Building a 45 Foot table from scratch Part 1

Having come up with the bright idea of setting up Wargame Holidays, we compounded the situation by inviting some guests to come and test it out in June 2010.  In March we went over to Crete to source the materials we'd need and get a lot of the basic work done on the table and the terrain boards.  Thanks to our good friend Theo, he managed to source the blue insulation board that would prove to be invaluable for the whole project.  He even negotiated a great price for it too.

Here are some very early shots of the table under construction by me, Diane and ably assisted by Mary:

First we set up the table using large thick sheets of block board.  The table is in a U shape around the central pillar.  It is 45 foot or 15 metres long and 6 foot or 2 metres wide.

First fix of the base boards for the table.  Batons have been added to strengthen the joints.  You can see the first pack of Tiktas (blue insulation board) has been brought down for the next stage.

We measured each of the baseboards carefully and used a spirit level to make sure they were flat.

A drop in the table levels before being dealt with.

Diane applying concentrated PVA on the reverse of one of the 100 60cm square tiles.

Each of the blue insulation tiles were stuck to a 60cm square piece of mdf.

Belt and braces PVA in the Union Jack pattern!

Still working at the PVA stage with several of the tiles drying.

Here's the Union Jack PVA pattern finished and the tile is ready to be stuck to the mdf board.

As I cut each of the mdf squares out I passed them to Diane to cut the blue insulation board to fit.  Note she is using a long bladed craft knife to get a decent straight cut.

Any blemishes and problems with the insulation board got a coat of PVA before further repairs.

We found it was a good idea to add some PVA to the edges of the insulation board to protect against bashes and dents.

Some time later (several days), all of the boards are ready for the next and very messy stage - a thorough coat of PVA followed by a good cover of sand and gravel.

It would just be my luck that when we got to this next stage that Crete was having a heat wave and the sand was 25 metres away outside!

Next stage in construction soon.