Terrain Boards:
The Second Attempt!
This is that latest attempt to manufacture terrain boards. Unlike the previous attempt, these boards are meant for 25mm figures and as such are 600mm square. Without further ado lets get on with it.
Materials
30mm thick extruded polystyrene cut to 600mm square.
6mm MDF cut to 600mm square.
Five pieces of 50mm x 25mm dressed pine cut to the following lengths: 2 x 600mm, 3 x 540mm.
Acrylic construction glue such as "Liquid Nails". Make sure it is acrylic because if it isn't, the glue will melt the polystyrene.
Screws, PVA glue, coarse sand and an appropriately coloured paints.
As you can see most of the materials are shown above.
Method
1. Take the five pieces of the pre-cut pine and screw them to the MDF so that four of the pieces form a frame and the fifth piece is used to reinforce the centre of the board. This image should explain the framing.
2. Making sure that all edges are match, attach the polystyrene to the MDF using the Liquid Nails and allow to dry overnight.
3. Paint PVA over all of the polystyrene, pine framing and exposed MDF edges. By taking this step it will ensure that all surfaces are sealed and that damage to edges will be minimal.
4. Once the PVA has dried, usually about an hour depending on weather, paint all exposed edges with an acrylic black paint. Black paint is used to give a neat finish.
5. Paint a second coat of PVA, this time a 50% solution, over the board's surface and while the glue is still wet cover the surface with coarse sand. Allow about 1-2 hours and then shake off the excess sand.
6. Paint the surface of the terrain board with an appropriately coloured paint. In the instance I used a Wattyl Paints shade called Mist Green. Once this had dried I drybrushed the surface with a yellowish green paint.
7. Next paint random areas with a darkish brown paint and once it has dried, drybrush it with a beige coloured paint. In this instance I used a colour very close to Citadel's Bleached Bone.
So there you have it. Seven easy steps to building your own terrain boards. You can see the fruits of my labour in the image below.
Here are four of our boards ready for use.
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Maintained by Greg Kelleher. Last revised 15 April, 2001.