"d20 Globe=MDF+Craft Foam+Paint" Topic

There was an article, Dragon issue #49, pages 28-29, "Getting a world into shape", by Karl Horak. It demonstrated how a person could use a large/small hex sheet, to map out their imaginary world, cut it out, and glue it into a d20 Globe. I bought some large, poster-sized, one-inch hex sheets from The Armory. (went out of business in the 1990's?). I drew up my global map, labeling continents and oceans. Many years later, in the early 1990's, I gained access to a large format photocopier: I made three copies of my map, so I would have spares, in case the first attempt failed (it did…). I used some printing techniques I had learned in my Junior High School industrial arts Printing Classes to create professional looking labels for my original map (yellowing with age, but still good enough to make B&W copies of, if necessary). That all worked, flawlessly.

I knew the paper copy was too flimsy to last, so I covered it with Clear Contact Paper, but that was still too flimsy -- and heavy. I then cut out 2mm cardboard triangles, gluing them to the back, which would be hidden inside the assembled d20 Globe. It did not work, and it became a clumsy mess during the assembly process. What was really rough, was that I spent hours using colored pencils to make it look pretty. During the 1990's, the available large format copiers were all B&W -- today, in the 2020's, the available large format copiers are C-O-L-O-R!

A few years ago, I realized that if I cut out some equilateral triangles of MDF, I could use those as the core for my d20 Globe. My original plan was to color in a new master map, then use a large format color copier to make several copies of it. I recently discovered Etsy sellers who could laser-cut 200mm x 1/8 inch equilateral triangles for me: perfectly proportioned, cut effortlessly, and precisely (just shy of 8" per side, a total of 20 triangles ran me around $70 USD). Originally, I was planning to cut them out myself, using a table saw… Way too much effort, and precision cutting would be extremely difficult to maintain.

I watched YouTube videos on Globe making, for ideas. I found none showing a d20 Globe project, but I found inspiration, from some other globe making project videos.

I plan to glue the MDF triangles to one of my old photocopies, as assembling the paper globe with the MDF triangles attached, will solve the problem of how to assemble the Globe with the correct angles (135 degrees?)! I will glue the paper tabs together, pressing the MDF triangles tightly together, then using a Low Temperature Hot Glue Gun, I will seal the MDF seams together, to form a moderately strong d20 sphere. I thought that I would need to mark, and lay out, the triangle faces in proper order as my original plan was to color, and apply paper printouts over each triangle. I've since decided upon another approach entirely, which does not require the triangles be put in any particular order.

Once the Globe is glued together, I will cut out foam sheets in the shapes of the continental shelves, surrounding the continents, gluing these in place on the faces of the d20 Globe. I will spray paint the entire Globe a dark, glossy Blue, for water. After that, I will cut out the continent shapes, gluing these atop the continental shelves. I will add another cut-out of foam on top of the continents, to mark out the mountain ranges. After that is accomplished, I will paint the foam cut-outs their proper colors. I will use Mod Podge to apply paper labels for the land and sea location names. When that is fully cured, I will seal the whole Globe with a couple of coats of Gloss Clear Coat, to protect the Globe's surfaces.

I've been plodding along on this project since the early 1980's. Technology has finally given me the inexpensive tools I need to pull this project off! This is going to be very fun… I will post photo's of my progress. Cheers!

Very ambitious project. Talk about bringing your world to life!

Can we get to the pics without logging into Google?

Saber6, sorry, I don't know. I don't have a picture hosting account outside of Google. I could post it on my Blog, but that will take some time. Will try a direct image link: link

Nice job Sgt Slag

I used Glue Sticks to attach the PDF Triangles to the paper photocopy: Link.

So I made a realization that the paper tabs, glued together, would be very delicate. When I made my first attempt, I had some serious tears in the paper, and this time, I glued 1/8" MDF Triangles to the same paper, instead of 2mm thick cardboard…

I decided upon the Handy Man's Secret Weapon… Duct Tape! It is vinyl, has really strong adhesive, and it is extremely hard to tear, without serious effort.

I applied Duct Tape across the seams between the Triangles, to strengthen them, such that they are higly unlikely to tear in the assembly process, and in supplemental handling. I plan to apply duct tape oer the glued seams, if possible. Duct Tape Link1. I then covered every seam which is not glued: Duct Tape Link2.

I used the same Glue Stick to glue the tabs together, applying it to each tab. I then applied wooden rulers on each side, with clothes pins to press them together while they dry: Seam Link. After they dry, I will fold them over, and cover them with Duct Tape. This should work until I get to the last face of the d20…

Next update should be in a few days. Cheers!

I am realizing that the seams will likely flex, especially over time, due to its weight. I may need to attach wooden dowel ribs over the seams, to strengthen it. An internal rib structure would be ideal, but impossible to pull off.

