Tabletop Textures

[Khail]

Hey folks,

Got a new project I'm going to start soon-ish. I picked up a bunch of Dragon Forge bases for my McMourning box set, and I'm looking to build a nice little 3x3 that matches them. Here are the bases in question:

They'll be painted grey/green to resemble ruined sewer cobblestones. The question is - can anyone think of a decent way to transfer this cobblestone pattern to the play surface?

I'm thinking possibly a large amount of sheet styrene could be purchased with the appropriate (or close) pattern, though the grooves wouldn't be very deep.

Any other ideas?

[ork56]

see if you can find a cheap 'anaglypta' type wallpaper which often comes with a cobblestone or paving pattern. this will cover a big area very cheaply and you can then drybrush for effect.

[jmp_mydog]

I bought those same base as well as the wasteland ones for Dragon Forge. For the wasteland I've been working on a 12"x12" tile and sculpting the texture onto it to make a press mold. The process still needs some work but it's almost there.

I was at a train store today looking at the sheet styrene, Plastisruct makes one with an almost identical pattern as the cobblestone. It is pricey though $11 for 2 6"x9" sheets.

I'm going to try cutting card and build cobblestone streets from that. It will be tediouos and time consuming but seems more economical.

Something else you might try is textured wall paper I used that for one of the boards I made. It's significantly larger squares then the bases you have but can be serviceable. Pics here.

[Omenbringer]

Aside from the textured wall paper that was already suggested, a couple of other ways you can get that type of effect;

1) for smaller areas, peel off the paper from one side of some foamcore, score the surface with a pencil in the desired pattern, then press gently with a stone (crumpled tinfoil works as well) to get the random variations between bricks. This is very tediuos and time consuming but gives a very good result.

2) With christmas coming up you should be able to find some of the following http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=ch0895&channelid= at a local Arts and Crafts store such as Micheals. Much easier for large ares but will look very precise and artificial.

3) Another easy solution for large areas is textured sheet styrene, this can be a bit harder to find although train stores seam to have it most often. Evergreen used to make a brick/ cobblestone version but I was unable to find it on their website.

[Munkey Joe]

Something you MIGHT try is to cast some of the Hirst arts molds and lay them as pavers. This is what we did for a table this past year and it looked Great!! Kinda time consuming and somewhat heavy when done BUT it will pay off. Heres pics:

[WyvernX86]

2) With christmas coming up you should be able to find some of the following http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=ch0895&channelid= at a local Arts and Crafts store such as Micheals. Much easier for large ares but will look very precise and artificial.

Lemax also makes a 18"x 36" brick mat. Glue two of those to a section of hard board and you are most of the way there. To get closer you could dig out some of the bricks and fill in with sand or model railroad ballast.

Edit: Wanted to add that I'm 99% sure these brick matts are textured. It should be pretty easy to prime, paint and wash them to the color you want. I remember looking at them at a store last year and thought they'd make for a quick city base.

Edited September 22, 2009 by WyvernX86

[AmishLuvah]

Huh. What's the scale of those Lemax village pieces anyhow?

[jmp_mydog]

They vary but some of them are close to O scale. The lamp posts are nice just have to pop off the x-mas wreaths.

[Druthu]

no cobblestone..but a good source for people to see.

http://www.zuzzy.com/

[gregdorf]

A friend of mine removed the paper to one of the sides of a piece of foam core then used a pen to draw brick patterns in the foam. When he was finished he had a very nice and convincing looking terrain piece that was not super expensive or hard to produce.

[jmp_mydog]

Those zuzzy mats look pretty cool, I wonder how they hold up it you paint them a roll them up though.

[Omenbringer]

Another site for the premade brick/ cobblestone sheet styrene:

http://www.barrule.com/Workshop/scratch%20builders%20paradise/sheet%20materials.html

Scroll down to the Wills plastic stuff. As you can see it is a bit more random than the Lemax stuff.

[Khail]

Thanks for all the tips folks! Some really interesting ideas here.

[ork56]

apparently the zuzzy mats hold up very well when rolled up after painting, as long as you use emulsion/water-based/acrylic paints

just wish you could get them in the UK

[gregdorf]

I cannot say for sure, but it probably also helps if you roll it painted side out.