making board look good

[tunnelking]

Hi ,

I just saw this website yesterday and i have been a great fan of the film and the book for a long time and ive even been to the remains of stalag luft III.
And what ive seen on this site has amazed me.
So last night I got my 6x4 board out and set to work.
Currently ive created the compoud area by drying sand from the beach with a hair dryer and covered a large are of the board .
Im planning on making the huts later on to night,
the grass ive made by using static grass that i use for my other wargames.
I was just wandering if everyone made theirs like this or if they use different techniques.
please could everyone go through how the made theirs please so everyone could learn some more

Thanks

[Ebob]

well (sorry if this comes a day too late) but the first step I did was to cover my board with a 1 inch thick layer of white polystyrene from B&Q (the stuff that breaks up into 'snow'). That gives you a soft layer to stick things into - the fence posts, the towers, the trees etc - even my huts have little spikes on the feet so they can be stuck into the board nice and steady.

I painted the surface brown - then coated it in PVA glue - and stuck the sand down. The think layer of polystyrene also allows you press out nice ruts for the muddy roads.

When making the huts - go get some good photo quality matt ink jet paper (I use the Epson paper) from PC world - for best results - and set the printer settings to photo quality.

cut the paper shapes out and use spray mount (photo mount) to stick them to heavy card - I used mounting board from a picture framers.
This will give you a good base for the buildings - but still you should add plenty of strengtheners inside in the corners - you want the buildings to last.

The 'feet' that keep the huts off the ground was a bit of timber from B&Q - cut into 2 inch lengths (roughly - don't measure them) and stuck on the inside of the walls at regular intervals so the hut sits about half an inch off the ground.

[tunnelking]

i normally use stryen as well but on this ocasion i was only going to use a thick piece on the out side grassey area.
for a raised hill effect where the woods start
also how do you make your trees do you by them or what??

I by all my flock and lichen and trees from model railway shops as there much more cheaper than local model shops such as Games Workshop.

[ss95]

my bord is completley differnt i used old floor bords as because iam 16 my dad wasnt going to pay out £50-£90 so that was the alternative so then i did the huts got some like fome stuf for the fence from wilkinsons and the trees are what u would use in a fish tank my sise bord is 3x3 as i had to do in the bedroom

SS95

[Ebob]

Next time - drag your dad to B&Q! a nice new sheet of 1 inch MDF 8ft x 4ft is only £10 and they'll cut it up for free for you.

I use saw trestles to put the board on.

[tunnelking]

I found my 6x4 pice of mdf.

if you nip over to a building site or a house thats being cleared out its amazing what you can find

[Ebob]

an old house?

An angry builder shouting "Oi! come 'ere wiv that MDF you little ba****d!"

[tunnelking]

yeah i for got to say go at night or if in the day make sure you can run

[Ebob]

I think in the end my board broke down like this...

the MDF was £10 - got it cut into 6 pieces so I could
transport it easily (B&Q)

I used aluminium 'planks' for want of a better word to join the sections together - aluminium bolted to one board and wing nuts secure it to the next - so I had to buy long bolts and wing nuts etc. quite expensive - forget how much (B&Q)

Then I covered the board in 1" of polystyrene - £4 (B&Q)

I got builder's sand £5 (B&Q)

I use saw trestles to stand it on £12 each x 3 (B&Q)

Big pot of PVA glue £9 (B&Q)

Old brown paint - had some in the shed.

[ss95]

u can get a lot of that from wilko for cheaper

[ss95]

got some nilon stuff for fencing about £5 trees used in a fish tank 85p most of the stuf was under £10

[tunnelking]

I have now nearly finished my board and the stuff i used was this:

MDF stolen/borrowed from building site

Sand from the beach(better than builders sand as it has
little bits that make it look like it has a few stones for relism.)

huts printed on photographic paper(hewllet packard)
then on the in side held in the corners with match sticks glued together

approx 1" thick stryne at the out side of compound so i can make a hilly effect
then coverd with static grass wich looks identical as real grass and im also i still thinking about making a small opening in the grass area for harry

fence still in the making

as with the vorlager buildings

[ss95]

hey tunnelking can u show us pics of your camp sounds cool

[tunnelking]

Definatly ;D

but at the moment I have no digi cam so ill have to wait till i get payed

By the way mines still probably not as good as Ebobs

[richthofen]

Not sure if this is the place to put this but, while surfin I came across this website.
www.hirstarts.com Then go to tips and tricks.

:-[I am very sorry if it seems as though I am promoting someone else's product on board your sight. My intension is to give newbies a very visual idea on how to go about making some impressive layouts for Ebob's "Great Escape". I certainly hope not step on any toes, and in the event this offends you, I extend my sincerest apologies. :'(Thanx