Proxxon Hex Cutting Template

A good friend and fellow club member, Ed, has a fantastic collection of GHQ's "Geo-Hex" terrain.  It looks superb and I envy the flexibility his collection provides for gaming.  I also really like the aesthetic - perhaps the hexes bring me back to high school years of playing hex and counter games solitaire - there were not a lot of local war gamers where I grew up near Mobile, Alabama.  Well there were a few but they were fixated on the American Civil War and always wanted achieve confederate victories, with wistful sighs of things would have been better if CSA had won.   I elected not to associate with them.

I doubt I'll ever match Ed's level of craftsmanship but at least I can make my own hexes.  An idea was conceived, plans stolen from another source and I set to work.  What's the first thing one should say when starting any project that involves woodworking - "Lets make a jig!"

Here are the parts you need to make the jig.  I'm using 1/2 inch think MDF as the base and this piece is 6 inches wide by nine inches long.  That fits on my proxxon on the right side which has about 5.5 inches of platform space.  The most important thing is the piece needs to be really flat.  The jig requires two braces to hold the EPS in place while cutting - I'm using scrap plywood - again because its flat and stable.  The last piece is the most important - the guide bar.  This one requires some careful measuring and cutting.

Proxxon's have two grooves the run alongside the lower and right edge on the table top.  You need to cut a piece of hardwood (I'm using poplar as it's what I have) so it fits snuggly but moves easily.  The best way to do this is cut your piece a bit over sized and "sneak-up" on the fit by using a sanding block to remove a little bit of material and re-try the fit.  Rinse and repeat.  Take your time.  If the fit is loose (you can wiggle the guide while it is in the slot) then your hexes will not fit together well.

Don't be afraid to start over here (I did)

With my guide rail cut, the next step is to attach it to the underside of the platform.  I'm using standard wood glue to assemble this jig.  In order not to glue the rail to the proxxon itself, I lined the botton with 2 strips of paper.

This makes the guide sit a little proud (or high) from the tabletop and I can then glue it on.  Using a right angle guide to ensure the MDF is square with the cutting wire. I added glue to the guide and placed the platform on top.

Some of you might be tempted to use that snazy guide decal that the fine people at proxxon slap on top the table.  You could, but check to make sure it's square.  Mine isn't - it's off about 1.73 degrees (I measured 'cause I'm a geek).  Not material for most hobby projects, but this one needs to be precise - so check rather than assume your decal is square.

The next step is just add some weight (just a little is needed and walk away fro 30 minutes while the glue sets.

This picture is a little out of sequence as the braces are attached but you get the picture.

The next step is to attach the two braces. 

Glue them together to form a precise right angle (or "T") with at least 5 inches of material on the side that will face the cutting wire.

Measure and mark a line the is 4 inches away and parallel to the cutting side.  about two thirds down the face daw a line that is 60 degrees on the cutting face (60 degrees on the inside which is the angle facing you while using the jig.

Next, draw a 90 degree line from where the 60 degree line intersects the cutting edge over the to four inch line

Then glue the base so that the bottom brace fits along the 60 degree line and the right side brace intesects at the point where the 90 degree line intersects the 4 inch line we drew at the start of this meandering set of instructions.  It's ok if the bottom brace overhangs the platform.

Once the glue has set trim off the overhang.  I used my table saw but a hand saw will be fine.  - just make sure the jig can pass smoothly and the cutting wire doesn't catch on the brace

The jig is done!  There is one more trick step - cutting your foam blocks.  I'm going for hexes that match the GHQ terrain maker system - their dimension is 4 inches across flat side to flat side.  That means all you have to do is cut a bunch of 4" squares right - WRONG!  While the dimension if 4 inches across flat to flat side - its a bit longer point to point.  In fact its 1.1548x longer - so a 4" inch flat diameter equates to a 4.62 inch length point to point.  I cut EPS rectangles that were 4 by 5 inches in size.

Cutting a hex with the jig  hex requires four quick passes.  Place the rectangle in the jig  so the long side overhangs the cutting edge and push the jig across the table.  Oh, make sure you turn on the hot wire cutter too.

After the first pass flip the piece and cut the other side off the point

now reverse the foam so the point is on the other side and repeat the first two passes

After four passes you've got a perfect hex.

