Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Terrain: Urban Elevation 001

So these are the stars of my next project, the humble egg crate tray. I get these from the boxes of eggs I get. Two trays carries 5½ dozen eggs. Two boxes of eggs a month equals four trays. I used to throw them out, until one day I asked my girlfriend to look at them and tell me what she sees in them, just start telling me ideas. She mentioned bridge type thing, or support, and I was off. I instantly saw the trays in a new light, that of their shape and how it can work for me just as well as it does protecting eggs.

Four trays cover a 2'x2' square handily
I need more foamcore
I got some. The back edge in place
Proof of concept achieved :D
Some of the work in progress shots. The edges are two inches high. All the top and appropriate corners are cut so that the foamcore is hidden at the joints. The deck will slot right into the edges and ride on the egg trays.

Mark Bedford Stormtroopers for scale
The ramp up to the deck of the not-hill is 8" wide and 12" long. The support here will be foamcore wedges.
2'x'2' not-hill

It's pretty good size
With all the foamcore secured, the next step will be to cover all the edges with thin card. The ramp will also get clad in thin card. The edges will have some small details added to break up the big grey stretches. I want to build three more sections, at least. Two of these will feature a canal. I plan extensions for the canal to stretch out over the rest of the board.

I'm super excited to be able to build these board sections finally. For a long time these were out of reach, since the only feasible way to build them (to me, at the time) was to use pink 2" insulation foam. Its just the way terrain gets done. Fast forward to now and this egg tray reinforced foamcore monster. It is light, sturdy, square, and cheaper. For a sheet of insulation foam I'd pay ~$40. For 11 dozen eggs, 2 sheets of foamcore, and a 4'x2' sheet of MDF I pay ~$20... and I can eat the eggs. It works out a little better in favor of the egg tray boards when I work in the cost of tools needed to work the foam. Seriously it sucks to work with.

Cheers,

CJ