Lucid Phoenix Games: Build Your Own Infinity Terrain: Woods and a Short Haul Space Truck

I made a video showing off some of the terrain I've built for Infinity. I start off talking about how I built simple trees and root boxes and bushes.

Then I show you my sniper tree... which I love.

The last thing I show off is part of the short haul space truck I built. You can see the final product on the side here.

Go ahead and watch the video. Then I'll go through some better explanation for how that particular piece comes together.

Huge thanks to Braddock Station Garrison for the rocking music. Their newest album is awesome, check it out.

Most of the supplies are nothing fancy. I just use regular craft glue, cardboard is cardboard, I'm not sure you can go wrong with the kind of foam core you get. I did use white however.

The card Stock I usually use is 65 lb but I have used thinner stuff. Sometimes the thinner stuff is called cover paper instead of card stock -- it's fine and cheaper.

The full sheet label paper is Avery 8465. I'm sure other companies make something similar. It is sold as a shipping label thing. I've even used it for that every once in a while.

PDFs:

Basic Tree (1 trunk, 3 bases, 3 tops)
Root Boxes (x2)
Bushes (x2, front and back)
Sniper Tree (1 tree front and back)
Short Haul Space Truck (1 cab, 1 trailer)

The Short Haul Space Truck
The truck has two pieces -- essentially two boxes with stickers on them.

The cab is the part where the driver / pilot sits. I have it split into a couple rooms. If you have monitors or computer terrain bits, you could put them in here to add some character. The trailer is the part that the shipping containers sit on.

Before you start, print out the PDF above on full sheet label paper. Then cut out each individual piece with a craft knife and straight edge or a paper cutter.

First we build the boxes, then we stick the labels on.

I linked to this in my discussion of the army boxes I built, but this is crucial info so go watch this video again from the Esoteric Order of Gamers.

The Cab
The cab is a large box with a removable lid. First I cut out a piece of foam core the same size as my floor sticker. Immediately, I break my rule about putting stickers on after boxes are built... it is probably easier to put the cab floor sticker on now before you make the box.

Now I cut out 4 walls -- again the same size as my stickers. Note that a couple of my stickers are too short. You can kind of see that in the picture below where the green sticker on the right side does not go all the way to the edge of the box. So double check your measurements against the floor piece you already have to make sure your box is constructed correctly. If the sticker does not reach all the way to the edge of the box that's ok. If the walls of the box are the wrong size that is not so ok.

Below you can see the bottom of the completed box. I applied glue to the edges of the floor piece and than stuck the bottoms of two opposite walls to those edges and secured with straight pins. Then applied more glue to the edges of those wall sides before adding the other two walls. Then more straight pins.

Now you can apply stickers to the sides of the cab. Note that the front window sticker is on the same sheet as the sticker for the top of the cab.

Below, you can see that I cut out two more short walls and glued those to the floor and interior wall along the grey cross that is printed on the floor sticker. That creates an air-lock type hall way from the side door and a small office room to break up the interior. Clearly you could ignore my interior plan and add walls how you want.

You can also see that I cut out the side door. I did this carefully(ish) so that I could jam it back in there when I want the door closed.

Now you need the roof. For this piece of foam core I measured the complete width and length of the current piece. It should be the same size as that roof sticker but you want the roof to rest on the tops of the walls. I cut that piece out and then attached the roof sticker to it.

I also cut out small rectangles of foam core to match the solar panels, stuck the extra stickers on them and then glued that over the black rectangles on the roof sticker. This gives the roof a bit of extra detail.

On the bottom of the roof, I took some extra squares of foam core and glued them near the corners. This helps keep the roof from sliding off during play. I'm not looking for a snug fit, just a bit of a catch if it gets knocked.

Now we can sit the roof on the rest of the cab.

The Trailer
The trailer is built in a similar fashion but is a shorter closed box.

The most important thing to note when building this box is that the top will be longer than the bottom by the width of the ramps. Below you can see the ramp edge of the trailer. The ramps and the landing in between are part of the top of the trailer box.

So, cut your sides and bottom appropriately and after you glue the top onto the bottom and sides, the ramp portion of the top will be hanging over one edge of your box.

Before you do anything else, apply stickers to the sides and top.

To make the ramps, cut along the red lines that should match up to the edge of the box bottom. The two lines go pretty far in, but leave a landing to connect the ramps to the top of the trailer box.

Next, cut two triangular grooves at the edge of the landing from below. These wedges will allow the ramps to hinge at those points. Careful not to cut all the way through. You are trying to leave the top layer of the foam core intact.

Now bend the ramps up above the top of the box and apply some glue to the edges facing the rest of the box. Then swing the ramps down down so that the ends of each ramp meet the bottom edge of the box and press to the sides until the glue sets.