DIY board-suggestions/tips?

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

With Armies on Parade coming up in late-October, I really wanted to show off my Word Bearers but found I didn't have a board, and since I am not going to sell my kidney to buy a GW board, I need to make my own. The only terrain I have is Honoured Imperium, an Aegis Defence Line and the corner of a ruined building the store manager gave me. My models are based with deserty colours and have some bits of rubble on their bases, so I was thinking maybe an outpost/old city that has maybe been nuked (thus becoming a wasteland) or succumbed to desertification, explaing the desert colours on the bases. Help?

[Doctor Perils]

That idea seems like it could be pretty nice, but you might want to leave the Aegis Defense Line out. Possibly even the Honoured Imperium, except if you're willing to chop it to pieces...

 

If you go with that theme, you'll probably want to find an effective way of doing craters. You'll probably want to find a way of adding some substantial three-dimensionality to it (with the use of taller building ruins), and an effective contrast to the deserty colours to be added sparringly (I'd recommend not the same colour as your army, to make it stand out more)

[Dantay VI]

Smash the honoured imperium statue up put the Aegis defence line in place and the wrecked building.

 

Some Ultramarine corpses and hey presto... Calth or one of the other Ultramar worlds ravaged in the heresy 

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

Both of those sound like good ideas although my Word Bearers are 40k not 30k so Cadia would be better than Calth. How would you make some taller buildings?

[Dantay VI]

You don't. Get loads of sprue and lob it into a blender and let it chop away. Now you have tons of bricks and debris

 

Also take a look at terragenesis, they do some good scenery, or they used to, been a while since I looked

[SW1]

Do you have access to foamboard?

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

@dantay-good idea, only problem is I just threw away all my sprues :( Maybe I could use some of the rocks from the basing kit.

@SW1-don't know what foamboard is, but I could probably buy some if it's cheap

[SW1]

Foam board is a used a lot by architects to mock up designs and if you have a university near by the campus may have a student union shop willing to sell to you at a discounted price. ;)

 

It's a board which has a layer of foam sandwiched between two layers of card. The stuff comes in many different sizes and is easy to cut with a sharp blade/scalpel. I'm about to build some bits with it so will give you a heads up when I update my scenery blog.

[Dantay VI]

Or you could use old fashioned polystyrene... Put it on top of the board and crave into it, maybe make trensch works or rivers etc, that kind of stuff.

 

A few bits of greenstuff made into squares for sandbags etc...

 

EdT does some amazing dioramas, and explains step by step..This is from page 9, he has done planet scapes, battlefields, mars/desert etc..... He explains step by step, and the stuff he uses is pretty easy to come by too..

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/286355-eds-heresy-kill-teams-custodians-and-ruins/?p=3873648

 

Definitely worth a look..

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

@SW1-Thanks, I'll certainly look into it. Sounds good for the base of the board

@dantay-Sounds like a good idea, thanks for the link as well, some really cool stuff there

[Dantay VI]

Only thing with polystyrene is that some paints and glue will cause it to melt-

[SW1]

Seal the foam with PVA and it'll be fine.

[treadhead]

I'm using some 1" ceiling insulation foam and white cloth to do my ice boards, the foam will let me dig into the surface for crevasses or small ice patchs depending upon what strikes my fancy while the cloth means no painting for the majority of the surface and should help tying the edges of any features in nicely

For a bit of strength (and in case i dig too far) I added some hardboard (masonite to some I believe) to the bottom using copious amounts of pva glue

With some careful cutting/sanding (depending on materiels used) you could make some hollows in the foam to partially sink your structures into and make the rest of the board a little dune like at the same time

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

@treadhead-thanks for the tips, sculpting dunes sounds like a good idea

 

Do you guys think that foamboard or polystyrene would be best for the board? Finally, what would you make the structures out of?

[Trevak Dal]

A quick and dirty way to do craters is to take some sort of base (foam board, etc) some foil cupcake liners, and some of the spray insulation foam.

 

Put a blob of the insulation foam down, squish the foil cupcake liner onto/into it in a crater-like manner, let it set, add flock/sand/etc and then spray it.

[treadhead]

If you're going to be sculpting dunes I wouldn't use foam board as the two outer layers of card will be a real pain, you could try a builders merchant for insulation foam Covers are a good start if you're in the uk.

Ask for off cuts to try the materiel out first if possible but when i grabbed mine a few years back it was only £20 ish for almost eight foot by four foot of one inch thick foam which doesn't dent under bjorn the heaviest dread in the west.

As for structures this is where the foam board comes in grab a sheet of paper and doodle (or carefully draft) out your buildings sides, front, rear and any extra levels then dry run it in paper

If you're going to be working with foam board for buildings you will need to get some tools I'd recommend at least

12" steel ruler

scalpel or similar very sharp craft knife

hot glue gun

something to put over your work area

[Trevak Dal]

I'd like to add that if you are in the market for a hot glue gun to go with one of the low temp ones.

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

Thanks treadhead and Trevak for the tips. I asked the store manager about the board and he came up with the idea of doing a section of a desecrated Imperial cathedral, which I really liked. Any ideas for how this could be done? Do you think it may be a bit challenging for someone who has never made scenery before? Lastly, can I ask why a glue gun and not just standard superglue is needed?

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

Just got some foamboard and a glue gun, I think the cathedral is probably too complicated, so I'm going to make some ruined buildings. Any final ideas? I will start work tomorrow.

[SW1]

Let me sketch something out while I get board at work. What size do you want the building to take up. Ruined anything can be fairly easy as long as you get the shapes right. ;)

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

I think I will have several buildings in a sort of cityscape, I also found some old pipes which I could have coming out of the buildings. Size wise I'm thinking maybe 15cm by 15cm-not 100% sure

[Canadian_F_H]

Don't buy from a university store in the USA, they give the hell out of students. Hit a hobby shop.

[SW1]

So 6" square. How thick is the board? 3mm or 5mm?

[DiscipleOfTheWord]

5mm

[SW1]

Cool it's quiet at work so will give me something to do. Lol ... It won't be pretty but should give you a point to work from. ;)