Cheap & Easy Expanding Foam Wargaming Hills & Rock Clusters
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
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Struggling to get your hands on insulation sheets? Want a tables worth of terrain for £3? Here's a really cheap and easy way of making them out of expanding polystyrene insulation foam, straight out of a can!
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Just spent 15 minutes of my life watching some dude across the planet make a fake rock
Great work man!
Wait till you watch the 45minute video on pva glue! lol
@@TheTerrainTutor Hell yeah!
😊
@@TheTerrainTutor been there, done that 😂
I dug some holes in the garden, put a board over it and added some weights. This produced hills that didn't need much shaping.
+Kay B You are a goddamn genius.
freaking legend, under-rated comment
You even can get the small rocks details and the most natural dirt texture practically free and whitout effort xD
can you clarify the process please?
Think I just fell in love. You don't realize how many issues you've fixed for me.
10kg bag of value cat litter , can grind for whatever grade of stone , lighter than real rocks and super absorbs pva . Makes good churned eath affects for trench or explosions. Back to mansion build thats taking forever. Love the tips here !
Foam sheets are extremely rare in my area in South Africa. I used the techniques form this video and I was blown away by the results. I built an entire 3 by 6 foot "desert planet" themed table's worth of terrain from a single can of the stuff. Thank you for the work you do. Your time and effort is truly appreciated.
That's brilliant mate
Came here looking to find a technique to easily build large thin rocks but realized the holes created with this foam would be perfect for creating large Coral for underwater adventures. Will have to try!
Wow!! You've just given me one of the best ways to build a hill with a railway tunnel going through it. Cheers mate. Take care...
If you're working with light materials, adhesives and so on here is a handy hint:
If you add a little coloured paint or pigment to things such as filler it makes it a lot easier to see where you've filled and where you have potentially missed gaps/holes etc. Green or brown are fairly good neutral colours to prime over after
A tip I learned about sanding is...from an engineer was to move your piece to be sanded in a figure 8 ....and it will make a perfect flat bottom...works on anything your sanding...nice video...
Move it in a figure 8? How does that work?
Imagine your drawing a 8 with the piece you’re sanding. So like start at the middle and make a circle like the bottom of the 8 then when you complete the circle make another circle above it and you get a 8 shape. If that doesn’t make sense to you then I apologies
will use this idea for my railway layout. Heres a little tip for scatter. collect some sawdust. water down some paint and mix in sawdust till it just crumble. let it dry completely can take few days. then wen dry you can either put in a sieve for fine or break it down rubbing in palms of hands. saves a lot of money on large areas
I just wanted you to know. I created a UA-cam profile just so i could subscribe to your channel.You have stirred my creative juices. OFF TO HOME DEPOT!
That's awesome, was the username inspired by me too? ;-D
TheTerrainTutor the username is my twitch account! but dude you're stuff is amazing I've gone and watched every video in a week lol.
AHAHAHAHA!!!
Wow, when you added the clump foliage it really scaled down the entire thing! It went from looking like a fairly large boulder that someone might be able to stand on, to a massive hill that could fit an army. Really cool!
It's because the clump acts as a scale reference mate, before that, it could have been any scale
I have about 10 cans of foam, a load of filler, PVA & paint... i'm ready to go! Great video, thanks.
That's a lot of hills!
This is absolutely incredible. I've been looking for a nice stylized method of wargaming terrain, and this nails it
You can also mount these on cheap cake boards that are available in discount shops. I get packs of three for €1.50 from the shop in my town. They come in different thicknesses, and are either round or square, so can be used to make all kinds of scenery bases. The square ones are 12" square, so you can make them fit edge on for streets or other types of game table scenery. I get them in "bulk" (I grab the whole lot at once) when I see them re-stocked, and it saves me a fortune in buying foamboard from the art shop.
Yep, cake bases work great mate
Nice job, Mel. I've seen people use damp sand in a kid's sandbox to make a basic form, then carve out details as needed. Never tried it myself but I saw some really good results from it.
This is one of those things you shuld have come up with but never did. Like the just using water and a plasticbag to vacum your food tight.
That'll be interesting to play with
I watched this video a few years ago, originally. I recently made a bunch of rocks like this from memory. The D&D party loved them.
Looked better than I thought it would at the start. Winning technique Mel.
