Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So now that I have my own house, with room in it, I am able to get around to making my game table. Since I need it to be portable, I'll be using folding legs on reinforced 4x6 plywood.

I already have my 2" pink foam board that I'll be making into 2'x2' sections, so that I can make more of them with built in features and the like, as well as being able to play smaller games with fewer tiles.

My question is, how do I go about texturing such a large surface in a manner that will stand up to some wear?

Hand brushing down glue, spreading gravel, and hand brushing a sealing layer of glue seems like it would take forever.

So the main questions in this are:

What glue should I use? How should I apply it?
What gravel should I use? I currently use the smallest grain Woodland Scenics black sand I could find for my bases.

Links to tutorials/videos/sites are all welcome.

One blog I have bookmarked for terrain recommends a 50:50 mix of PVA and polyfilla powder - you can also add in paint to speed up the whole process.

Pouring gravel and sand into this mixture will give a better bedding than just using PVA.

When I made some terrain tiles, I used neat PVA spread over the board (pouring straight onto the board and spreading with a spare bit of card) and then sealed with watered down PVA (applied with a large house painting brush); it is OK, but if your board is not very strong (ie it twists slightly when you pick it up), the sand/stones can come loose. I recommend picking up some thin hardboard to base the foam on, then some timber to make a skirt to give mechanical strength - Seen here.

In terms of sand, you can get pretty much unfiltered builders sand which has small stones in it, and then filter it with a sieve, Add on the chunky rocks, then spread some coarser sand, then gradually add finer sand until you blend in with the bare polyfilla mix.

I would say brush the whole thing down with good old white glue, it will act as a sealant against the next step. Then find the texture sprays at Wallyworld, Home Depot, etc. They shoot out little foam-like pellets along with the aerosol, giving a randomly rocky appearance. It looks great for replicating rough stonework. Then a nice heavy coat of spray paint will seal and finish the job.

dont use any spray paint on foam that is not acetone based. you will melt the foam.

Go to lowes or home depot or any other big box hardware store and get textured laytex paint. look first for any that may be mistinted and a return. it will cost you like 5to 10 dollars for a mistake gallon.

if none are available get them to mix you up what ever shade you want. use a big brush or paint roller to apply.

I'm actually doing the same thing except I'm making a 4x4 table with 1x1 tiles. I've a huge list and plan and once I get all my materials I'm going to make a blog about it. To answer your question, well, I can't. It's my biggest hurdle too. I was just going to go with the PVA and sand route, however the main difference is my board and tiles are made of MDF instead of foam.

Using textured paint or just mixing sand directly with your paint seems like it would be a big time saver.

Actually, my experience has shown that spreading glue and laying sand can be really quick. One thing that would help drastically would be to use smaller grain sand as opposed to gravel- it'll look more realistic IMO (in most terrains) and it'll stick to the glue much more easily. I use play sand or beach sand and it is very fine, but I have never found that I have to put a second layer of PVA to seal it. It dries rock-solid, plus the first layer of paint can help lock it down further.

Good luck!

I may have to drive down to the beach and snag a pound or two of sand if I can find some fine enough.

 Aerethan wrote:
I may have to drive down to the beach and snag a pound or two of sand if I can find some fine enough.

At which point it's probably worth pointing out that in some places removing sand from the beach is actually illegal...

 insaniak wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
I may have to drive down to the beach and snag a pound or two of sand if I can find some fine enough.

At which point it's probably worth pointing out that in some places removing sand from the beach is actually illegal...

I could probably sift 1lb of sand out of my bathing suit after a day spent at the beach.

Pretty sure it's ok here in CA, not that anyone would notice me walking away with a small plastic container of sand.

There is this guy on youtube that goes through a tutorial step by step to make a table... very informative and uses different techniques to protect a table... from lets say someone spilling a cup of soda or something. I've still got to wait for more money to make my own. The guys name is eq2templar its one of his older videos, he doesnt have many so its not hard to find.
Good luck hope it helps you like it did me!

minwax polycrylic, the savior of my terrain

I do the PVA, sand then paint thing, after paint I load up a spraygun (not an airbrush), and give the entire table a coat of the polycrylic, top, sides, bottom. It's damn near waterproof, and it has saved the table from spills and my grandkids.

No,sand is bad.

Go to you local big pet supply store like petsmart. In the reptile supplies you can find big bags of finely ground walnut shells intended for use in terrariums like sand. It about 12 bucks for enough for several tables.

The reason this stuff is better is that it's got the same texture as sand but with smoother "edges" to each grain. When you use it to texture terrain or a table it give the same look, but not the rough sandpaper surface.

Mannahnin wrote:Using textured paint or just mixing sand directly with your paint seems like it would be a big time saver.

