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Hey everyone. A while ago I bought a few Necron models, mostly for playing with as I wasn’t a huge fan of the painting/hobby part of the hobby. This summer I’ve found myself in a bit of a slump, and I decided to build a diorama that could also potentially double as a 2’ x 2’ game board tile. However, I have no idea how to do this, so I’ve come to you guys for help.

In terms of cost, I’d like to do this on a budget. I’ll be willing to spend a bit on this, around 60-100 clams ideally, but I’ll be willing to go up to 150 if I really have to, and if there’s no other way.

Now, I have no idea what I’m doing with this, so I really need all the help I can get, but I was thinking of using a wooden base with a Styrofoam layer on top. I can use the Styrofoam to give the terrain better depth, carving in things like a hill, trenches, and so on, and I’ll also be able to better imbed features such as battlefield debris and wreckages. All models look like they’ve just come out of a car crash (which is par for the course in terms of sweet Necron army flavor), so I figure I might as well just roll with it and keep that theme in the diorama. Then on top of the Styrofoam I’ll coat it with a layer of plastic cement and green stuff to give it a hard layer which I can paint on, as well as really lock in all the bits and rubble I’ve imbedded into the Styrofoam.

Now, this idea could be great, could be a literal trash fire, I don’t know, this is why I’m turning to you all. If anyone has any tips, advice, videos, books, pamphlets, anything, I would be super appreciative.

As for what I want on this diorama, I have a ghost arc that turn out looking like total garbage, complete with the fact it doesn’t really stand properly and has issues with bits and stuff falling off, that I want to have crashed somewhere on the board that acts as the centerpiece. I plan on hacking it apart, and taking some of the other spare bits I have lying around, so I can also litter the battlefield with debris. This way it can act as both a diorama with a story, and a realm of battle tile with interesting terrain and cover. I really don’t feel like burning my money on any more units of vehicles for the set dressing, but I was also contemplating buying one of the cheaper imperial vehicles to act as another terrain cover piece if I feel like the design ever feels sparse.

Thank you all so much, and if this goes well I’ll keep a super detailed log of my progress for future generations.

Not much to help except idea to not use styrofoam(assuming it's same stuff as I think it is. Not 100% sure due to english name) but rather something like this:



Think that's finnish product(called finnfoam) but I'm sure there's equilavent in your country. Generally used for insulations in house building but at least in Finland popular in building hills, modular tables etc. Just got myself enough for 4'x4' board.

More sturdy than styrofoam(again assuming it's same stuff).

Thank you. I used Styrofoam as a shorthand for a generic polystyrene, but I will look into finnafoam. Thank you.

Well as long as it's not the white crumbly stuff that I thought from word styrofoam you should be fine. Probably we are both talking about same(at least by qualities) stuff anyway.

Sounds fun.
Your plastic cement and greenstuff idea sounds like an expensive nightmare. Stay away from that!
Here's a nice tutorial on the basics of terrain building.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Making_Dynamic%2C_Craggy_Hills
Just use this guide on a bigger scale. I'd even suggest just trying your hand at a few hills first.
You should be able to buy enough for a full 8x4 on budget.
A sheet of wood, some blue/pink foam, a gallon of glue, a few pints of paint, some various full bags of gravel/sand and a tub of filler/spackle from your local hardware store. These materials will last for ages if you ever want to make anything else ever again.
If you really want to squeeze the budget then beg some building sites for sands, gravels, foam/wood offcuts or take a trip to the beach with a few icecream tubs.

For 60 - 100 you could make an entire 4x6 table. Use cheap walmart acrylic craft or indoor wall (not enamel) paint (black, white, brown). Buy a 4x8 x2" piece of blue/purple/pink foam house insulation from home depot. Now you should be at about 50.00. Buy supplies to make a foam wire cutter (google). Buy a hot glue gun. Buy two 3x3 sheets of 1/4" foam core all from a hobby / craft store like Michaels. Forage through your recycleables and bits bin. This should be about 100 all told. You should have enough supplies to make one hell of a table / diorama.

Agreed on everything but the wire cutter. Check my link.
Also the glue gun isn't necessarily the best way to go, if you have patience and time then pva will give a stronger bond for much cheaper.

Seeing as I'm planning to do a similar thing, I'll pop this here - it certainly gave me pause for thought:

http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/news/blue-foam-pink-foam-foamboard-and-styrofoam/

Key points I'd pick out of that article:

- Check your foam board is approx 32kg/m3 Density - Too dense is hard to carve, to soft is equally as hard. Apparently 32kg/m3 is just right. If you're going into a builders merchants, then ask them what density it is. They should know as it affects thermal properties for it's insulation role.

- No PVA. As Foamboard/Blue foam is practically airtight, if you sandwich two layers together then the glue won't have access to air and will remain liquid. The article recommends you try a variety of glues on little pieces to see if it works.

- When sanded, foamboard produces Hydrogen Halides - which are very toxic and unpleasant. So, if you're going into your home depot/builders merchant, pick up a facemask and make sure it has fume rated filters.

Other than that, I'll be watching this eagerly to see how it turns out. Few people seem to document their terrain making experiences so it'll be really useful to quite a few people should you decide to do so - in any case, good luck!

I think most home depots have 2x2x 1" thick pink insolation foam

also they sell 2x2 plywood or hardboard bases that you could totally use as a base

they are like not even 10 bucks each.

another intresting idea would be to use pool putty if you have a local pool supply store.

its muuuuch cheaper than green stuff but works almost the same. its more like cream cheese when you work with it but drys rock hard.

alternatively why not make it in the style of the FW necron complex that way you can double up as a fortification for off games.