3D terrain from blue high density modelling foam.

[Kommando]

This has been a slow process and I have to admit its swallowed far more time than I had anticipated.

I've not been hosting many Demo games of late because the paper mats games I've run have got a rather lukewarm reception when surrounded by beautiful W40k, WarmaHordes and Infinity terrain tables. Its also been set back several months waiting for Eric Hotz to send me the mats I paid for, but thats a lost cause.




In the meantime i've been making a hot wire foam-cutter to make this...




Ok, its not mine yet, but Asmo's terrain that I'm copying.

The foam cutter started out as this:



A tall, floppy thing that mad wonky cuts and burned out power supplies. Thanks to some help at Brisbane Hackerspace, it was rebuilt as this:




A larger workarea, a lower cutting arm that holds the nichrome wire taught, and redesigned circuit.
A third revision was made to allow for three levels of power, to make large cuts faster.


Resistors are 1Ohm, 2.5Watt
The foam was sourced from Ausbuild in Eagle Farm, QLD. Near the airport, and came in huge sheets nearly three square meters for a pittance price of $24.
Flock came from Hobbyrama and is a 500ml bag each of Green Grass and Burnt Grass by Woodland Scenics.
Paint is a basecoat of brown acrylic, a small pot of mistake paint from the local Bunnings paint dept for $4. (something went wrong with the mix and the customer didnt want it so its on a discount pile of incorrect paint.) Drybrushed with some Italeri Tan and then PVA on top to attach the flock.

I'm also toying with using sand and Vallejo Terracotta to make a Mesa style landscape set.

I'll post more photos as I progress.

[Zaofan]

I have no idea what your electrical schematics mean... But I do give props for having the gall to compete and convert the 40k crowd to Battletech! Best of luck, and your efforts are very much appreciated.. And look awesome!

[SteelWarrior]

We ran into the same problem when we demod AS this fall.  Lots of interest until WH40k/warmachine setup beside us with proper terrain lol.   Then star wars setup across from us on a nice space map with a to scale Blockade Runner.....


Paper maps dont cut it in 2014 lol....

[Kret69]

Great concept. Great execution.

And I absolutely love the cutter.

The hex size, what was it? Did You enlarge them slightly, or kept the 33mm height?

[Kommando]

1.5" hex size.
25mm thick foam.

[Kret69]

Marvellous. Last question - what are the resistors' nominals?

[Ratboy]

What are the input/output specs on the power supply you used?

[House Davie Merc]

I've long considered getting one of the pre-made foam cutting tables that have
a locking arm that can be adjusted to any angle .  For now I'm just using one of the wands .

That's some good looking terrain .

Some of those trees look exactly like mine-Woodland Scenics tree armatures with
foliage clusters glued on them .
I used the medium green for heavy woods and the light green for light woods
because the dark green looks to dark  .
I'd like to add some red ,orange, and yellow trees for more color later on .

BTW- I bought a Monday Knight Productions matt and it took 5
days for me to get it from coast to coast .

[Kommando]

What are the input/output specs on the power supply you used?

Australian supply, 240V xA in
12V 3A out

Resistors Resistors are 1Ohm, 2.5Watt from Jaycar.
resistance across the nichrome wire is about 1ohm, that goes down as it heats up though.

[Kommando]

Update:

Some foam has been cut into hills and painted brown with some light drybrushing.

I've discovered the best way to get a smooth even coat of flock is to brush the top of the hexes with 3:1 pva:water and then spoon flock over it, invert and tap.
Pressing the wet face of the foam into the flock container results in clumpy uneven coating.

[john blackwell]

Update:

Some foam has been cut into hills and painted brown with some light drybrushing.

I've discovered the best way to get a smooth even coat of flock is to brush the top of the hexes with 3:1 pva:water and then spoon flock over it, invert and tap.
Pressing the wet face of the foam into the flock container results in clumpy uneven coating.

I use a season-salt shaker to put the flocking on the tile.  I have three shakers: dirt-brown, burnt-grass, and yellow-grass.  Otherwise it's the same process.  Good and even results.

JB

[Kommando]

THAT'S GENIUS!