Xtreme Giant Magnetic Wall Map 1940 Global

It all started with a man and a dream…

But the much shorter version is I didn’t love that the map was never big enough in Germany, and I felt bad leaving tables up in the living room for days while playing around peoples schedules, then it hit me -I should make a giant map that fits on the wall!!!

I had a friend order a large print of a map I found online.

My first construction step was connecting 8 foot 2x4 to wall studs with 4" screws.

It started as a simple wood frame.

Then I put on the pressboard.

(Annie the cat did not approve of much of this process)

Then I added the 3’x4’ steel sheets from Home Depot (often found near the water heaters, it was hard finding them without large bends.)

I secured them with Loctite Power Grab Ultimate.

Getting it attached to the wall with the kitchen drawer rollers was tough. I’m glad I had a friend to help me lift, I bent some of the metal picking it up myself. It was awkward.

The plan with the drawer rollers was to lift it up and down easily, but it became so heavy that I but in a base at the middle for a car jack to lift it into place and then it sits on the 4"x4" pieces of wood each side in either the low playing position, or the high display (I get to put my couch against the wall) position.
It’s only 6" deep, but still.!

It’s a big map. 10’ wide by 4’ 7".

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It’s so big I set the board up without chips. Every individual piece is represented as it’s own figure.

Then I just rolled out my vinyl map and used magnets to secure it in place.

So, yeah, that’s my map.

Some extra thoughts…

In complete transparency, the wall is not magnet, but ferrous, specifically steel. Not knowing how things would turn out I bought rare earth magnets N50 & N52 staying away from the less expensive N35s, but if you get a map printed thin even most ceramic magnets would work well.

If I had to do it again, I’d go 2 feet longer. 12’ x apx 6’ would mean using 6 whole sheets of 3’x4’ steel and not having to cut any of them.

Loctite makes a great tube of Power Grab Ultimate (their highest strength) I used about a tube every 18 square feet. That is probably way too much, but I didn’t want my expensive and time consuming project falling apart over a $10 tube. Nor did I want a sheet of steel falling sharp end down on my foot.

Ryobi tools makes a power caulking gun that made gluing the metal to the wood a breeze.

Since we plan on playing just a round at a time, I bought magnetic arrows from the dollar tree to optionally mark any plans so we don’t forget in between days.

I found a map I liked on the internet, it wasn’t vector, but it blew up nice on my computer screen, so I figured (and it did) blow up very nice. This could easily be done with the bloodbath custom map (with permission of course) or another map.

And having this in the living room means we can put other vinyl game boards right on top of it if we so choose.

I used 4 inch screws whenever possible to make it as secure as possible. A licensed contractor may know better though.

For legal reasons, I’m not suggesting anyone do this, just letting you know my experience.

I forgot this one, a comparison of the sizes.