Cheers buddy
Great and easy way to create lot of terrain fast that still looks good on the table without the hassle of dealing with high-density foam sheets and hot wire
Yeah, that's exactly what I was looking for
Remember folks, its okay to ruin your wife's new counters, but you never want to damage your work shop top.
🤩🏅
I like the faster format on the dry brushing technique for painting part of the terrain.
Yeah, playing around with how I do tutorials
I love the way it looks. Sort of like rock outcropping from a dried up river bed. I have used expanding foam before on my layouts. It works perfectly and with a set of good gloves the expanding foam can be formed after it dries up a bit.
I was really struggling to find extruded polystyrene and had almost given up on ever being able to do projects like this, but this video just gave me hope!
Excellent tutorial! I love your style of presenting, spot on! Cheers from Toronto, Ontario, Canada!
Awesome! The struggle is real, thanks for thinking about us poor plebs in the hotter regions!
Always mate
After watching this video a few times now, I finally decided to take this one stage further, and am now building a nearly 5 foot tall Stone Golem/Elemental Giant to go with my home made Elemental Creatures army, to play games of Pathfinder, as they have just added Stone Golems/Elemental Giants to their canon. So far so good, and am just waiting for the filler to dry completely, and then set about sculpting some trees/roots along the arms, making it look like it's just come out of the ground, bringing the local flora with it. I'm also working on an even bigger Giant, using expanding foam as the main body, then very carefully applying air drying clay sheets around the main shape, then, when it's dry, carving brickwork into the hardened clay, making the whole thing look like a giant castle come to life. The turrets are Pringles tubes, and other adornments are just siege catapults and such to add later. This one will be around 6 foot tall, if not taller (MUCH taller than me, in fact :->). Hoping to make a tutorial on these things later, after a bit (More like a LOT) of practice. Your tutorials always inspire me to greater heights and challenges, so please don't ever stop making them :-). All the best, Paul
At those sizes, a wire rod or shaped chicken wire fencing frame to spray the foam onto will save a lot of tears
That sounds amazing post a picture of it when your done would love to see what it looks like 👌
Absolutely true, I live in Costa RIca and have never been able to get my hands on that material or anything like it.
A very valuable lesson for me! Saves a lot of time and it is inexpensive. Thanks again for a great video!
Dude you just saved me so much work. I was already looking for hot wire cutters and all that nonsense. That just got me to jump to patreon.
Awesome sauce matey, thank you!
This is a game changer for me Mel, almost impossible to find HDF sheets outside of massive commercial volumes here and a single can is more than enough for a table! gonna try and see how rigged it can be and if it's possible to make rock pillars for a desert table I'm working on. Awesome stuff!
Excellent mate
I thought you were going to be a lot of hot air. I find your method and others combined can make the most realistic mountains. So, I thank you very much for a great vid. I take my hat off to you,thanks again kind sir.
One quick tip - I find it actually easier to base-coat with a dark brown instead of gray. Lets you skip a step or two. From there, dry brush the earth with a leathery brown and the rocks with a midtone grey, then you can top it all off with an offwhite. Saves a lot of steps and still looks amazing
Not something I've ever gotten into, mostly because of the starting cost for tools and the like, but you've given me some hope for future crafts. Loved the video and your explanation, and you've certainly gotten a new subscriber.
I never thought of using builders foam like that. I have made all my bunkers from clay but they are way too heavy. I am going to try making a jig to shape the foam as it expands.....although you showed shaping to be really easy. great work!
I've also experienced that prob using clay & using sculpey can get expensive to make many large ones. I found using 3-4 styrofoam bovvls stacked atop each other is inexpensive &detail can be layered, but takes some time to do each layer . If you succeed in making a jig to shape it could you please let me knovv if &hovv it vvorked please ? TY , am ordering a fevv cans this vveekend but going to vvait before using in hopes of learning more on hovv best to use it
Top info,Mel. I like the new step by step photos to illustrate the different stages of the painting process. Neat.
Good idea, I'm going to replace all my fire extinguishers with swords as well.
This is pure genius. I'll be making a wargaming board in a month or two, and this will make the terrain part so much easier.
Hope it helps buddy
I can hardly wait to try this. You did an awesome job.
Cheers bud
Mel, with one video, you have just solved my North Africa Battlegroup terrain needs. Excellent!
this is bloody brilliant. so wish I had known about this when I was wargaming
Not BS tutorials, thank you. This is the stuff that got me into the hobby years ago.
