Sunday, December 30, 2007

Terrain Tiles Tutorial - River

River Terrain Tiles using my double cork tile system introduced in previous articles

1. Measure and draw where the river will be made. I use a system where the right side of the river is 50mm from the right edge and the left side of the river is 200mm from the left edge. That way the river tile can be placed with the river on the right side of the field or left side of the field by turning it around. The key here is to have a consistent system in place so the finish of the river on 1 tile measures up with the start of the river on the next tile. Later you can add fancy tiles where the river moves from 1 side of the tile to the other in a diagonnal fashion, or even exists of a different edge in a "L" shape.





2. Cut both lines representing the sides of the river and soften the edges to model realistic banks. Remove the waste from the middle.







3. Glue the finished sides to the base tile.



4. Paint the river bed section with water colours and add water affects if you wish. I just paint with a middle blue knowing the different in the cork used in the tile will enhance the blue paint I apply.

5. Flock and add detail as you wish. (see previous articles for the flocking I use).



6. Seal the tile. I use a thick spray of hairspray.

5 comments:

Dave Gamer said...

Hey Dave, I finally obtained a few test cork tiles. How did you "soften" the river edges - did you sand it or just chip away at it with a knife or what?

Anonymous said...

Nice one! I sliced the edge with a knife to make the edged mostly below 45 degrees so figures can stand on them. Make sure you take some pics of yours.

Dave Gamer said...

OK - now I have another issue. I glued my tiles together last night (no rivers yet - just gonna be basic tiles but I plan on modelling the roads right into the tile). I'm having a problem with the tiles warping. Note that I didn't use white (PVC) glue. I used some floor tile underlay glue that's supposed to be used for gluing down cork to a floor (water-based cleanup). Did you have any issues with the tiles warping a bit with the white glue?

Anonymous said...

I got no warping. But maybe because I only used a little glue. Just enough to stick the outsides together and a little in the centre. Then I placed a few heavy books on the tiles, particularly to cover the corners, and let them sit for at least 24 hrs.

Dave Gamer said...

OK - when I obtain a 2nd set of tiles I'll try your method. Thanks!