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DIY PA battle mat
Topic Started: Sep 15 2017, 12:55 PM (545 Views)
Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Hey who kidnapped me ? Can I take the blindfold off ? Where am I ?
:yikes:
Oh no ! Don 't tell me I'm in the Terrain WIP !!!
Who put me here ? This is not my fault ! I promised my wife I'dd stay away of this place for a while !
My kids are starving they need their fathers attention !
Please... :twitch:
:thud:
:shrug: While I'm here, maybe just collecting some ideas, that 's not really "taking to much space in our house", right ? Just thinking about it....never harmed no-one.

How do you guys imagine the perfect PA battle mat ?
What features should be on it ?
If you have some nice pict of battle mats would you please post them here ? Maybe I can use them as inspiration.
No get out of here before I get caught. :run:

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Crazy Joe
Mutant Hunter
[ * ]
Haven't had the opportunity to use a battle mat in my gaming so I'm also curious to hear about what others expect of one.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Looked for some inspiration and this is what I found

Like the color and the texture of pox (craters) and blisters (looks more like dead/diseased skin than earth).
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Some high tech detailing, surface like planet Mars

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Should there be roads ? Modular ?

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Really like the lava planet also

What is really important for me is that I make the battle mat so that any one can build it also.
Meaning ... not to use any specific bits other then household things you can find from Australia to Belgium.

I started out with an old bedsheet (found) and a staple gun (lost).
So ...first I have to look for that g°&&@%^ thing...

Until then,
ciao,
Bobscene


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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
Good inspiration. I look forward to seeing how this project shapes up.

I have no pictures of my mats at present. With a bit of luck I can get some pictures soon.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Summary of the previous

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Hey... I know I am not the best draftsman, it 's just a sketch to check the layout.
I now see I forgot the toxic lake (or should it be lava after all?). Maybe it can be placed next to the cracked fundaments of the old city...

Have not found my staple gun yet... can anybody lend me one ?
If not, I'll use thumbtacks.

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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
I like where this is going. Go for a toxic pool.


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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Ok let 's get this show on the road...

I first put a wooden board on the table, then covered the table with paper (just in case, so that the cloth would not stick to the table).
The I used thumb tacks to hold the bedsheet down (should have put them on the underside because now they are in the way).

This is only the first layer of caulk just to give the mat some extra weight, and so I can experiment before the second/final layer.

I gathered some objects which I thought would give an interesting (mainly 'technical') imprint.

Of course you need a 'caulk-gun' and spatula. I bought the brown caulk (they also have grey and white, the white costs 1,50€, the colored ones 3,50€) I use brown if in the future some damage might occur there will be no white spots visible.
The wine bottle you don 't need, I just like a glas now and then.

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Here the caulk is fresh, and somewhat thicker then other places. The result sucks.
The rest of the mat I scraped the caulk until really thin.
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This I tried before in my 'nature battle mat'. Making 'cracked/dried out earth'. If you use a thin plastic bag you get thinner lines, obviously a thicker plastic bag gives thicker lines, I also used a crumpling poster (thickish paper) this gave really big cracks and also leaved spots untouched.
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So I left the caulk to dry some (10) minutes made the layer thin and the imprints improved.
Left top corner = corrugated card board, top middle the bottom of a plastic plant pot tray, on the right some sprue, left of this sprue imprint some netting I got left over from plastering my walls,
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Tier track are easy, just roll a Hotwheel over it. Here the circle is a big plastic bobine.
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A really nice chap recently gave me some sci-fi scenery panels. If you use some soap water the shapes don 't stick to the caulk so much. Just do not use to much liquid or you will blur the lines. The spatula and shapes can easily be cleaned with some warm water and soap.
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Sharp edged things give a clear, well defined imprint.
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So I covered the whole piece with the first layer, using 2 and a half 'tubes' of caulk. None of this will be visible when covered by the second and final layer.
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
Nice start. There is some inspirational ideas there.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]

Finished 'construction' on 1/4th of the mat. The tech part.
Did not fail but nothing spectacular either.
Maybe it can be improved (or get worse ?) later on with painting or adding decals (in my case gluing photocopies).

