games so durability is an important feature.

A reader to my blog (Chris) suggested using tile grout which is a grand idea.  I sanded the joint compound off half of the test board and applied a very thin layer of pre-mixed, pre-colored grout.  I really like the outcome (hard to see from the I-phone camera pick)



I realize that rambling on about different covering tests is a bit boring but if the underlayment of the project isn't sound, then the durability comes into to question.  The next few posts should be more interesting as the ground cover options will get looked at.

[SBRPearce]

Might I suggest using the same acrylic caulk/sealant that's been so popular for folks making canvas-backed terrain mats? It comes in various colors, mixes beautifully with acrylic paints, can act as adhesive for sand or flock, grips your wood substrate tenaciously, and is flexible enough to bend rather than break.

[Ahistorian]

I can't quite tell what your boards are built of, but caulk would indeed be better for a flexible surface.

If you are using tile grouting, I would recommend mixing in PVA and maybe a little sand in proportions of about 4:1:1. It helps preventing cracking as it dries and between the glue and the sand, makes it hard as nails.

[jmilesr01]

Great idea on adding some PVA - I'll do that

The boards are based on 1/4 inch plywood that's framed by 1x2 stock lumber and a center brace.  The interior of the frame is filled with pink extruded polystyrene.

[Ahistorian]

Ah, cool. I wasn't sure if you were using painter's canvasses for your project - they sell them discounted near me.

In that case, caulk is probably fine, though I'd personally do a quick soak over the foam with PVA first once I'd finished sculpting it, again just to harden it against the inevitable knocks it will get on the circuit. I find the grout mix easier to work with on large areas though, because you can mix it all together in the pot ahead of time rather than squeezing it out by inches like caulk (though I swear by it for making flexi-roads).

Urm. Yes. I look forward to seeing what you end with though, I've never tried to build this big a scenery project before! 

[jmilesr01]

A bit more progress on the boards.  I do think I need to add some deeper greens to the flocking, it's a little too high summer like (very flat tones)

I did have a misstep with the field board - the initial set of "crops" I put in ended up looking like the board had contracted "Vegetarian Measels" and I scraped them off and then re-did the field.

A close up of the board flocking:


The revised field sans crops


What it looked like before being redone - ugh.  It was one of those ideas that looked great with 6 or 7 clumps down but turned out awful in the end.  Oh well, any mistake is an opportunity to learn.  I suspect I'll be doing a lot of learning on this project.



A new 2x2 section that feature a depression that runs for one end and ends in a rock wall.  Depending on how the board is oriented it can either be a makeshift defensive position of a maneuver obstacle.  The rick facing has it's initial coat of grey paint - ince that drys I'll be adding successive dry brush of light grey and finally a very light white dry brush to bring out the shapes.



I've got 12 square feet of the planned 72 square ft completed but the pace should pick up once I finish testing out different techniques.

[Dr. Zombie]

Following with interest.

[Ahistorian]

Looks great! What did you use for the flocking?

[Peithetairos]

The structure of the cliffface looks very good already. What did you use to depict the stone? Plaster, dense styrofoam, bark?

I did also soem experimenting with fields and find that corrugated cardboard works best. For an even more realsitic result I would also add fine soil on top. This gives a very realistic appearance and does not need to be painted. Some pictures of my fields can be found on my blog. I won't post them here as I do not want to hijack your thread:

https://daggerandbrush.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/remnants-of-the-past-a-collection-of-mediterranean-terrain-pieces-for-15mm-and-28mm/

[jmilesr01]

For flocking I'm using a mix of materials applied in layers.

The first layer is a mix of static grass from woodland scenics (2/3 light green 1/3 dark green) applied through an old kitchen strainer on top of a layer of diluted white glue  The second layer is ground foam in lighter and drake shades - I'm mostly using some Scenic express products here because it's what I have on hand.  Once all the flocks down, it spray it with water and then reapply more diluted white glue

The cliff face is extruded pink polystyrene that I've "carved" - the carving is more like jabbing with a hobby knife and trying to get all the straight lines out.  Its one of those hobby tasks that work better the less you think about it when doing in use.  Before painting I do cover the rock face with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water to harden it up as these areas tend to get a lot of wear and tear when in a game.

I like the cardboard field technique and may appropriate it for future use.  No worries about hijacking a thread (I didn't know that was a thing) - I'm all for learning techniques that are better than my humble efforts.

Thanks for the feedback

[jmilesr01]

A little progress - the rock face has been dry brushed and the sandy area below the rocks has been painted - once that's fully dried the next step will apply the scenery materials.



I think I'll hit the rocks with one more dry brush of white but I'm happy with the outcome. 

[jmilesr01]

Some hill sections - 2, 2ftx2ft sections which can be combined to make a large hill or turned around to create a narrow pass





Once these are all scenic I'll need to cut and assemble 5 more 2x4 sections which will require the workspace to be cleaned up - scenery work is very messy!

[jmilesr01]

A bit more progress - painted the two hill sections and put finished the grouting of the river section

The lighting in my workshop isn't the best - the color of the two sections is the same - it's closers to the first picture than the second





Next up is the river section.  I use plaster cloth to line the banks and then covered the whole board with the grout/white glue mix which creates a rock hard shell and provides a good amount of texture.  The river is 1/16 black styrene sheet.



One tip for plaster cloth - purchasing from a medical supply vendor is a lot cheaper than buying from a hobby supplier such as Woodland scenics.  The typical plaster cloth used for making casts comes in 5 inch x 30 inch long strips and is much less expensive than the hobby versions.