Post by sgtslag on Oct 22, 2020 3:57:17 GMT
So I was given two, square bars of open-cell foam packing materials. I cut them down to small hill sizes, using my Proxxon Hot Wire Foam Cutter: around 75 useable pieces!
Photo1
I use an indoor/outdoor carpet, called Tee Time, available at Menards DIY store in the upper midwest of the USA. It has different shades of green fibers, plus black fibers. It is smooth, without any pattern to its weave; it is soft and smooth, to the touch. It is currently on sale, for $0.44/square foot, on seasonal closeout.
Photo2
I had extra cut-off's of the Tee Time carpet, so I Hot Glued the foam pieces to the back of the carpet, cut out the foam/carpet pieces, so that the carpet tops matched the foam shapes. I then cut out strips of foam matching the sides of the hills, and I Hot Glued the strips around the sides of the hill foam pieces. They were simple to make, but building 75 of them, took some time...
Photo3
For this task, use Low Temperature Hot Glue, not High Temperature! High Temperature Hot Glue is far too hot, far too soft, and it takes far too long to harden through cooling. I had to continue to press the carpet strips around the edges, until it cooled enough to hold the carpet in place, on the sides. The carpet strips would sometimes pull partially away: I injected Hot Glue into the seams, to fill them. Once the gaps were filled, and the Glue hardened, there was no risk of the carpet strip from separating from the foam hill body.
Photo4; Photo5
Initially, I used Contact Cement, to adhere the foam pieces to the first few hills I made. Contact Cement puts off heavier than air fumes, which are explosively flammable! I quickly decided that there must be a better way. I tried the Hot Glue technique, and it worked, superbly. Hot Glue was also much, much quicker to use: the Contact Cement had to be brushed onto both surfaces, left to 'dry' for 20 minutes, minimum, and then I pressed the two pieces together. The Contact Cement bond, was also not terribly strong, it gassed off toxic, explosive fumes, and it was rather expensive to use! Lessons learned.
Each of the hills is relatively small. They can, however, be stacked, on top of each other, as well as butted against each other, to form larger hills. Combining the butting up, with the layering, I can create either hills, or even mountains, which match the ground cover texture, perfectly. While not 'realistic', or particularly stylistic, they are completely functional. As per my post on the poll for how you like your painting, and terrain, I am solidly a GEtGW person: Good Enough to Game With, at arm's length.
On my hills, miniatures can stand, perfectly, without tipping, without falling. Life is full of compromises; mini's gaming is even more full of compromises, between what looks good, and what is playable. That is what drives me to the GEtGW level of compromises. Cheers!
Photo6; Photo7; Photo8; Photo9
PS: I can't seem to post photo's anymore. Anyone know how/why? If I look at the BBCode tab, it shows the code for the images, but I cannot see them... Oh, well. At least the link function still works.
PSS: I believe the photo's won't post due to my using Google Photo's/Drive, as the hosting service. Fun, fun...
Photo1
I use an indoor/outdoor carpet, called Tee Time, available at Menards DIY store in the upper midwest of the USA. It has different shades of green fibers, plus black fibers. It is smooth, without any pattern to its weave; it is soft and smooth, to the touch. It is currently on sale, for $0.44/square foot, on seasonal closeout.
Photo2
I had extra cut-off's of the Tee Time carpet, so I Hot Glued the foam pieces to the back of the carpet, cut out the foam/carpet pieces, so that the carpet tops matched the foam shapes. I then cut out strips of foam matching the sides of the hills, and I Hot Glued the strips around the sides of the hill foam pieces. They were simple to make, but building 75 of them, took some time...
Photo3
For this task, use Low Temperature Hot Glue, not High Temperature! High Temperature Hot Glue is far too hot, far too soft, and it takes far too long to harden through cooling. I had to continue to press the carpet strips around the edges, until it cooled enough to hold the carpet in place, on the sides. The carpet strips would sometimes pull partially away: I injected Hot Glue into the seams, to fill them. Once the gaps were filled, and the Glue hardened, there was no risk of the carpet strip from separating from the foam hill body.
Photo4; Photo5
Initially, I used Contact Cement, to adhere the foam pieces to the first few hills I made. Contact Cement puts off heavier than air fumes, which are explosively flammable! I quickly decided that there must be a better way. I tried the Hot Glue technique, and it worked, superbly. Hot Glue was also much, much quicker to use: the Contact Cement had to be brushed onto both surfaces, left to 'dry' for 20 minutes, minimum, and then I pressed the two pieces together. The Contact Cement bond, was also not terribly strong, it gassed off toxic, explosive fumes, and it was rather expensive to use! Lessons learned.
Each of the hills is relatively small. They can, however, be stacked, on top of each other, as well as butted against each other, to form larger hills. Combining the butting up, with the layering, I can create either hills, or even mountains, which match the ground cover texture, perfectly. While not 'realistic', or particularly stylistic, they are completely functional. As per my post on the poll for how you like your painting, and terrain, I am solidly a GEtGW person: Good Enough to Game With, at arm's length.
On my hills, miniatures can stand, perfectly, without tipping, without falling. Life is full of compromises; mini's gaming is even more full of compromises, between what looks good, and what is playable. That is what drives me to the GEtGW level of compromises. Cheers!
Photo6; Photo7; Photo8; Photo9
PS: I can't seem to post photo's anymore. Anyone know how/why? If I look at the BBCode tab, it shows the code for the images, but I cannot see them... Oh, well. At least the link function still works.
PSS: I believe the photo's won't post due to my using Google Photo's/Drive, as the hosting service. Fun, fun...