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Hello,

I have been reading the forums for some time to get ideas on what I could customize on my Warhammer 40k army.

I just got the idea of making a gameboard similar to the overpriced one from GW out of Felizole. Felizole is a building material used for insulation which has a slight spongy look to it. It should also be very good for sculpting as its a bit harder than styrofoam and has a plastic feel to it.

I was thinking on making the board 2mx1m divided into 8 square pieces. The four initially middle pieces would be sloped so that they create a mountain in the middle. Through rearrangement the mountain could become slopes at the edges of the board with flatlands in the middle.

My one big dillema is if I should sculpt the mountain out of the felizole or if I should get thinner boards then make the mountain out of cardboard and fill in the gaps with plaster.

Appart from that I would appreciate it if someone who has worked with felizole or a similar material could give me some tips as this is my first project of this kind and I don't really want to screw it up.

Ergh, Sorry comrade. I haven't worked with this...."Felizole"....

Good luck though

Thanks.

I will begin during the winter holidays. I will make some photographs and post them on the forum as well.

I can say this, cardboard + plaster is *not* the way to go. If you're truly looking for a mountain, a solid plaster mountain will weigh a ton, and probably break your boards...

A better suggestion would be to use blue/pink insulation foam (or your felizole stuff), sculpt your mountain, then cover it with plaster soaked bandages. I believe you can get those ready made commercially, or else just buy some bandages/gauze and soak them in plaster. When the stuff dries, it goes rock hard and gives a very tough surface without excessive weight as the foam underneath is light (it's like poor man's fibreglass).

Cheers!

My model-railroading mates swear by "chicken wire" and papier mache for their mountain terrain. The stuff they make will support a grown adult without crushing. You need a chainsaw to cut through their [hanging decoration full of sweets and candy - my keyboard doesn't have the right accents available.]

Pink/Blue foam is also good.

Don't use plaster unless it's a plaster bandage. It will weigh a ton and take forever to dry.

Thanks for the advice...

I would really like to go with the insulation foam, as I should have some of it still lying around. Is it really sculptable though? From what I remember it was a really hard material once it dried.

Of course I could just glue the cardboard pieces together and then just even up the slopes with the foam and shape it to my liking while its still soft.

GH057 wrote:Thanks for the advice...

I would really like to go with the insulation foam, as I should have some of it still lying around. Is it really sculptable though? From what I remember it was a really hard material once it dried.

Of course I could just glue the cardboard pieces together and then just even up the slopes with the foam and shape it to my liking while its still soft.

When you say about insulation foam being hard once it dries - are you talking about the expanding foam that comes in a pressurised can? If so that's the wrong stuff.

You can get high density foam (the pink/blue foam that people talk about) in 1" or 2" thick sheets (25mm or 50mm). You'll need a hot-wire cutter to sculpt it although you can get away with knives or even saws for rough shaping (be careful though as it blunts knives very quickly). It sounds like your 'felizole' is similar stuff - maybe a brand name.

Yep, it sounds like the same stuff. I guess the brand is so popular in Greece that it is used as a synonym for the material.

I think I can use a saw or a knife for rough shaping -just as you proposed- and then make the finishing touches with the Dremel.

You need either a very sharp knife OR a hot-wire foam cutter to easily carve the stuff.

They aren't hard to build if you have some DiY skills, but there is one available from Woodland scenics (Try Ziterdes/noch for it).

Don't understand te comment about "once it has dried". It's bought in dry sheets here. It's not the same as the spray-foam used in insulation, but has similar properties.

Still, cardboard will warp with the amountof glue you will need to get it to stick to the foam. Either mdf or plywood is a better baseboard for it.