A big plus one to this. I just made a table last week and premixed texture and paint is the way to go.

The difference is that I use actual Paint Texture by Sheetrock. It's called "Sheetrock Sand Finish Paint Additive". and looks like this.


It's only a buck fifty in the paint aisle for 16 oz (marked 8 oz by weight). It's ground pumice so it absorbs the paint, sticks really well and stays mixed better than sand.

Here's the steps.

-Take a sample of the paint color you want and the drybrush color in to your local hardware store or swatches off the wall.

-Have them mix up a gallon each in the cheapest FLAT paint they have. I use Menards "Lucite" brand as it's only 9 bucks a gallon!

-Take the base color and in a separate container mix 8 to one paint to additive. I ended up using 4 to one, but start with 8 to one and paint a bit on a scrap piece and see how the texture looks to you.

-When you have a consistency you like paint it on the board nice and thick.

-When dry drybrush on your highlight color.

-Then add a final highlight if you want.

-Spray on a matte sealer. If using foam, make sure it's a water based sealer or just use no sealer.

Done.

Here's the complete How-to for the table I made. It went together really fast.
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/10/making-urban-wargaming-table.html

How many land mines were on your table after you took these pics?

If you want to go in a different direction than sand, you can get spackle that normally put on the walls of a home and spread it out. As long as you peel the plastic off of the foam, it should adhere just fine.

Then you can paint it up how you want. I used some gloves and spread the spackle around, creating a protective layer for the foam with some great textures that were easy to dry brush with some cheap white paint.

If it wears or parts chip off, you simply apply a little bit of spackle, a small amount of paint, and you're golden.

When I put my board together, I ended up forgetting to remove the plastic, so I had to peel it all off and I just sprayed the foam directly and used some water based sealant on mine and it's worked fine.

I'm going to do a new board here soon and I'll be going with spackle as my protective layer.

 Aerethan wrote:
How many land mines were on your table after you took these pics?

None thankfully, but I forgot to check before laying the board down, so it was definitely my lucky day!

I use decorating caulk mixed with sand. Leaves you with a solid and slightly flexible surface.

Here's what I did over a plywood frame reinforced with 1x2s. The problem with pink foam by itself is that the edges will get knocked around and dented from normal use. Upgrade if you can to wood. Failing that, try mounting the pink foam to a sturdy backing like hardboard or MDF with construction adhesive and wood screws (countersunk). You can then felt the bottom surface to protect the kitchen or dining room table from scratches.

If you can manage it, I'd do all of this outside in the sun, since it will make less of a mess and it will dry faster outside:

1. Apply a thinned mix of wood glue over the entire surface with a paint roller. Thin the wood glue with water just a bit, maybe a 4:1 or 5:1 glue to water mix. I just eyeballed it.
2. Sprinkle sand over the entire surface. I just took a handful out of the bag and hand spread it. I bought a big bag of sand from my local DIY store. Just keep sprinkling it on the surface until there are no wet spots.
3. After it dries thoroughly (times will vary), I took a handbroom and dustpan and recovered the excess sand by sweeping the surface.
4. Get a quart of latex paint that has been tinted to your preferred color (Scorched Brown worked for me). Paint the entire surface with a medium nap roller. Alow to dry.
5. Drybrush a couple lighter shades. Use craft paints (Delta CeramCoat, Americana, Apple Barrel, etc.) rather than much more expensive hobby brand paints; you get bigger bottles at much cheaper prices. Apply some fine turf from Woodland Scenics to break up all the brown.

Done. The paint will seal the sand down on the table and give it a durable, waterproof surface. I've had my table for almost 15 years, and I haven't had a single issue. I can post pics if youd like.

Rather than pink foam, I might suggest getting 2'x2' pieces of wood (Home Depot calls them "Project Boards" or something like that").

But that's a different topic...

TEXTURE!
Do your table in latex paint (Indoor. Cuts costs to begin with), and check out paint additives (such as the sand bucket listed above). There are others that are more coarse or fine, etc, dependent on what your little heart desires. Hit Lowes/Home Depot/Ace/ other halfway decent hardware store with a paint section and ask a guy about textured paint additives.

Otherwise, the PVA sand (or ground walnuts) plan is about as good as it'll get. It's not a bad plan, and it really won't take too long to do.

Then definitely spray some Minwax Polycrylic overtop to make that freakin' surface even more badass (and invincible).

Good luck have fun!

I know for sure that I'll be using XPS with 1/4" MDF on the bottom for my tiles.

My thoughts on paint is that I'd prefer to spray/airbrush it on as I think that brush strokes on terrain looks cheap, mainly on the highlights and drybrushing. I know that aerosol is a no no, but I'm concerned that latex paint might be a bit too thick.

