[magician847]

has any1 got any ways, ideas or plans on terrain i can make for -£5?

cheerz

 

[Galahad]

If you can get your hands on paper egg cartons or eggboard (none of the styrofoam crap) they make for dandy tank traus when cut apart and spaced properly. Look aorund the hosue and store for interesting shaped food cobntainers. Yogurt containers, pot noodle bowls, soup cans, etc. Cardboard tubes make great sewer pipes (paper towl rolls, anyone?) straws of all shapes and sizes, bendy straws too.

 

[magician847]

ty

lol ty m8, but do u rekon B+Q or HOMEBASE will sell plasticard?

 

[Galahad]

I have no idea what B+Q is, but I doubt homebase will. Look for a hobby shop. Any place that deals in model railroads/airplanes should have it.

Failing that, try amazon.com. (or amazon.co.uk, whatever it is over there) I was surprised to see that they had sheet styrene (what they call plasticard in the US). Of course, if you're paying taxes and shipping, it might get a bit pricy.

Something I;ve found is a good source of small amounts of medium-thickness plasticard are those fake credit cards they send you in the mail. Those and used-up giftcards. Just sand the gloss off, score, snap and enjoy.

What a hardware stre might have, however, are other great cheapo modeling goodies.

Pipe fittings, rain gutters, insulation foam(!!)

Get yourself a good sized sheet of polystyrene foam and a hotwire and you've got yourself hills, walls, whatever you want

 

[FrozenOrb]

If you can find yourself some high-density polystyrene on the cheap then that is the wonder-stuff of making your own scenery.

For ruins, use plain ol' polystyrene, which I'm sure you have lying about your house. You can melt holes in it with drips of your Polystrene/Plastic Cement.

For tank traps use those cardboard eggboxes you get, or high-density polystrene.

If you're creative you can get away with making things look really good for next to nothing. Check through your White Dwarf collection and online for inspiration.

Rake through your old toy collection for bits you could use. For instance I now have a great look Imperial structure that once was an old farm toy.

Also any Airfix model kits you have lying about are also great for obtaining interesting bits.

 

[magician847]

kk

 

[pathwinder14]

Look at construction sites for free insulation foam. Also go to a local college or art studio and ask if they have any scrap foam core. You can also build cardboard buildings.

Cardboad is free. You just need PVA glue (elmer's glue), Spray paint and sand. Sand can be free too, just go to a beach or a nice garden and pick up a scoop. Glue and spray paint should be less than a two pounds sterling. Then all you need is some other paints for details.

 

[FrozenOrb]

Another tip is not to waste your good and expensive paints on scenery. Use old pots that aren't the greatest any more, or buy a job lot on eBay, or use paint not ideally suited for miniatures.

If they're not quite the right colour you can mix them. It's easy to get adventurous when you're applying it to a piece of carboard rather than an expensive miniature.

The same goes for your brushes. Use cheap ones, or old ones, not shiny new brushes.

 

[jigplums]

me and my brother "found" some foam on a construction site. 4 8' by 4' sheets Ive made loads of scenery for very little money, it mainly comes down to being resourceful with what materials you use. Luckily i have the space to store it all so it can sit around till i get round to making it into something. Polystyrene sheets are the most useful thing overall as they can be cut into rocks, hills, buildings etc.... Sand is usually easy to get hold of for free, just go to the beach and get a big tub full. Gravel etc is the same. I got a load of hardboard sheets from work, great for basing, although you can use thick card of cd's. straws, yakult pots etc can be made into industrial type scenery. The styrene trays many mins come in are good for making ruins out of.

 

[FrozenOrb]

me and my brother "found" some foam on a construction site. 4 8' by 4' sheets

You do realise those sheets are not cheap? Something like £32 each, so £128 worth. Mind you builders are notorious crooks so I guess it's Karma balancing things out.

 

[magician847]

lol yh

 

[Anphicar]

Soooo....i hear people saying they use styrofoam for terrain.

Isnt it easily breakable and flake-able?

Do you use some type of..sealant?

Does the primer and paint "seal it?"

I see giant mountains being constructed in WD issues with blue and pink foam, but it isnt styrofoam. What is this stuff? So many peopel call it insulation foam--but when i go to the harware store they only sell it in super thing huge 500x10000 foot pieces. And its doesnt look the same. :\

Can someone help me out! I wanna explore terrain-making!

