Cork Urban Terrain Tiles WIP, Part One

This is the first part of a project I started years ago. And "started" means "bought the materials, stored them away, and forgot about them" in this case. At the time, I didn't have a pressing need for modern or sci-fi urban terrain tiles. Now I want to get a game of Five Parsecs From Home on the table. So I dragged everything out and got to work.

Rosie inspects a new section of city, still under construction.

The concept is inspired by a couple of projects I saw online several years ago. One was on a now-defunct blog and the other was a post on The Miniatures Page. Both used 12x12 inch cork sheets attached to vinyl floor tiles. In both projects, additional cork tiles were cut down and painted gray for pavement and sidewalks. The lower cork tile surface was used for the roads. The cork, once painted, had a texture resembling concrete or asphalt. The vinyl floor tile acts as a rigid backing.

This is the first 12x12 inch tile. It contains an asphalt roadway, pedestrian sidewalks, and pavement for buildings. The plan is to make a total of four tiles - two with roads and two with plenty of space for buildings.

Examples of the materials used for this project - floor tile, cork tiles, blue foam packing pieces, and grating piece.

Base Layer Assembly
The vinyl tiles are rigid and self-adhesive. I just had to remove the protective sheet, align a cork tile, and place it down. It spent some time under a few books to make sure that the adhesive had a good bond.

Street Size
How big to make the road? I prefer terrain suitable for multiple scales. In this case, I wanted something that would work for both 28mm and 15mm. After checking the measurements of various scale vehicles, I decided that a surface 4-5 inches wide would do. That width would simulate a single lane, one-way street at 28mm and a double lane, two-way road at 15mm.

Pavement Assembly
To provide a raised surface for buildings, I cut another cork tile in half and glued it on top of the initial cork tile with tacky glue. The assembled piece spent more time weighed down while the glue set.

Sidewalk Assembly
I had some blue foam packing material that would work as pedestrian sidewalks along the street. They just had to be cut down to fit. The grating is more upcycled material. It had a hook attached, so it must have spent time hanging off a display rack at some point. I cut the hook off and used the rest as a drain cover. The piece is a little larger than the sidewalks, so I cut some additional parts to extend the walkway on that side of the street to match. Everything was glued down and spent their share of time weighed down under books.

Side view showing the layers of materials used for this project. I'll need to touch up the spots where the masking tape removed some paint.

Painting - Base Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Black. I choose Krylon Camouflage over the usual ColorMaster Paint + Primer since I know that the former works on wood and other porous surfaces and wasn't sure about the latter.

Painting - Pavement, First Coat
Krylon ColorMaxx Paint + Primer Matte Deep Gray. I covered the street with masking tape and sprayed everything else gray to simulate concrete.

Painting - Pavement, Second Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Khaki. The gray areas looked a little flat. That's fine for the grating, but I wanted the pavement to look a little more interesting. I masked the grating and sprayed the sidewalks and pavement to provide a little more color.

Top view, pulled back to show the whole terrain tile.

Evaluation
So far, so good. Removing the masking tape also pulled off a little paint. A close inspection also revealed a few places where the spray paint didn't penetrate into the recesses of the cork. I'll have to be a little more through with the following tiles.

Finishing Up
The next step is to touch up the bare spots with black or gray, as needed. Then I'll finish up by brushing on a medium gray to highlight the edges of the sidewalk and add a little more texture to the flat areas of the pavement and road.

The Next Tile
I'm still undecided on whether to make another street tile or a flat one just for buildings next. The second street tile likely won't have another grated drain cover. I have another part for it, but matching the sidewalk to the first was a little too fiddly. I'll also have to think about how to add some detailing to the flat tiles. I could just glue a couple of tiles together, paint it, and call it done. However, the result would be a little dull looking. Maybe the second drain cover can go on one of them.