FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
DO YOU SHIP TO MY COUNTRY?
I ship toolkits to most parts of the world. When you're placing your order in the web shop, you can select your country and it will confirm if it's on the list and how much shipping will be. For a single toolkit, the shipping cost is:
£5 - UK
£10 - Europe
£15 - USA / Canada
£16 - Rest of the world
WHAT SIZE ARE THE HEXES?
Your finished hexes will be 100mm (about 4") from corner to opposite corner. The river sections are 7.5mm (about 1/4") deep. The grass hexes are 15mm (about 1/2") deep. The slopes go up in 15mm (about 1/2") increments.
WHICH HOT WIRE CUTTER WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?
You'll need a hand-held hot wire cutter which can make cuts at least 110mm / 4.25" wide. If you want to interlock your hexes, you'll need to make internal cuts (like cutting the hole out of doughnut), so you'll want a hot wire cutter where you can easily remove and replace one end of the wire (e.g. by simply loosening/tightening a screw). The hot wire cutter I use, which I can recommend, is the Hot Wire Foam Cutter from Woodland Scenics. Make sure you get some spare wire too, as it only comes with one length.
WHAT KIND OF POLYSTYRENE WORKS BEST?
You can use extruded or expanded polystyrene - the important thing is the density. You can test it by pushing your thumb into it - if it doesn't make much of an impression, it should be good to use. I'd say anything more than 20kg/m³ is good - you don't want to go much less than that. The best stuff I've used was 28kg/m³.
All the polystyrene I've used has been sourced from waste packaging but if you're planning on buying your own, I would recommend polystyrene sheeting which is at least 15mm / 5/8" and no greater than 25mm / 1" thick.
DOES THE TOOLKIT NEED ANY PREPARATION BEFORE ITS FIRST USE?
Yes - you'll need to remove each tool from its plywood sheet, using a sharp knife to cut the tiny tabs that hold it in place. You'll then need to lightly sand and trial fit some of the parts to ensure a perfect fit. In this linked video, I provide full instructions.
WHERE CAN I FIND INSTRUCTIONS OR TUTORIALS?
There's a YouTube channel full of tutorial videos explaining how to use the toolkit.
COULD YOU MAKE A TOOLKIT FOR A DIFFERENT SIZE OF HEX?
The toolkit would need a lot of rework for it to function with a different hex size – it’s not as simple as just rescaling the cutting files. This is because the dimensions take into account the thickness of the polystyrene, the plywood that the toolkit is made from and even the laser kerf (the burn width of the laser beam). I chose 100mm hexes as an optimal size and I have no plans to produce a toolkit for any other size of hex. If you want a smaller hex size for gaming purposes, have a look at this video, which shows how you can superimpose a 50mm hex grid on 100mm hexes.
CAN I BUY ADDITIONAL OR REPLACEMENT PARTS?
Yes – I have many replacement parts in stock. Please contact me with details of what you'd like and I’ll get back to you with a price.
WILL MINIATURES STAND UP ON THE SLOPING HEXES?
I have around 1,000 miniatures in 25mm and 28mm, mostly from Games Workshop and a mix of metals and plastics. I've tried loads of them on the normal sloping hexes and the only one which had any problem was an orc carrying a big metal banner above his head. Even that one would stay standing if I turned him to face a different direction.
The steep slopes (those which gain 30mm in height) are too steep for most miniatures, however, so if you use these, you may want to texture them with rocks or similar to mark them as impassable.
WHY DO THE HEXES IN THE PHOTOS HAVE CARDBOARD SIDES?
These were from my original project which inspired the Hex Terrain Toolkit. The construction method was similar, but much more labour intensive. With good quality polystyrene, the cardboard sides ultimately proved unnecessary.
You may have also noticed that some of the edge pieces in the photos are triangular. When I developed the 'snowflake and cog' mechanism for interlocking the hexes, it became obvious that these edge pieces needed to be half hexes, rather than just small triangles, to ensure that they would be held securely to the base.