Terrain Creation

Plastic Supplies

Plastic Sheets
Very useful in cutting small shapes to help add textures that look like plates and panels. Along with a hole puncher, you can even create the appearance of rivets. Not recommended for basing, as it’s too thin and lacks support.

Kydex
When creating bases for terrain, this is my favorite material. It’s lightweight and durable, and easily shaped with a dremel.

Acrylic Rod, ⅛” diameter
At 14 inches each, this 4 pack should make quite a few antennas. 


Glues and Adhesives

Superglue
Most useful for creating a real strong bond between small surfaces.

E6000 Glue
Very useful in gluing larger surfaces together. Once cured it creates a very strong bond. 

Wood Glue
Not only is it great for glueing wood bits together, but can also provide a temporary bond for plastic bits that you need to separate later.

Masking Tape
Not only is it good for making sharp edges where you don’t want paint, but it also works as a temporary adhesive.


Cutting and Sanding

Cutting Board
A must have tool, it protects your work surface and ensures that you don’t cut or gouge your table. Your spouse or roommate will thank you for not destroying their table.

Utility Knife Razor
I recommend the following 3 pack, because I constantly am misplacing my knives because they are useful in so many different ways:

Dremel Rotary Tool
Probably one of the greatest tools for cutting and shaping, it’s probably one of the more expensive tools in my arsenal.

Dremel Sanding Drums
I bought a pack of these once, many years ago, and I still haven’t gone through all of them.

120 grit Sand Paper
For sanding large areas. I find that sanding sheets are best used by taping to your work surface, and sanding the object against it.

Nail Files
For sanding smaller areas, and shaping various materials. I find that holding them lightly reduces strain on your hand, thus preventing cramping and possible carpal tunnel.

Hole Punches
Useful in creating tiny holes in almost anything, and very useful in creating small circular bits out of plastic that look like rivets.


Paint

Vinyl Dye
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I prefer using black vinyl dye instead of primer. Not only does it come out in a finer and more even spray, it also seems to soak into plastic and dry quicker than primer. Plus, it’s also cheaper.

Sandable Primer
While being a terrible idea for minis, is a great idea for terrain, as it provides a gritty texture that makes it look like concrete or cement. Here’s the primer of my choice: 

Matte Clear Sealant
Useful for protecting your hard work from minor scuffs.

Texturing 
While several companies have come out with texture paints, I find one of the easiest methods of texturing something to look gritty is to mix spackling compound with sand. Once it’s nice and mixed, you can spread it on the desired surface. Once dry, mix in some acrylic paint with some mod podge to desired color, and paint it on to give both color and a nice sealed finish.

Spackle Compound

Sand

Mod Podge


Making Rocks
One method I’ve found for making “rocks” with a definite flat size is to take Sculpey, smooth it out to being around 3-5mm tall on a sheet of parchment paper. Then take a ball of crumpled paper or aluminum foil and press it into the surface to create texture. Then bake it as per the directions.

Once it’s dry, you now have a sheet of “rock” which you can break off with a pair of pliers, and further shape as needed. A little goes a long way, and I’ve put rocks on many of my terrain pieces and mini bases, and still haven’t run out. I recommend going with the black Sculpey, because all you have to do at that point is dry brush a shade or two of paint to get the desired coloration, saving you the step of priming.

Sculpey (Black)

Parchment Paper


PVC Barrels
One thing I’ve always had issues with is finding good barrels for miniatures so they can hide behind. Often barrels made for train models just aren’t the right size, while some mini companies make barrels, but they’re so damn expensive to have more than a few on the board. While 3d printers are catching up and filling some of the need, sometimes they’re still too expensive for having nice stacks to populate your game surface.

So, I decided to make my own. First I take a piece of 1/2inch inner diameter PVC pipe, which is about $10 for 4 feet. Then I use a PVC cutter and slice off sections approximately 1 inch long. With 4 feet of PVC, I can get approximately 45 sections due to not being entirely accurate when cutting. Afterward I sand both ends to make sure the length is straight.

Then I cut squares approximately ¾ inch on a side from plastic sheets. I glue them on to one end of the PVC section with superglue, and trim off the excess with a utility knife.

At that point I have a simple “barrel”, and can then add additional bits to make it look more like a sci-fi barrel. Then spray with vinyl dye and paint.

The first batch costs about $32 for 45 barrels, or less than 75 cents each, and it only gets cheaper as half of that cost was the PVC cutting tool. 

½ inch ID PVC Pipe

PVC Cutter
Now, I don’t know how I went so many years without one of these. Not only does it cut through PVC like butter, it also doesn’t require a tone of hand strength to do so. It’s also so much quicker and cleaner than sawing through it with a dremel cutting wheel.

Plastic Sheets

Ever needed interesting barrels that aren’t all uniform? Here’s a simple and fairly cheap method of making them.



Cap Barrels

Ever needed interesting barrels that aren’t all uniform? Here’s a simple and fairly cheap method of making them.

Materials Needed:


Plastic bottle caps (you need 2 per barrel)

Plastic sheets ( https://amzn.to/2WzAUj2 )


Superglue ( https://amzn.to/2V1Nerh )


Hot Glue Gun ( https://amzn.to/3DzhlaV )


Grey Acrylic Paint ( https://amzn.to/3yvNa0Q )


Paintbrush ( https://amzn.to/3jykMqu )


Vinyl Dye ( https://amzn.to/2V1NM0j )

Or

Black Spray Primer ( https://amzn.to/2V1hsdY )


Paper towel or napkin



Optional Materials:


Hole Punch ( https://amzn.to/3t3tXlY )


Leather Hole Punch ( https://amzn.to/3kEG850 )


Oblong Leather Hole Punch ( https://amzn.to/2WGbvEc )


Directions:


First, gather up a bunch of plastic bottle caps from your soda or beverage of choice.


Most of them are very similar in diameter, so you can mix and match to make a variety of heights. Glue them together, so that they have a top and bottom half.





In order to give the barrels some varied appearance, cut out a variety of shapes from the plastic sheets. I recommend using a utility knife and a straight edge, but decent scissors also work. Another option that I use is to utilize leather punches, which come in both round and oblong shapes, and allow you to cut out a variety of shapes. You will need to use a hammer or mallet and place the plastic sheet on a surface that you don’t mind gouging up, like a scrap piece of wood.





Once you have the plastic sheet cut into a variety of shapes, use superglue to adhere it to the top of the plastic bottle caps.


Now, time to glue them down to something so you can spray paint them without having them fly away. I recommend a piece of cardboard, a paint stick, or a piece of wood (I use a scrap chunk of lumber leftover from another project). Simply wait for the hot glue gun to warm up, put a small dab on the surface, and then stick the bottom of the barrel into the warm glue.


Once you have all the barrels in place, spray them with the dye/primer. Make sure you hit all sides evenly. I like using bright color plastic because it helps me see where I need to spray more primer.




Next, wait for the dye or primer to dry. It generally takes about 15 minutes. Once that’s done, take a large brush and your grey paint. The next step is dry brushing with the grey paint. Load the brush with paint and wipe most of it off on a paper towel. Quickly brush over the bottle caps in a horizontal stroke, allowing the paint to hit the raised surfaces and giving you a decent contrast between the high areas and the dark crevasses. Keep at it for as long as you desire.


Once the acrylic paint is dry, you can spray the barrels with a matte clear sealant.


Finally, remove the barrels from the surface they were glued to. Some might pop apart, but don’t worry, you can always superglue them back together.



The Final Result

Here we are, three quickly made barrels, with size comparison from a Legion Stormtrooper and a Stargrave crewmember!