They fit together very nicely.  You can batch out a lot of hexes - takes about 10 second to make a hex with the four passes.

I adapted this jig from a set of plans ED gave me.  The orignal plans were based on using both table and band saws to cut the EPS, but the core concepts are unchanged.

I was a little nervous using saws to cut eps as the do create a very fine dust which is extremely unhealthy.  While a proxxon create fumes that are also dangerous it's much easier to vent them away versus fine particles that go everywhere.

Never-the-less ALWAYS where a respirator when messing about with EPS foam and ensure your working in a well ventilated area.

Yet another Sectional Terrain Project

I've embarked upon yet another sectional terrain project.  Why?  The likely answer is because I'm nuts.  The reason I tell most people is that I just prefer sectional terrain to terrain cloths.  Terrain cloths aren't "bad", it's just I don't like how they don't stay flat.  The fist pictures shows 2 of the boards with some testing for ground cover.

This third iteration of terrain squares are based on a 24 x24 inch  base size.  To make them easier to transport they are only one inch in height, which is plenty of room for terrain depressions like craters, rivers and trenches.

Why 2x2?  It's the Goldilocks principal - my first iteration used mostly 2x4 panels which I found two hard to both transport and store.  The second iteration used 1ft x 1ft precut panels for Sally Forth which is a great product but I found them tedious to set up and I've got a good workshop to build my own.  2x2 ft seems "just right".

If you don't have access to power tools the Sally Forth stuff is a fantastic option.  I will incorporate the Sally Forth sections I build last year so the can be used with these.

I'll do a series of posts on how to build these but the construction is rather simple.  The sides are 1/4 inch plywood, the bottom 1/4 in MDF and the interior is 3/4 inch Extruded Polystyrene (EPS)

Here's a rather boring shot of my cutting the sides to length.  I went with a simple but joint so two of the strips are 24 inches long and 2 are 23.5 inches.

After an hour or so at the Miter Saw, I've got all the wood parts cut to length for 10 2x2 ft sections.  I'm making a lot of these

 These sections will be held in place with wooden pegs.  I went with pegs over magnets as they are a good bit stronger and way easier to install as one doesn't have to worry about polarity with wooden pegs.

 Another test of different ground covers.  The base ground texture is pre-mixed and pre-colored tile grout mixed with a little PVA glue.  It provides a nice ground texture and dries rock hard.   I went with the "earth" colored grout and was very happy.  I also has dome paint mixed up to match the Vallejo "Tan Earth" color to use to paint the sides and touch up thin spots.

I'm not using static grass as the base ground texture as these boards will be used for lots of different scales form 6mm up to 28mm.  A few are planned to be savanna type terrain and those will use static grass.

 Of course there will be rivers!

Lots of river options.  There was a bit of a resin pour disaster so most of my river sections require a good bit of "restoration work"

 Lastly some shore sections.  I'll still use terrain cloths for sea but did want to build 6 feet of "shore line" to effect the transition

These terrain sections will likely make their debut at Historicon this summer.  There is a slight chance they'll be ready for Cold Wars.

By the way, If anyone is interested, I've got a bunch of nicely used 2x4 panels for adoption if one is willing to come to Maryland and pick them up!  They need a little touch up work but I'll throw in the storage rack and a bucket of the static grass mix for patching.

Please, somebody adopt us.  Our owner keeps saying terrible things about being torn apart for spare parts.  Historicon veterans like ourselves shouldn't be treated this way

A picture of the boards in their youth....

Sectional Terrain Storage

 As I recover from my little health drama, the wife and I have been doing a little clean out of the stuff (ok, crap) we've accumulated over the years.  It's a depressingly large tally and has almost filled the full sized dumpster I rented.  It's highly likely without this self impose "intervention" we likely would have been featured on one of those awful "hoarders" shows on cable TV in the next few years.

Anyway, the clean out frees up space for more gaming storage and I decided to build a rack to store my 2x4 sectional terrain panels.

Like most of my gaming projects the "racks" are made out of scrap plywood.  The design is very simple - two vertical columns with 3/4 inch rails every three inches.