Wow, that was amazing. I can't believe that was the stuff I put in my walls. Great job, dude!
Thank you so much for this video! My daughter plays with lion figurines and I couldn’t find a play lion den anywhere. This will be perfect because it’s lightweight! Thanks again!
Just subscribed! I’ve been doing a lot of miniatures throughout the years, but this technique is definitely one I want to adapt.
Keep up the awesome work and I’ll keep watching your videos!
This video just saved the day for me. Thanks for posting. I need to make some stones to cover a large stage prop and it had to be fast drying. Unlike the paper mache rocks, and the foam board insulation carving with a hot wire. This is genius!
This is amazing. I’m do stopmotion so having an easy was of making landscapes is nice to know. Of course I don’t know if starting off I’ll make them look as detailed as you did this one but for dioramas (which I’ve teased the idea to myself) I’d definitely love to make them look this good
Had to watch this again. Such a great idea.
And I do live in the Arizona desert. I haven't looked for the Polystyrene blocks. We have used this for DIY's before. So I know where to find it. Thanks for great videos. 👍🏻
Glad it helped buddy
Mate, the material is far from being polystyrene. It is polyurethane based and that means you should definitely use a respirator when working with abrasives on it
Mel how could you not read the can? However you also need a mask when sanding polystyrene also.
Right the stuff comes in two component liquid form like epoxy or other kinds of resins. I remember that from.an afternoon visit to Tap Plastic.
I came here for a good time not a long time so i dont need a respirater
Lots of short sharp breaths...
You shouldn't be carving, sanding, or cutting this stuff for the most part anyway. The shaping he's doing is better done by poking away at the foam (preferably with a paint stirrer, popsicle stick or similar expendable tool) while it's hardening. Not only can you mold a rough shape that way in minutes, the "poked" areas of the outer surface will collapse down into a much denser and more durable layer that paints up like smooth stone. This whole carving down from the natural blob shapes is just a huge waste of effort.
I found this tutorial exactly what I was looking for. I have used paper and glue for hills and so forth for model railways, and read today about using expanding foam, sounds obvious to use. Amazingly, Luke did not use the phrase of, it cuts like a loaf of bread, or, it looks like a cake , or an éclair. Fascinating to watch and listen to. 10 / 10 for the tutorial
I love this method. I use expanding foam covered in aquarium safe silicone and then covered in ground up coconut fiber for designing tanks and aquariums for my pets.
I have a waterfall feature in my red eyed tree frog enclosure. I found out that you can press pea gravel into the silicone and it will adhere just fine, even when being exposed to water.
My animals love it to death and it is completely non toxic to the inhabitants. This is how they make smaller displays in zoos and aquariums. At times mixing in concrete for larger tanks.
how were you able to cover it in silicone, a sturdy paint brush? I was thinking about using this method for rocks in a paludarium
@@sarahallen8739 thick disposable mechanic gloves and my fingers.
@@azurearcade342 thanks!!!
Thank you, Terrain Tutor! This is legit great!
Got a can 3 days ago. Now adding bases and filler. 1 can = 1 full mountain range and crags!
Can't wait to flocking and painting them!
this was a good tutorial
Glad you liked it mate
Just in time for my retirement train layout. Had not thought of the foam even though I used it for intended purpose of home repair. This is way more fun!!
Fantastic video - you're a natural! Well done.
Cheers bud
Great sense of humor and very discreet
Cheers mate
In shop : I need an expanding foam and a filler.
- Ow, some works in home, some renovations?
- Nope, I'm just a wargamer XD
as a wargamer working in a hardwarestore i can spot the people making terrain. Expanding foam, sandpaper, that kind of knife he used in the video, thin sheets of plywood and spackel every time.
Matt Colville tweeted about this video so I checked it out; I used to spend $$$ on terrain etc when I wargames, this would've been cool to try.
you have great energy, I loves the presentation!
Well thanks to Matt and welcome aboard buddy
Great tutorial. Thanks for all your effort. I've learned a lot from you. Please keep it up.
Mel you just saved my life with this video the high density foam is realy hard to find right here I am gonna buy one of thise for me thank you so mutch.
I'll take that as a win mate
You may consider making a "sand mold" of the pieces you want to make with expanding foam (especially if you want to make spires or columns.) It's a bit messy and will likely need to be done outdoors, but will cut down on some steps if you have the materials at hand. I could go into more detail and provide a link if there is any interest. The quick version is: fill a large tub with moist sand, scoop out the shape of the pieces you want, cover the tub with a thin board/plywood, drill holes to inject the foam, and keep the board/plywood weighted down. The result will be a piece with sand/grit embedded into your piece.
