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Offline Spectral Arbor

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How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« on: February 6, 2016, 02:46:24 PM »
How to Make a Gaming Table - Spectral Arbor Style.

Like all things that I do, the first thing is to do it wrong, then figure out how to do it right. In doing so, I then enjoy explaining my mistakes to others, so that they can learn and enjoy my misery.

So how did I start this out? First thing, was I wanted to make a table to resemble the barren wastes of my favourite video game universe. Fallout. But I wanted something 40k like, that also gave a good reason to have all kinds of different armies coming to visit.

Post-Apocalyptic landscapes fascninate me, not because of the destruction before, but the way life returns, no matter what. In 40k, there's the notion of Exterminatus. It ends the planet. Forever. But what if a planet somehow restarted? Some kind of Genesis project? [Star Trek III, The Search for Spock, if you're of the youngling variety] Wouldn't you want to go find out? Maybe it's some kind of legit sci-fi experiment. Maybe it's some kind of warp power? Or a Tomb World reactivating. Maybe the Overlord is a Biology major, or something? Maybe the Nids are involved somehow?

Regardless, there's a reason to investigate. Those ruins could hold the secrets of what's going on. Those plants, we've never seen them. What's going on with that? Why are there bulging rock formations everywhere? What's happening here?

I can have ruins that are being overrun with vegetation... eventually. I can mix ruined structures with natural elements, so that they all kind of blend together. Even a city-fight mix of terrain can have hills with trees jutting up out of nowhere. I like that freedom in my terrain mix.

For me, post-apocalyptic lets me play on a board I'm interested in, with the freedom to use whatever terrain types I want. Win-Win. :)

The first mistake, was using a free piece of plywood that a friend had left over from a construction job. The board is 3/4” thick, and weighs about 100 lbs, I swear. 1/2” thick, or less, is definately the way to go, but I went with free and now I need a crane to lift my table top.

I had started this project in the summer, it's now February. I had a lot of things come up between here and there, mostly involving moving house in a short time frame. My first plan was to “prime” the board dark brown, then spray it with spray adhesive, dump sand on it, and then shake off the excess. That didn't work, as you'll see in the first picture.



But, not one to be discouraged, I decided to buy a one-galon jug of carpenter's glue, and a bag of Quickrete All-Purpose Sand. It's 20 kg per bag, for about $6, and I think I used about 1 kg of it. If you need sand, I know where you can get some on the cheap! Wonder what a gallon of glue looks like? That's a Death Company Marine for scale.

I knew it was going on thick, so I put a circle of painters tape [pulls off easy] around the outside, so the glue wouldn't run off. In the end, I used about 3/4 of the jug, maybe a bit more.



I poured some out, not being sure how far it would go...



spread it around...



then determined I needed a fair bit more, because I only wanted to do a single layer of sand.



Yes, that is an ocean of glue, on a table. See how thick it is? Turns out, there's a really good reason to do it that way! I started in the centre, and spiraled out with a bucket of sand. I then spread the sand by hand, and filled in some gaps with more sand. Most of it would later fall off, but I wanted to have lots to spread around.



I then waited. I touched and poked my sand for several days, then forgot about it for a few more. A week later... maybe a week and a half... I tipped the table on it's side, brushed it off with a broom, and WHAM!

I was greated with some incredible textures! Because the glue was so thick, it's practically resin underneath, and my pushing and pulling and pressing into the sand led, quite unintentionally, to what I think is an amazing degree of texture and shape! I've put the board up on its end, as my lighting isn't too great in that room, and I wanted to capture the shadows of the textures to show off. :)



You might also notice, that there are some largish rocks still stuck to the board. That's after being thoroughly brushed with a broom. I can pick them off, if I try, but the thick glue is holding them in place quite nicely. Here's another picture, where you can see the unfortunate side effect of starting in the centre and spiraling out. I can see a distinct spiral pattern in the centre of the board, which I would reccomend against, if you're interested in following this idea. I'm going to work with flock to try to break it up, later, but I'd probably just not do it that way in the first place. Maybe zig-zag the sand, instead. Either board width, or in smaller sections to break up the “waves”. Or just use a lighter “dusting” method of applying the sand, but I am quite happy with the ridges that developed from smooshing the sand around.



One last picture, for good measure.



So, I've used wood stain before. In the Summer. Where I could leave things outside for a while, to speed the de-stinking process. Thing is, you can't really do that in Winter, and like I've said, I like to make mistakes and then tell others about them so they can be entertained. This is one of those scenarios. We had company coming over 2 days after I stained this. I thought, “It's a closed room, at worst I'll open the window and nobody will go in, nobody will be the wiser.

