What size 10mm hills?

[NeilCFord]

Hi Neil,

I use B&Q cork floor tiles. They are very cheap and you can cut them to shape with a large pair of scissors. The advantage I have found over other materials is weight and durability. They are bendy so do not break easily and because of the cheapness and lightness you can have as many as you like.

I paint them on one side with a very thin wash of green. If used as hills they are green side up and you can layer one on top of another in a contour like system to represent various heights. I use them also reversed to represent perimeters of built up areas and woods.

You can see them in use in these old posts:

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,6728.0.html
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,3924.0.html

Cheers, Rob

I considered cork tiles, but they appear much harder to get hold of these days. B&Q don't list them on their website for example.

What ever I use will be placed under the gaming mat, so colour in immaterial.

- Neil.

[Rob]

Bummer 

Its been years since I bought them 

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

THink Wicks still do them.

IanS

[Leman]

I have considered treating myself to a Kallistra unpainted starter set, building hills from that and putting them under the gaming mat.

[NeilCFord]

I have discovered which of the local B&Qs has a cutting service, so I may just get some Plywood and go from there.

Which ever route I go, I'll be sure to document the process.

- Neil.

[Subedai]

Depends what you make them from. Cork tiles have a tendency to have the edges broken off even with the best care, MDF -if the right depth- could work out to be very heavy and I don't know if you can get polystyrene tiles anymore (which is why I kept some). This is why I use layers of polystyrene with the edges softened by masking tape before painting.


Basic hill construction. Offcuts and bits from various thicknesses of polystyrene -acquired just in time from a local skip- were glued down with wood glue to a irregular piece of thick card and some slate pieces glued were down with Hard as Nails. The whole lot was then covered with strips of masking tape that extended under the base. The masking tape used is the cheap stuff from Poundland. Don't worry about any folds left from where the masking tape has creased, they add to the topography of the piece. I like to use the odd rock, stone or pieces of slate to add a little weight to the piece.


The whole top surface was then covered with the ubiquitous sand and wood glue. Once dried, to represent earth collapse, some small pieces of unused cat litter were glued down with wood glue. For more adhesion and to fill in some of the major gaps all the litter was covered in diluted glue. Then more sand was glued down along the top of the litter for continuity.


Both new hills together. A quick blast across the top with an unperfumed extra-hold hairspray to keep the flock on and the ball's in the net.

[NeilCFord]

As my hills won't be visable, I thankfully won't have to go to those lengths. Useful tutorial regardless.

- Neil.

[Last Hussar]

Leman, that's the sort of thing!

Wickes do thick sheets of pink loft insulation foam that seems pretty robust.  The stuff I have is thick, maybe 30-40mm, but they might do thinner sheets.

[Leman]

Sounds promising.

[Last Hussar]

The problem is I have no idea how to sculpt it!  I have some on top of the header tank as insulation, and I recall it being a bugger to cut a slot into for an overflow pipe

[FierceKitty]

There's a type of dense rubber foam sheet somewhere in the world; I think it was once much used to deaden the noise of a typewriter resting on it. It was light and tough, and took paint well. No idea if it's still to be had anywhere.

[Ithoriel]

The problem is I have no idea how to sculpt it!  I have some on top of the header tank as insulation, and I recall it being a bugger to cut a slot into for an overflow pipe

Heat basically. You can get specialist foam cutters - basically a wire, a battery and a frame connecting the two - which allow you to slice bits off a block. Ventilation is a must.

I've made do with the much cheaper option of a large biology pin stuck through a champagne cork, the end of the pin being held in the flame of a gas ring on the hob and then applied to the foam. The pin rapidly loses heat so put it back into the flame and repeat as needed.

Picked up the champagne cork in a restaurant I was having lunch in, next table had been celebrating a birthday and I asked if I could have the cork as the staff cleared the table. did get some funny looks tbh.

[NeilCFord]

Can get 32, 300 x 300mm 3mm thick hardboard squares (plus offcuts) from B&Q for £8. Which given I'm working on 3ft x 3ft playing area, should give me plenty to work with.

- Neil.

[Last Hussar]

I had one of those heat cutters, and it had trouble with normal foam - think this stuff might have overwhelmed it!

[Norm]

Leman, using Kalllistra as an under-scape is what this chap did. I am guessing that to the eye the elevation is obvious but that overhead lighting here has killed the 3D look as far as the digital camera is concerned.

LINK - http://www.greatwarspearhead.com/battle-reports/battle-of-krasnik---7th/table-setup.html