Terrain From Tile 101 :)

[Blathergut]

One thing that makes me shudder when I look at the games in photos here, the terrain made out of pieces of carpet. I thought I would offer one method I have found produces nice results: terrain made from floor tiles.

Making a Gully

Step One: The main shape of the gully is cut using a very sharp knife. The top of the tile is scored and then the parts simply bend/break apart.



Step Two: The 2nd and 3rd layers are cut. Peel the paper off the back of the tile pieces and press them down into place on the main gully body. All parts should be lightly sanded to rough up the surface a bit to improve the hold of the upcoming glue!



Step Three: White glue is dribbled in the places you want the first colouring of "green stuff"...(in this case, Woodland Scenics various shades/textures of turf).



Step Four: First layer of "green stuff" is dumped on top of the glue, patted down, and excess gently tapped off.



Step Five: More glue is dribbled where you want the next shade of turf.



Step Six: Continue dribbling glue and patting down various shades/textures of green stuff.



Step Seven: Finished gully!



Here are a couple others made the same way: two examples of "uneven ground."



Now...was any of this an actual help or of interest to you souls out there? Let me know what you think. I have examples of hills made from layers of styrofoam and polyfilla (the goopy stuff used in drywalling) if anyone would like to see.

Hopefully some help/inspiration.

Dan T.

Well...can't seem to get some of the photos right-way up...but...ah well!
Woohoo...finally!

[williamob]

This is great! Very educational for a new guy looking to build some terrain and not break the bank.

Thanks alot!

Will

[fredrik]

Looks great, your flocking technique in particular is very nice. I'd love to see some more material on terrain building, I'm looking at redoing my terrain collection for FOG myself.

[DontFearDaReaper]

Very cool. I may give that a try. I have made hills and stuff from foam insulation before and woods templates using model railroading mats (spruced up with scenics flocking). Time to start looking for some sales on tiles with patterns no one would want to put on a floor.

Dave

[Redpossum]

Very cool. I may give that a try. I have made hills and stuff from foam insulation before and woods templates using model railroading mats (spruced up with scenics flocking). Time to start looking for some sales on tiles with patterns no one would want to put on a floor.

Dave

Dave, no need to find a sale. Just go to the tile store and ask the manager about odd lots. He'll have a box full of crap you can get cheap because he only has 9 of these and 7 of those. Just be sure you you talk to the manager and not some couldn't-give-a-damn clerk.

Oh yeah, and that rough it up to make the glue stick part? Do that to the whole tile with a sanding block before you even cut; it'll be much easier.

[daleivan]

That gully turned out quite nice! Thanks for the tip and photographic examples.

[Blathergut]

Will post some examples of hills next.

[flameberge]

What kind of floor tiles are these, ceramic?

[Blathergut]

no...not ceramic...just like a linoleum i suppose...ceramic is hard, not cutable and too thick....this stuff is thin, but not the thinnest that was available....cheap ones were $1 Canadian...the ones i used were a bit better quality, 2$ Canadian for 1'sq...just ye olde basic floor tiling...sticky on one side...