What size 10mm hills?

[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

[Leman]

Thanks for that Norm. It certainly shows up well on some of the ground level shots. It's the kind of thing I would be looking to use with my 10mm and 6mm stuff.

[NeilCFord]

I am now the proud owner of 32, 30cm sq pieces of 6mm MDF, which will now for the basis of my hills project. Once I get all my outstanding basic done of course.

- Neil.

[Orcs]

This strikes me of having an element of 'how long is a piece of string?' about it.

or "How High is a Hill"

[NeilCFord]

or "How High is a Hill"

In my case somewhere between 12 and 24mm (2 to 4 layers).

- Neil.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Anything that has a separate peak, under 2000ft or 600m!
According to Wikipedia anyway!

[Norm]

Yeah .... Wiki .... what do they know?

everyone knows it's more like 12 - 24mm, with some flattish bits so things don't slide down and a smattering of flocky / sandy type stuff.

next thing you know, Wiki will be saying they are made from rock, well if that's true, what's the point of polystyrene and insulation board?

[FierceKitty]

No point. The driving force behind the development of metallurgy is that soft materials (such as copper, not to mention polystyrene) won't keep a point or an edge long enough to be useful.

[Techno]

I dunno....



Cheers - Phil (Now back to the hills,)

[fsn]

Please tell me that's a photo you found on Google!

Please tell me that's not your bedroom!   

[Techno]

Please tell me that's a photo you found on Google!

Yes !.....Searching for polystyrene swords.  

Please tell me that's not your bedroom!  

No.....My bedroom usually has a mess of Labradors on the duvitt.

Cheers - Phil