"Aliens/Space Hulk 3d terrain in pink /blue foam?" Topic

Anyone tried this? It seems to be a cheap lightweight alternative to commercial resin or cardstock products. You could even glue the carstock pieces to the foam. Also it would warp less than foamcore. See Jake B's comments about foamcore in

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I used pink foam for my game boards and after a coat of latex primer, it holds paint and flock with out any problems. Would gluing it be an issue? Again I've used white glue to construct some small ruins out of pink foam and they are still together after some rugged use by my 5 year old.

Thanks,
Andrew

That's an interesting idea. I could see the foam being great for the walls, but I'd want a sturdy heavier base like MDF so that multiple room and hallway sections don't move too much on a table.

I've glued pink foam to itself without any trouble but I also cross pin it with bambo skewers for added strength. With what I said above I might drill holes in the bottom of each base and use flush head screws with glue to attach the walls to the bases.

Here's a link to TerraGenesis where a guy made Space Hulk boards out of styrofoam:

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Wow. Look at what I've just found!

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More here:
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CC

More ideas for materials:

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CC

Wow! Great links plenty of inspiration there. My idea is to make my corridor system in 54mm. I'm using the TreeHouse Kids Aliens and Space Marines. I have plenty of figures.
I want a system that i can reconfigure like Space Hulk rather than a static board with plenty of different types of rooms. I have some great furniture and "futuristic" chambers/lab equipment to make the rooms different.
Andrew

[agplumer]

Got pictures?

Had some on the Aliens Group at Yahoo. That group is now gone. I could take some new pictures including my Marines their APC and new Drop ship (GI Joe toy) if someone wouldn't mind hosting them.
Andrew

AGPlumer,

Look at this too:

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There's more!

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gandalf23.com/?p=1702
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CC

I did the foam-core corridors that CC "discovered" above. Even though it's more in the description of "Bug Caves", CC's topic here also made me remember that I used pink styro to make this several years ago (wow, it's already been two years?)-

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You can lay it over as well and play it as a flat scenic.

Wow, wow, WOW!!!

CC

Well, I use MDF for space hulk 3D and my mate uses plasticcard (we are both running the same project with a different look at it.

Mine >> link

Modular 10x10 blocks (and a few bigger ones)Cheap, easy to store and lightweight yet durable.

His >> link

Thick plasticcard (I get it for free at my shop, donated it to him) and he makes exact copies of the map, making sure the new 40mm based Termies fit too.

Hope that gives you some ideas

Johan

Try here: parasiticstudios.com

esp this: link

I like this guy's work.

Being the "mate" mentioned in the previous post, I'll take this as my que to butt in…. :)

While foam is fine for scenery on sturdy bases or, as shown a couple of posts above, with corridors cut out of a large sheet, I wouldn't use it as the ONLY material for making the floors and walls of corridors of.

It'll soon scuff and chip and look awful.
At least, I'd make the floor out of something sturdy like MDF or chipboard.
Unless you're planning on making the geo-tiles as used in Deathwing or Genestealer, in which case you can rely on the strenght of the large plates.
(As a result of building my own Space Hulk, I've looked into this a bit. The plastic card I use is a compromise between sturdiness/ease of use and a forced low/no-budget approach. If I had free financial reign, I'd go for MDF, likely 6mm, and have it precision cut…)

Bye, Erik

I generally find that a thin application of ordinary white glue works makes a very secure bond between pieces of pink/blue foam. You may need to pin any really fiddly bits (matchstick, bamboo skewer, etc). Finished pieces hold up to a lot of abuse. I have some blue foam rock outcrop pieces that I made years ago that are still holding together after many trips to cons.

I've been building Hirst Arts modular dungeon pieces on pink foam bases and I'm very happy with the choice of material. It's very easy to slice straight edges with a cheap new utility knife, it's lightweight but durable enough for reasonable handling, it won't harm the tabletop below it, and the height allows for pits to be cut into the floor.

Pink/blue foam is much thicker than foamcore so it probably would make better scale walls with 54mm figures.

It's also a great choice for caverns or rough tunnels because of how easily you can cut curves with a hot wire.

When using pink foam as a base for large rooms I have had good results topping the foam with one layer of foamcore (using spray adhesive to avoid warping), then topping that with a sheet of thin plastic card. The finished piece will have the same thickness as a Hirst Arts sci-fi floor tile glued directly to the pink foam.

The cheapest plastic sheets that I can find are actually 'For Sale' signs from the hardware section of Wal-Mart. These can sell for as little as 10 cents apiece. Flip them over so the plain white backs of the signs are exposed. (The pre-painted side of the signs has a slight relief that may still be visible after priming and painting.)

For simple wall decoration without 3-D relief, just glue card or paper print-outs directly to the foam. (I'd use foam-safe spray adhesive again.) That should eliminate most issues of scuffing, dinging, or denting, and hide any little irregularities in the cut foam edges.

Jake B,

Thanks for the idea about signs being plastic card. I'd never thought on that. :)

Jake B,
Good idea with the 4 sale signs. Hit up google images for some radar screens and pc screens. Any other thoughts on sci-fi type images? I like what Parasitic Studios did: link

Simple clear construction not drowning in detail. Hope to start work this weekend.

Andrew

Note that the For Sale signs are not polystyrene, so I don't think the typical plastic model cement works on them. I think they are polypropelene. A thin application of white glue works for me when glueing large pieces onto a base that won't flex, or superglue when glueing little bits.

I like Parasitic's layout with simple room and corridor modules. Even in empty spaces, corners and doorways can provide some cover.

One way to start decorating the big flat walls is to cut strips of the thin sign plastic slightly narrower than your walls are high, then cut those further into regular squares and rectangles. Glue those onto walls at regular intervals to suggest panels, then paint. You could always go back later and add printed or painted details to some panels.

They might have disappeared by now, but someone on the net had an archive of scanned decal sheets from older Star Wars action figure playsets. I think the idea was to print them out to replace missing stickers if you were restoring an older toy. Some of them were perfect for dressing up sci-fi terrain.

Random finds on the net:
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Some of the computers in Aliens are antiques by now, with their monochrome green text screens. Searching for "image green text screen" found these, some of which might be useful:
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Here's an archive of old Commodore products that has some potentially useful images:
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Some of these patterns are high-tech/metallic, appropriate for certain types of walls:
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Search for "free textures metal" and you'll find lots of images meant for skinning 3-D graphics, ranging from new metal to stained corrosion and rust. Lots of options here:
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Some of these include mechanical details like simple latches:
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In this library check out the architectural clutter (if there are vending machines in your universe), the grates and manhole covers, various metals, even the graffiti:
free-textures.got3d.com

Loading one image per page drives me nuts, but there are some good diamond plate patterns here:
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You need some space images for monitors and/or windows:
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Oops, the next-to-last link above should be these two:

hubblesite.org/gallery

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The download page of Niub Niub's Star Wars diorama site has some very useful stuff even for other settings. Under 'Blastshield Training' there are some good old fashioned high-tech computer panels from the Millennium Falcon interior:
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I already have the "Wild Walls". However, I will get these too . . .

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CC

If anyone wants to add a finishing touch to their foamboard corridors:

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CC

Before finishing with the plastic slides, I plan to put this on both sides of the foamboard (for greater effect):

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CC

Games Workshop seems to have discovered the many uses of what they call "Crochet Grid":

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Yes, same Space Hulk Terrain article, from 3 different sites. One of them, I hope, stays working for future reference.

CC
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No Sci-Fi Supply "Wild Walls"?

Applied Imagination Inc. comes to our rescue!!!

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CC