terrain building oddities.

ok so you are tired of the paint stains on your kitchen table.
you have glued your shoes to the carpet enough times.
well here is a few helpful ideas in case you hadnt thought of them.

first a drop cloth if you do not use a cutting surface.

Testors...the makers of the fabulous Dollcote Matte Finish makes a dropcloth which is 2' x 3' for roughly $4 USD.


for that price you can go to your local hardware store and pick up some plastic sheeting. made from the same material and comes in ie: 3'x 50' "rolls".


just as impervios to glues, paint and most normal painting supplies. hot glue, super glue, rubber cement. none of them will stick to it without peeling off. same for testors, GW, Apple Barrel, Ceramacoat paints.

also the sheeting is 4mil in most cases. yup the same stuff you put over a broken window, can be used for making terrain. can be used for windows on buildings. (remeber glue doesnt stick that well you will have to figure out hold to hold it in place.)

want to make a lake or patch of ice for your table?

try this site for something to look for in your local hardware store.
http://www.plaskolite.com/c-lighting-panels.htm

i have not yet used this for lack of a table to put it on. but these lighting panels for those floruescnet lights have some nice covers made out of acrylic like this one i have in this pattern.
"cracked ice"

even wanted some good hose or piping for that industrial complex you are building?
try this
flexi electrical conduit.

or even some good old fashioned PVC pipe. plumbing department is great for all sorts of odds and ends for terrain.

ever break the end off your painting brush? dont throw it away! save them up and make a string of electrical/telephone poles with them and some guitar strings. to add transformers to them see the next part.

have old computer parts or other electronics laying around? ever took them apart? all kinds of esistors, transformers and interesting parts for addidtions to terrain. or heck take that old broken PC and cut the motherboard down and put a piece behind a wall section and expose some of it for damaged computer rooms, or lay some on a desk for a broken computer terminal of a bombed out command bunker.

got old legos? did you buy some recently? why not build with them. take some smaller ones and build a wall or building. them unassemble it and glue them together. prime them. and paint them up. instant brick wall. just cut the top pieces off or make a plasticard floor and build a corner of a building to disguise the legos tops.

dont have plasticard but need some small thin pieces in a hurry? got any bad floppy disks around? take it apart. a roughly 3"x3" piece. just be careful of the spring that keeps the slide closed. they tend to go anywhere. heck you might even find a use for it!

need mixing containers or odd sized "boxes"? do you eat pudding cups? turn one upside down and look at what you can do with it to build. or leave it upright and viola. disposable mixing cup for free! yup FREE! you ate the pudding and were just gonna throw it out anyway. how about lunchables? wanna mix some snow as instructed by NWMP? how about paint? bunch of little segmented compartments there ready for your use. (will have a pudding cup turned into dwarven stone hut in my gallery shortly for an example.)

now i know EVERYONE have canned foods in there house. when done, clean it, remove the bottom. file down the sharp edges. there you have a nice storm drain for that sewer you were building. (to make more realistic sewer...dont wash the can just let the food rot on your gaming table in it. j/k)

heck leave the bottom on the can. turn it upside down and viola a storage tank.

got "nubs" laying around? you know those pencils that are just the woredown eraser and not even enough pencil left to sharpen.
take the eraser out. work the pencil out of the metal. fill the metal "ring" with some plaster and make yourself some gaurd post to block off your streets.
OR use them for couplings of those industrial cables you may be building.

these are just somethings i was thinking of and wanted to share.
basically i was bored this morning and went looking around the house for ideas. so i thought i would write this up and inspire others to just look in odd places around the house or when you are out for thing that could be used for making terrain. (and so i wouldnt forget these ideas myself. )

hope you have enjoyed it, and will look the next time before you throw out that plastic spoon or fork from the fast food resteraunt. can the fork's tongs be used for anything? maybe the spoon can be a maintenance hatch or even a shield?

good luck scavenging for stuff to make terrain with.