It stank up my whole house. For days. Just before company came over, I wrestled this beast up the stairs and into my garrage, but it stank so bad it was coming in from the garrage some. IF YOU DON'T PAY THE BILLS AT YOUR HOME, WAIT UNTIL SUMMER. Or think ahead and do this in your shed. For the love of the Emperor, don't do this inside your basement.

I had some leftover wood stain. Some light, some dark, so I mixed it all together expecting medium stain and instead got a lot of DARK stain. Oh well, I don't mind, but I had intended on having something a bit lighter to work with.



Why wood stain, you might ask? I had it kicking around, and it shaded the stones nicely. It dries fairly matte, as you'll see later. It also acts to seal the table pretty well...



Although it looks like I'll be battling on chocolate pudding, right now. Fortune favours the bold! Another angle to show the texture better.



Now a picture of the dried stain. I'd say about a week and a half. I soaked the thing, and it was “drying” in -10 to -20 Celcius conditions. Again, I'd suggest that this should be a summertime project. I'm not sure if you can tell, but the stain has acted like a wash, shading the stones and colouring the base. The lighter spots on the table are brighter stones that the stain has washed off of.



So now onto the flocking. Did you know that GW changed its blend for “Scorched Grass” flock? I didn't! That's why I have a patch of green flock in the lower corner, and browner flock on the rest. Grrrr... You can see the wet glue in patches beneath the flock. In keeping with the “regrowth” idea, I didn't want to have the flock covering most of the table. I wanted large patches of barren earth to still show through. I like it; up yours if you don't. :)



And this is the picture of the dried table. There's some funky white patches under some of the smaller patches of flock, and I'll probably wind up doing a second coat of flock over those and maybe the greener sections, to even out the look... but that's where I'm at for the moment.



On the whole, I'm quite happy with it, and am really excited about the textures and, well, having a table again. I've got some scenery made up, but don't have my phone on me to snap any pictures of it. I'll try to follow up in a little while with scenery pictures.

So yeah! If you're looking to make your own table, I'd suggest using 1/2” thick or thinner, use the process above except maybe do it in the summer time.

Unless you like wood stain stink, in which case you could do it the Spectral Arbor way!
« Last Edit: February 6, 2016, 05:03:38 PM by Spectral Arbor »

Offline Calamity

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #1 on: February 6, 2016, 04:58:32 PM »
Awesome table with a cool concept behind it Spectral!  I'm glad to see it got there eventually.  :)

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #2 on: February 6, 2016, 05:07:51 PM »
Its another thing I'm good at. Stretching a project over an impractical length of time. I'm happy too. Looking forward to getting a game on it. And remembering to bring my cell home from work, so I can take pictures. :)

Offline Looshkin

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #3 on: February 7, 2016, 04:21:09 AM »
Nice board spectral. I do really like the accidental contours that the slow dry managed to give the board!

One thing though. Might it be worth giving the chocolate pudding areas a bit of a dry brush to provide a bit of a break from the large amounts of dark brown? I only say this because at the moment the transition from dark brown to the green areas is quite stark, and a lighter tone might make the transition more believable.

That's my only criticism though, because I think it's a really nice board, and I wouldn't have the time or patience (or space) to try a big project like this!
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Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #4 on: February 7, 2016, 08:45:52 AM »
Well, I had thought the colour was going to be lighter when I mixed the stain... but then I got pudding colour instead. I could probably try applying some paint, but I don't think that I could "stain" lighter.

For what it's worth, I think the contours were due to my squishing the glue around under the sand when I was spreading it about. If you look at the centre, you can see its more textured than the area immediately beside it, then more, then less, then more. I think the "more" is where I started sand piles, then "less" is where I gently swept sand from the piles onto.

The ridges and "crinkles" are where I was putting more force into spreading the sand, like near the edges of the board. I think it squished the glue beneath the sand, which gave the more intense textures. So if a person wanted more of those ridges, they'd just need to press on the sand more firmly as they spread.

I agree about the table being more dark than I'd wanted. I'm going to think about lightening the area right around the flock.

Offline Looshkin

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #5 on: February 7, 2016, 01:56:26 PM »
Don't get me wrong, it looks great Spectral! I wish I had the time and energy to produce something on this scale.

I think just a dry brush of something like Gorthor Brown then Baneblade brown would really work to mesh the areas. Now if only GW did a dry brush big enough...
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Offline AndreSTL

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #6 on: February 7, 2016, 02:23:50 PM »
I like it Spectral!

Looks like the whole board would be difficult terrain for any vehicle with the tank type!!!

You should upload pics with terrain and two armies! Would look even better!

