D&D General DIY xps foam terrain. Videos? Pics? Advice?

[not-so-newguy]

Side note:
(a) This is my first time creating usuable foam terrain and acrylic paint. I learn best by doing (maybe we all do). Comments and constructive criticism are much appreciated.
(b) Our group is on hiatus. Everyone in the group is new to Mystara, except me. Most of my knowledge stems from going down various rabbit-holes on the Pandius site. So it's sort of "the one-eyed man in the land of the blind" situation. This game board is intended as a conversation piece and a bit of a teaching tool for the Spheres of Power.


Here's the game board with Mod Podge mixed with Black Matte Acrylic as a base coat
Side 1: Stone Tiles (one inch)

Side 2: Wooden Boards (Gridless. 1 inch =5 feet)

Colors of the Spheres of Power
1 Crimson (Craftsmart) Energy -->Fire-->Red
2 Brown (Craftsmart) Matter -->Earth-->Brown
3 Ocean Breeze (Craftsmart) Time-->Water-->Blue
4 Splendid Gold (DecoArt) Thought-->Air -->Gold
0 Black (Crafsmart) Entropy--> oblivion-->Black

Plain Stone Tiles (and 2 brown ones)
Fog Grey (Craftsmart) mixed with a little Black.

Wooden Boards
Golden Brown (Craftsmart)

These paints are cheap. If you think another color would work better, please let me know. I would appreciate it.

The colors are slightly darker irl than the pics

The test pieces still require Dry Brushing, Black Wash, and Sealant.

 

[el-remmen]

Great start. The texturing on the wooden board is great, as is the pattern on the wooden side of the big board.

I find the craftsmart paints are more than fine and even use them for minis sometimes.

As for the above, my suggestion would be to start with a darker color as the base over the mod podge doing a heavy dry brush, and then do the golden brown or whatever as a dry brush over that. It will provide a lot more texture and look less like slathered on paint.

I would do more aluminum foil ball texturing on the stone ones.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Much appreciated!

 

[not-so-newguy]

As for the above, my suggestion would be to start with a darker color as the base over the mod podge doing a heavy dry brush, and then do the golden brown or whatever as a dry brush over that. It will provide a lot more texture and look less like slathered on paint.

Thanks for pointing that out. It made a big difference. Also putting on the base brown with a very wet brush helped.

 

[pogre]

If you paint a lot of stone work, and therefore, lots of gray tones, you might try using house paint. I have a quart of white and a quart of black that I got from the hardware store.

When I did a bunch of desert terrain I had the paint store mix up a sand/yellow-tan color house paint for my terrain boards. Pretty economical and wears well. My desert terrain boards were used and abused ina hobby store for years.

 

[not-so-newguy]

If you paint a lot of stone work, and therefore, lots of gray tones, you might try using house paint. I have a quart of white and a quart of black that I got from the hardware store.

When I did a bunch of desert terrain I had the paint store mix up a sand/yellow-tan color house paint for my terrain boards. Pretty economical and wears well. My desert terrain boards were used and abused ina hobby store for years.

Too late
I went with grey, rather than trying to maintain a mixture.
Not sure what to do about the circled one. I put 2 coats on all of them as evenly as I could.

 

[el-remmen]

Too late
I went with grey, rather than trying to maintain a mixture.
Not sure what to do about the circled one. I put 2 coats on all of them as evenly as I could.
View attachment 149804

Is this pink XPS foam? Could the thin plastic layer still be on that red circled one?

 

[not-so-newguy]

Is this pink XPS foam? Could the thin plastic layer still be on that red circled one?

I bought this from Amazon before I knew better. They appear to be just a sheet of xps insulation that's been cut up and packaged.
(This is not the piece in question, but another one from the same package)

 

[not-so-newguy]

I bought this from Amazon before I knew better. They appear to be just a sheet of xps insulation that's been cut up and packaged.
(This is not the piece in question, but another one from the same package)

View attachment 149805

Eta I should note that the 4 pieces are still drying

 

[el-remmen]

The most recent piece I bought at Home Depot (which was 4' x 8' and yes I did bring my hobby knife with me to cut it up into pieces that fit in my car in the parking lot) had a thin film on it that I need to peel off. It cut easily, so I didn't realized it until after I had started shaping it, but thankfully before I applied mod podge or paint.

 

[not-so-newguy]

The most recent piece I bought at Home Depot (which was 4' x 8' and yes I did bring my hobby knife with me to cut it up into pieces that fit in my car in the parking lot) had a thin film on it that I need to peel off. It cut easily, so I didn't realized it until after I had started shaping it, but thankfully before I applied mod podge or paint.

Nah, I don't think that's the case.

I just got home from work and checked it out. I think the problem is that it's slightly raised in the center and I was using quite a bit of water. I suspect the paint was moving away from the center and flowing to the sides because of that.

I'll put another coat on that one, but use a book or something to flatten it out. Paint one half tonight and the other tomorrow.

 

[pogre]

The most recent piece I bought at Home Depot (which was 4' x 8' and yes I did bring my hobby knife with me to cut it up into pieces that fit in my car in the parking lot) had a thin film on it that I need to peel off. It cut easily, so I didn't realized it until after I had started shaping it, but thankfully before I applied mod podge or paint.