 

[FrozenOrb]

Soooo....i hear people saying they use styrofoam for terrain.

Isnt it easily breakable and flake-able?

Do you use some type of..sealant?

Does the primer and paint "seal it?"

I see giant mountains being constructed in WD issues with blue and pink foam, but it isnt styrofoam. What is this stuff? So many peopel call it insulation foam--but when i go to the harware store they only sell it in super thing huge 500x10000 foot pieces. And its doesnt look the same. :\

Can someone help me out! I wanna explore terrain-making!

Your normal polystrene is protected from much of the flaking by a coat of Roughcoat or a mix of PVA and glue to give it texture for drybrushing and the paint on top of that yes. And your terrain won't break as long as you're careful.

The other variety is high-density polystrene and is used for insulation. It comes in various densities, the more dense the better, and you commonly get it in 8'x4' sheets. When you cut it, it flakes very little and is therefor much more shapable. I've seen it on eBay as 2'x2' pieces which is plenty to keep you going for a while for what it's worth. Btw in White Dwarf they always show it as pink but I've seen it in blue and white. The colour makes no difference.

 

[jigplums]

You do realise those sheets are not cheap? Something like £32 each, so £128 worth. Mind you builders are notorious crooks so I guess it's Karma balancing things out.

it was funny walking down the street with these massive sheets and 3.00am. Funny what people leave "lying around".....behind fences.

A coat of PVA and sand is usually enough to strengthen foam against general wear and tear. improves the look quite a bit as well

 

[Anphicar]

Thanks.

I'll look into it now.

Edit--i have not the slightest idea why, but suddenly i have a cottage cheese taste in my mouth.

 

[The Son of Horus]

You do realise those sheets are not cheap? Something like £32 each, so £128 worth. Mind you builders are notorious crooks so I guess it's Karma balancing things out.

it was funny walking down the street with these massive sheets and 3.00am. Funny what people leave "lying around".....behind fences.

A coat of PVA and sand is usually enough to strengthen foam against general wear and tear. improves the look quite a bit as well

Erm... isn't that theft? :wink:

On a more practical note though, I've found that you can make an entire agri-world table for about thirty bucks (not including basing material and whatnot if you're making a full table...just the terrain.)

Pringles cans make amazing grain silos. Eat the contents, glue the lid on, add details as desired, and paint. Pringles come in multiple sizes, so a mix of smaller cans and larger cans tends to look pretty good. Adding pipes makes them look like water storage silos. Plain, undecorated welcome mats that are of the extremely rough variety and are a light brown color can be cut to form wheat fields pretty easily with a hacksaw.

Trees are easy. Go outside, find a tree, and gather up some twigs that are lying around. Now go get some of the clump foliage, and glue it onto the twig. Highly realistic, since it's real wood and all. To form a forest, just push it into shaped foamcore. Take them out to paint and texture the foam, then glue the trees in place afterwards.

My top tip for sand-- steal from the American taxpayer (or I suppose the applicable taxpayer if you're not from the US of A). Go to a public park with several gallon-sized plastic bags, and fill 'em up with playground sand. Free is the best price, after all.

I'd get cheapo kiddie paints that come in squeeze bottles for painting most terrain. Certainly for basecoating it, at any rate. You can highlight it a bit with a pot of GW or something... the stuff is thick enough out of the pot that it works on terrain.

 

[jigplums]

Go to a public park with several gallon-sized plastic bags, and fill 'em up with playground sand. Free is the best price, after all.

Erm... isn't that theft? :lol:

 

[The Son of Horus]

Not if you're a taxpayer! :lol:

 

[magician847]

lol

 

[Galahad]

I just revently scored a ton of free plasticard (Credit card thickness, paper thickness, and poster paper thickness) from work. The quarterly promo signs.

The pump-toppers are credit card-thickness plasticard, the posters for outside re poster-paper thick plasticard (about two ot three sheets of paper thick) and the little signs we put in front of the bins for holding credit card applications on top fo the pumps are paper-think platicard.

The first stuff is good for most uses, while the thinner stuff makes freat raised details rivets, etc

If I;d wanted it, I could have hjad caurogated PVC (like plastic cardboard) from our pole sign, but I have no iea what I;d use it for

Shit! I could have made I-beams... Ah well.

I work at a Shell station. Check your local gas station, see what kind of promo signage they put up and talk to the manager, ask if you could have it when they take ti down.

They;re just going to throw it away anyhow