I'm making a bunch of hills out of cardboard and filler at the moment and will soon run out of my current tub of filler. I've been using One Stroke lightweight filler which is fast drying, easy spread and nice texture but isn't all that robust, even when dried can still put your nail through it.
Planning to use something more robust next time, any suggestions for fillers well suited to terrain making? Easy spreading and shaping but dries robust.
I use a standard household filler, but mix with some PVA. This makes it quite hard.
I add some paint to the filler PVA mix so chips don't show white
I found Wilko's own brand filler to be perfectly fine. As the others have said, a bit of pva and paint helps too.
The poundland stuff works for me
Interesting, will try the paint and PVA trick with the next hill, that'll make painting them a bit easier.
Are you mixing it with powdered filler or with the ready made stuff?
Sounds like the consensus is the best filler is the cheapest filler.
I mix PVA & paint with 'the ready made stuff' as I use it mainly for basing so do lots of small batches
Did it once with powdered filler when doing trenches
QuoteI mix PVA & paint with 'the ready made stuff' as I use it mainly for basing so do lots of small batches
Did it once with powdered filler when doing trenches
Yes one of my other ongoing terrain projects are those lovely trenches that are going to need a lot of filler as well at some point, though working on getting a load of them constructed first then fill en masse.
I used the powdered filler as it was what I had at the time. Use with PVA and a small amount of water or paint
I use tubes (rather than tubs) of Polyfilla, thinned with water where necessary, shaped with dental tools and clay sculpting tools .
Never tried or even thought of adding glue.
Most of my adventures in terrain making have been small scale, which may make a difference.
QuoteI use tubes (rather than tubs) of Polyfilla, thinned with water where necessary, shaped with dental tools and clay sculpting tools .
Never tried or even thought of adding glue.
Most of my adventures in terrain making have been small scale, which may make a difference.
I do have a tube of polyfiller I just found in the garage so will try that. Also have some grout that might work as an option too.
Mixed a bit of paint and PVA with some of my current tub of filler and things got weird. Went very gummy and almost dough like with only a little added. Had a hard time spreading it over the hill. Will see how it is when it dries but must be something in this particular filler that doesn't react well with the mix. So anyone reading this, avoid Quick Strike lightweight filler with this method. Unless you're trying for a slow lava flow style thing, then it would work well.
If it goes like that add a little water
QuoteIf it goes like that add a little water
Yeah I did but couldn't find a sweet spot between gummy and runny. And too much water soaks into the cardboard and warps it. It's dried quite soft, so just think it's a bad mix with whatever makes this one light weight and quick drying. I'll try it with standard polyfilla as that'll be a more conventional filler recipe and likely work better.
Ok, I would not use cardboard as the base, I have never found any form of cardboard, that does not warp.
Suggest
Old CD's - Cheap but only 5" rounds
Plasticard - Expensive
Hardboard. - seal first with varnish or PVA. May still warp a little
MDF- generally ok. 2mm thick is hard to find in normal DIY stores, but you find 3mm. Bevel the edges to make it look thinner. I have a 45° setting on my jigsaw that helps.
You can buy some random shapes from some wargames companies.
You want your filler to be the same consistency that you would use to fill a hole in the wall.
I tried with the tube of polyfilla I had and it worked better when mixed so think it was just the type of filler I had. Have ordered a box of powdered filler that I can mix to my own consistency so will try that. I've also a bag of flexible grout I might experiment with as a layer for toughness though it might shrink a bit.
I'm making hills for a battle of the Alma game, which is about 80% hills! I've been doing the standalone steep hills and peaks using two thick corrugated cardboard pieces cut so the corrugation goes perpendicular to each layer to give more strength then sticking it to a thin card base. So far the smaller ones I've just used straight filler on haven't warped. The only ones showing a bit of warping are the very large ones I used a bit of a mix of paint, glue and filler on, so may stick with plain filler base the PVA and paint layer over to reduce the moisture getting to the card. I've still the massive hills to do that cover half the table, not sure if I'm going to do those in card, polystyrene, or just cut out 2D hills in felt... :-\
Needed some DIY bits and bobs from Screwfix so added their filler onto the order too, be interesting to compare as it's dead cheap too.
My filler was Wickes own brand that was so old it was £1 a box. (It was over 18 years old)
Got the cheap powdered one today, seems to have PVA premixed in so mixed it with a bit of water and paint and did a layer on the existing hills, will be interesting to see if it dries much firmer than the other one. Slopes are still a little too steep even for steep hills so may have to do a thicker batch to even them out a bit more before painting.
(https://i.imgur.com/zhmMcl8.jpeg)
May take a break from hills after that and do some vineyards before the next batch of hills. Some experimenting to be done to see how to make them work in 2mm. I was thinking using carpet offcuts or clump foliage in small rows with some sort of grey walk round it but think they'll be too chunky at 2mm.