I believe the angle on the faces is 135 degrees. Achieving that, is a challenge. Keeping it in shape will require a rigid skeleton of some sort. If I stuck to lightweight paper, no problem. It's a fun project, even if it fails.

If it does fail, I may have to make inquiries of 3D printing services. A large, 3D printed d20 would have internal supports which would keep it in shape forever. Cheers!

On another forum, someone suggested gluing a styrofoam ball inside the d20, to give it structural strength. I love that idea. I will look into that!

My wife suggested leaving the last face of the d20 open, attached only on one side, to use it as an access door. Another great idea!

So I taped the last few faces together, to get an idea of how accurately it will come together, when I do the final assembly. A test fit, if you will. I used cellophane tape over the seams, on the open faces, to hold it in place, for the test. Looks pretty decent for size and shape! Not all of the seams are as tight as I want/need them to be. However, Most are quite good.

I am seriously considering gluing a wooden dowel inside, across the faces, to strengthen the structure. I needed a way to determine how long the dowel needs to be… I laid a plastic cutting guide my wife uses for quilting, across one face, holding the dowel vertical, on the same surface. I used a marker, to draw a line on the underside of the guide. Then, I subtracted twice the thickness of the MDF 1/8" thick x 2 = 1/4", or 6mm). I subtracted that from the measured height of the d20: 307mm – 6mm = 301mm, for the needed dowel length, to span the inside faces of the d20.

I next cut out the hex sheet's land masses, from my last copy of the original map (which I still have, in reserve). I taped these to a sheet of red craft foam (will be glued to the surface, then spray painted blue, with the land masses being hand painted with craft paints, afterwards), then I cut the shapes out of the paper, taped in place, and the foam.

I will cut out Continental Shelves, which will be glued to the globe's surface, first, with the land masses glued atop these, but that will come later. This was another dry run, on how it will look and work. Here is Cegia, and its three islands, Bakretia, laid out on the globe, with Cegia spanning across a seam, taped in place to see how it all looks. This is where I have been running my campaigns since 1986. My players will recognize it, immediately, so this was my dry run continent.

So far, so very good! I am pleased with how it is coming together. My major concern, of course, is how fragile it might be. My plan is to suspend it from the ceiling, over my gaming table, so it is accessible during my games, but out of the way. I may rig up a retractable string, such that it can be pulled down/pushed up, as needed to get it out of the way, keeping it safe. Time will tell. Cheers!

Progress has been made. I realized that no matter how I attempted to reinforce the internal structure of the d20, it would be difficult, and it would provide little strength, in the end. So I abandoned that idea. I just Hot Glued the seams together.

I tried to inject the Hot Glue into the seams, and it worked, for the most part. After it hardened, I took a new box cutter razor blade to it, to trim off the excess Hot Glue, sheering it as close as possible to the MDF surface. This is easier, and more effective, than trying to shape the Hot Glue with the hot tip of the gun. I discovered pockets of air, which will need to be filled in with more Hot Glue.

The razor shaving, and peeling excess Hot Glue off with my fingernails, resulted in some rough patches, some torn MDF fuzzies. I will use some 400 grit sandpaper to smooth those patches out -- they would show, very clearly, if left as they are.

On a previous terrain-making project, I learned that MDF soaks up spray paint like a sponge, leaving a very rough, uneven coating, which looks terrible, unless you apply 4-5 coats. The solution is to first seal it with wood sealer. This will make the paint stay on the surface of the MDF, rather than being absorbed into it, leaving a rough surface. Two coats of paint should do the job, after it is sealed.

I cut out a generous Continental Shelf piece of foam to underlay the continent of Cegia, and the Isles of Bakretia. I learned that Continental Shelves vary -- a lot! On Earth, they run as narrow as 5 miles, to as wide as a few hundred miles! This is my fantasy world, so I went generously with them, as they will support aquatic races, and I wanted to give them plenty of space to live and roam: my Continental Shelves are around 200-300 miles in width from the continents.

Until my next update… Cheers!

I cut out foam underlays for the various Continental Shelves, along with foam cut-out's for each of the continents, and each of the larger islands for my game world: Link1, Link2, Link3.

The Continental Shelves, and the Continents, were all glued using Hot Glue: no solvents to evaporate for it to harden; easy to apply, and smooth out, minus the finger burns.

The Continental Shelves are overly generous, but I am OK with that. After you go beyond the Continental Shelf regions, the majority of plant and animal life, beyond plankton, drops off, severely. The regions beyond the Continental Shelves is commonly referred to as, The Abyss: the darkness, the lower water temperatures, and the high pressures, are hostile to most life forms. Since I want to eventually run an underwater campaign, with aquatic PC races, I needed large Continental Shelves to give me room to develop the undersea races. Not scientific, but fun, and I always err on the side of fun.

