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I recently purchased the DZC commander terrain set and I would like to mount those tiles to something more sturdy. I was considering some 3mm mdf board but I cant seem to find precut tiles. (I do not have the tools to cut my own sheet locally.) I apologize for the complete failure of my "google-fu," but after an hour of surfing the internet i could use some dakka assistance.

Thanks ahead of time!

Go to Home Depot or Lowes. Check to make sure your local store has the wood cutter (apparently not all have them). I recently bought a 4x8 panel of 3mm MDF (they will call it Hardboard) and they cut it down to 1x1 panels for me.

Supposedly it's 50 cents per cut, but the guy said since I wasn't an ass he wouldn't charge me.

 Kiwi461 wrote:
Go to Home Depot or Lowes. Check to make sure your local store has the wood cutter (apparently not all have them). I recently bought a 4x8 panel of 3mm MDF (they will call it Hardboard) and they cut it down to 1x1 panels for me.

Supposedly it's 50 cents per cut, but the guy said since I wasn't an ass he wouldn't charge me.

Hardboard will work fine - but just to avoid confusion, hardboard is not MDF. There is a difference between hardboard (sometimes sold under the brand name Masonite) and MDF, and although the two can be used interchangeably for most of what we do - there are advantages to one or the other depending on what you are doing.

But yes - most places that sell sheet goods have a panel saw and can make short work of cutting it up into 1x1 chunks. Even at the 50 cents per cut fee that is pretty common - I will often have them part out large sheets so that I don't have to bother with trying to manhandle them on the table saw.

Other options are the various vinyl tiles that they also sell at home improvement stores. Depending on the end result you are after - those are a cheap and easy way to add some stiffness to terrain. If you don't have a local lumber yard (some urban locations don't have easy access to them) call up businesses like cabinet installers and tell them what you need. While it will cost a good bit more than buying it from the store yourself - you can often get them to cut down a few sheets worth of material and sometimes even have them deliver it to you.

Hmmm, I do have a lumber yard near by but for some reason I assumed they would not work with the very thin stuff. In the debate between hard board and mdf is there one thats less prone to warping? I do not live in a humid area, but there is still the potential for humidity here.

Hardboard is generally the better option for this. The manner in which it is made makes it less prone to warping, swelling and otherwise crumbling like some MDF can.

It is often used as a canvas of sorts for painters, so it holds up well to all sorts of adhesives and also happens to be a common material used for siding on houses, which ends up as a good demonstration of its durability.

As an ex home depot lumber employee, I can tell you a few things about this:
1) Hardboard is probably better for what you want, both react negatively to moisture, but hardboard swells less, it can darken a bit with moisture, but MDF really puffs up.
2) Most home depots have the panel saw at the back of the lumber department, and if you go to a big one in your town you're almost sure to find one.
3) They'll cut it up for you for a few bucks, at my store it was 3 cuts free then $1 per cut after that, so to cut a 4x8 sheet down to 1x1's you're looking at about $10 if the saw operator cuts it efficiently, but from experience, if the cuts are all easy like 1x1 repetitive stuff, and the customer was friendly, we often didn't charge.
4) My store was a smallish size one, and we had 3mm (1/8") hardboard, but only had MDF in 3/8" or bigger. I believe you can get 1/4" MDF at home depot, but i cannot speak to the availability of 1/8" in your area.

Went to the local home depot and got some hardboard cut, and the stuff is 1/16" of an inch too big on 2 sides! soo close to right, but not quiet there. Material looks great! The "shiney" side looks like it wont hold primer well, Any advice on what would work paint wise?