"Modular Terrain" Topic

Hi all,

About 10 years ago there was a chap in Sydney who made really nice modular terrain boards. He stopped doing them at some stage, so now I want to know…

Where can I get nice modular terrain?

I've heard that OG are making some, but I only want a maximum 2 foot x 4 foot table and US$200 sounds a bit steep. I've seen that Total Scenic Systems totalsystemscenic.com do much cheaper ones, but I really don't like their clunky hills.

Any suggestions for alternatives?

Cheers,

I have a bunch of the Purbeck Terrain System – not the most user friendly website and certainly not regularly updated, but once you get hold of the guy he is good to deal with. The terrain comes in 9 inch or 18 inch squares (or 9 by 18 rectangles) and is double sided (e.g. road on one side, flat grassland on the other or grass on one side and desert on the other), so you can have a good variety of terrain options with a pretty modest setup.

purbeck-terrain-systems.co.uk

Hi,

I'm building myself a some modular terrain and live in Australia. I'm making one master of each type of modular tile then moulding as many as I need.

I'm always looking for people who might want some – helps to share out the cost of setting up!

It's intended for use with 1/300th scale stuff – but it's only really the road tiles that would make it scale specific – and they're wide enough for 10mm scale models as well in a pinch.

If you're interested at all I set up a yahoogroup to store all the pictures -

link

Thanks,

Mitch.

link

Thanks for the early responses gents, Joe Dodgy, you've got yourself a new member!

AU wise Miniature World Maker do terrain tiles in a variety of finishes. I've not seen these up close, but I do have a fair bit of their roads, bocage and hills. They're rubber, but they are good quality and well presented.
link
It's not strictly modular like Total System Scenics, but they do the size you want and you can add their scenic pieces to taste.

Then there's UTTT, which is a more full on investment but if you want the best quality modular terrain in Australia, this is the stuff. Al Griffin who makes the stuff produces a truly premium product. There are unpainted versions which are a lot cheaper, but you have a lot of work in front of you.
uttt.com.au
If you found USD$200 steep, probably best to give UTTT a miss.

The old terrain you mentioned I think was Dragon Terrain? It was 30x30cm tiles? I've got a lot of their stuff, and it's a shame they're not in business anymore.

Having started making my one terrain and adding up the cost of doing so, it made all of the suggestions here look like good value for your money. By the time one adds the materials and figure a basic cost for your time, $200 USD doesn't get you much.

Of course, if like me you enjoy making stuff, then there is pleasure to be had in the task, but I still spent more than $200 USD making 39 one foot equivalent terrain boards.

I make custom make terrain from time to time.

I have done pieces to fit in with what may be the boards you're talking about and it's quite do-able (set of hills for Gettysburg and 1/600 scale napoleonic harbour and shore fort).

The materials are not that expensive. The main thing is the time to make it if it's anything more than a flat MDF or plywood tile cut to size accurately and then flocked.

My preferred solution in any case is a geohex (or equivalent) terrain cloth and a mix of home made and bought terrain to place on it. It's a lot more storable and freely arrangable than tiles with fixed hills or rivers/roads.

I've recently acquired some large sheets of 70mm thick foam (being thrown out at work) four foot square (at least when it started, to get it in the car I had to cut it down and I'm slowly cutting it accurately down into 300mm and 600mm square segments). I have visions of using it to make very hilly layouts such as Omaha beach or the Valley of the Kings.

The one terrain company I regret seeing go under was Adventurous Spirit.. really nice roads and rivers made from what looks like RTV rubber rather than latex. They were thick and solid and had a really nice feel. I wish I'd picked up more before they disappeared.

GW has done a modular board as well. Expensive but it seems sturdy and comes with a case to carry the board sections. So if you attend conventions and wanted to bring your table it is certainly a plus. You'd have to deal with the skulls that GW loves so much but there are several "how to" blogs that detail how to fill these areas in.