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Hey all,

I've gotten a mad idea of actually creating my own wargaming terrain (shocking, I know), especially as I'd like a proper lake to go tramping over. However, I am essentially totally deficient in this skill set and so was hoping for some advice. A while ago, I got my dad to use his jigsaw to cut out some large shapes in MDF. Now, this MDF is really thick - 5mm - and I have neither the inclination nor equipment to really do anything with the size of shapes that he enthusiastically cut out. I just pulled out a large square shape - 11" across! - and I think that it might make for an impressively huge water feature...





As you can see, I've tentatively sketched out space for a large lake in the centre, with a couple features to constrain it. I might only use one of the corner features, as it might perhaps be too busy otherwise.

So, my questions:

1) Obviously 5mm is too steep a jump to accept. I'll be sanding this down - is there anything that I should know about using sandpaper on the corner of a MDF block?

2) I'll need to make some sort of a banking for the lake. What would be the easiest way to do this? I don't really have much money or materials, and don't have any Homebase stores nearby, so that limits my options a bit. I'm thinking that some sort of cardboard or plastic ridge covered in... something... would be the best.

3) I have GW Water Effect, which I've found good for bases but not so much for genuine water pieces. Will a huge quantity of PVA glue do the right trick for the lake? I'm planning on giving it the same very dark brown (Scorched Brown/ Rhinox Hide/ Stirland Mud) as my TK bases, since they are covered in water effect already.

4) Suggestions for the corner pieces are welcome. Ideally I want something that regiments can move through, but which mainly serves as a home for light infantry and whatnot.

5) Do you think that the overall height might be too much? You don't normally see lakes on top of a rise!

Thanks in advance!

1) Nothing in particular, other than normal issues relating to sanding anything. Don't breathe in the dust, your lungs don't like dust whether it is from sanding MDF, resin, metal or when outside mowing lawns, plowing fields or working in coal mines...bad things can happen. However, just being reasonable and not snorting it or blowing the dust around (wipe...don't blow and vacuum it up when you are done).

Use several grades of paper to speed things up. Start with something fairly coarse as it will take the extra off the fastest (60-100 grit). After you have it roughed out, you can switch to a finer grit paper to smooth out the surface, though you will be painting and flocking...so that isn't nearly as important on this sort of work. You may want to make the top dead smooth though and work all the way up to something like 600 grit though.

2) For the banking, vinyl spackle or plastic woods are ideal for working on a wood substrate like this. They are cheap and you can pick them up at most small hardware stores (and even many places like grocery stores in the US have small tubs). It sticks well enough, is cheap, easy to sculpt and shape and is reasonably durable.

3) Probably skip on any water effect in particular on this one. While you can get some good effects out of them - the cost versus reward doesn't really justify it versus something simple and cheap like a gloss varnish. Once you get your feet wet and your wallet fattened up, looking at things like clear resins or other water effect compounds becomes more sensible.

Go through and paint the hole of the board - front, back and sides with your "dirt" base color. After that, flip it over and pick out your water color and then use that to sort of blend into the dirt color from the deep areas of the lake up to the shore line. Browns, blues, greens, reds...it will depend on what sort of look you are after. Google Maps and the overhead images have made research on this a lot easier as you can find aerial photos of all sorts of water from anywhere in the world in a few minutes time.

Once that is done, pop open a can of gloss varnish made for varnishing wood and what not (as opposed to hobby or art varnishes). Paint it on, let it dry, paint on another coat, let it dry, paint on another coat... Repeat till you like the shine you are getting. For added gloss, a few quick passes with some 000 steel wool help to really bring out the high shine between coats of varnish.

Mask off the water area and flock/finish the dirt.

4) Trees, bushes, tall grasses, ruins, buildings...or just use the jig saw to cut the edges back closer to the outline of water.

5) Not normally an issue for most people. It has become acceptable for terrain like rivers, roads, lakes and other things to have heights up to 1/2" or so before you start to include things like trees. There isn't really an easy and inexpensive way to do placeable terrain like this without it sticking up roughly that high.

Some people like myself though are a bit more picky and prefer to use a base level of something like 1" foam with features cut down into it as opposed to setting on top of it. This method is less flexible though, and requires you to have a larger selection of terrain tiles for the variety.

Again, later on, you might decide that you prefer that method as opposed to this way of doing them. However you need the money set aside to do a whole table in one go, the space to store it all, and ideally a little experience under your belt in order to plan things out as you go.

Those are some really helpful suggestions. Thanks! Hopefully I can pick up some sandpaper and spackle this week and make a start.

On the topic of water effects, I know Walmart sells a watereffects 2 part resin kit. It's in the flower section (which I was merely passing through, in a manly fashion, on my way to the tool section, you see...) and is around $5 CAD. I will be trying it out when I get the opportunity to. I'd try painting the lake bottom darker near the middle, lighter near the edges, and water effects over top.

If you try it out, let me know how it works for you! Good luck with your project!