Lol. One of the first things i though when I saw Mel starting this all up was "how does this stuff interact with molds?"
I'll have to have a play matey
I want to stress that it is messy. You need to plan to use the whole can. That means a rather large tub or multiple tubs to handle all the sand. Space out your molds and pack the sand down to prevent them from expanding into each other. One can makes a lot. It's not really worth all the prep and clean up for just a few pieces.
Jeffrey Fletcher Awesome,thanks for the hint! 👍😉
This reminds me of a old tutorials that was one on the reaper mini website, were they talked about makeing a cavitiy in a bucket forr of sand, and spraying that foam into it to make textured hills. A diff take on the same materiel, very cool.
I totally thought I was just looking in all the wrong places. Good to know it's because of the climate!
I accidentally stumbled across this video. Dude, please dont stop doing what you do. You do amazing work and great personality and voice. Keep it up!
I'll keep soldiering on
"not my best piece" . . . you can come to my place and dump all your bad pieces! Thanks for the video, I'm learning this techniques because I'm about to build a race track in the basement.
I recently got back into the hobby and copped a can from Poundland with the thought of doing this for terrain, great video for seeing your process, thank you.
Looks great Mel!
Cheers guys
You are so talented, good sir. You're an inspiration to all of us gamers and modelers.
this is how I made trenches vehicle wrecks Great if you want to use a blown up tank. awesome vid 3T
Icarus Miniatures sorry. I used it to make it look like the tank had sunk into mud over time. But making it explode with the foam would have been more fun
That would be epic!
Do it!!!!
heres a man who loves the word "yeah". I found myself listening for the yeah rather than listening to the tutorial. but its still a great video and looks fantastic when finished.
It's a nervous tick that left over from my nervous breakdown I had 4yrs ago
damn, you're an artist man
I never would have thought of using that for hills and then just cutting it down to the shape I need, genius!
About a minute and 30 in, Where you said to use gloves. I used to do a lot of 3 3/4 inch Star Wars stuff, and I was making yoda's hut, and using that for the tree on top, and I decided to use my bare hands to sculpt it upwards like a tree, then I tried to wash it off. Ended up with a cast of the entirety of both of my hands, since I don't know how to not be stupid. Lol. Moral of the story: I'm stupid, and you really don't want this on your hands.
I learned that from slightly touching it with the pad of my finger, gloves from then on in ;-D
TheTerrainTutor yea. Stuff sucks to work with when it's wet. Lol
TheTerrainTutor are you based in the UK
yea he's in the uk
Warhammer Workshop , can you not tell by has accent lol
That stuff is amazing to work with once you're familiar with it and its tendency to glue itself to especially anything you don't want it to (as some of my old T-shirts can attest to).
Some people have created breathtaking asteroid surface dioramas with it.
Can't stress the importance of gloves enough! I used to know someone who got expanding foam all over their hands and they had to get it off with SAND PAPER! Remember the gloves people!
I've been there. I always hated this shit until I saw this video.
yep...definitely in the had to sand it off category. It SUCKS
If anyone ever gets this on their hands, don’t sand it off, try WD40 instead, takes it right off, also works well with oil based paints
That was a great idea to use the expanding foam. That was some great looking rocks.
Wow! I didn't understand what Wargaming was so I watched the entire video and I must say I am impressed.
Welcome to my world, checkout the projects playlist
"You know what that looks like don't you?"
/like
Thanks for the shout out mate :-)
Ends up looking like a boob
,
^ you lost one. Here.
It looks like a penis, but nice rock.
I see matt colville I thumb up.
This was delightful. You have a great voice for hosting and a solid personality.
im not a fan of this stuff for hills and the like but if you want to make scenery for an alien world this stuff is really good, ive used it for making Terrain for tyranids before but it can also do a great hellscape if you do more tendrils like shapes, also if your going for a hellscape as its expanding use a hairdryer on it to help it form a skin then brake the skin so it leaks out of the brake you made.
That sounds like a really cool technique mate
Great stuff. I am one of those lucky people who lives in warm area or rather hot. Thanks a bunch Mel. For introducing me to this technique.
