[universalhead]

I've been working lately on making 3D terrain tiles for AT-43. Having already made walls for the poster map:

http://en-forum.at-43.com/viewtopic.php?t=5822

I thought I'd keep going and make 3D tiles as well. Here's a little thread that documents my efforts in case anyone else wants to take the project on and not make the mistakes I have.

First, the tiles. For some bizarre reason, in Australia high density polystyrene tiles are harder to get than a gorgeous woman at a gaming convention. I did find some ceiling tiles on ebay however, made of a fibrous compressed material that seem to be doing the trick rather nicely. And they're a good size: 1' x 1' x 15mm, and very light.



As you can see they have a pattern, so my first attempt to get rid of it was to coat 12 tiles with a thick, toothpaste consistency paint (on left). It took me 4 thick coats to almost lose the pattern. The paint on the right, by the way, is the primer I used on the walls I made out of foamcore, which works really well:



Here's my first tip - this was a big waste of time. After a day and a night of painting and drying, I sprayed them with Games Workshop's Roughcoat Spray (the most expensive part of the exercise). Then I roughed them up a bit, scoring them with the dull side of a knife, and experimented with Green Stuff to make some crater edges:



Late at night a light bulb went off over my head and I realised I'd been an idiot. I took a fresh tile, hacked into it with a knife, and then scraped Pollyfilla over most of the tile, instantly an easily filling the holes I wanted filled, and leaving the occasional ones for effect.

Instantly I got a much more effective, more realistic finish in a fraction of the time. Doh! Here's a tile that had some sand and grit and a pebble from the garden added, was sprayed with Roughcoat, then flat black spray, then a couple of dry brushing layers (with cheap acrylic paint) of grey up to white:



And here's a couple of tiles together. The one on the right is one of the heavily painted ones, embellished with a rough blobby area of Polyfilla. They still look great, so I'll be bashing them about and using them as well:



These look great and a ready to use, but I want to capture some of the otherworldly feel of the AT43 tiles, so I'm going to experiment with some ink washes. I also have a big box of plastic bits that's been in the shed for years so I can add bits of junk as well as dirt, rocks and craters. Most of the tiles I want to keep relatively flat though, so walls can be placed on top of them.

Update One
After working on these over the weekend, I've got them to playable stage, though I want to do a bit more detail paint work.

In general, I found that 'less is more' when detailing these. There was a temptation to keep adding detail, but usually one simple design for each tile (see left) worked much better than going overboard with craters, scratches and objects ( I used a small chain, among other things, on the one on the right). Funnily enough, the coats of primer I'd made earlier had formed a thin-vinyl-like 'membrane' which, when cut into, gave a nice effect as well (top right of right-hand image).



Delving into my 'bits box' came up with a few bits and pieces, as did a trip to the hardware store. One the left I've 'buried' a piece of some spaceship model in the floor; on the right I used bits of spaceship model and some plastic tubing (this will eventually be covered with a wire mesh). Sand, gravel, and various base-detailing material was used as well. On the left you can also see the plastic vents I found at the hardware store to use as access points.



But in general, one small feature per tile worked. Here, perhaps the impact from a flyer:



I also decided to redo the landing pads I'd made earlier, using lightweight 1cm thick polytyrene ceiling tiles (still can't find the high density blue/pink stuff anywhere - if anyone knows where to get it in Australia - preferably Sydney - let me know) mounted on cardboard, primed and painted. Later on I'll add yellow markings to these:



Back to the tiles, after detailing was done, they got a coat of GW Roughcoat (especially good on plastic elements to take the smoothness off), then a coat of matt black. Note that all spraying was done outside wearing a filter mask and goggles - an excellent idea if you don't want to kill yourself and ruin your house!)



Then three coats of dry brushing: dark grey, light grey and white:



With periods of drying time between every stage of course. Then came the first stabs at detailing; painting the metal elements and washing them with Tamiya Smoke, and splashing around some dark and light green acrylic (thinned with water and Flow Medium). I had the poster maps up on the wall for reference as I did this:



Here's where we're up to at this point. I still want to airbrush some of the yellow markings on, and do some more detailing, but this is ready to play on (carefully; when I'm completely finished I'll spray everything with varnish):




Add the walls I'd done earlier (http://en-forum.at-43.com/viewtopic.php?t=5822) and this table is itching to see some action. I glued pins in the bases of the walls, so they attach to the tiles firmly without leaving a discernible mark. Also has the added benefit of keeping the tiles firmly together. However the tiles have been great - no warping after all the punishment they've endured, and easy to dig into and texture.

(Note the flash on the camera makes everything a bit lighter than it is in reality).



More when I've done the final detailing!
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[OB-RT-NH-DS]

Looks good.I can definitely see the AT premade stuff sitting on there and blending right in.

For the washes, you could try some very thinned out golden liquid acrylic, they spread very nice and stain well.
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[fee_weasel]

Looking good! I can't wait to see more.
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[universalhead]

[Dragontigre]

[universalhead]

Well, I can't imagine they are any more fragile than polystyrene; in fact they would probably be less so. After several layers of paint and varnish however I think they'll hold up very well. You can't throw them around the room or poke them with a pencil, but that's the trade-off you make for their light weight.
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[SuperCollider]

They really do look very nice. Well done, sir!

[OB-RT-NH-DS]

If you seal the edges with an acrylic paint/finish they should not crumble to bad.
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And now we dance like soldiers on the battlefield the only triumph in a moment of glory Crack your
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[madmax51]

Nice work!
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[haywire]

You could always glue strip styrene or balsa wood along the sides to protect them.

[Cairnius]

Balsa wood works well. I used finishing strips on the sides of my MDF gaming table and the sides are protected beautifully.

[rwwin]

I do like that finish. Fits the worn/aged concrete to a "T".

On the washes, for big terrain projects I use Kiwi brand liquid shoe polish. They make both a black and brown. It's cheap and works pretty well. I usually thin it by half with water then add maybe two drops of "Jet Dry" to cut the surface tension (helps it to flow in the nooks and crannies).

The only downside is that it takes a good 12 hours for a thick wash to dry.

As far as protecting edges. When I make terrain out of foam, I glue a piece of 1/8" mdf to the bottom. It doesn't add much to the weight, helps prevent warping and damage. Same thing could work with the ceiling tiles.

eidt: oh yes and I'm stealing that technique too

[universalhead]

Note: I've added more to my original post.

Here's a few pics of the table making its debut - Mission 2 of the Operation Damocles campaign, Fire in the Hole:





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www.headlesshollow.com
... and some other sites this forum won't allow me to mention ...

[Rosco]

you're a real number 1

[Vénérable Zaïus]

Wow !
Really, really impressive. A very good work (as everything you do).
Congratulations for this stunning gaming table et all the cards you're working on.

Can i link this content on my website ? It's very interesting ans i think that french player will enjoy to use it.
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[Dangereux]

Amazing stuff, very well done indeed!
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[universalhead]

[Dragontigre]

[rwwin]

Lookin' sweet.

[YoungOlo]

Well, after I've read through your original post first time (before the update) your tiles looked just average and for some reason I believed you're done with them. Now, after the detailing, they look much better and I just can't wait to see the final effect.

Two things bother me:
- what exactly did you use for the green fluid, again?
- how did you insert the pins into the walls so they do not neither fall out or get pushed in completely?
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