Warhammer 39,9999

Kickin' it Old School

Main menu
Skip to content

Home About Me Armies Armies of Ultramar Hive Fleet Proteus Frugal Gaming Frugal Gaming 2012 Frugal Gaming 2013 Trading

Post navigation
Buying Flyers for My Ultramarines (and more crap I dont need)

AUG

14 2013

Building Foam

I apologize if the title seems misleading. Im not intending to actually build foam: Ill leave that to more established professionals. Instead, this post is about tailoring foam for my buildingsor more accurately, for my fortifications.

This past week I had some people over for games (including my recent game with Jeff), where it became pretty obvious that I need to do somethign with my terrain (and with the crap lying around my garage in general). I have too many models lying around with no real rhyme or reason. Hence, my renewed interest in foam. I say renewed interest because Ive done some pretty extensive work on custom foam with my Tyranids, but apparently Ive never come up with a post on that (despite taking pictures of it back in the day with the specific intent to do so). Oh well, maybe one day Ill get around to doing such a post. For now, suffice it to say that this isnt my first rodeo.

The first time around, Id purchased the foam from JoAnn Fabrics (a U.S. based arts & craft store similar to Michaels or Hobby Lobby). The foam there was green, and only marginally cheaper than pre-cut foam; however, I had a 40% off discount which made it relatively viable. Ive since switched to camper foam from Fred Meyers (which is our local grocery store/department store chain, which just so happens to be a Kroger affiliate for those of you in the rest of the U.S.). The new foam comes in approximately 2 x 6 sections of 3 foam. It doesnt appear to come in any other sizes, but its reasonably good and the best part is the price: $20 for a sheet. Well, that was the sale price, but the standard price is only about 10% higher.

So, I went down to the store and picked up a couple of sheets for use with my fortifications. For tubs, I used some plastic containers that we purchased when we moved houses a few years back that just havent found contents on th eir own. These particular totes are from Sterilite, and I believe are referred to as their 66 quart latch box. The official dimensions are 24 1/2 L x 17 3/4 W x 13 3/8 H, but I cut the foam to 19 x 14.5 in order to fit in the tapered bottom. Come to think of it, Im not 100% sure that this is the exact tote, but it seems pretty close. Anywho, each tote holds four layers of foam. Unfortunately, many of the buildings (if not most) are in excess of 3 tall, so they need to span multiple layers to be properly stored. Fortifications like the Aegis defense line, most of the Wall of Martyr pieces, and the Honoured Imperium stuff all fits nicely within a single slab of foam. Other pieces, like the Aquila Strongpoint, Firestorm Redoubt, Bastions, & Fortress of Redemption all need at least two layers (in the case of the Bastions, its really close to three).

While I was at it, I also cut out foam for my IG weapon platforms (why not, right?), and intend to cut out foam for the chaos portals used in this apoc game. Ive also not actually gotten around to cutting foam for the Fortress of Redemption because Im having trouble finding a way to do so without taking up four complete layers of foam for it. I have an idea that might let me squish it down to three layers that Im hoping to try tonight. Undoubtedly, the foam that Im most proud of is the tray that contains th e Skyshield Landing Pad & Aegis Defense Lines.

Wait, is it ok to be proud of foam? I certainly am. Anywho, the foam worked out well because of the weird shape of the Skyshield itself. Since it sits just over 3 off the ground, it wont fit into a single foam tray. Likewise, the dimensions of it are slightly bigger than the 14.5 width of the tray, so it overhands a tad (which itself, isnt an issue because I put it on the top of the stack, and the sloped sides of the plastic tote allow for the variance). But after I cut four holes, I didnt know what to do with the extra foam. It seemed like such a waste to leave it empty but then it hit me: the Aegis lines were quite small and should fit inside per fectly. With minimal fiddling, I was able to stick two sets in comfortable. I think with some serious thought, I couldve worked in a third.

