How to modify Heroscape™ hexed terrain

In the past I have modified quite a lot of Heroscape™ hexed terrain by painting and flocking it. The following 'How to' blog entry explains how I did this.

Materials
The materials I used included:

• Heroscape™ hexed terrain tiles
• Acrylic paint (I used Games Workshop™ Graveyard Earth and Goblin Green in the following examples)
• Flock (I used Dark Meadow Green [Scatter No. 11] supplied by Javis "Countryside" Scenics, of Stockport)
• White PVA glue (I used Evo-Stik Wood Adhesive)
• Various paintbrushes

Step 1
The first step is to wash the Heroscape™ hexed terrain tiles in warm soapy water to remove and grease or dirt. They should then be rinsed in clean, warm water, and allowed to dry.

Step 2
I then paint the sides of the hexed terrain tiles. I usually stack them in piles of seven, this being a thick enough pile for me to hold comfortably between my first finger and thumb whilst I apply the paint. (Incidentally, seven is also the number of hexed terrain tiles I can stack and store in my storage system)

The paint is actually thinned down and not used 'as it comes' from the paint pot. I find that a small, flat brush is an excellent tool for this task.

The point of painting the sides of the hexed terrain tiles is to dull the natural shine of the plastic, and too thick a coat of paint will stop the hexed terrain tiles locking together.

For this example I used thinned Games Workshop™ Graveyard Earth on the sides of the hexed terrain tiles.

Step 3
After the paint on the side of the hexed terrain tiles has dried they can be separated and the tops can be painted.

This is best done by painting the edge of each hexed terrain tile first, making sure that not too much paint goes over the edge of the hexed terrain tile as this will also make it difficult to lock the hexed terrain tiles together. I find that a small, flat brush is also an excellent tool for this task. I used Games Workshop™ Goblin Green to paint the top of each hexed terrain tile.

Once the edges are painted, the centre of the hexed terrain tile can also be painted. The paint is then allowed to dry, and any areas that have not been covered with sufficient paint can be touched up.

Step 4
Once the paint is thoroughly dry, the flock can be glued to the raised area on top of the hexed terrain tile.

I find that the best way to do this is to start by laying a bead or edge of white glue around the edge of the raised area on the hexed terrain tile with a thin paintbrush ...

... and then 'filling in' the middle section.

Step 5
As soon as the glue has been applied I place the hexed terrain tile in a shallow cardboard tray (the bottom half of a model kit box is ideal for this) and tip a generous amount of flock onto the hexed terrain tile, making sure that all the glued-covered surface has a thick layer of flock on it.

I leave the hexed terrain tile in situ for a minute or so, and then gently lift it out so that my fingers do not touch the area that was covered in glue. I then gently tip the hexed terrain tile over so that any excess flock falls back into the shallow tray.

The hexed terrain tile is then placed to one side and the glue is left to dry for at least four hours. The flock will look quite light at this stage, but as the glue dries it becomes transparent and the flock regains its original colour.