Soliciting Advice...

[chirine ba kal]

I'm working on a set of modular 'dungeon tiles' for the game table. I've cut 1/4" MDF into various sizes - I have lots of scrap material to recycle! - and I gave the pieces a first coat of a light 'Cotswolds stone' color; I personally prefer that to dark grey, as I think that is a little too dark for what I want. So, I'm a little stumped; I usually use a fine-point 'Sharpie' permanent marker over the same color on my figures' bases to do flagstones, and I'm wondering if that would be too much for these tiles. I have about a square meter's worth of tiles to do, so the simpler the better...



Comments and ideas welcome!

[6milPhil]

Scribe it?

[Connectamabob]

Only thing I can think of that'd be simpler than drawing with a sharpie would be printing out sheets of flagstone images and gluing them down with spray adhesive. If black sharpie seems too bold,  you can probably get grey paint pens at your local craft store. You can also tone down the black lines by misting back over it with your spray grey.

Scribing by hand might be slow going. A Dremel-type tool or a woodburner would be relatively quick, though not as quick as a pen. Woodburner would probably be quicker than a Dremel, but you'd need to ensure good ventilation while doing it, as IIRC the binders in MDF produce toxic smoke/fumes when burned.

Other options would be to cut stones out of card and glue them down. Or spackle on a thin layer of  wall filler and draw or stamp grooves in it while it's still wet (might need extra precautions to keep the filler from warping the MDF though).

[mxconnell]

Just to build on Connectamabob's suggestion. I print on full sheet labels and skip the fiddly spray adhesive. You can get large packs from Amazon for a reasonable price. I try to avoid the "repositionable" sheets as they occasionally lift. It's how I do my 2-D dungeon tiles though I use simpler graphics.

[chirine ba kal]

Thank you, everyone, for the ideas! I like the texture you'd get from scribing, but I'm not excited by the process of doing it - while I love my moto-tools, it's a lot to do. Maybe in small batches?

Sheets of textures laminated onto the MDF is starting to look really attractive. I'd use my usual roll-on glue - I do stage scenery work on the side - and I think that might help. (I've not had great luck with spray adhesives, and the wife has asthma.) I've painted one side of the MDF, so as to help with warping. Experiment time, I think...

Thanks again!

[snitcythedog]

I am forgetting where I have seen this technique but it gave acceptable results.  Look at the craft section at Michael's/Hobby Lobby/Joe Anne's for self adhesive foam squares.  They are usually pretty gaudy colors but I have seen a board that was at least initially textured using that foam. 
Here is an image that I just internetted.  I know that they make different sizes and shapes. 

As far as I recall the gentlemen that used this technique primed with spray paint.  If you go that rout I would try spraying some of the off cuts before you go to town.  The stuff is also cheap enough that it will not break the bank to test out. 
Hope that helps.
Snitchy sends.

[tyrionhalfman]

Snitchy I think you might mean Eric the Shed's excellent Frostgrave terrain board http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=83635.60

[snitcythedog]

Snitchy I think you might mean Eric the Shed's excellent Frostgrave terrain board http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=83635.60

That would be the one.  Oldheimers gets the better of me once in a while.   Should have figured it was Mr. the shed's.  Outstanding build and very useful.
Snitchy sends.

[chirine ba kal]

Once again, thank you everyone for all the great ideas and suggestions!!! I'll try some of these out this weekend, and let everybody know what I get...

[SotF]

Since you're using wood, while it would be easier if you hadn't primed it, one thing that few think of is to break out a pyrography stylus. It works great for cut stone floors, and you can use a pencil to figure out what you want it to look like beforehand.

I've been working on a set of tiles using two and a half inch squares of plywood I bought off the net along with some of the thin craft sticks to use as walls.

[chirine ba kal]

Since you're using wood, while it would be easier if you hadn't primed it, one thing that few think of is to break out a pyrography stylus. It works great for cut stone floors, and you can use a pencil to figure out what you want it to look like beforehand.

I've been working on a set of tiles using two and a half inch squares of plywood I bought off the net along with some of the thin craft sticks to use as walls.

Excellent suggestion; my concern would be the fumes from the hot glue / resin used in the MDF that I'm using, which you would not get from the top layer of the plywood. Due to the wife's asthma, I am very limited as to what I can do during the winter months - no hot wire on foam, for example.

[jthomlin]

Excellent suggestion; my concern would be the fumes from the hot glue / resin used in the MDF that I'm using, which you would not get from the top layer of the plywood. Due to the wife's asthma, I am very limited as to what I can do during the winter months - no hot wire on foam, for example.

An engraving bit in a Dremel or similar would not produce fumes and take about the same amount of time.

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[SotF]

Excellent suggestion; my concern would be the fumes from the hot glue / resin used in the MDF that I'm using, which you would not get from the top layer of the plywood. Due to the wife's asthma, I am very limited as to what I can do during the winter months - no hot wire on foam, for example.

You pretty much need to either have a fan or an open window, haven't had any real problems and a lot of the plywood options are what is standardly used with them and with the laser cutters.

Just follow the instructions with the tool...and those are pretty cheap to acquire, even the kits intended for kits are easy enough to use and have a pretty good selection of tips if you want to try anything fancier. Only thing to consider is that a lot of the pyrography options are also things that family might want you to make or you might consider for other things even more than most.

[Connectamabob]

I seem to remember mentioning this stuff about woodburners/pyrographers in my post above. Yay for reading, I guess?

[chirine ba kal]

An engraving bit in a Dremel or similar would not produce fumes and take about the same amount of time.

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

Agreed; the smallest ball bit that I have would be about the size I'm looking for, and the dust isn't an issue because of the vacuum system I have in the workshop. Time to experiment, I think...