Budget / Junk Terrain

[Andy_T]

Hi everyone though I'd start a thread to share ideas on making terrain on the cheap! I loved the white dwarf articles where you made something out of a cereal box and some matchsticks etc.
The Challenge is to make some terrain with as little 'shop bought' material as possible.

EDIT: I'm going to create a list here of materials that people have suggested to use and then I and (hopefully) you guys will add pics of Terrain using these materials........

Drinks coasters Drinks Straws Coffee Stirrers (wooden) Guitar string Cocktail sticks Textured Wallpaper Ink tubes from pens Rawl Plugs Lids and tops Food Containers Cereal Boxes Old Plumbing bits

Old Electric Meter stuff Wine Corks Cork Mats/Tiles Sprues beads kebab skewers pringle tubes......... etc!


An example:
A barricade made using:
An old drinks coaster
Wine Corks
cork table protector mat......

WIP (this took me less than an hour)


Let me know what you think and please have a go yourself! Time to dig out the cocktail sticks and drinks straws!

Andy

[Andy_T]

Here's an antenna type objective / loot marrker under construction. (Rawl Plug + Toothpaste cap!)

[Andy_T]

Here's a couple of finished shots of the barricade


comments welcome
Anyone got any other good 'junk scenery' tips? eg pan scourers as hedges

[yabbadabba]

Corrugated cardboard and filler for bases, hills etc. Cheaper than polystyrene, easier to work and less messy. But it does take time due to drying.

Twigs, sponge and flock for trees.

Simply mounting stones on bases and touching up works well; you need to look for good stones

Now this is a bit....interesting. I made a forest out of mushrooms sprayed in matt varnish. Lasted about 5 years before it looked too roughed up.

[Andy_T]

Cool! Have used that stone idea myself.
Mushrooms and varnish sounds interesting- you got any pics?

[yabbadabba]

Cool! Have used that stone idea myself.
Mushrooms and varnish sounds interesting- you got any pics?

Sorry mate was almost 20 years ago now!

[Andy_T]

Here's an example of what yabbadabba and I were talking about........
doesn't get much more exciting than this...........
..........................................
............drum roll.................................
.........................it's a stone from my garden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MyNameDidntFit]

I know you said little store-bought stuff, but I find it hard to mention budget terrain without mentioning foamcore board: the stuff is really cheap and can be used for anything from a fence to a castle--indeed, I'm planning on making a keep/tower for my fantasy games with it

[Andy_T]

Have you got any pics of stuff made with that? I use cork alot (see my WHQ plog) but it can get a bit labour intensive at times.

[Daniel36]

You want pics of foamcore buildings? Head over to http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...er-of-Mordheim this here log. Foam core is your friend, trust me!!

[juicytomatoes]

love the barricade! Foam core is good for terrain of many sorts, but it wouldn't fit the theme of your thread... Keep going with it!

I know that there are people who use like the ink tube inside a normal ball point pen to make barrels of gun emplacements that look like miniguns...

[yabbadabba]

Now this is always a little more challenging to suggest. If you want to kee your costs down as low as possible then keep your eyes out for skips. You can find some real treasures in their including old electrical equipment, left over plumbing etc which are great for stripping down, cleaning and using some of the arts as 40K scenery.

[Andy_T]

Both good tips!

You got any pics Juicy?

Yabba: managed to get some old plumbing corner joints and some wire mesh form next doors skip...... I'll see what I can come up with!

[juicytomatoes]

I wish I still remembered the website I saw it on! It was really good... there is someone on warseer who also custom builds really great guns using plasticard. You can replace the barrels with pen ink tubes.

Still, here's what I managed to dredge up from the net (not using the pen thingamaboo, but brass rods and whatnot, which you can replace with the pen ink tube) :
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starw...d/DSC04693.jpg
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum...30/357339.page

And some other things that might be interesting/inspirational:
http://scrapyardgems.blogspot.com/20...m-scratch.html
http://thegreatcanadianmodelbuilders...1_archive.html

really sorry, but I can't seem to find the link to it anymore.

[yabbadabba]

Another great tip is people having clear outs. My friend has just cleared his garage and I have picked up a tatty looking pegasus statuette, which will look awful on the mantlepiece but ideal with some decoration for a battlefield.

[Andy_T]

Great Links, thanks Juicy!

[Andy_T]

Had a go at a necrumunda style barricade made out of my bitz box of hoarded 'junk'. Any fans of the 'Zoids' series of toys may find the following images disturbing lol.........................


Drinks coaster base works well (the larger one which is an old photo frame bowed slightly) and is a good size for Necromunda as you can only fit 4-5 models behind the barricade.

[yabbadabba]

Just started painting some ork huts made out of pringle tubes; I'll try and get some photos up mate.

[Andy_T]

That would be class! Cheers yabba

[yabbadabba]

The materials were easy:

• Pringles Tube - Sour Cream and Chive rocks
• Wooden kebab sticks
• Paper Towel
• CD
• Sharp Sand
• Card
• Sand (optional)

1. Cut the pringle tube to the right height.
2. Cut 4-6 pieces of kebab stick for the roof, stick on with a glue gun to form the roof frame.
3. Glue gun the pringle tube to the CD.
4. Tear the paper towel into roughly 2" squares, soak in watered down PVA and lay over the wooden kebab sticks forming the roof frame.
5. Now here I added sand to the walls, and old skeleton and shield bits to the bases, but that's optional.
6. PVA the sharp sand around the hut on the CD.
7. Paint to taste.