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I am about to start my largest Warhammer 40K project to date, which is building my own gaming board! I have decided to do it in the much done war torn Imperial City landscape. My problem however, is finding a material to use for constructing the buildings. Many guides suggest the use of foam insulation, most of which is either incredibly expensive or based in the USA. Does anybody therefore have any recommendations of any UK websites that could provide for me a good material for buildings.

Here is an example of the type of building i'm going for, thanks! http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/237785.page

Good luck with the project !!

I have no resources for you but you might want to also consider Foam Core as a material. You can find it art supply and framing stores. It's a layered board consisting of a compressed foam interior sandwiched by thin cardstock. The standard sheets are poster sized and are 3/16" of an inch thick. They also come in 1/8" to 3/4" thick but you may have to special order those.

This is a great Idea though one tip would be to put a little piece of cardboard or something thin put not that thin under each window. It makes the building look MUCH better and more 3d.

Ah the foam core is a good suggestion, many thanks! I found some UK suppliers, however I would first like a few other suggestions, if anybodies offering

Foamcore is by and far the best option. GW used it to build all their terrain until the Cities of Death buildings came out. It's easy to work with, relatively durable if you take care of it, and cheap.

Wow that's a pretty shining recommendation! It certainly sounds like the way to go. As somebody who is new to terrain bashing and the such, is it cost effective, or is there a cheaper option to test my skills on first?

I tend to use cardstock and foamcore as its available locally, and cheap. To use the insulation foam, i need to find a supplier, and i havent found one. The real kicker is that you need the hot cutting tool, which is a bit of a learned skill on its own and quite espensive.

Foamcore is easy to find. Any art supply shop should have it, as well as card stock. All you need is a large cutting mat, a good hobby knife and a number of blades.

below are some examples using only foamcore and only cardstock. (the second image shows some ruins too, built using left-over parts of foamcore, ignore those)

These both look great, however Foamcore seems to be the only one I can get in the UK, thanks for the help and that's some great looking terrain you got there Poda.

my only problem with foamcore is the foam edges. >=/ on my current stuff I've had to apply thin sheets of.... I think its EVA foam, to the corners. It's helped because it adds detail while covering up the unsightly edges.

Great thanks for the tip, looks like i'm sorted then!

Foamcore and either PVC glue or hot glue to hold it together. I use it for all my buildings.

I don't know about your area but in the US you can get a big (122cm by 91.4cm) for $10.

Foamcore is fantastic. I can get big sheets at Michaels here in Canada for $3. I've built two ruined buildings and a barracks and not even used a complete foamcore sheet. There are plenty of templates around for correct scale buildings, etc. Terragenesis is great for inspiration.

My god it sounds so great, I just cant find any UK websites which sell it! Apparently it is also known as Foam Board, shown here: http://www.graphicsdirect.co.uk/products/blackgrey-foam-board-5mm

Could anybody compare the two as the UK version seems terribly expensive!

That looks really good. I like the color on the buildings.