"Making a terrain cloth" Topic

There have been some kind comments here about the terrain used in some of our 10mm games:

TMP link

The following is description of how to make the terrain cloth of the type used that a number of you requested:

link

I hope you find this useful.

Elliott

That's a great tutorial.

Thanks for sharing your technique.

Does the latex come in different colors?

Did you seal the flocking, after application?

Can the terrain mat be rolled up, and carried for transport easily, or does it damage the surface, especially the rivers, e.g. cracking?

The latex comes in various colors. I used tan but and a cream base. There are a couple of browns and a dark green one too.

I didn't seal the flock. The idea is that if the flock wears thin, you'll still have a brown earth color underneith.

If you don't treat the canvas with gesso it is easy to roll and fold. The polyrethane on the rivers does not crack. You can as an alternative, cover the rivers in a clear latex.

This has to be fairly heavy no??

mjc

Well I used a cheap canvas from the home decorating store of the type used by painters to protect the floor from drips. It is course like a thin sail cloth.

The size used was 2.70m x 1.60m (8'9" x 5'3")

You can go upto 3.5m x 2.5m (11'9" x 8'3")

If you wanted a finer canvas try the fine arts stores, they carry it for artists, but you might have problems getting something more that about 2m wide.

Elliott

Hi Elliott,

Thanks for the info, and for sharing your pics.

I shall have to give it a try.

Best regards,

Rob

This has to be fairly heavy no??

No.

My 8' x 10' cloths are about 10 or 12 pounds each, the 5'x 7' one considerably less, since it is both smaller and made on a lighter cloth (it's an old linen tablecloth that I got at a yard sale for $2).

Jeff

Does this cloth travel well?

Martinkboogie@yahoo.co.uk?

We use teddy bear fur (girl friend has some good conacts)and spray paint this works well also.

Does this cloth travel well?

I'm not sure if you are referring to durability or convenience, so I'll address both.

The technique was designed as "travelling" terrain, since I run games at up to a half-dozen cons or so every year, and occasionally drag my stuff up to my FLGS for a game.

The 6'x8' cloth folds up into a pillow-size bundle which is easily carried and stored. Folding sometimes causes creases which will go away if the cloth is left hanging overnight, or stretched out on the table for awhile. If the cloth is rolled up instead this in never an issue, but a 6' long roll of canvas is somewhat less convenient to store or carry. (I've never found the creases to be much of a problem, and I usually store my cloths by folding them up and tossing them in the back of a closet, occasionally with boxes of books or miniatures thrown on top.)

As for durability, I've never had any latex come loose from the cloth, although the clear silicone over the painted rivers/streams has let go in places after a few years/few dozen cons. It's easy enough to tack back down by squeezing a little more silicone underneath. The turf wears thin in spots over the years/miles, but it only enhances the natural look of the terrain by letting the earth-toned latex underneath show. Occasionally I'll patch a thin spot by spreading a little latex over the top and throwing some contrasting (either in color, coarseness, or both) turf, not so much because it's necessary as because it looks more natural to have variations in the turf. Actually, they look better as time goes on.

I hope that answers your question.