I could see this method being very useful for when you want to make a really large piece and don't want to fiddle with joining multiple pieces of high density foam. I would think making a tall spire would be no more difficult than just spraying it in layers, allowing it to harden in between each application, making it taller as you go.
Another idea is since it expands, you could make a very specific shape, such as a long jutting escarpment, by using a wooden form (lined in grease proof paper), fill the interior, let harden, remove the form, and then proceed with the finishing work of shaping, sanding, coating, painting, flocking, etc.
All good ideas buddy
For a tall spire, maybe just spray a long, thin shape which is thicker at one end. Then just stand on that end. :)
i would fill a pvc pipe with the expanding foam and then cut it off and shape the foam once dry
Great idea. I have used the foam in home projects but now I have a great new use for it.
Thanks Mel.
Al Kirkham
Win!
Could you place something below the wax paper to create a void and conserve foam?
sure, balls of paper taped together, you'll be able to remove the bulk and the remains won't matter mate
I have always enjoyed your videos sir...I have always loved your spirit, attitude and humor. If I didn't live on the other side of the pond I would love to buy you a pint and sit down and talk shop with you. Again, great vids....keep them coming.
Saw title: O, that's interesting, I need that.
Began video: What the hell is this?
Middle of video: I see what his trying to do..maybe it will work.
End of video: Not bad, considering the material, will like and comment on good job.
I think you could sell make up. All those products and finishings.
Wow! You don't know how much money you just saved me!!!!Thank you for sharing. Please share more of your amazing ideas. Thanks
Another great video, Mel! I have been having trouble finding high density polystyrene here in Sweden. All I have found is really thick stuff that is welded together, which is not great for smaller projects. I will have to look around and see if I can find some of this spray foam stuff! Thanks!
good hunting bud
I love your tips for ground...I am doing 1:6th dioramas for my action figures and you always seem to come up with ideas I can adapt! Keep it coming mate!
Mel, Bloody Good Drills Mate! Only one question - Do you think it would be possible/recommend to make an entire battle board with expanding foam, using 6mm mdf as a base?
It's possible mate
Johnny Cooper I think you have an excellent idea as putting it atop thin MDF vvould create a naturally uneven surface that could be made quickly to specs. Just dravv/sketch out vvhat you vvant the battle board to look like 1st so you don't have to make those decisions vvhile vvorking vvith the spray foam. If & vvhen you do make a complete battle board could you post a video please or let me knovv hovv much spray foam vvas needed & vvhat the boards dimesions vvere . TY again for a great idea.
hello im new to this but that was my thought also. did you ever finished it ?
Enjoyed your tutorial. Great for people like me who are just getting into the hobby. Thanks,
could you do a Greek diorama? I would love that as my channel is all about Greek and Sparta. Love your videos.
I'll probably do one at some point but it's not going to be anytime soon mate
oh okay! Thanks for the fast replies.
Hey Mel, great video. Wanted to let you know that I really like the format of this video with the voice over during the painting process of the hills. Especially since I am sure you have explained how to paint rock formations about 10,000 times and have a full hands on tutorial elsewhere on the page.
It is a clean approach to the format and I think it really works.
Keep on cracking on and I'll see you Sunday ;)
Glad you like it bud, experimenting with different ways of filming
Wow, That's Great Man. Thanks
❤❤❤ so much details you added so informative as usual. I appreciate your effort and unique idea of making same things.. Love you sir
does this foam stick to plastics like soda or water bottles? I envision you could build some really large objects, mountains with tunnels and such, spraying over a base form like a soda bottle or maybe a mason jar? do you know if it sticks to glass?
Yep, it's stick to plastic, not sure about glass though
The stuff I have used sticks to glass and metal.
You could wrap the glass or plastic bottle in grease proof paper or cling film
does smearing some oil or thin grease on the bottle work?
:) headed out,shaking can.thanks for another great video.you donot talk down to newbies. cheers
Hope it goes well for you mate
I think the pock marks in the terrain give a more natural look than if you had filled it all in. Looks great.
however you like buddy
Perfect idea and so useful tutorial 😊 Thank you for sharing. On Monday I am going to buy some expanding foam and have fun making rock cave, thanks😅
Great stuff
Cheers bud
Would never of thought of using that.....great idea Mel
Hear to help bud
Your work and imagination brilliant, but if I played a drinking game based on how many time you said yeah I'd be dead. 😉
All in all I'm well impressed, cheers.
Yeah.
You would,.... yeah.