Also, say I base it with latex and then highlighted with acrylics, what would I use to seal it all against wear? I don't particularly feel like airbrushing a 4x6 table with matte varnish since my airbrush doesn't spray all that wide.

The only thing I'd airbrush would be the highlights, and even a really well done airbrushing won't catch the texture of the surface the way a real drybrush would.

You can't airbrush on texture anyway. So brush on the texture paint. It won't be too thick and the paint will go a long way towards protecting both the texture and the foam base. Folks often forget about the protective properties of latex paint.

For sealer, there are spray cans of water based polyurethane which is what I'd use as you have foam (which regular poly will melt) as part of your tables. 2-3 of those should be enough to seal in your table.

Also keep in mind Aerethan that you can thin down latex paint.
It may not suite your purposes as well for a texture additive, but it can at least be thinned enough that it won't hold your brushstrokes in the paintjob. Get a bottle of Wagner's "Paint Ease." (Walmart)

Then do as Eilif says and seal it up with water based poly.

 Aerethan wrote:
My thoughts on paint is that I'd prefer to spray/airbrush it on as I think that brush strokes on terrain looks cheap, mainly on the highlights and drybrushing. I know that aerosol is a no no, but I'm concerned that latex paint might be a bit too thick.

If you roll latex paint, there are no brush strokes. As mentioned, latex paint can be thinned, but that's not necessary. Painters don't thin paint when they apply it to your walls, do they? Latex paint evens out over a short span of time as a property of the paint when it's applied. And it acts as a pretty good sealer to keep the texture from rubbing/peeling off.

Also, say I base it with latex and then highlighted with acrylics, what would I use to seal it all against wear? I don't particularly feel like airbrushing a 4x6 table with matte varnish since my airbrush doesn't spray all that wide.

Not sure what you plan on using this table for other than gaming, but the reality of it is that you don't need to seal it for casual gaming. We spray sealer on miniatuers becuase they're small and get handled a lot. The surface of your board should not be seeing much in the way of "handling." Most people don't drag their miniatures (they pick them up and move them), and even if they did, minis weigh a few grams, right? Your terrain will probably be made out of foam or light platics, too. So where do you expect all this damage and wear and tear to come from? It's a gaming table. No need to over-engineer it.

 the_Armyman wrote:
Not sure what you plan on using this table for other than gaming, but the reality of it is that you don't need to seal it for casual gaming. We spray sealer on miniatuers becuase they're small and get handled a lot. The surface of your board should not be seeing much in the way of "handling." Most people don't drag their miniatures (they pick them up and move them), and even if they did, minis weigh a few grams, right? Your terrain will probably be made out of foam or light platics, too. So where do you expect all this damage and wear and tear to come from? It's a gaming table. No need to over-engineer it.

While this is certainly true, sealing it is probably a good idea anyway. Krylon has spray sealant that would work very well. Good coverage (it's a spraycan... haha) and works wonders. Plus it's only $5 or so. A small price to pay for good results and peace of mind.

Remember that whether brushed over texture or with texture in the paint, the texture pretty much obscures any brush strokes. I applied my paint with a brush and there were no visible brush strokes in the base coat.

The only place you might get brush strokes is in the dry-brushing step.

I should have specified on the brush stroke thing.

What I mean is when the drybrushing clearly shows a brush stroke over an area, usually from the person pressing harder during the stroke, so that the areas around it look darker and the brush stroke appears brighter. I'd post a pic of it if I could find one.

As for sealing them, since I don't have the space to leave the table up, I'll be stacking the first batch of tiles on each other since they'll be flat panels. Once I have a shelf that I can store them on I'll make ones with built in hills.

Brush PVA glue over the foam. You'll want to do the top and sides.
Let dry overnight. I don't like to artifically speed this step up, but use a heat lamp if you really can't wait.
Mix sand/gravel/dirt/whatever into your acrylic basecoat paint of choice and stir well. I'd recommend a pint sized can you can get from a hardware/home improvement store.
Brush textured paint onto the glue-coated foam. Top only.
Let dry fully.
Wash/drybrush as desired.
Let dry fully.
Play.

What is the glue accomplishing here?

I've made 2 tables in my few years in the hobby... the first one was built like so:

Three 2 foot by 4 foot wooden boards that I sprayed with Woodland Scenics pva glue, then I took construction sand and covered the board with it, let it dry, and then did a repeat but with grass flock... That one didn't last too long.

Second board was a desert themed pink foam board. This was created by going to Home Depot, getting the color paint I wanted for the base color of the board, as well as a dry brush color... I took the first color, and mixed in several cups of sand.

It had a good even texture and was pretty much sealed...

both boards have been destroyed by college students I lived with, but the second board was better...