Wall & A Foamcore Tutorial Begins

This is what I got done last night. What is it? It's a wall. It's three inches high and has a walkway on the back so that minis can stand on the wall and look or shoot out. Normally one can crank out several of these in an evening, but last night being...complicated, I was only able to manage one. It did get me thinking, though. Making things out of foamcore is really simple but I never did it until a few years ago, primarily because I thought I couldn't do it. But it's easy as all get out so I'm going to start a tutorial on making buildings and structures out of foamcore.

What is foamcore? Foamcore is a type of board that is created by gluing and pressing paper to the sides of thin sheets of polystyrene foam. The end result is a light, durable and strong board which can easily be cut or shaped. Most foamcore is white with white backing paper. It can be found with other colors of paper and, more recently, in black with black foam.

What do you need to start making buildings? Well first you need some foamcore. What kind of foamcore will be right for you? Well, good old white foamcore, in my humble opinion, is the best. Why? You can get it many places and sometimes cheaply. While you can find it at art stores and grocery stores, check out craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby. They almost always have it cheapest and often have sales on it. Let's assume you're looking for a 20x30" sheet. At art stores, it tends to be a little expensive ($3-4 per sheet). Grocery stores will have better prices but still be a little high ($2-2.50). Craft stores will often have it cheapest ($1-1.50) and when they have sales you can get it by the arm load. Last time I picked some up was during a sale and I got it for 50 cents a sheet! Black foamcore is another good choice but for a different reason. It's very expensive ($5-6!) and only art or craft stores will have it. The big upside, however is that if your terrain gets damaged for some reason, it'll be harder to tell because the rip or tear will be black. You can pass it off as part of the design or construction. But if white foamcore gets damaged, there's this obvious white spot sticking out. If you're making something that will only get moderate use (you and your buddies), white is fine. If you're doing something more high traffic (club or store terrain) use black. Either way, start with white because mistakes are much cheaper... You'll need a few other things, too. Graph paper (4/inch), glue sticks, PVA or school glue, an exacto knife and a little bit of room will finish you out.

Over the next few posts, in addition to whatever I manage to accomplish normally, I'm going to walk designing, cutting and building a simple structure, give some tricks and ideas on how to embellish them and show some other buildings and structures you may want to consider. When we're done, you'll be able to make an entire world of terrain on your own!