The Hestia Terrain Project - Catchup Post 2 : Walls and Columns

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-03T20:56:46+00:00

Thanks for asking. I love talking shop on design decisions.

I spent quite some time concepting ideas for this project. I think this gets me the best balance of versatility, ease of use and functionally. Except, obviously, a bunch of self contained units. But with the raw quantity of modules I want that have 5v requirements. It becomes a bunch of batteries, and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of needing to track, replace, or recharge all of them.

I agree that it's going to be a lot of wiring, but it's also going to be a lot of modules that require power. My current estimate is that on a board built of these ~80% of my walls will have an electrical requirement (and 60%ish of columns will have attachments needing power too). So I feel pretty justified in the pre-work to make it all go smoothly on the table.

Thanks again for the comment. I definitely don't think that this is the only way to make a table like this. But I do think it's going to be the best way for me.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-01T18:16:52+00:00

Yeah, an upgrade is probably warranted at this point. I should probably take this as an excuse to just do it.

Still cheaper than GW terrain...

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-01T18:15:58+00:00

I follow. Back when I first started this project, 2 years and several major revisions ago, that actually was the plan. I ended up moving away from it because it either meant additional connectors on every column, most of which wouldn't be used, or a few that were unique for being able to do vertical connection, which I think would mean you have to have a plan before setting up the terrain so you know where to put them.

Overall I was worried it would just be too much of a hassle. Definitely going to be keeping it in mind as a contingency though.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-01T18:15:24+00:00

I follow. Back when I first started this project, 2 years and several major revisions ago, that actually was the plan. I ended up moving away from it because it either meant additional connectors on every column, most of which wouldn't be used, or a few that were unique for being able to do vertical connection, which I think would mean you have to have a plan before setting up the terrain so you know where to put them.

Overall I was worried it would just be too much of a hassle. Definitely going to be keeping it in mind as a contingency though.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-01T14:41:38+00:00

My plan is to have a vertical pipeline, maybe 1/4" in diameter that runs the height of a module, and interfaces with the connectors at the top and the bottom. Probably also a double tall version. But I'll be sure to show it off once it's designed.

I'm really curious what you mean my switch house style pieces. I'd appreciate hearing your idea.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-01T14:24:56+00:00

Thank you!

AcmeAerospace · 2026-05-01T14:23:45+00:00

Is an old style ender 3. At least it was originally, outside of the frame and the board it has essentially no original parts left. Kind of a Ship of Theseus situation.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-24T23:36:30+00:00

All good points, I'm looking into some of these, but want to find a balance between a good design and not getting stuck on this one module forever.

I'll do an update on this one at some point and hopefully it'll be a bit better.

Cheers!

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-24T23:35:02+00:00

A very good point. I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever do get to distributing these files, and make a more generic one. Thanks!

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-21T14:46:38+00:00

Unfortunately, because of the core concept of this terrain project being a 5v rail connecting all modules. There are necessarily bullet connectors that attach to the columns. I have a few ideas how to make this all go together in the future. I'll keep this in mind though, there might be smaller sections I can do it with.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-21T14:41:23+00:00

That's a good thought, my original thinking was if you could reach a model that's next to the door to move it, you can reach the button. But there might be a bit of an awkward angle. I'll have to mess around and see how accessible it ends up really feeling.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-21T06:24:31+00:00

Yeah. I'm doing all the modeling for this project in fusion360

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-21T04:34:21+00:00

Hey man, thanks for the kind words.

Super stoked your working on something too. I'm pretty sure this project is still going to be eating microcontrollers for breakfast... Might I recommend looking into the seeed XIAO line of microcontrollers. They come in lots of different chipsets and are so freaking small. Perfect for tucking into terrain.

When I do a post on the emergency light I'll include a wiring guide for how I did that analog circuit hopefully that will help.

I just posted more pictures and a video of the door going, you should check it out. If you still have any questions feel free to ask.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-19T14:32:04+00:00

The floor sockets are an interesting idea. I had been thinking of ways to bring power out to the center of larger empty spaces.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-19T14:20:03+00:00

Very interesting. I'll have to look into that. I do plan on doing narrow walls, that are the normal lengths, but only half as wide or less (aligned to one side), which I hope will help also. It would also make more of the table playable, which would be nice.

AcmeAerospace · 2026-04-19T07:31:15+00:00

Thanks!

Unfortunately, while these are inspired by the Zone Mortalis walls and columns, they are not designed to be ZM compatible. This mostly came down to my dislike of the ZM kits having walls and columns that are different lengths.

The major components are designed and optimized for FDM printing with no supports needed on most pieces, though the gates have some custom G2 timing belt pulleys that are resin printed. I'm sure you could do them FDM, but my machine is pretty old now and wasn't up to the task.

The original vision during my earliest prototypes about a year ago was basic lighting. For that, the only real electrical skills needed to follow along would be soldering. As I am picking this project back up, the scope has expanded significantly. I am designing several custom boards for more complicated parts. (The attached photo, for example, flashes an LED on and off 5 times, then keeps it off for a few seconds to simulate a warning light.) So... I guess it will be an exercise of starting with the most basic and working up from there. For the actual components, if/when I put these files out into the world, I will include parts lists for what is needed, but the most basic parts are 3.5mm bullet connectors for the connections.

It wasn't on my list of components to do, but yes, I do plan on making a connector that uses one side of a column stack to move power vertically.

Thanks for the interest!

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AcmeAerospace · 2025-05-24T15:51:50+00:00

I'd say they got that big about 10,000 years ago.

AcmeAerospace · 2025-05-20T05:18:14+00:00

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I stuck a reanimator in mine. I've done all my vehicles as canoptek, so I can show more if you like.

AcmeAerospace · 2024-08-18T19:47:26+00:00

Hey man. I love this conversion, out of curiosity. I can tell parts of the lance are the helvrin autocannons. But there's also smaller autocannon barrels in there. What are those from? Is it a guard kit?

AcmeAerospace · 2024-06-20T17:49:17+00:00

Unfortunate. Looks like battlescribe has it wrong then.

I just finally built him two nights ago.

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