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Hey all,

Looking for some assistance. I've dug out some old terrain which is fully-painted and glued down to a wooden board. Unfortunately the wooden board it is based on seems just a bit too high, making for a more noticeable gap from terrain-board to game-board than I'd like. Its all fully-painted and flocked etc.

Looks really good and before I consider having to rip it all apart to rebase it on a thinner board, I was wondering whether anyone knows if using a commercial DIY sander would be able to shave off enough height to make a difference? Don't want to risk damaging the 'completed side' if I can help it, so I'd obviously be sanding down the underside of it until it looks better. But I have also never used one of them so don't know precisely how they function. While it may be tricky to get it exactly even, I am hoping that by this method I can reduce the height of the board and thus alleviate my issue of it being too tall.

Here's a pic of the kinda tool I mean. Anyone able to chime in if they reckon it would work? It seems so obvious to me that it would, but as with nice models you have, I'd rather be sure.



Thanks in advance.

How much too high is it? And how big is the base?

If you only need to take off a small amount, just lay a sheet of coarse sandpaper down on a bench, sit the terrain piece on it and move it around in a circular motion - that will keep it fairly flat as it reduces it down.

Honestly, its probably about 1cm high. Doesn't sound much, but its high compared to model bases and the game board. I'd ideally like to cut that in half. Hence why I wonder whether conventional sandpaper might be a bit too much effort?

If you're wanting to bring it down to 3-5mm to match mini bases, then yes, sandpaper is going to be a hard slog, but I would doubt a regular commercial sander would do it, either. You would want a sanding table for that sort of thickness.

Depending on exactly what sort of terrain it is, a workaround might be to glue a thinner, wider base underneath and texture it in so that the original bases are concealed.

Do you have any pics of the terrain in question?

Unfortunately I won't be able to take a better photo until late tomorrow, but here's a cropped photo that kinda shows it. You can get an idea of the base height relative to a model base, but the angle sadly is slightly creating a bit of an illusion. It's definitely taller than a model base. Not the best of photos, but the original one wasn't taken with this in mind.

A thinner board under it, then easing the two together with basing might be the best solution then?

Yeah, add a thinner board with a wide gap around the original base, blend the two together with some filling plaster or putty, and then add your grass to match the original.

Thanks for the help!

No, unless you want to spend about a year sanding.. I have an orbital sander, they are useful, but not for big things like that.

What wood is it?

If MDF you could split the wood and reseal the underside

You'll want a belt sander to remove that much material.
Alternatively you could use a large workshops band saw.
Best bet for a quick fix at home would be to bevel the edge with a sharp knife and then flock the bevel.