# Does anyone know about "Granny Grating"?



## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

No, it's neither an obscure urban sport nor an over-60s sexual practice... it is, apparently, a plastic grid used for cross-stich or something similar, which some people use for making flooring or fences in terrain projects...

I have questions. How much is it? How much do you get for that? Where can you get it? What size is/are the grid (like, the actual squares)? Is it rigid or flexible? Does it need to be 'keyed' before painting? Is there anything else about it that I need to know?

So, that's the gist... I've seen it referred to a couple of times on terrain sites but don't know much about it; but from what I've seen it looks groovy...

:not knowing that much about needlework supplies to be honest cyclops:


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## Shogun_Nate (Aug 2, 2008)

Check the craft or hobby section and you should find some. They come in various sized squares and are quite sturdy but flexible. It's easy to cut as well. You might need to do something to the finish on it but I'm not sure before you paint it. The squares inside it are large enough for yarn to go through. You might want to also look into plastic window screen. You can find the stuff at Wal-Mart(in the US) and it's relatively cheap. 

Good luck and good gaming,

Nate


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Shogun_Nate said:


> ... You might want to also look into plastic window screen...


Is that the stuff in that inner 'screen' door one sees in American movies and TV shows?

We don't have that here I don't think, I live in a place where bugs die of cold and/or wet before they reach your house (no, not Canada:biggrin. Good old UK, a place where the outside is so shit, we had to stay indoors and invent Warhammer instead.

But thanks for the rest of the info mate, I'll keep my eyes open.

:trying to work out where the nearest craft shop is cyclops:


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

I have never used it, having also had difficulty finding it, but I know that it can be a slag to paint (saw a tutorial somewhere with all sorts of inventive cursing about it). I would imagine being plastic if you spray primed it, then it would hold paint ok, but I suspect it wouldn't like being painted without priming.


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## Shogun_Nate (Aug 2, 2008)

LOL...you are a lucky man then! Here we have to fight off mosquitos with machettes just to get to our cars :wink:

And it is sometimes used for screen doors but mostly for window screens in general. It's a shame you can't find it there because it comes in rolls and you could easily make enough fence to turn your battlefield into a maze LOL.

The needlepoint boards should be easy to find though. That is of course unless you English don't crochette(I think that's how it's spelled :shok LOL.

Good luck and good gaming,

Nate


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

It's called Plastic Canvas, and youc an get it almost anywhere from amazon to wal-mart, but craft stores like michael's and jo-ann might be best

It looks a little too regular and blah to me though. In a real life gridwork you;ll have interlacing metal wire or bars that will go over and under eachother, rather than flowing perfectly into one another with no bumps. Plastic canvas is just too flat and uniform for my tastes

And yeah, they;re usually made out of slick, glossy PVC type plastic, so painting them is hell too...


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Galahad said:


> ...
> It looks a little too regular and blah to me though. In a real life gridwork you;ll have interlacing metal wire or bars that will go over and under eachother, rather than flowing perfectly into one another with no bumps. Plastic canvas is just too flat and uniform for my tastes...


LOL! 

Ah, mate, I can just imagine you sitting there knitting your own 1:72 scale chainlink fencing and floor mesh, muttering to yourself "they say the shop bought stuff looks OK, but I can tell it hasn't got tiny ridges in it, they called me mad at the Games Club, but I'll show them, I'll show them all, hahaha..." 

I'm prepared to believe that it's some other form of grid, not actually a woven mesh. I'm gonna look for some, but thatnks for the warnings on painting it.

Anyone got a clue as to how much it retails for? Any currency, I can sort out the mental maths... as long as no-one from Thailand posts, I have no idea about the Baht.

Thanks for the info everyone. I really do appreciate it.

:granny-shop exploring cyclops:


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

It's about 1,000 baht per square inch.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

You can get them in different sizes but an A2 sheet shouldn't cost more than a couple of quid, you can get it from Hobby Craft, if you can fight your way past the old woman wee and cough sweet brigade to get at it. Any hobby store should stock it or at least be able to order it in for you failing that some toy shops sell it now (Gamleys etc.) and a lot of stationers also stock it. good luck finding it and let us know how you get on with painting it.

Edit: Also try wool and textile shops, but the wee and cough sweet brigade are in their natural environment in these places so beware, you may leave with knitted jumpers that you will never wear!


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## EndangeredHuman (Feb 20, 2008)

Digg40k said:


> It's about 1,000 baht per square inch.


:laugh: You smooth bastard.

Basically, if you can buy it online. Do it. I've seen it retail for around $1.40 for a pack.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

EndangeredHuman said:


> :laugh: You smooth bastard.
> 
> Basically, if you can buy it online. Do it. I've seen it retail for around $1.40 for a pack.


Hehe just a bit of fun, I'm sure it'll tickle Red Orc.:laugh:


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Red Orc said:


> LOL!
> 
> Ah, mate, I can just imagine you sitting there knitting your own 1:72 scale chainlink fencing and floor mesh, muttering to yourself "they say the shop bought stuff looks OK, but I can tell it hasn't got tiny ridges in it, they called me mad at the Games Club, but I'll show them, I'll show them all, hahaha..."
> 
> ...



