"Building up floor tiles for modular terrain" Topic

I'm starting to gather up materials for a modular terrain project. A while back a number of members suggested using vinyl floor tiles as the solid base on which everything would be built. This sounded like a good mix between light and rigid.

I was considering gluing foam core board on top of each, so that I could carve down into the board for greater detail on rivers (carve down) and to lend greater strength to the tiles (the cheap ones I'm looking at on Amazon seem to have issues with breaking). Would making a dual layer setup like this cause warping due to the glue? Or would the greater thickness help keep them useful for a long time?

Thanks,

M.

I would not use foam core as it's likely to warp unless painted both sides. Have you thought of using cork tiles on top of vinyl tiles? You may be able to get them in the same size.

Ah! I'd forgotten completely about cork. I believe I've seen it suggested before here, too. Looks like they'd be just thick enough to allow for "cut in" rivers, with color indicating depth well enough.

For this combo, is it typical to make use of the self-adhesive feature of most vinyl tiles, or should I simply ignore that side? If coated in watered down glue for flocking, warping of the tile/cork combo shouldn't be a problem like with foam core?

Thanks,

M.

Cork is great but you can still get warping if you are building up layers and painting. The general rule is treat both sides the same to avoid warping. Experiment with a sealing coat (undercoat etc.) on the underside, perhaps. Using the tile underneath may solve it too.

Use Liquid Nails glue. I've never had anything warp after it has set.

Dan

I'll try the liquid nails – I had originally planned Elmer's wood glue but if LN is better I'll stick (ha) with that.

Alan, how do I treat both sides "the same" if one is going to be vinyl tile and the other paint/flock/etc? Or do you mean "both sides get something wet on them"? Would I have to do my painting/sealing at the same time the glue is drying the cork to the vinyl?

All good leads; going to see if I can get a sample tile tomorrow and dig up some cork locally as well.

Thanks,

M.

I am with Cacique. I use liquid nails for anything that might warp, and so long as the base is solid, it never warps.

That said, seems to take longer to dry.

I make extensive use of vinyl floor tiles for bases for figures, and terrain pieces. The tile's glue is relatively weak, unless you bond them to another floor tile… Which is what I recommend: bond them squarely together, then cut to sizes needed, and use some other glue to bond stuff to the vinyl tile's surface.

I typically use Hot Glue to bond stuff to my vinyl floor tiles: it is fast-setting, it bonds to most materials with reasonable strength, it takes acrylic paint well enough. Cheers!

If you get stick-on vinyl floor tile, you could attach foam board of your desired thickness to the sticky side, and then carve on the foam board knowing that the vinyl tile underneath will keep it from warping. This is better than gluing the foam board or cork onto the vinyl tile.

I do this with paper tile terrain.

Yeah, good point, my comments not relevant if you are fixing to a tile.

Flooring shop had vinyl, but only in large quantities. Is this the proper liquid nails? link

Or this one: link

Trying to nab some tiles elsewhere later this week, focusing on painting miniatures at this stage until then.

Thanks!

M.