so i had an idea and the test build looks promising. Maybe Denny tried this while developing TLX?

I printed the mount on card stock and cut a tile to fit it, (basically ignoring the 3/16in inch flap around the edges.

I glue the mount and tile together as normal creating a piece of "laminated" card stock 3 sheets thick on the edges. For the tabs I made card stock tabs but laminated so they are 2 sheets think.

The two test ties hold together well, but i'm wondering if they will not work well for multilevel structures. but i have a few ideas to make the tiles stronger.


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Interesting concept. I would think that warping would be a major issue, but I would love to see some pics of what you have going on.

warping is not really a problem if you use spray glue, i should also note that the tabs themselves are kind of special. to make them stronger they are folded on both lengths and then they have a small overlap in the center making them very strong.

you can see the tiles do bend a little bit when you hold them from the corner. in general laminated card stock has a great strength/weight ratio.

about the best part is for this is you only need to modify the digital cutter files to make it work. but i don't know how to write their file format yet (i have been using the illustrator plug in to do my cutting)

these test are rather ruff the major thing that need to change is the size of the mounts, they need to shrink a little bit to acount for the paper folding around them.

to be honest it's been a long time sense i built anything with linx (i dont even play games that could use this stuff anymore , so there could be some obvious problem that i'm missing

added a few anchors to the 6 inch tile and built a 6x3 building.

the tile supports the wight of the building fairly well however it does droop when you try to pick it up from a connected tile. I have an idea about how to make the tiles stronger and will test it out if i do a revision,

the strong support walls are a necessity to hold heavy miniatures on the second floor. i'm talking things like heavy metal warjacks, large plastics are fine with out support walls.

The take away here is this is likely only possible with spray glue and a digital cutter. i wonder if the WWG audince has enough people with digital cutters that are interested in flying without foam core.

Warping may come a year later if you are in any sort of a humid environment. Just pack 'em carefully, I guess, maybe in a good container with one of those moisture-absorbing bags.

The beauty of foamcore is:
1. It's rigid, so it won't flop or bend easily.
2. It's got a very high compression strength.
3. It's amazingly light compared to its compression strength.

It'll be really hard to find equivalencies to those points with the material you're using, but good luck!

foam core is awesome no doubt about it, but i have made some really really keen stuff when going as far as 5-6 layers of laminated card stock in the past. i just tried a partial 3-4 layered tile, works very well, i bet the hallways and 3inch squares are great with this process, the 6 inch will take a little more work.

If it's vinyl flooring tile then it won't. They're made for a wide environmental variation. From the picture it looks like a peel and stick vinyl. What did you use Tyler?

I didn't realize that this might be a material other than cardstock when I posted (before the pics). If, for some reason, foamcore is horrendously expensive in your area then I could see doing something like this, but would almost prefer to go with something sturdier, like matboard or even some kind of cardboard/gator board.

My very first build was done with cardboard from free USPS shipping packages and regular printer paper. This was because I wanted to test things out before investing money into the hobby. I find the investment to be well worth it.

Very interesting idea! Keep us updated on how it turns out.

oh i'm just using card stock. the point is i just got a digital cutter, with this device it's just too tempting to not try to replace the foam core mounts with something i can have cut automatically.

i'm excited to build more of it but work has been keeping my quite busy lately (it's a refreshing change of pace)

Been there, done that, went back to foamcore pretty quickly.

During TLX development, after Denny brought me onboard, one of the first things I tried to do was eliminate foamcore so machine cutters could get the full benefit out of their machines. Denny went through several iterations of a cardstock TLX insert, but we discarded every single one of them as being structurally inferior or more of a pain in the ass to build than just cutting out foamcore mounts.

As recently as the preceding year, when I was still running Ebbles Miniatures, I revisited that idea in preparation for doing licensed TLX sets. I subjected my own beta tester group to a barrage of pretty outlandish cardstock-only insert solutions that ranged from modifications of Denny's prototypical inserts all the way up to an actual 3D cardstock mount of the same dimensions as a foamcore mount.

In every single case, the cardstock mounts were inferior to the foamcore mounts in one or more ways. The ones that built up faster were *always* weaker and floppier. The ones that were marginally strong enough for the job were almost always much more of a pain in the ass to assemble, and still did not come close to foamcore in strength and rigidity.

I've even experimented with chipboard and other materials--you still end up using several sheets and a lot of glue, and you don't really save that much time over simply cutting out a foamcore mount.

Another concern is that simply doing a couple layers of cardstock means you're screwed if you want to do girder-style components like the trusses in Mayhem Destroyed with the post-to-post connectors. Also, the double-height walls assume you're using 3/16" to 1/4" thick tiles, so that's another gotcha.

If you succeed where I've failed repeatedly, more power to you. Speaking of which, I gotta talk to Denny later this week and see if there's some way we can dig out those old cardstock inserts and let you guys go to town on them. No promises or anything, you understand, but I know I'd really like to be able to eliminate foamcore entirely, so I'm keenly interested in any practical solutions that the community can come up with.

Well spoken Mel! personally I have no issues with using foamboard, sure it takes a little while, but that's ok with me because the resulting pieces are VERY durable!

I figured you guys tried this already. Foam core feels like something reached after a whole lot of dead ends.

Here is my current 6inch mount



The extra flaps fold in, you simply spray glue the whole thing and fold the flaps in. there is also a rectangle of paper added to the center to make it 2 layers across.

I'm working on modifying the wrap to increase strength and am tempted to rework the tab shape to make gaps less compromising to tile strength.

It's important to know that anything i make will only be easier for those with a digital cutter and yeah it's not going to be compatible with stuff.

LoL As one of those testers Chris tortured with this I can very much vouch for the results...the best of the "all cardstock" inserts was , even machine cut. a real pain to fold and glue...and it needed to be to give the necessary support and thickness.
I used to really hate doing the foamcore inserts too, as a dedicated machine cut fan, but after trying the alternatives, and working out my foamcore production line I am now firmly sitting in the "foamcore rules" camp