Posted Image

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Have a nice day,
Bobscene

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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
I managed to do the construction on the roads also today.
The width is the width of my spatula.
This time I used the grey caulk (don 't really matter cause everything wil be primed black anyway).
Now I have to wait a couple of days until they are fully dried before cutting them loose in different segments, like this they will become modular.
The biggest drawback of using caulk is that it does shrink a bit so hopefully this won 't give to much warping.
Wait and see...

Posted Image
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tinker
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CEO of "Rat-on-a-Stick" Industries
[ * ]
These mats and ideas are very full of of exciting potential!

:pipboy:
Edited by tinker, Sep 24 2017, 10:39 PM.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Thank you Tinker, really glad this can be of inspiration. You should maybe try some of this out yourself, this caulk material is not so hard to handle.

Onto the first foto, this is supposed to be the skin-like piece of earth ('pox' on the sketch). I made it smooth with my fingers dipped in 50/50 soap water, then pressed different sized tubular things into it, smoothed the sharp edges with my fingers. Maybe some alien life nesting ?

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The craters I did not give much thickness after all the result should be more or less flat so mini' s won 't tip over and buildings can stand flush.
Otherwise I find that you can easier control sculpting/imprinting working with thin layers.
For the tracks I switched to lego sized wheels, the have a bit wider base and more depth in the imprint then the Hotwheel one.
(rest asure no lego bricks have been harmed in the making of this scenery, it al washed off easily)

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I really like working with this caulk/mastiek. You can take your time working with it. Just now I made some finishing touches on the road pieces, added some more cracks.
The road is half dried (made them yesterday) so some parts are still soft enough to be handled.

To be continued...
ciao,
Bobscene
Edited by Bobscene, Sep 25 2017, 07:13 PM.
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
Great stuff. Keep up the good work.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
A couple of days ago I put some caulk on a plexiglass plate.
Today I pealed it of and tore it to smaller pieces.

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I used these torn pieces to make the 'cracked earth' section.

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Some more landscape as if the earth itself has mutated or maybe some alien lifeforms nesting ?

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Most of the build now is finished.
Except some details on the poisonous lake, after painting it I will add a layer of (clear but colored) silicone.

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Details are hard to see on the picture. Should be beter when painted.
Guess I should let it dry a couple of days before painting it though.

Hope I can wait that long...
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Crazy Joe
Mutant Hunter
[ * ]
Interesting, thanks for the detailed build.
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
Wow great idea.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Thanks for the feed-back !

Doing nothing and watching this thing dry is not possible.
So I put some of the left over caulk into a syringe and started to make 'alien life forms'.
Or parts of it, some of these parts will later on be assembled. Some parts I don 't know what they for... just biding my time and experimenting.

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Some details about the road-pieces. I forgot to make them in 2 layers, only applied and detailled 1 layer.
The thinest edges start to curl up a bit now that they are drying, I 'll have to cut these away.
And maybe, cause it 's too light, the road won't fall flush as easily on the not so flush battle mat anymore ?

Wait and see...the problem is I can 't wait much longer and soon these pieces will be cut and sprayed Matt black so the painting can start !

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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
It's rolling forward. The alien thingies are a nice touch. Experimenting is always good.
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Bobscene
Super Mutant
[ * ]
Well hate to contradict you boss but... there are definitely 'experiments' I 've done, in the past, where I am thankful they did not go badly wrong and would never try such a thing again (stupidity of youth now is replaced by stupidity of old).

But in the context of the 'arts', you are right, no experiment = no progress.

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Yep 'the thing' is black, it's now a matt black mat.
It stood there mocking me "Can 't touch me, can 't touch me cause I am not dry yet". So... I had to shut it up and sprayed it.

(my local hardware shop was out of matt black so I had to use different left overs. If you look close you can guess which parts are sprayed with cheap and which with more expensive spray cans)
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mattblackgod
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Big boss warlord dude!
[ * ]
It all adds to the effect. You have to spray stuff matt black to make it better I always say. That showed it Bob!
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