I used my table saw with a cross-cutting sled to cut the 1/8 dados (slots) in a plywood sheet that was 10 inches wide and 24 inches tall.  Once the dado's were cut, the table saw was used to rip the plywood into 4, 2.5 inch x 24 inch column.  Doing it this sequence ensures all the dados line up.

I then cut some 1/8 inch plywood in the 1.5 inch strips and placed them in the dados to form the rails fro the terrain to rest on.  In hindsight I should have gone with 1/4 inch plywood as these are a little flimsy but the panel are light so I should be ok.

You can see the remnants of my old model railroad layout on the shelf - all the trains and buildings were packed away just in case I return to that hobby.

Here's a shot of the installed unit with my 8, 2x4 panels nestled in their slots.  I'm very pleased with how it came out.  I've also got some 2x2 and 1x1 panels that will be stored in a similar way.

These panels are pretty beat up and need a restoration project.  The endeavor will occur in the next few weeks.

The panels are located in a little 8x8 ft room thats adjacent to my gaming table - the other side has an old workbench which I'll be using for terrain making and that will likely be topic of the next blog post.

One of the more embarrassing things that has happened during "operation declutter" is I've stumbled across a bunch of stuff I forgot I had!  Some examples include:

- A Dewalt sable saw that was barely used (I was just about to go out and replace my current one - bonus!)
- a box board of woodland scenics ground foam and clump foliage - pretty much a lifetime supply
- a Noch static grass applicator

Terrain Squares

 This week in the Lair it's been an all out effort on terrain production - in the form of 1 foot square pieces from Sally 4th's new Terra Former line.

The rather garish white you see in the first picture is 1/8 inch polystyrene plastic sheet which forms the base for any water features.

I'll be doing some resin pours this weekend.

I'm very confident that I can hide the seems but that will be a bit of detail work to do while the resin sets.

The squares are held together with magnets and I'm really liking the possibilities these smaller sections open up.

Great product design job Sally 4th!

Ground Cover - Which color do you prefer?

 I've been working on a "secret" terrain project for this year's Challenge.  Well, perhaps now not all that secret. given this post.  Anyway, I'm a bit stumped on the color of ground flocking.  I've got two on hand - a dark green and a light green. Both are from Scenic Express.

I can always mix the two to create a medium green.  When mixing ground covers I limit myself to either 50/50 (pictured) or 2/3's / 1/3 to make it easy to replicate.

A picture of the three contending colors on the base ground cover.  For ground texture I use a pre-mixed tiled grout that's pre-colored, in this case its a very nice earth tone.  The tile grout dries rock hard and both clings to the surface and hardens the EPS pink foam.

I'm leaning towards a the medium green with a few patches of either color.  Part of me likes the light green as I can make the boards have an early spring feel but I suppose I might tire of that over time.  Here in the Northern hemisphere spring is a really attractive concept right about now.

One of the goals for this year's challenge is that I wanted to limit myself to using mini's and terrain supplies that I have on hand so I haven't purchased anything new since Nov'17.  This has not really proven to be such of a hardship but I am a bit limited on the scenery supplies.

Which color would you pick?

Dungeon Terrain Tutorial, Part II - Painting

Once the glue has set, it's time to paint the sections.  I typically give the tacky glue at least 8 hours to set.  My method involves a four step sequence of:
1) Priming with a black primer
2) Painting grey
3) Dry brushing a light grey
4) Washing with a black tinted wash.

As with the previous post on carving the tiles, I've pretty much stolen the painting process from the Black Magic Craft YouTube channel.  The first picture shows the tiles after the black primer wash.

While not the most informative of pictures, I did want to discuss the primer - it serves to both prime the polystyrene foam for future painting and also harden it.  The primer is a 50/50 mixture of basic black craft paint (I use Liquitex Basics paints) and Modge Podge (matte finish).  You could probably use any other matte medium.  Mix up a largish batch and then keep it around for other terrain projects.  I also add a little water to help it flow better as you want the primer to flow into all the recesses.

It's really important to make sure the primer has fully cured before moving on to step 2.  This is not the most complicated of steps - just paint the tiles the primary color your want.  I'm going with a dark grey.  Slap it on and then set the tiles aside to dry again.

