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This post is more of a thank you to everyone else who has ever posted about making their own board than an account of my own build, especially Trasvi, who posted an EXCELLENT tutorial on board building that I could never hope to top.

For that reason, I am only going to attach one picture.

Here are the stages I have gone though...

1) Get an 3/4" thick 8'x4' board chopped up into 2'x2' pieces (Actually, it is 6 2'x2' and a pair that are slightly smaller, as all of the lost material was soaked up by the last two pieces.) The man at B&Q (UK version of Home Depot) did a SUPERB job of getting the sizes right for me.

2) Use my birthday present of an electric drill to put 6.5mm holes at 6" either side of the centre of each edge. The idea is to use 6mm dowel to hold the board together with a fairly loose fit. Before I did this I used my GW mini-drill to drill guide holes at the right places on my board (at 6' in from each corner). Nevertheless, I did not do a great job of this and have some work to do to fix this.

3) Used my cheap (£25) router from Screwfix to put a hardpan pattern at different points on the boards.

4) Put PVA glue over the rest of the board and cover with sand, which I then patted down and left to dry.

5) A couple of days ago I also had another man at B&Q mix up paint to match Bestial Brown, Vomit Brown and 50/50 Vomit Brown/White for me. I am now halfway through painting the board you see below.

Next up will be the addition of some sections with hills on each corner. I'll be using Trasvi's guide again, but first I will be buying myself a Dremel Versatip to use as a hotknife and making myself a few Hotwire Cutters (AGAIN using Trasvi's advice, this time in his other thread.) I am going to Maplin to buy the components tomorrow.

I am really pleased with how this is going so far, and even if it does not look perfect, I'll know it is mine.

I encourage all of you to give it a go.

Good work, I need to try something like this. Look forward to seeing future progress. Any skull pits?

No skull pits

Just finished painting the last two quarters.

Wishing I had moved in a bit closer with the sand around the edges of one of the sandless sections, but it is not so bad as to really ruin it.

I was invited to go to three different halloween parties tonight, but didn't fancy it. This was a much better way to spend the evening! How sad am I?!

Nice work.

I'm going to be starting on my next board in the next few weeks. It's going to be made from 3 pieces of 4'x2' 12mm mdf sheet (but will have pins for locking the pieces together as it will have a semi-modular layout).

+1 for no skull pits.

good work so far, looking forward to updates

Pfff, no skulls!?!?

Looks good. I'm still trying to figure a way to make a modular city fight board.

18mm mdf. Sections of 1'x1', 1'x2' and 2'x2'. 6.5mm holes every 6" along the edge of each 1' section. Rotate and slot together as you choose. Build scenery on top of sections.

Sound easy? I bet it isn't!