"Steep for Cheap: Foam Sheets/Shapes?" Topic

Hello builders.

I'm looking for a cheap, simple way to get some steep terrain on the table, hopefully suitable for 28mm plastic figures.

Has anyone tried floral foam or craft foam sheets and shapes?

I was thinking about stacking some ovals or circles of receding sizes to form some very basic "topography".

This seems like a fairly cheap and easy way to make some steep hills, without a huge investment in time or money.

Ideas, comments, suggestions?

It works. Floral foam is a bit flimsy. The pink or blue construction insulation is firmer. Check out your local DIY store, they may have off cuts cheap or even free.

Craft foam sheets are fine, nice texture, but tend to be thin so it takes a lot if you just stack them. It does make possible a gentler slope by spreading the higher levels further apart.

Pink or blue construction foam is quite sturdy. Fine edges will be damaged in normal use but for most features, it will hold up well.
Another alternative is chicken wire, newspaper, and paper mache. More work but perhaps cheaper depending on what you have access to.
(As mentioned, floral foam will crumble easily.)

Pink or blue foam works best and comes in different widths (depths?). You can coat it with pva and put sand straight onto the wet pva. You can then paint it with emulsion. As the other guys have mentioned the florist stuff is very crumbly and personally I've never tried to paint it. I bought some then decided against using it as it didn't cut well. The pink and blue foam cuts a lot better than normal polystyrene as it doesn't break up and leave little balls all over the place.

One thing I'm considering is using cushion-foam underneath a terrain cloth for doing terrain.
Durable, not too expensive and easy to shape without mess.

I've used floral before and found that it is actually fairly sturdy once painted or treated with PVA as long as you don't have any thin outcrops or small protruding parts. It's also easy to carve fine detail into.

That said, Pink/blue foam cheaper and is a better choice all around. A layer of PVA will toughen up the edges. I had the hardware store mix me up a batch of the cheapest brown housepaint to paint my hills when I made them.

Crumbly floral foam is a health hazard. EVA interlocking (puzzle) mats can be easily cut and stacked. The edge can be cut sloped. They can be bought cheaply on ebay. Or a rollup yoga mat can be cut but getting it to lie flat is tricky.

EVA foam is a great idea.

I think it may come in shapes, for crafts.

Thanks.

Check out Shaper Sheet by Woodland Scenics. Quite rigid if you apply the Shaper Sheet plaster.

Since I've gone with Legos as counters for my Linear Warfare grand tactics project, and most of my terrain will be tape anyway, I finally ordered some foam shapes (circles and ovals), to use as "changes in elevation" and "blocks to LOS". When I decide the vertical scale (or any of the scales, for that matter), I may even post pics here, just to show how cheap/easy/useful it was or wasn't.

Cheers.