As an aside, I had to purchase some foam for my recent projects and was duly impressed by how expensive a 4' x 8' sheet of two-inch foam is! I know you get a lot of terrain out of that foam, but I still had a bit of sticker shock. I knew that construction materials had jumped in price a lot due to the pandemic, but still...

In another too little too late suggestion category - I base all of my foam projects on floor tiles. I use really cheap linoleum 12" x 12" self-adhesive tiles. I then glue (to the self-adhesive side) a layer of cheap black felt to the bottom. I have not had any problems with warping when I am painting (knock on foam). The tile is also a little lighter than then mdf, which can also warp in my experience.

 

[not-so-newguy]

As an aside, I had to purchase some foam for my recent projects and was duly impressed by how expensive a 4' x 8' sheet of two-inch foam is! I know you get a lot of terrain out of that foam, but I still had a bit of sticker shock. I knew that construction materials had jumped in price a lot due to the pandemic, but still...

In another too little too late suggestion category - I base all of my foam projects on floor tiles. I use really cheap linoleum 12" x 12" self-adhesive tiles. I then glue (to the self-adhesive side) a layer of cheap black felt to the bottom. I have not had any problems with warping when I am painting (knock on foam). The tile is also a little lighter than then mdf, which can also warp in my experience.

Nice trick. I'll have to keep it in mind for next time

I didn't expect it to be perfect, so I'm not too worried about it. It'll almost certainly be better than my beat up 10+ year old battlemat.

 

[el-remmen]

As an aside, I had to purchase some foam for my recent projects and was duly impressed by how expensive a 4' x 8' sheet of two-inch foam is! I know you get a lot of terrain out of that foam, but I still had a bit of sticker shock. I knew that construction materials had jumped in price a lot due to the pandemic, but still...

That 4' x 8' board I bought was just under 20 bucks, but it was only a half-inch thick. I usually buy one-inch thick 2' x 2' boards for about 6 or 7 bucks.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I'm going to try a trick that I picked up from this video


At the 12:10 mark, he describes a way of staining wood. He takes super fine grade (0000) steel wool pads and soaks them in vinegar for 3 days. The liquid is strained of metal bits and then the wooden pieces are soaked in this liquid, staining them a grayish brown.

I have 65 or so Jenga* pieces that will be stained this way and plan to use them to mark walls. It's not a great solution, but it seems like an easy one.


*actually a cheap Jenga ripoff.


_________

In other news, I remembered that there's a reason I will never throw out my old battlemat; or at least a piece of it.

Back in 2015, i drew the map of the Lost Valley of The Hutaaka from B10 on the Hex side of the mat. It is now permanently stained on it. If/when this mat becomes obsolete, then I plan to cut it out and retool it into a game prop of some sort. I mean I have all these nifty tools and videos now, how could i not?



In case you don't know B10 (but I'm guessing you probably do), this map is a big reveal and turning point within the adventure.

 

[not-so-newguy]

My plan for today is to watch the niners beat the cowboys and work the game board.

I'll be dry brushing. Here's a pic of the base color + dry brushing colors:

1. Grey (base)
2. Suede
3. Fog Grey
4. Vanilla
5. White

Does this seem like a decent plan? Should I use fewer colors for dry brushing? More?

 

[el-remmen]

I would start with dark gray as the base coat, personally - but you gotta try to match your own vision. As for number of colors for dry brushing I usually do 2 to 3, sometimes 4 - but honestly I just do whatever until it looks like I want and I want it to look like random discoloration and dust collection and water staining - so that method works for me.

 

[el-remmen]

Today my focus is painting minis (I do a batch of minis for a week or so then switch my work area to crafting for a week or so, back and forth - I usually do flocking for either between "shifts" because that is the messiest part of the work for me). But I am also working on cutting pieces of package cardboard to be the stone façade of a keep I am making out of the cardboard insert that came with the new sink installed in the downstairs bathroom. I do this while waiting for minis to dry or while watching TV (yesterday, I did a bunch while watching Eternals).

 

[not-so-newguy]

I would start with dark gray as the base coat, personally - but you gotta try to match your own vision. As for number of colors for dry brushing I usually do 2 to 3, sometimes 4 - but honestly I just do whatever until it looks like I want and I want it to look like random discoloration and dust collection and water staining - so that method works for me.

Yeah, using a lighter shade was a conscious choice. I like it better... in my head at least. I might switch to a darker grey on future tiles.s

Today my focus is painting minis (I do a batch of minis for a week or so then switch my work area to crafting for a week or so, back and forth - I usually do flocking for either between "shifts" because that is the messiest part of the work for me). But I am also working on cutting pieces of package cardboard to be the stone façade of a keep I am making out of the cardboard insert that came with the new sink installed in the downstairs bathroom. I do this while waiting for minis to dry or while watching TV (yesterday, I did a bunch while watching Eternals).

View attachment 150030View attachment 150031

Nice! Please share future pics!

Edit: nevermind. I just caught your Instagram link

 

[not-so-newguy]

After a couple of missteps, I finally got it painted and dry brushed. Now to do the other side, then black wash