LMAO, well...I *do* make my own barbed wire out of hand-stripped twist-ties... but it pays. People freak when they see each barb is hand twisted onto intertwined double-strands...none of that "I pulled the spiral out of my old notebook" bullshit...

<cough>

But anyway, it's pretty cheap, a couple bucks a pack at most...but be warned, it is a pain in the ass to put paint onto. Slick and soft and with too many crannies to sand and prep first.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

(Mother from 'Heathers', sighing fondly): You two...

Anyway; thanks for the giggle guys, Digg, it did make me laugh; Gal, I somehow _knew_ you'd make your own... if I had a hat, I'd take it off in deference to your dedication to your hobby.

I consider myself fore-warned as to the difficulty of painting it, and indeed the difficulty of threading my way through all the old ladies to find the stuff. I have found a craft shop in town, I'll head down there in the next few days and _if I make it out alive_ I'll let you know how I got on.

:crafty cyclops:


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## Tankworks (Jul 20, 2008)

You can find it in stores that sell yarn. There is the 'canvas' type which is very flexible and there are shaped types which are thicker and stiffer. They are smooth both sides as stated but are primo for making things like ships' gratings/hatch covers.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Right, I've got some.

One large (about 24x15" ish - I haven't whipped out my tape measure yet) piece; there were smaller pieces with a much finer mesh, but this looked good to me. It really is very flexible though, I expected it to be stiffer (ooh-err Missus!). This cost me £2.99, i guess about US$5.

I also bought 2 circular grids, one about 50mm and the other 115mm (it says on the label). These were 30p (50c?) and 45p (that would be about 75c, then...)

They do (especially the big sheet) seem very 'polytheney', almost waxy, and I can see that they're going to be a bugger to paint.

Does anyone think a Sharpie might be the way forward (Galahad, I'm looking at you in particular here, as the 'Sharpie-painting man')? Just to do a black undercoat, and then I'll try painting on top of that? Or will that really not work?

:not exactly _au fait_ with painting with permanent markers but willing to give it a go cyclops:


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Sharpie will rub right off, won't impregnate the material at all. It'll come off on your fingers just picking it up.

There are certain paints (like Krylon Fuzion) formulated to bond with plastics you could try finding a spray primer forumlated for plastic and prime the pieces...just avoid using the stuff on minis because it can cause your details to melt as the outer layer of plastic is temporarily softened and bonded with the paint.

That might be a bit extreme, come to think.


The crannies caused by the grids make it impossible to sand everywhere, but they should also help protect the paint down inside there too. You might be able to get away with just sanding the top and sides, then sealing the hell out of it after you paint, wash, etc and just hope that because the unsanded areas are below the surface you won;t have any ruboff.

Cut a couple circles and stick them on a base or tewo to test it out. If the grating is completely stuck down so it won;t be bending around all the time, and it;s not in a major grab area then it should be fine.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Just a thought Red, maybe car paint is the way forward? I know a couple of posters here use Halford's Car Primer on models, and it is certainly made to stick to plastic bumpers...

Best of luck anyway, and lets have some piccies!


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Thanks for the tips guys. Sanding, plastic primer, and the possibility of car-paint, it is.

Squeek, I'm afraid piccies are few and far between. I don't have a digicam and my phone... is a phone (I'm secretly disgusted that it can do texts actually). That's why there are no piccies of any of my armies on Heresy (that, and because I'm a shit and lazy painter).

I could probably do you a nice _diagram_ as I have various software for that... but short of sticking things on my scanner (well, they are flat I suppose) and taking pictures that way, I'm a bit stuffed.

I'm back at home now, and have got my tape measure out: the big piece is 22.5x13.5" (_Not_ 24x15"... men, eh? We add an extra inch and a half to _everything_...); the large circle is indeed 115mm or 4.5"... the small one is 75mm or just short of 3".

The experiments may take some time. I'll let you know any results as and when.

:girding his loins cyclops:


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Ok fair enough, well perhaps you can paint a picture for the mind with your words, or something of that nature? Although I suppose it is a little hypocritcal of me to ask for pictures of your models when I don't post mine!


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Well, being a little painting this afternoon, it occured to me that it's a daft idea painting the mesh then cutting it up (because the cut edges would still be white), and I haven't built the tower it's supposed to be flooring yet... so I painted the two circular pieces as a test.

It was pretty easy actually; I washed them in detergent with a pan scrub (just one of those yellow foam/green rough-stuff ones, not like wire wool), then gave them two coats of good old chaos black, quite watery, then drybrushed silver (I forget which). They look pretty good; but I need to add some rusty/stained patches and then they'll be ready to rock and roll I reckon.

Thanks again guys for the suggestions and advice. I'll let yous all know more when there's more to tell.

:quite chuffed with his new 'drain cover' terrain cyclops:


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Ooh, it's interesting to hear that they aren't too difficult to paint, my sources obviously had different mesh or something... I'll have to keep an eye on your progress!


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

An ear mate. I still don't have a camera. And it's bad form to use the expression "keep an eye on" near a 

:cyclops:

:wink:


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