Im content with the foam as a whole. It wasnt very expensive (mostly because I already had the totes on hand) and didnt take all that much effort. Suffice it to say, this certainly doesnt save space (or money really, but at least the foam was cheap). The intent is to keep things looking nice, which is true both of the garage (neatly stacked trays are far superior to piles of models), and for the models themselves, which are sure to whether my abuse/neglect far better in plastic/foam.

Share this:

Twitter Facebook

Like this:
Like Loading...

By warhammer39999 Posted in Terrain, Warhammer 40k 2

Post navigation
Buying Flyers for My Ultramarines (and more crap I dont need)

2 comments on Building Foam

1.

Angelic Despot
AUGUST 14, 2013 @ 11:19 AM

Looking good. How soft is the foam? How does it compare to specifically bought foam?

Also, that last photo shows again what a good job you did with the paint on the statues and fallen eagle. They look really professional and valuable!

REPLY

warhammer39999
AUGUST 15, 2013 @ 2:43 PM

They seem to have two different varieties. The first is much softer than the stuff from battlefoam or the like, and I went with that for my first attempt (thinking it would result in less wear on the models), but it was a huge pain to cut. The other stuff is amazingly similar to professional foam services (Except in color) and is quite easy to cut. Thanks for the complimentsyou know, none of those has ever seen the table top to date?

REPLY

Have something to add?

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

(required)(Address never made public)(required)( Log Out / Change )( Log Out / Change )( Log Out / Change )

Notify me of

follow-up comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email.

Post Comment

Search
Search

Subscribe to Updates

Click the image to subscribe to the WH39k update feed:

Old School Poll

Take Our Poll

Recent Posts

Building Foam Buying Flyers for My Ultramarines (and more crap I dont need) Batrep: Hive Fleet Proteus vs. Tau (2000pts) Terrain Assembly: The Fortress of Redemption

Terrain Assembly: Skyshield Landing Pad

Categories

Board Games Ebay Uncategorized Warhammer 40k

Apocalypse Army Lists Battle Reports Chaos Daemons Eldar Evolution of 40k Imperial Guard Modeling Painting Product Reviews Rules Queries Terrain Tyranids Ultramarines

Website Administration

Follow me on Twitter

Blogroll

40k Hobby Blog A Gentleman's Ones Admiral Drax Confessions of a 40k Addict Creative Twilight Dark Future Games From the Warp Hiew's Boardgame Blog Modern Synthesist Spiky Rat Pack Stahly's Tale of Painters Standard Template Construct The D6 Generation The Laughing Ferret Thin Your Paint! Too Few Tanks (Terrain Ideas)

GW Copyright Disclaimer
This web site is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited. Adeptus Astartes, Blood Angels, Bloodquest, Cadian, Catachan, the Chaos devices, Cityfight, the Chaos logo, Citadel, Citadel Device, Codex, Daemonhunters, Dark Angels, Dark Eldar, 'Eavy Metal, Eldar, Eldar symbol devices, Eye of Terror, Fire Warrior, Forge World, Games Workshop, Games Workshop logo, Genestealer, Golden Demon, Gorkamorka, Great Unclean One, Inquisitor, the Inquisitor logo, the Inquisitor device, Inquisitor:Conspiracies, Keeper of Secrets, Khorne, Kroot, Lord of Change, Necron, Nurgle, Ork, Ork skull devices, Sisters of Battle, Slaanesh, Space Hulk, Space Marine, Space Marine chapters, Space Marine chapter logos, Tau, the Tau caste designations, Tyranid, Tyrannid, Tzeentch, Ultramarines, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k Device, White Dwarf, the White Dwarf logo, and all associated marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations and images from the Warhammer 40,000 universe are either , TM and/or Copyright Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2010, variably

registered in the UK and other countries around the world. Used without permission. No challenge to their status intended. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.

Blog at WordPress.com. | The iTheme2 Theme. Follow

Follow Warhammer 39,9999

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.
Join 92 other followers

Sign me up

Powered by WordPress.com