Thick (>2mm) vacuum plasma sprayed (VPS) W coatings hold great promise for plasma facing components in future fusion devices. However, the large coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between W and underlying structural steels poses a significant problem for manufacturing and service life because of the evolution of large thermally induced stresses leading to failure. In this paper the concept of using steel surfaces with regular surface sculptures of millimetre scale created by e-beam surface manipulation, termed surfi-sculpt and developed by TWI (UK), is investigated both to enhance coating adhesion and as a method to engineer macroscopic variations in the effective CTE through the thickness of the subsequently VPS deposited W coating. A series of stainless steels substrates with surface sculpture features have been coated with thick VPS W. The effects of surface geometry on coating adhesion, microstructure, roughness and quality have been investigated by a variety of microscopy and other techniques, and the key surface sculpture geometrical features required for high adhesion, high quality W coatings identified.