Happy gaming!
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Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #7 on: February 7, 2016, 02:38:05 PM »
Oh, in terms of effort, it's only a couple of hours worth of work! That, and about $90 CAD worth of materials. Say $105 after taxes, assuming you have to buy everything and you can't scrounge / scavenge parts. Oh Fallout. If I could only go to an abandoned house and turn it into magical building supplies.

If you go to a hardware store, you can get them to cut an 8x4 sheet down to 6x4, and you'll have a spare end for mucking about with. You could even cut it up into test sections, if that floated your boat. I guess I'm not counting that towards the actual time required, in all fairness. $25 CAD for the board. While you're there, you could buy a gallon of glue for $20, if you're choosy about where you buy. You can buy all the hobbying sand you'd need for the rest of your life for $7. Look in the concrete section. By Canadian law, sand can only have a certain percentage of moisture when sold for concrete building materials. If you buy from an "inside" location, you won't need to worry about drying your sand before you glue it down. :)

I bought two small cans of wood stain [approx. 500 ml] but only used about 350 ml, I'm guessing, at $9 each, but you can buy just shy of a litre for $15.

If you don't have painter's tape, get it at the dollar store for less than $2. Get a brush while you're there, another $2. You could probably get 250 ml of white glue, I used Weld-Bond because I likes the good stuff. Say, $6 worth of white glue?

Flock is up to the individual, I used GW's stuff because I bought a ton of it once upon a time and really didn't need nearly that much. I spent GW pricing, but you could easily do it for $10 or less if you have an alternate hobby shop in town.


In terms of time "at home" spent... 10 mins carefully taping the edge of your board. 20 mins spreading glue, 10 mins spreading sand, another 5 to 10 creating extra texture, now that I know about it. 5 mins washing out your brush.

*wait a week* Might only need a few days, but better safe than sorry!

Dump board on it's side, brick brush-off with a broom. Probably best outside unless you happen to have a smooth concrete floor and are inclined to recapture the wasted sand. There will be a lot! 15 mins. Return board to upright position, shake the everliving spirit out of the stain and paint it on. 15 mins. Make sure you do this somewhere you can leave it for at least a couple days til its mostly dry, but a week would be best. That's probably the trickiest part, if you don't own your own home and don't have a garage or shed to tie up for the week, but a week of good weather outside... maybe buy a $20 tarp to put over it if you're in a less ideal situation.

*wait a week* Might only need a few days, but better safe than sorry!

Mix up some white glue with water, slap it around, and then sprinkle flock to taste. I'll say 30 mins, including clean up. You could remove the tape at this time, and notice there's kind of a rough edge around the outside of your table now. I hope that the raised edge will help to hold my dice on the table. I swear, about 10% of my dice wind up on the floor.

*wait a day or two*

Flock is dry, you're ready to play!

So there's about 2 hours at home time spent, and $100 in materials. I didn't count shopping time, because your drive time will vary and hopefully you're able to mix that in with your regular activities.

The hard part is finding a place for it to sit for a week at a time.

@Andre:

Hoping to get a game next weekend where I can put up some terrain, maybe even do a battle report. That would push pictures back a couple weeks at least... but I imagine we'll all still be alive, so that should be ok. :)

It looks muddier than I'd wanted. I was hoping for scorched earth and got post-rain instead. *smirk* Live and learn, I guess. But that's why I make the mistakes, so other people don't have to!
« Last Edit: February 7, 2016, 02:41:11 PM by Spectral Arbor »

Offline Spectral Arbor

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2016, 03:41:50 PM »
Sort-of-update:

Here's a picture of some WIP Scenery. I've actually been on a model painting binge lately, which is pretty rare, so much of this is incomplete or needing some touch-ups from battle damage sustained being transported a few times to a friend's place.

Anyhow...





A couple of ruined buildings, one more complete than the other, but still needing some vines crawling up the sides. The craters have seen better days, and I'll probably retire them after I build up some more scenery again. I was using them for Vehicle destroyed craters last edition... but they got rid of that.

I really like the central forest cluster, and will continue that onto the second. The hills are not bad, but wound up more geometric than I wanted. Oh well.

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Re: How to Make a Gaming Table - WIP - Lots of Pictures!
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2016, 03:42:20 AM »
Doesn't look bad at all, but for my personal taste I would have either thinned the woodstain a bit further before applying or drybrush the whole board after the woodstain dried.

I use the same materials for most of my boards. You could also cut up the remaining 2x2 of wood with a hacksaw to create some elevated areas. The glue and sand (again, I prefer several passes to create even more structure) pretty well smoothes out the intersections between the board and the raised areas.

All in all, efficiently :)

 


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