The Commander Series Forum

Hi guys,

I've posted this on a couple of terrain forums, and thought I'd ask the same question here as we have some excellent terrain makers on the BKC forums...

Having made tons of stand-alone terrain features (woods, grassy fields, cornfields, ploughed fields, etc) and miles of roads, walls, hedges and bocage over the last couple of years, I'm now on a quest to start making some terrain tiles.

I'm going down the route of 12" squares - some will be plain grass and some with road sections modelled on. All the ones with roads will have the roads leaving and entering at the same point so that they'll all be inter-changeable. I'll then be able to put my matching walls, hedges, fields, etc on top.

I recently bought some 12" square cork floor tiles to practice with and am very happy with the results on the couple of tiles I've done. However - no real surprise here - the cork is warping.

So before I make any more, is it best to...

A. Stick the cork onto something more solid, like MDF, plasticard sheets, pink/blue foam, etc.

B. Scrap the cork idea and just go with something like MDF, etc.

One vital consideration for me is to keep it as light in weight as possible, due to a wrecked back. On the other hand, it needs to be sturdy enough to resist warping. Also, I like the idea of using cork on the top as it can be easily gouged out for sunken features like streams, ponds, shell damage, etc.

Any ideas?

cheers,

John

Art Board is good, and a tad lighter (an 8x6 worth is still heavy)

IanS

When using any type of base board coat the underside/reverse side with a pva/oil based paint if possible.

Won't always stop distortion (particularly if the base board is a thin material) but part of the cause is that the top and bottom of the terrain boards can absorb moisture at different rates which is what leads to some of the warping.

Also if doing heavy terrain texturing with water based materials try applying the material in several thin layers rather than one thick one as this will allow the texturing material to dry to atmosphere rather than soak into the base board.

Foam or plasticard are the most moisture stable but can still twist as the texturing material often shrinks as it hardens causing the foam to curl at the edges.

A slightly different problem with plasticard is because it so smooth terrain pieces frequently slide very easily making it a pain to use

I have used cork tiles for years and have not stopped them from warping but the way they are made allows me to easily bend them back nice flat before each game.

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http://angelbarracks.forumup.com/viewtopic.php?...


Michael.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Michael - some good stuff on your site! Just out of interest, why do you use a slightly smaller cork board underneath the top board, rather than the same size? And what do you use to glue them together?

Ian - is Artboard just MDF, or is there some special Mojo to make it better?

thanks

John

They are self adhesive, costs about twice as much but means they are dry as soon as you put them together.

As they stick as soon as they touch each other if you have not lined up them up spot on then there is a high chance the bottom tile will stick out from underneath meaning you will not get a flush line up.
When they stick they are stucj and errors can not be corrected, even a 0.5mm error is very noticable.
So by making the underneath tile smaller you can ensure it does not stick out from under the top.

Artboard is card - as sold in art shops. It's thick card designed to be used for mounting or painting on.



IanS

I would say hardboard/MDF.

Note fields in action:
http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z18/Schlesie...