Scratch Building a Wargame Board - Almost Ready for Paint

Gap filling with plaster of Paris, adding talus to hide seams, and the trick to getting natural textures without brush strokes.

Fresh Cut, Fresh Buzz

Quick update on where the board’s at. Everything’s locked in—felt a loose one but the rest isn’t going anywhere.

Gap Filling Phase One

Using a palette knife for initial gap filling. Instead of just doing seams (which would be super obvious), I’m putting the compound around the board to blend it in. Want to keep the blister peel texture but add more.

Plaster of Paris Mix

Two parts plaster of Paris to one part water. Mixed with papier-mâché material. Stirring by hand, globbing it on pretty thick.

You can be messy then come back—scoop up the extra, put it back in the bucket.

The Stippling Technique

After palette knife application, it looks like a hot mess with visible strokes. Using a wet sponge and brush:

Go straight up, straight down. Don’t drag. That’s how you form natural texture—erases the strokes completely.

Don’t Waste Leftover Plaster

Dumped the rest into a cheap flimsy dollar store cookie tray. This hardens into flat panels—great for 40K ruined walls, basing material, terrain projects.

Adding Talus

Using Woodland Scenics talus (or use cat litter/dirt) to break up the panel lines. The goal is creating organic shapes that hide the seams.

The Glue Mix

70% Elmer’s glue, 20% water, 10% isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol breaks surface tension (called “wetter water”) so it soaks into all the cracks and locks everything in place.