HoP Idol: Display Boards 101

Now here is a tutorial that all of you tournament goers will love.  Inquisitor_Dunn is about to drop some science on you and show you how he made his most recent display board for the 40K tourney scene.

Display Boards 101

  by Inquisitor_Dunn

 

My first display board.



I don't consider myself the greatest modeler or the best painter out there. Heck, my armies are all pretty much average. So when it came time for me to build a display board, I was pretty intimidated.

I watched a few video how to's on it and they all had this basic core that I think any hobbyist can do. They all stayed simple, light, and cheap.

Most used a simple poster board for the base. Walmart has them for $10-13 and Staples or OfficeMax is a good spot for higher quality ones. Sand, big bottles of Elmer's glue, flock, and small terrain pieces are items you want to collect/buy also.

I started off by using masking tape or painter's tape and covering the outside frame. For gluing terrain pieces to the board, remember what materials you are gluing and use an appropriate glue. These walls were made of plaster so I used a Gorilla Glue made for wood and ceramics. For sand and flock, I simply spread Elmer's glue with a brush and then sprinkled them on.



Good stuff!



After letting it dry/cure completely, I primed my whole board black. I chose to make a road down the middle using Rust-Oleum's American Accents Stone. This stuff is great if you want to do cement looking areas on the fly. Fast, easy, you could just do a whole board like this and paint road lines on it.



My test board. Takes about 3 passes to cover good.

After getting my primers on, I painted the brown areas. I simply used 2 colors that I use for alot of my bases, Scorched and Dark Flesh. Use what ever colors you have on your army's bases.



Last steps I did was gluing flock and lichen on. I also painted some of the details like walls and barrels up. Nothing to fancy just some drybrushing and washes.



My second board finished.





Peal the masking tape off the frame and you have an easy and light display board for any GT or RTT. It took me about 3 days to make mine. One day was for drying glue and one for drying primer/paint.



My Crimson Fists at the 2011 Bugeater GT.



I hope you find some inspiration to build a board for your army. They really do make moving from table to table easier and help display your army better. Just remember to keep it simple, you want to display your army not your board.