How to make Foam Terrain for wargaming and dioramas

Foam is a standard and easy product for making very detailed and great looking terrain. Whether you are making the terrain for table top wargaming or for dioramas you will find that foam is perfectly suited to make great terrain. This is a tutorial that shows you all the tips, tricks, and techniques for making terrain.

Let's take a look at the foam. It comes in a lot of different shapes, sizes, thicknesses and types. And many types of foam can be used. One of the least expensive products that I use is called foamular. It is a building supply product and can be found at almost any home improvement store. It comes in large sheets and in different thickenesses up to 2 inches. The pink material in the picture below is foamular. I also have a youtube video on this tutorial. You can see the video here: How to use foam to make wargaming terrain or dioramas

Finding, buying and selecting foam

Because there are lots of different types of foam you will find that some types are better than others when it comes to terrain making. In particular, some types will be better suited to carving, melting and making fine details. You can get a good sense of whether or not the foam will be suitable by taking a close look at it. The two pictures below show how foam varies and what to look for when selecting it. Amazon.com has lots of foam that is specifically made for terrain work. I have a page of it here.

The important thing to look for is the granularity of the foam. How tiny is the detail? The picture on the left shows some really good foam. It is very uniform and you can't see the individual foam pieces. The picture on the right shows foam that is not so good. This not so good foam is composed of thousands of little balls of foam that have been stuck together. This type of foam will be a bit difficult to cut and will be difficult to get detail work out of. You can use this type of foam, it will just be a bit more difficult and not as detailed.

Amazon.com has lots of foam that is specifically made for terrain work. I have a page of it here.

Working With Foam

You can work with a variety of tools when it comes to sculpting the foam. The most effective way to do lots of work quickly is to use some kind of a foam cutter. These foam cutters are called "Hot Wire" cutters because they use electricity to heat up a length of wire. The heat of the wire will allow it to melt right through the foam.

In the picture above you see two different hot wire foam cutters. The one on the left is a Hot Wire foam cutter made by woodland scenics. On the far right is an bow and guide attachment that goes with it. The red handled item in the center is called the styrocutter and it really comes in handy because of its shape. It can be used as a knife which gives you a lot of cutting freedom. It is better suited to delicate sculpting. I own both of these and use them regularly. They are both these cutting tools and others are available on Amazon.com: Hot Wire Foam Cutter -  The Styro Wonder Hot Knife Cutter Plus

Caution about cutting foam: Not all foams are made to be melted, some can give off toxic or noxious fumes. Check the manufacturers instructions before melting and always do this in a well ventilated area.

The picture below shows the Hot Knife cutter easily cutting through the foam.

Using common tools other than heating tools

You can also use many other types of common tools such as x-acto knives, utility knives, files, sculpting cutting and carving tools. You can even use sandpaper to work on the foam.The picture below shows some of the tools that I use

Ok let's see how some terrain is made - continue with the tutorial

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2. Making Miniature Trees
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12. Ral Partha Miniatures
13. Links and info about manufacturers of miniatures
14. Explanation of Miniature Scale
15. Use foam to make wargaminr or diorama terrain
16. How to Cast Miniatures

Sculpting Fantasy Miniatures

NEW: How to sculpt fantasy miniatures

1. Part 1 - intro
2. Part 2 - Drawings
3. Part 3 - Making Wire Armatures
4. Part 4 - Your first miniature 6"
5. Part 5 - Make a 3" miniature
6. Part 6 - Sculpting the musculature of the 3" Miniature Viking
7. Part 7 - begin sculpting the armor by adding the helmet
8. Part 8: Sculpting leather and chainmail
9. Part 9: Adding Belt, bracers and boots
10. Part 10: Painting the Miniature
11. Part 11: 25mm Female Warrior
12. Part 12 : The basic shape of the mini
13. Part 13: Completing the body
14. Part 14: Adding the swords and doing detail
15. Part 15: Painting and finishing the miniature
16. Sculpting Fantasy Miniatures Video Tutorials
17. Sculpting miniatures store- all the supplies you need.
18. Sculpting tips
19. Sculpt a Dwarf
20. Sculpt a Treasure Chest

Short Tutorials

1. How to Make a miniature ladder
2. Make a Miniature Hedge Maze (The Maze of Maddness)

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