I have several “Scenery for Model Railroads” books (used to do that) as well as “How to make Wargames Terrain” from Games Workshop, see also www.terragenesis.com and their links, all these have some great information to borrow. There have been numerous terrain making articles in the ‘glossies’ as well as MWAN all well worth reading for how to tidbits. Ian Weekley and Gary Chaulk write some great articles on building structures.

I will try to relate to you the steps I go through to complete my modular terrain set. Since this project will continue to take me quite a while to complete I will write this as a series with all my mistakes detailed.

To date I have purchased two sheets (4’ x 8’) of 1/4 inch masonite and had Lowe’s cut it into 16 2’ x 2’ squares, because I knew I would screw up the cutting. It was only 25 cents for each cut after the first free one so it was well worth it. I also bought a sheet of 1/8 inch masonite for terrain pieces for both Ben and I to add to a flat table top. Most of what I want for the modular terrain pieces is for rough terrain, as in the Khyber Pass on the Northwest Frontier, rather than roads and Rivers on flat terrain pieces.

I made the mistake of putting the masonite in my un-A/C’ed shop. The south and it’s humidity will ruin anything. While the sheets did not get wet the humidity has curled the edges of the 1/8 inch sheets where it wasn’t laying flat. It was only in the shop for ten days while we went north. Ben and I cut the curly edges off in straight strips and then cut the center section. So I cut some shapes to make small terrain pieces for jungle in Darkest Africa and two 2’ squares for Ben. Ben wants his 1/8 inch boards for Gamesworkshop Epic 40K cities.

I left the curly pieces under the 16-1/4 inch think squares to help flatten them out. Well now two weeks later the 1/4 inch top square has gone curly. I will have to move faster on this and get the squares covered in blue board (expanded foam insulation board, also comes in pink). And take it all in the house to begin working on the terrain. I had hoped to do it outside because of the smell of using a hot wire cutter, more next time.

Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out exactly what I want in terrain, plus how to store it, so that the squares will be interchangeable and make up sufficiently different scenery for a (large) number of years to come until I determine to expand the set. Based on this idea I need to set the basic precepts of my terrain design before proceeding with a final design. First, roads and rivers must enter or exit only at the center of a side (any other position on an edge will make the squares very difficult to match up). Second, I definitely need to make a model of all 16 squares with the topography modeled in cardboard so I can see how it will all mix and match to complete a table. This will also allow me transfer the topography from the model to the full squares making any small corrections as needed.

Scenery and Terrain: Part II Making Lichen.