Making Simple Crates and Boxes

There is nothing on the game table that add story, and excitement like the little details. Though small, the little things like a small sign, or a hanging lantern outside a door, or a pile of crates, draw you in to the gaming experience that is unique to the table top gaming genre. There are several reputable retailers out there offering crates and boxes and barrels that are suitable for 28m...

There is nothing on the game table that add story, and excitement like the little details. Though small, the little things like a small sign, or a hanging lantern outside a door, or a pile of crates, draw you in to the gaming experience that is unique to the table top gaming genre. There are several reputable retailers out there offering crates and boxes and barrels that are suitable for 28mm gaming. But there's something to be said for making your own.

In this article you will learn about basic shaping of extruded polystyrene, and I would consider a 1 out of 5 for difficulty.



What you will need:

- some polystyrene readily available at any hardware store as an insulative product
- a ruler
- a knife - serrated bread knife optional (not pictured)
- a pen or pencil
- a bit of fine sandpaper (I use the drywall sandpaper since it doesn't bung up with foam)
- putty knife is optional

Start by laying out and cutting your rough dimensions. For 28 - 30mm range I tend to use 3/4" square or 1 1/2 x 3/4" for rectangular ones.

This is where I use a serrated knife since I don't own a foam cutter.

LIGHTLY sand all of the sides of the boxes for consistency. Don't press too hard, but if the box is not square, you can squeeze them into the correct shape at this time.


Use a Pen or Pencil to draw the seems where the planks will be. In this case I've also drawn on some handles. Press lightly at first, this is just layout.


Now you want to compress the lower panels of the box, giving it real depth. To do this, use the back of your pen/pencil and press firmly, but not hard.


Use the tip of the pen/pencil to get the corners and the edges. For a crisp edge, lightly knife the line first.


Now that your crates have some depth, it's time to texture the foam to look like wood. For this I use the putty knife and the hobby knife for different thicknesses. you don't want to cut in, just make lines in the foam. Pressing too hard will make tears like in the crates above on the right. They were my first attempt from a few years ago.


Now that you've scored the crates with some texture, you can go over the lines again with your pen/pencil to clean up some edges where needed, and put them with your other unpainted, but ready to be tackled projects.



Lots can be done with these crates. You can see that I put some handles in mine, and there's another with a couple of tags on it. The big crates to the right have card glued to the outside as solid bands of iron, topped with rivets. There's no end to what you can do with them, and they make great cover/climbable terrain on any table.