Step Three is my favorite - dry brushing.  I use a beat up paint brush and a rag and dry brush a 50/50ish mix go grey and white paint onto the tiles.  Remember with dry brushing, less is more in terms of paint load on the brush.

And the tiles are all dry brushed.  Again set aside to dry before moving on to the final step.

Step 4 - apply a black wash.  Apply liberal amount.  The wash is a 10 to 1 mix of black paint and water with a few drops of dish washing soap added in to improve flow (breaks down the surface tension of the water to ensure it flows into all the details.)

Like the primer, I mix up a large batch of the wash and keep it in a sealable container to use for other terrain projects.  The plastic tub in the upper right is what I use to store the wash.

I'm using a very limited color palette for these tiles and may go back and add some different colors for details.  I tend to use Liquitex products for terrain making.  I can't really say if they are better or worse than other alternatives as I've pretty much only used them.  Liquitex has never failed me and with Amazon Prime anything I need can be at my doorstep the next day.

The Dungeon collection to date - I've got some more to make to be ready for Historicon 2018 but it's a serviceable collection and covers a little over a 3x3 foot square.  That’s all for now.

Sally 4th Terra Formers: Once More into the Sectional Terrain Breach

 In my never-ending quest to find the "perfect form" of sectional terrain, I decided to give the new Sally 4th Sectional terrain system a try, via their recently completed kickstarter.  The "Terra-Formers" are a neat concept 1 foot square laser cut box frames that are held in place with magnets (round ones placed in the precut holes.  The interior of each frame is filled with Extruded Polystyrene foam (EPS - aka insulation foam).

There are 33 unique types of terrain squares that allow you to incorporate hills, caves, rivers trenches, etc).  Given this years painting challenge now has a terrain aspect, I suspect you'll see a lot of these on my blog over the next few months.

 I decided to build a simple right angle jig to facilitate building the frames and ensure everything stays square.  Given that the laser cut pieces fit together snuggly you can get away without a jig but it speeds up production.

It took a sheet of 1/4 inch MDF and cut it down to a 24" square.  At one corner I glued to pieces of scrap 1x2 to form a right angle.  Make sure you use a good quality square to ensure the pieces form a 90 degree angle.  If you're off every terra former square will be off.

 Once the glue on the frames has set, covert area where the frame will rest with painters tape - the glue squeeze out will not stick to the tape.  If you don't cover with tape then you have a very high likelihood of glueing the terra former frame to the jig, which really isn't that helpful.

An action shot of the jig in use - it really doesn't get more exciting than that.  Feel free to oooh and aaaghh.

After 30 minutes (plus some drying time) I had assembled 8 frames so it goes pretty fast.  I've only built some of the flat panels and a few river sections - you can see one of those at the top of the stack.

I need to go to the hardware store to get some EPS and will use my trusty proton hot wire cutter to cut out foam to fill the frames.

I'm really impressed with both the product quality and Sally 4th's turnaround on the Kickstarter - it was only a few months from the close of the kickstarter until I received my stuff.

Nicely done Sally 4th!

Historicon 2016 - Additional Scenery Items Completed

 My departure for Historicon is one week away - Yikes!  I'm still making progress whittling down the "to-do" list and completed all the additional scenery items I need for the game:

 You've seen the shipyard before, this will serve as the primary objective for the attacking British force in the game.

 I also added a church (rendera), an encampment, well and a corn field.

 There are also 6 new tree plates to use for woods.  These are built to be used with either 15 or 28mm minis.  The tress are removable to make transportation easier.

 I think the corn field came out nicely.  There are 28 40x40mm squares with 4 stalks each.  In the game the corn will block LOS and provide light cover for units in it.  However once a unit moves through the corn, the bases will be removed to show the troops trampling the "produce".

The corn stalks are scaled for "0-Gauge" model rail roads.  They're a tad big (1:43 scale to 1:56 for 28mm) but still do the job nicely.  I suspect this corn field will see a lot of table top service over the coming years.

 A small military encampment will serve as a secondary objective for the British.  Inside one of the tents are some "secret plans".  The tents are from Renedra and the fire pit and woodpile are from Architects of War.  (I do miss them).

The tree plates from the other side.  These 6 additional tree plates will bring my total inventory to 16 which will be sufficient for the game.