"mdf terrain boards from Sarissa Precision" Topic

Hi, I tried a couple packs of these new as I found the irregular joinery idea novel. Disappointment followed as I saw the significant warping of the medium and large tiles when covered in the age old method of sawdust/PVA.

link

It doesn't sound as if you followed the guide that they provide; or did you?

I bought a MDF farm house kit that was also warped. I finally gave up in disgust. I won't buy any more MDF kits.

Good point 22ndFoot, I re read the guide and see they say it can be placed over heat to "reshape" the tile. I will try it. My process was to spray the tile brown with Army Painter spray, then apply the pva/sawdust.

You'd probably be alright if you sprayed both sides too. I find MDF has its place but isn't for everyone or everything.

I just put it over the stovetop burner on med heat for a few minutes (holding over the burner at 3 inches distance)

It allowed me to flex and fix most of the warp but not all.

You're right, I've always struggled with terrain squares. I've never been able to avoid the unsightly joining lines/spaces or the warping no matter what i did.

Will try sealing both sides next time.

Those are very small tiles. 200mm and 100mm sizes?
The table will be full of joins.
My existing tiles are 600mm square.

3mm thick is also way too thin; I'm not surprised they warped. I'd say 6mm is the minimum and 9mm is better.

Dexter, yes after working with these some more last night I agree on both your points. Impossible to build even a 6 by 4 table with these. Even for DBA 2 by 2 foot, there are a lot of joints. The small tiles are useless in this regard. The only way they don't warp is when I used just a thin layer of Vallejo terrain medium and this was so thin it lacked any real texture when finished and was painstaking to apply. These are not to be invested in!

I have to say who ever did the examples on their website did a bang up job

I did a whole Desert Town with them. The only one that warped was the small hill I did with spackle but I fixed most of it. Next time I'll build up the hill on wax paper and attach when dry. The key is to spray paint both sides first.After that I painted with craft paint and then used dilute white glue roll followed by Mixed sand.

I used vinyl floor tiles for miniature bases (larger than 1"-square), as well as 6" x 6" terrain bases. I painted the surface with White PVA, then I applied a mixture of three colored sands, plus model RR ballast, for rocks. They looked absolutely superb… For around 3-6 months. Then the PVA warped them so severely, I had to tear them off their bases, and use ~3mm MDF, instead. The vinyl floor tile bases work for 1"-squares, or smaller, but nothing larger, for me.

My MDF bases, from 1"-square, to 6"-Square, are now more than one year old, most being 2-3 years old. I textured them in the exact same way: paint them with White PVA Glue, then apply the sand/gravel mixture. They have not warped yet.

I base various types of model trees on 2"-squares, texturing these the same way, with PVA and sand. Never a problem, after 2+ years.

I would suggest that you paint on PVA on the bottoms. after the top surface dries fully (2-3 days later). This will create an opposing pull, as both sides of PVA Glue will be pulling, in opposite directions, hopefully with equal strength, cancelling each other out.

There are 1/8"-thin plywood sheets available at DIY stores, which might work. I would not use PVA Glue on them, however. I would use a non-shrinking glue of some sort. Cheers!