Crashed Rocketship Terrain Board part two

This latest post details the basic board construction. I picked up an off-cut of 18mm fibreboard (Sundeala) 24 inches x 24 inches for a couple of pounds and the wooden battening is scrap or rough wood picked up from a shed repair project free of charge. The battens were first cut then glued and nailed into place (ensure that the nail heads are hammered below the surface of the wood with a nail punch). The corners were further strengthened with 2 inch nails. This is a very strong and very heavy terrain board, the heaviest that I have ever come across! I have joked that you could stand on it, but I haven’t tried!

The upper surface is sound-proofing fibre board that was left over from a project to insulate the garage. The material is soft, easily broken and torn into natural and organic shapes. The sheets are about 8mm thick and have been glued and nailed into place with one inch nails and large headed tacks. The photos show how the layers were firstly added and built-up, again glued and nailed for strength.

The finished rocketship will be positioned almost centrally but at a slight angle and more layers of fibreboard will be added to build up the terrain and sculpt the contours. (I am particularly pleased with the trough caused by the rocket ploughing into the surface. One point of discussion was firstly how much of a wake the nose would cause and how this would build-up. Secondly and this time a little more anal, would the trough flow like the wake of a ship sailing at sea, or be pushed forward as if punching sand! In the end I choose a wake, which I think, may not be a perfect representation of a crash, but looks right!)

The second and third layers of fibreboard are made up of off-cuts and the first layer was cut into with a snap-off bladed knife so the finished rocketship would snuggle-down and in to the terrain rather than rest on top.

In part three, I will show how the terrain and wake was built up.

Tony