Obligatory Table Build Log

[lusciousmccabe]

So inspired by a few of the posters on here I decided to start working on my own folding table for Malifaux. I put a fair amount of thought into the layout in terms of gameplay so I'll stick up some diagrams in a bit for some feedback.

For now here's a look at how I made the frame.I used 6mm MDF for the base and some horrible metric equivalent of 2"x1" for the sides (think it was like 20mm x 46mm planed). I decided I wanted a bit of room on the sides for cards so the inside dimensions are 36" by 44" and I left cutting the MDF to the correct size till after adding the side bars so I wouldn't have to do annoying metric + imperial measurements.

[lusciousmccabe]

I stuck hinges on the top edges (won't bother with the image as it's quite huge and you probably know what hinges look like) then added a frame around the bottom to keep it rigid and level when open. I used something like metric 2"x 1/2" planed again and partly overlapped the centre lats so that the table can't open more than 180 and the terrain that's eventually going to be in the centre won't be pressed together too hard, hopefully.

And here it is opened up on my kitchen table. The central playing area is marked off by some random skirting which was an absolute pain to tack down, so I ended up just gluing it in place after checking about 10 time that the measurements were correct. 

The end result involved a lot more carpentry than I planned for, but I suppose the disadvantage of getting woodwork advice from your Dad is that he insists you do things properly. 

[lusciousmccabe]

So with the table built it was time to work on some terrain. I happened to have a load of this sheet foam insulation lying around and figured I'd use that for adding elevation. Here's some pictures of my test piece.

I started by cutting sheets of foam to size and then gluing them on top of eachother. It turned out to be a bit annoying as I need like 6 layers of foam for the height I wanted, but at least it was handy for adding steps.

I thought 3 layers of foam would equate roughly to Ht 1 (it's about an inch) but I forgot about the bases making everything slightly taller, but oh well.

Then I added the traditional cut up cereal box for stones/brickwork. I wanted there to be caps on the edges so I made them in putty and also used these print roller things to make some putty cobblestones to break up the square tiling. I did the brickwork on the side walls the same way, but you can't really see it from these pictures.

One thing I found was useful was running a layer of thick acrylic medium over the cardboard after gluing it down. It sticks in the crevices better than PVA and helps sit the edges into the piece. Anyway here's the (roughly) finished piece.

 

 

[lusciousmccabe]

So I've made a fair amount of progress on the table, but was too busy to post so this may be a bit of a pic dump. 

This shows about the halfway mark in the build with all (or at least most) of the elevation in place. The black foam areas are Ht 2, white foam is Ht 1 and the wood base is going to be a Ht 0 canal/harbor when I get the water in it. 

With all the elevation down I started adding smaller details like steps and edging. 

Then for the cardboard tiling (idea blatantly stolen from KrazyIvan and klatchi). It actually took a lot less time than i expected, but probably just because a lot of the other stuff was unsexpectedly time consuming. At least it didn't require much brain-power and the finish is durable and makes for a good play surface.

Then I spray painted the whole lot with white, grey and black with a really light dusting of a kind of yellow colour. 

And this is how it more or less looks now. So far I've only painted in the grout between the cobbles and made a start on the canal. Don't think I'm going to be doing a huge amount more on the cobbles or brickwork, think I'd be better off adding a few high detail pieces to catch the eye and leaving most of the board that shaded spray finish. 

Any recommendations on where to go from here in terms of terrain and painting? 

 

[tmod]

6 hours ago, lusciousmccabe said:

So I've made a fair amount of progress on the table, but was too busy to post so this may be a bit of a pic dump. 

This shows about the halfway mark in the build with all (or at least most) of the elevation in place. The black foam areas are Ht 2, white foam is Ht 1 and the wood base is going to be a Ht 0 canal/harbor when I get the water in it. 

With all the elevation down I started adding smaller details like steps and edging. 

Then for the cardboard tiling (idea blatantly stolen from KrazyIvan and klatchi). It actually took a lot less time than i expected, but probably just because a lot of the other stuff was unsexpectedly time consuming. At least it didn't require much brain-power and the finish is durable and makes for a good play surface.

Then I spray painted the whole lot with white, grey and black with a really light dusting of a kind of yellow colour. 

And this is how it more or less looks now. So far I've only painted in the grout between the cobbles and made a start on the canal. Don't think I'm going to be doing a huge amount more on the cobbles or brickwork, think I'd be better off adding a few high detail pieces to catch the eye and leaving most of the board that shaded spray finish. 

Any recommendations on where to go from here in terms of terrain and painting? 

 

Awesome stuff! I like how you get the board "alive" with the spots of different colours. I'd considee making a mix of medium grey and lots of matte airbrush medium and do a sort of spray on glaze to tie it all together... Probably won't really matter when you get more stuff like buildings and stuff on there, but I'd still consider it...

[lusciousmccabe]

22 hours ago, tmod said:

Awesome stuff! I like how you get the board "alive" with the spots of different colours. I'd considee making a mix of medium grey and lots of matte airbrush medium and do a sort of spray on glaze to tie it all together... Probably won't really matter when you get more stuff like buildings and stuff on there, but I'd still consider it...

Cheers! Afraid I'm just making do with rattlecans at the moment. Might do a series of washes to even out the gradient and add some colour (tried that a bit with the piece in the second post). Not sure how feasible it'd be over such a big area though, airbrush would really be the way to go if I had one. 

[tmod]

You could probably get away with going to an artists' store and buy matte acrylic medium by the litre (ie cheap), some cheap Payne's gray or similar plus black and a big brush. Mix a lot of medium and a lot of water with a little grey, and you've got yourself a translucent wash. With a big enough brush it should be manageable...

Great job using rattle cans though! :-)

[lusciousmccabe]

Well, this hasn't been updated in quite some time! Unfortunately that doesn't mean I have an awful lot of progress to show. 🙄

I added a jetty to the canal and filled in the water effect. It's about 10 layers of mod podge with goods varnish over top of it. Gives a nice ripply effect but is very hard to photograph.