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So, I have decided on a Birthday, Christmas, and New Years Resolution all wrapped into one, and that is building a game board. Now, I had a couple ideas, and I wanted to ask the community for their advice on safety and pulling this off in general. Several of the mechanics call for some fog, and I figured I would make some small fog machines. So, onto the designs;

Specimen Tanks; Circular bases with large square holders in the bottom, to hold squares of dry ice. Now onto the problem, from the base, I need something clear and sturdy enough to hold some hot water. Would acrylic be a good choice for this? Also thought about the top cap... Perhaps some exhaust pipes like you see on the back of tanks and dreadnoughts? Would that be enough to let the gases vent without risk of an explosion?

Vent Fog System; Hollowing out the walls and floor underneath grating, I wanted to add in some flexible tubing to carry fog so that it can come out and up from the grating for some epic special effects. Now, the question on my mind is if the fog could actually supercool the terrain and make it fragile. Also, on the subject of the fog, would I need to ensure extra waterproofing coats, or would the fog not cause any real issues with the paint job?

Oh, and to top it all off, for use at my shop, which doesn't have any windows in the back room and a side door that is kept closed, just how much fog should i limit myself with, in order to avoid killing ourselves... It;s a good sized room, but still.

I recently explored the fog effect problem while trying to put together a tau hammerhead with smoking engines. Let me just come out and say that dry ice is not the way to go here. I know, it seems like a great idea, but there are a bajillion logistical problems.

The way dry ice works is a process called sublimation, in which a solid evaporates into gas without becoming liquid first. The gas given off by the fog is CO2. CO2 is denser than regular air, so it will cling to the floor for a very cool effect without choking anyone or setting off smoke alarms. BUT here's the problem. Dry ice (essentially CO2 ice) evaporates quick. MUCH quicker than water ice. For a specimen tank, assuming a slightly larger than man sized specimen would be housed in it, you'd be able to fit about 30 seconds to a minute worth of dry ice in there. Tops. It's cool for a quick little "wow" moment, but wouldn't produce the kind of sustained, atmospheric effect you want.

Also, in order to make the fog, you need to drop dry ice into water. I also should point out that having blocks of dry ice sitting our on your 40k table is a recipe for disaster. It will burn the hell out of you on contact with your skin. Bad. BAD. Seriously, stop considering that.

So here's problem number 2, at the opposite end of the spectrum. You can use a model train steam generator. There are problems here too. These are designed for metal trains, and the steam and heating elements will melt plastic around it. They also require a plug-in power supply to really work, and will devour batteries at a "horrendous rate" according to the manufacturer I spoke to. So, these are likely out as well.

Which brings us to the one possible method to pull this off. An actual fog machine. They do make some small ones, and you might be able to rig up a whole table to make use of it. You would probably want the fog machine under the table, and you could get it from any party supply store. I'm not too familiar with their workings but they use the same principle as the steam generators. Find one with an adjustable setting and set it to the lowest one, and you should have a suitable effect that won't choke anyone or set off smoke alarms.

That's everything I have come up with on rigging up smoke effects. I've come at the problem from a lot of angles, and i just can't make it work on a per-model basis. A terrain table is probably the smallest thing you could rig with a fog machine. Sorry to be a downer, but I figure I'd save you all the time I spent banging my head against the wall on this problem.

I'm afraid I cannot help you at all, but I want to say good luck, and if you pull this off, it could well be the greatest board known to man.

Dry ice isn't a good idea. We tried doing this for a halloween cake and if you put the dry ice into water, while it will throw off the smoke you want the bubbling will also throw off a bit of water as well and we were constantly refilling the dry ice.

 Sledgio wrote:
I'm afraid I cannot help you at all, but I want to say good luck, and if you pull this off, it could well be the greatest board known to man.

Same here. I have nothing constructive to add, just a request for pictures and a how-to if you do pull it off.

Best of luck!

 Ifurita wrote:
Dry ice isn't a good idea. We tried doing this for a halloween cake and if you put the dry ice into water, while it will throw off the smoke you want the bubbling will also throw off a bit of water as well and we were constantly refilling the dry ice.

Now, with the water in mind, how much was it giving off? The plan calls for the individual tanks, but they should be nearly fully enclosed, minus the stacks on top to allow for releasing the gases. The general board plan is a separate fog machine hooked up nearby with a good fan pushing it through tubing to the expulsion points.

I would skip dry ice too, as well as several techniques which use glycerin (leaves a film) and consider an ultrasonic mister

http://www.mainlandmart.com/gargoyle.html

Never seen one used in this way, but I have seen it used it a similiar manner for haunted house dioramas as well as applications like on the above page.

Moisture is the enemy of a lot of terrain materials, so make sure you have sealed everything quite well.