Plenty of good advices. What works well for me in addition is to categorize my terrain into scatter/ mid / big for which I then define some min/ max sizes ( width, length, height). Then for all new terrain pieces I do stikc with the measurements which gives me enough freedom to come up with interesting stuff but helps a lot in terms of storing and planning full terrain sets.
In addition to the excellent advice, I love watching the videos where you just talk for 20 minutes just for the great British slang. Us Yankees aren't used to it :P
Hobby Sauce my wife is English, and I find his idiom absolutely delightful. Even the tics (especially the tics). 😁 I often just listen while I work on things, as one would a podcast.
I was thinking of buying a bigger house before I saw this video, flat packed terrain from 4Ground and Games Workshop brings a tear to the eye of children and adults after assembly after the realizing that you don't have stackable boxes with foam inserts.
TIP: the clear plastic containers with the blue handles are great, I've bought a load and the 50L, 64L and 84L sizes all stack with each other BUT I would say the 50L ones which Mel is showcasing are the ones that are best for transport to clubs as they are easier to carry. You can get them from amazon.co.uk
Just a thought -I use 'book binders' pva - I got it for laying model railway track because it stays flexible (sound absorbing was the thought) but it works well on builders foam hills as well. My stuff is 'toy soldiers for youngsters' so it's going to get mashed and pipe-cleaner trees with some teased out coconut matting looks okay when flocked and it doesn't matter if it deforms as you just deform it back again. One odd thing we knew it is better to have a dedicated 'shelf' for toy soldier as the play tends to last for days or weeks so we did some experiments and I'm fairly sure the optimum shelf size is in the range 4ft x 14ins to 5ft x 2ft - Any bigger and parts are out of reach, any smaller and the constraint on space becomes apparent. Building a 'space base' thing at the mo and Plan A is to supply a 4ftx2ftx2 inch foam insulation board coated in glue and wall-papered. Adding a vertical piece on one edge means it locks on to a chest of drawers etc and it can be painted as a backscene (adding wood inserts means I can supply the thing flat-packed with a couple of screws to hold the back board when it is assembled. Being double sided I can have 'earth' and 'planet X' but it could be a beach on one side with inland country on the other, desert on one and jungle on the other etc. Just thought I'd mention this in case someone's kiddie wants to just play rather than wargame. Cheers
For the moisture problem I save the little bags of desiccant from inside pill bottles. Throw them into the drawers of your hobby bench to keep tools from rusting too.
Thanks Mel. Never thought about this before and it makes absolute sense... This would make another great video series.. Mel takes a box and makes a terrain set to fit.
Rice is a dessicant (dess-sick-cant) which is what all that silica gel stuff that sometimes comes in pouches labelled "do not eat" is too. While you can typically reuse those packets (and a lot of businesses will give them to you for free because otherwise they just chuck them) I don't because it can also be used to make waterglass, so I use rice as you said.
Just saying the 84L version of that Very Useful Box with the blue handles stores the Age of Sigmar Everchosen Citadel of Chaos (with the 7 towers and 12 walls etc) but only on the sprues if flattened.
Sir, your ability to explain such unique aspects of war gaming such as this (storage) is exactly what this hobby needs. Your Terrain Tutor videos rank up there with Donald Featherstone's books as sources of inspiration that will mold The History of Wargaming.
Thank you Mel, great tips that will help me not only with my small dioramas but also a great idea for storing my model trains. Rick B.aka Plastic butcher
Another thing for protecting terrain if you're transporting it a lot is that you can use the plastic grocery bags to crumple up and fit in between pieces to keep them from bouncing around on you as you carry it.
Excellent advice Mel. Fiendishly clever tips there mate. Stacking rivers on edge..sheer genius!! I will now be looking at reorganising my storage space👍 Why did I glue my trees down😤?
The problem I continually encounter in Australia is that you buy a container & by the time you come back for another the shop has changed supplier. Reliable supply costs $$.
Nice advice, thank you very much! How do you store large boards? Do you recommend building a cabinet with rails on the sides and storing all the boards on top of each other? Or is there a better way? Love your Channel!
the clear plastic terrain box with the blue handles is actually stackable with all box sizes from the same manufacturer and they come in 50, 64 and 84 litre sizes. I can see that Melvin has the 50L size box. Question is.... is it a back breaker carrying around the 84 litre box to a game from the car which is full of terrain ? is the 50L box the limit for your average man to carry ?
Please! I need to know the brand of that square box! I've been looking for a square storage box exactly like that for close to a year now... I really hope you read this, and you know the brand of the box!
I use very thin plastic sheet that painters use to protect furniture, etc... Its so light you can throw it over your whole table and watch it slowly sink down onto the terrain as the air escapes out the sides. Its about as thin as Saran Wrap. (plastic food wrap)
What a pain stacking is, large pigeon holes with cardboard boxes in them. plastic is nasty, go to a packing firm they chuck tons of the same size, super markets chuck loads. Line them with poly the will last years
Mel suggested a great idea to me privately when I asked this.... a Bread Makers Rack... works Great for larger boards.. Get one with adjustable rails that way it supports varied heights on your boards... and once you got the rack, just keep your boards to the rack size.... mine holds about 20 boards in a 3x3x6 rack that rolls
yes me ues thow bins and like get hands on the bits of IGs stuff like tracks got get sisersd out and do my tanks but GW track will mack my life eazer but that never hapen stilll UUUG send a nuget in will do some day will be on sun day
