Idea for transportable, modular terrain.

[E6010Roots]

I am starting to plan for my first serious terrain project.

My goals are goals are transportable, durable, modular. I would like to make it fit into a bag and a plastic tote box.

My idea is to make the traditional foam hills, paper buildings and tree patches. But where I'm gonna experiment most is the "boards". I'm thinking reverse painted plexiglass with a felt backing glued on, and maybe a flat/gloss clear coat on top to make the land/water look different.

I haven't found anything similar online. I'm going to pick up a small sheet at Lowes on my way home to run a test on. Will post more as I go.

Thoughts, criticism?

[GarageBay9]

I like the sound of this and wouldn't mind seeing prototypes.   O0

[House Davie Merc]

These are my OWN  findings and opinions from
DECADES of experimenting with transportable modular terrain .

1. Terrain pieces WILL get damaged no matter how careful you are .

Plan accordingly .  I suggest choosing materials that are reparable
and resilient for the bulk of your terrain .

( That throws plexiglass RIGHT out the window . Pun intended .)

2. Heavier terrain will get damaged more easily and will frequently
get left behind in favor of lighter stuff .
Try to plan to keep it light .

3. Keep the base of your terrain as light and flexible as possible .

Learned this one the hard way .  We used to transport  styrofoam sections
for the ground itself .  It was expensive ,difficult to transport ,and constantly
in need of repair .

I absolutely REJOICED when I bought a roll out cloth mat from
Monday Knight Productions .
You can throw it against a wall and it's fine .
Now we just ose the styrofoam for hills .

4.  Don't worry about going DOWN for water .

We used to obsess about making the water on our terrain actually go down
in levels .
It wasn't worth the cost ,effort , or  difficulty of transport .

We just use the small river pieces that stick up a little and mark anything that's
deeper then level 1 .  Now I can fit plenty of modular rivers in a tiny box .

That's all I can think of for now .

Honestly -I recommend just buying a pre-made roll out for your base terrain .
It's more cost effective then you think buy the time your done .

[E6010Roots]

Thanks for the reply so far!

I will admit I'm trying to avoid a roll out mat. I really like painting the terrain, i did a diorama for my gundam models recently and was super pleased with the results. I'm hoping i can recreate the look and feel of a paper map while also having 3d terrain. I'm not sweating the water for sure. And i really want to avoid flocking as much as possible

What is your experience with plexi that turns you away. I got a small sheet of this optix stuff from lowes. It seems durable and when i used to work there is was a real B to cut. I feel like a 3/32+1/8 sheet would be pretty resilient? And i can get nice sizes to paint up. I feel like bowing might be an issue and I'm currently brainstorming a work around for that. I doubt the bond on acrylic paint would be sufficient to mount a piece of FRP. (that clipboard like brown paneling)

[E6010Roots]

I was brainstorming with my friend and had a tremendous idea.

Take the brown clipboard paneling and wrap it in cotton duck fabric. This  is the same material that carhartt jackets are made of it. So its nice and resilent, and should take paint better than felt. This will be lighter than the plexi route yet still give me the stiff board surface i was looking for.

Then it struck me. The biggest loss in my opinion with a flat board is a Nice rolling meadow feel. I could make hillocks and craters out of sculpy, glue those to board and then upholster them under the fabric! Ill get light weight, flockless and gently rolling boards!

[Cache]

Take the brown clipboard paneling and wrap it in cotton duck fabric.

It's called hardboard around here and usually can be found in several size sheets up to 4' x 8'. Weight isn't too bad. There is no need to wrap it.  Paint, flock (optional), seal.

[shadhawk]

I use 1 and 2 inch pink foam boards for my games and they have held up well. I use the 1/8 hard board for city boards this too has held up well. I setup all my boards at 2 foot by 4 foot. Less to move around and less seams in the table.

[House Davie Merc]

Thanks for the reply so far!

I will admit I'm trying to avoid a roll out mat. I really like painting the terrain, i did a diorama for my gundam models recently and was super pleased with the results. I'm hoping i can recreate the look and feel of a paper map while also having 3d terrain. I'm not sweating the water for sure. And i really want to avoid flocking as much as possible

What is your experience with plexi that turns you away. I got a small sheet of this optix stuff from lowes. It seems durable and when i used to work there is was a real B to cut. I feel like a 3/32+1/8 sheet would be pretty resilient? And i can get nice sizes to paint up. I feel like bowing might be an issue and I'm currently brainstorming a work around for that. I doubt the bond on acrylic paint would be sufficient to mount a piece of FRP. (that clipboard like brown paneling)

Years ago I made a hex template using plexiglass.
It was the higher quality stuff .

I marked out ALL of the spots needed to drill enough holes to replicate an entire
Battletech board scaled to 1.5 inch hexes .  ( To match the Geo-Hex Battlescape terrain )

I then drilled hundreds ,maybe thousands ,of 1/8 inch holes in the plexi , leaving
a sizable perimeter area for my template to maintain it's strength .

I can lay it down on ANY flat surface and spray paint over it to make an entire
Battletech board in one go .

The outside perimeter has been glued back together at least a half dozen times .
The part with the holes has remained perfect .
Plexiglass flexes until it just fails .
The failure lines are rather unpredictable ,and create sharp dangerous edges .
Light hits seemed to cause catastrophic damage while some hard impacts did nothing .
I think the holed section hasn't broken because the gaps have more give .
It seems to be more brittle then it originally was as well so I avoid transporting it
unless it's a necessity to complete a special project .

For the base of a modular terrain system-IMHO I would recommend another medium .

If you're dead set on avoiding a roll out matt- then perhaps you should go back to
a hardware store and check out the various building materials available .

Styrofoam insulation and hardboard come to mind for starters .

[E6010Roots]

Well so far so good, i got the first test piece half glued. Single sided glue application feels good. Ready to trim and glue back tabs the its on to base coat. I'm going to use this textured multie colored spray paint. If it continues as planned i think it will be pretty boss.

[R4360]

Once it comes time to make more hill parts, I think once I get them cut & shaped properly I'm going to experiment with coatings. Something like this from Hot Wire Foam Factory, pehaps: https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Wire-Foam-Factory-Exterior/dp/B00EOSNEAM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1465828331&sr=8-8&keywords=hot+wire+foam+factory. It's rated for outdoors use, so ought to end up putting a durable shell on the foam parts, which can then be painted & flocked as needed.

[E6010Roots]

Alright well long time no post. But I have been busy and got this map finished. I did my upholstered board plan and it came out excellent. Great playing surface. I got a hot wire foam factory sculpting tool as well. The boards were painted with several shades of brown and green, with a few layers of multicolored, textured rustolem spray. The hills are latex paint with art arcylic sponged over it. The trees were same foam as hills cut into 1x1x2 inch blocks with a 3/4 inch washer hot glued to one end and cut on a rig i built for the sculpting tool. Painted with acrylic and flocked.

This is my first minature terrain project and I'm super pleased with it. This past weekend we ran 6 player battle and it was incredible.

[faithless]

Nice job.

[E6010Roots]

Thank you. I have another set of boards that will double the play area, once I get some real life is out of the way I want to make more hills and trees, better water effects yadda yadda. I also have a campaign in mind that involves a hydroelectric dam and a town so buildings and foamwork too.