Project Start....

Recently, my pre-teen son gained an interest in playing Axis and Allies. So, I thought after seeing many custom made Axis and Allies maps on the internet, and with my own frustration of not having enough room on the original map for the game pieces, I thought I'd attempt it myself.......my first purchase of supplies:

I bought a 1/4 inch thick, 2' X 2' piece of plywood (yeah, I know, a 4' X 8' would have been cheaper) but my plan is to make "panels" that can be slid together and easily stored and transported. Our community has a new anti-graffiti ordinance, so I had to prove to the cashier with a smile, that I was over 18 years old so as to be able to buy the spray paint.

Tracing....by hand, after wards I scanned my tracing and enlarged it by 4X on microsoft paint, then printed them out.

Cutting and taping the printouts together to match up.

Using a pocket knife, I then traced the printout on to an empty cereal box cardboard, removed the paper and finished cutting out the template. That's Eastern Canada. (or at least my best attempt).

Same thing with Eastern United States.

I pre-painted the 2' X 2' with blue spray paint, for the ocean of course. Originally my templates were much smaller and it took about four times to paint Eastern Canada and U.S. until I got the size I wanted. You can somewhat see some of my earlier mistakes. I'm running out of blue spray paint.

So far, so good. I spray painted the templates, Eastern Canada first. Spray painting blends the coastlines quite well.  I accidently left out Lake Ontario, but it's too late now for a minor correction. On the original Axis and Allies map, Eastern Canada and Spain are about 2 inches apart, mine will be about 8 inches apart, so Western Europe will start on a new panel. I may add Greenland and Iceland to this panel, even though it's not on the original game map. After labeling the countries and their IPC value (IPC's is the currency used in the game), I might cover the panels with 1/16th thick plexiglass. Personal note: If I don't post again in about 30 days, it will probably means I gave up on this project and started some other type of project. (I still have to assemble a used wooden deck for our above ground pool that a friend gave me).