I found a Blue, Ultra Matte, spray paint. I applied this over the entire Globe, as a means of priming it. The ultra matte paint will have sufficient texture for acrylic craft paints to stick to it. The majority of my game world planet is water, similar to Earth, so covering everything in the sea blue color, seemed appropriate Link4, Link5, Link6.

Next, I will paint the continents a combination of greens, browns, tans, etc. This will be the land mass colors, as seen in most real world globes.

The paint does not hide nearly as much as I had hoped it would. I may need to take a sanding block to the globe, to smooth out the markings. That will be a lot of work to sand it smooth, seal with Wood Sealer, paint. I wanted to try the Ultra Matte Blue Paint, first, to see how much it would hide… Decisions, decisions.

I initially planned to print out paper labels, and stick them onto the globe's surfaces. I've decided to paint them on, instead. Well, I plan to try to paint them onto the globe… We shall see how well that goes! The paper labels are a good fall-back option, if my painting sucks diesel exhaust fumes. Cheers!

Update:

Photo1

Painted the continents, first (a mistake), then I painted the continental shelves with white Gesso, and then a light blue (should have done this first), to set them off from the oceanic abysses. Need to go back with a smaller brush and touch up the edges of the land masses with the light blue. After that, I need to apply another coat of the tan base color of the land masses, to be followed by greens and browns. Basically I will attempt to recreate the color palette used on most Earth globes commercially available -- it is what people are accustomed to, what is expected, and it looks good to my eye, as well.

Photo2

I made my 1st world map back in the Summer of 1983. At that time, this continent and island group, center of Photo2, were the entire world. Later on, I realized it was far too small, so I made it a continental-USA-sized land mass, and I added other continents around the rest of the globe. This region, Cegia and the Isles of Bakret, have been home to my campaigns since 1986. While it means nothing to you, it is quite special for me to see it on the globe. I will spend extra time on this land mass, to get it looking the way I want it to. From there, I will expand out to the remaining land masses, which have never really been mapped before.

This project is taking me back to my Grade School days: my art/crafting skills are still at 6th Grade level, but my ambition and scope of projects, has expanded greatly. It isn't something to put on display at the County Fair Art Exhibit, but it's loads of fun for me, personally, as a DM since 1980, to see a childhood dream come to fruition. This globe project is also inspiring me to want to develop, map, and configure, the other parts of my game world.

The group of large islands (upper left of Photo1), to the West of the continent of Cegia, is known as Kees' Hand. I realize, in retrospect, that this would have been the better place to begin my campaigns: so much water, so many large islands, I could have made sea fairing a normal, everyday part of adventuring life; PC's could have had seaborn adventures routinely, even dipping below the waves, commonly. I would love to run an undersea campaign, using aquatic PC races, for something very different, very challenging for my players, and for me, as DM. Kees' Hand would have been idyllic for that purpose. Don't get me wrong, my players and I have traversed Cegia, and Bakretia time and again, and they are fairly well developed after 37 years, but I have the wander-lust growing inside of me, again…

My hope is that I inspire others to build something for their game worlds. For that reason, I share it here. My players may never see the lands portrayed on this globe, but I see them, they inspire me, and that is all that really matters to me. They may inspire me to bring the PC's to new and foreign lands. Who knows, maybe I'll start up the next group of PC's in Kees' Hand. Maybe I will play out my dream of running a Council of Wyrms game, in the super-continent of Sauria (bottom of Photo1), where Dragons rule the lesser races, who quake in fear when their Dragon lords stir from their centuries of rest. LOL! More updates will follow, whenever. Cheers!

Update: 03/15/2024: (finally…) (eye-roll)

Link to a folder of the latest images of my d20 Globe. Note that the photos show freshly applied Matte Mod-Podge, so that is why some of the labels appear white.

Finally made progress on my d20 Globe Project… Analysis Paralysis took hold of me: there were many ways to possibly add the lettering to the globe, but I finally decided upon using a text editor, placing the names inside table cells (white text), and filling in the boxes with either Blue (water), or Red (continent names).

I started out cutting the paper labels with a paper cutter: too tedious, paper slipped yielding angled cuts… Switched to scissors, and it was much faster, much easier to get straight cuts.

I used Matte Mod-Podge, applying it to the bottom of the paper labels, first. After positioning, and pressing/burnishing in place, I applied a 2nd coat of the same Matte Mod-Podge to seal them to the globe's surface.

I had to make a lot of decisions as to what to label, and what not to label. That was a challenge.

Is it done?…

No. I need to finish painting the mountain ranges and the land masses. Right now, they are just three colors. After that, I plan to seal the whole, to age it, and to protect it. I might insert a metal rivet or something similar, to allow me to hang it, or to mount it so it can be spun. That, however, is a future project…

I knew, from the beginning, that this was something I, as the DM, would use for inspiration. It is not really for my players, except as a curiosity, to show them my entire game world, and how small the campaign setting continent (Cegia) really is.

