Re: GEOHEX Terrain

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Tom, thanks for the informative post.

Could you explain the difference between a "jig" and a "guide"? They
could mean the same thing; they could mean an Irish dance and a movie
usher;...

When does a guide stop being a guide and become a jig?

Martin

----- Original Message -----
From: Tom B 
Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 8:20 am
Subject: Re: GEOHEX Terrain
To: gzg@firedrake.org

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> 
> I've made a number of square(ish) terrain boards from 12"-24", a 
> lot of
> stand alone styrofoam terrain, cast some resins, and own a lot 
> of geohex.
> My experience has been the following:
> 
> a) Jigs are necessary. I used a guide, but even then getting perfect
> squares (the large razor knife liked to lean one way or the 
> other and the
> hot knife liked to sometimes bow and cut a little off line) is 
> tough. A
> full jig is necessary. For all the different hex shapes, that's 
> a bit more
> involved.
> 
> b) To match geo-hex foam, you not only need to match the size 
> and shapes
> and where the cut outs intersect edges, you need to also match 
> the sort of
> foam used. There are lots of types and each is slightly 
> different. If
> Geo-hex had failings, they were that edges were very vulnerable 
> and that
> someone leaning slightly on the board could dent them. (I have 
> about $500
> worth of the stuff - 100+ pcs). The corner lock idea was 
> interesting, but
> not worth putting down most of the time (plus it would chew up your
> corners).
> 
> c) Geohex used flock by the bucketload and that stuff ain't 
> cheap. They had
> big enough trays to lay their pieces in.
> 
> d) The adhesive they used was very uniform and didn't tend to cause
> clumping with the flock. If you've made terrain with PVA/water 
> mixes, you
> may realize that at times you'll get some clumping in the flock 
> either on
> the work piece or in the flock remaining for the next pieces. 
> Whatever they
> used as adhesive, it was very uniform and I never saw a clumped 
> bit of
> flock on any piece I got.
> 
> e) Hand-cut is a bit a of a misnomer. I think they must have 
> used a
> tabletop wirecutter which let them set angles precisely and jigs 
> as well.
> That's not just a hand-held hot wire or knife.
> 
> For a while, Geohex produced a line of non-geo-hex hills that 
> were made
> from foam and painted and were *cheap*. They did away with them 
> becausethey claimed there wasn't much demand, but this staggers 
> me as every gamer
> I know that has seen them says 'I love those hills, where did 
> you get
> them?'. I think they did away with them because they distracted 
> from the
> more pricey and fiddly geo-hex.
> 
> KR also had a vac-former that he did craters and tents with 
> until OSHA
> issues convinced him the vac-former was too much of a bother. I 
> like the
> idea of having a vac-former that can use heavy stock as you can 
> make some
> great craters, pup tents, etc. (even hills) but that's an 
> expensive rig if
> you count filtering/ventillation etc.
> 
> My friend Kevin built the desert boards we used at ECC a couple 
> of years
> back. They were really good - styrofoam, 
> PVA/water/sand/painting/PVA-water
> to seal, plus a river, waterfall, and pond. He's going into the custom
> terrain making and figure painting business on the side soonish. 
> (For those
> who were at ECC, this is the fellow that won all 4 painting 
> categories,though he disputes whether he should have won SG-25 
> or SG-15 as there was a
> lot of good competition and we both agreed the scratchbuilt FT 
> ships with
> the 'pepsi/budweiser/etc' containers was great).
> 
> Tom
> 
> -- 
> Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their
> family; but to a solitary and an exile, his friends are 
> everything.* *--
> Willa Cather (1873 - 1947)Solitudinem fecerunt, pacem appelunt
> -- Publius Cornelius Tacitus (from the book Agricola, attributed 
> to a
> speech from Calgacus)
> 
>