Modular Modern City Board 2.0

[audrey]

So a while back I had started working on a modular board for modern games. The tiles were 10in x 10in and about 3/4in thick. Each tile is a frame with a top glued on and designed so they would be held together by magnets.

Here is my original mock up of the 3 x 3 city board.



I had originally though about using hardboard or mdf but the tiles would be rather pricey. I was told Taskboard would work just as well so I decided to go with that for the frames and top. It didn't work. The tiles warped and would not line up properly. In the end it was very frustrating so I just shelved the whole project.

So after some time had passed and the horrible warped tiles nightmare faded I decided to give this a second go. Especially when I got access to a table saw and figured I could precisely cut 1/4in hardboard. This time around I decided to go with laser cut hardboard frames and a 1/4in hardboard top that I would cut myself.



I built a smaller 6in x 6in tile to make sure all of this worked before moving onto the larger size and making multiples. This included testing out the material for the sidewalks and the spray texture paint I want to use for the streets. This test tile is just primed, no painting yet. The new tiles are very strong when assembled and I have not had any warping, Yay!



The sidewalks are made out of 3mm Sintra board. There was a thread here on LAF with a city build using sintra board. I forget his username but this is a link to his blog. (http://cutintotheearth.blogspot.com/2012/03/pulp-city-board.html). It is worth checking out.

At this point things are working out as I had originally hoped they would. I have enough stuff to make 26 tiles, but I am focusing on the 9 tiles I will be using for a skirmish game. I still have some building issues to work out but I am confident I can sort that out. My next big hurdle is painting the boards. At least I have the test tile to work out the paint scheme on .

-Audrey

[Dewbakuk]

That looks great, what's the spray?

[audrey]

That looks great, what's the spray?

It is Rustoleum multicolor textured spray paint.

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/stops-rust/multicolor-textured/

[audrey]

I got a couple of tiles assembled. The white & clear parts in the upper right corner is a sewer grate.



Two more tiles showing how they fit together. I really enjoy distressing the sidewalks and streets. I need to make sure I don't go too crazy and end up with a city that looks like an earthquake happened. Unfortunately it is hard to see the cracks on the unprimed boards.



-Audrey

[voltan]

How's you decide the width of your roads? Do you have vehicles it fits or did you go out in the street with a tape measure and a calculator?

[warlord frod]

Excellent work Cannot wait to see the whole project when it is done and buildings have been added.

[audrey]

Originally I made paper terrain years ago that used 9.5" x 9.5" tiles (pictured below). The paper tile roads are 5.5"w but that included the sewer gutter parts. So if you measure the actual road it is 5"w. The sidewalks are 2"w per side. Generally I liked the size of those roads but wanted a bit more room. So now the new 10" tiles break down to 2" sidewalks per side and 6"w roads which includes the sewer/gutter. Basically I duplicated the 9.5"w tile but added 0.5" to the road to get 10"w. I did a number of print outs on paper checking it to my die cast cars to figure out my sidewalk/gutter/road sizing. The street approximately represents a 12-13ft wide road at 1/56 scale.



-A

[OSHIROmodels]

Looks promising 

cheers

James

[leonmallett]

Off to a great start after your initial tribulations.

[Sangennaru]

That's a really promising start! Keep on!

[Damas]

The crisp finish to the baseboards is a real draw for me. Please keep up the progress.

[uti long smile]

Always a fan of your projects - greatly enjoyed your Shellendrak Manor. This looks it's going to be a corker!

[exploding youth]

This is looking great so far, looking forward to seeing it progress

[audrey]

Ok the 9 panels are mostly done (5 Streets, 4 Buildings). The streets are finished except adding a few manhole covers. I am waiting on those to come in the mail. The building base tiles are going to be detailed as I work on the buildings. I do enjoy hearing the "click" sound the tiles make when they lock into place from the magnets. The tiles are easy enough to pull apart by lifting a tile but they do not move out of place when bumped, which I love.



-A

[Major_Gilbear]

These look amazing Audrey!

I have to ask though, since most games use inches, and most tables are generally determined in feet, how come you settled on 10" squares rather than 12" squares?