One of my sons wishes to DM a campaign in a different region (Kee's Hand island grouping), so it will give him a better perspective on the relative isolation of that island cluster region. The Continental Shelves are something I really wanted to map out, as it is a dream of mine to run an underwater campaign, at some point before I die, using the Aquatic races for PC's: Tritons, Mermen, Sea Elves, etc. The Continental Shelves are variable, likely too big in some regions, but I decided that I could not make it too accurate/realistic, mostly due to my limited 6th Grade Crafting Skills.

The massive continent of Sauria is ruled by Dragons. It is big enough to have every type of Dragon's favored terrain available, and to accommodate large clans of Adult Dragons. I have the Council of Wyrms hardcover game setting book. I've read it, and I know that the Dragon leveling/aging system is broken. I believe I can surmount that issue. That is another campaign idea I really want to pursue before I die. It would allow us to really dig into Dragons, which are one-half of the name-sake for the game! Now to sell my players on the idea so we can launch this new campaign into orbit around my fantasy planet's globe…

I plan to "seal" the whole globe, when all of the continents are fully painted, with Urethane Stain, to give it an old, worn feeling, as if it were more than a century old. It may help the paper labels to blend a little bit better into the surfaces -- I hope! The final coating of urethane should protect the surface finish (decoupaged paper and craft foam layers) from wear.

This has been, and it continues to be, a fun project. To my knowledge, no one has done this before. The Hot Glue assembly technique for the MDF triangles has worked better than I had hoped. So far, it is holding together exceptionally well. I expect it will survive for decades -- longer than I will. My two sons with whom I play AD&D with, are very keen on keeping my game world alive: they've been gaming within it for 20+ years; they feel as if they know it, and that they helped shape it, through their role playing (very true!). They feel like they own it, at least in part, because their PC's names, and exploits, are within the pages of its history. LOL! Cheers!

PS:

On another forum, someone pointed out a Bob Ross, Happy Little Accident, on the Sauria photo: it resembles a dragon skull. Hah! Never saw it until he pointed it out. Totally an accident -- thank you, Bob Ross!

Check the picture folder: two new photos added. I stippled a light brown paint onto the Sunflower mountain ranges. When this is dry, I will use a darker brown stipple on the light brown to enhance the mountains further.

I also applied a heavier coat of Matte Mod-Podge over all of the printed paper labels.

I will likely touch up the foam continent edges, joining the waters. After that, I will do a test application of urethane-stain, before going Sherwin-Williams on it…

I did consider buying a kid's inflated, vinyl beach ball to draw my maps upon, then paint that. I knew, however, that it would flex, a great deal, and the paint would likely flake off, fairly quickly. I gave up on that idea because of that, but also because I would need to redraw my entire global map, and that would have been a chore. I had no idea how to get a firmer sphere to use as a base, other than to sacrifice an Earth Globe…

I did give that serious thought: round, firm, paper surface canvas to work on, comes with a built-in mounting system, and more. The issue I had with that was I was limited in size. Many of the Earth Globes I found, and liked, had raised surfaces for the various mountain ranges -- I would need to sand them down (a delicate job), and I would need to ensure the whole surface was smooth everywhere. That seemed an insurmountable amount of effort. I wanted a fantasy globe bigger than the Earth Globes I could find, in a price I could afford. I did watch some YouTube videos on the manufacturing processes for Earth Globes -- very fascinating process, but nothing that truly aided me in my quest.

I will likely wait to post again, until I have the Globe stained. The mounting project is another matter unto itself (hopefully a smaller, simpler project compared to creating the Globe in the first place). Cheers!

I finished painting the globe with urethane stain (more pictures added to the project folder). Then, I matte clear coated the entire globe. This gives it a nice, durable finish.

I learned a few things making my flat map into a d20 globe: flat maps are really distorted compared to a 3D globe; I placed the small continent of Polder entirely within the Arctic Circle (not a bad thing, but not my original intent) -- it makes for an inspiring arctic continent for adventuring; I learned, too late, that probably the most ideal campaign setting, offering the greatest diversity, is a large island grouping, like Kee's Hand (offers sea faring adventures, all types of land adventures, and even underwater adventures, if desired). Every land depicted is tugging at my imagination to be further developed…

I have a plan for marking the geographical features which are currently labeled, but not clearly defined: Arctic Circle; Tropic of Humanis; Equator; Tropic of Draconis; and the Ant-Arctic Circle. These are important climate zones which need to be marked, as they will speak volumes as to the expected weather conditions for the land masses and seas near them.

I really need to create a mounting system to allow me, and my players, to spin the globe around, to view its continents and features. I have some ideas on how I can do it, but that is another crafting project, waiting to begin… Cheers!