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Hello there all

Im wanting to make some really great looking ice/snow glacial bases for my up and coming chaos army (have a read of there story below) and im finding plenty of mediocre ice bases but none that really grab me ill inclue the kind of picture im wanting

I really want a freezing raggid quality to the bases, with sharp lumps of ice piercing the snow/glacial floor from below and also incoperating some water/frozen water into them. so nothing much

Only suggestion that I can make is to use greenstuff to sculpt the glaciers. Otherwise you can try using some resin bases. Link here - http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Resin_Bases

What would happen if you let a big lump of green stuff set, left it in the freezer, and hit it with a hammer? Perhaps that would get you some jagged shards to play with. Alternately, you could accomplish a similar effect by smashing some dried plaster. I'm not sure exactly what you are going for, but a true glacier will be quite dirty. Because glaciers pick up soil, sand, rock, etc. as they move along, they develop veins of dirt. If you had some of these veins, instead of just ice, the bases might be more glacial. You could layer sand or dirt in between thick layers of water effects.

The problem you are going to run into is size. A glacier is a big thing, and the best you can do is represent a few small chunks of it. In the end, you may not be able to get a glacial effect, but only some really good ice bases. If you really built the bases up, you could have tall peaks and jagged chunks, which might help create the glacier illusion you are going for.

Hope I didn't miss the direction you were going for...

-Jim

Only thing I could think of is to use lava bases, but paint them in whites/very light blues and add gloss varnish and PVA. Unless you're talking about having your marines standing on say a 1/8" or higher 'platform' and make it look like glacial walls around the edge? Probably best using green stuff and a knife and cutting it at angles. Adding protruding ice is probably easiest done with some green stuff and/or maybe bits of sprue.

My £0.02

Thanks for the ideas guys, i want something with good harsh edges and cracks in the surface

I could see several options, depending on how much wor you want to put into it.

The easiest would be to use corkboard, base it dark blue and highlight up to white/blue, put snow over the top.

I could see that blue insulating foam people use for terrain. You can use a foam cutter to get the icy cliffs look, and if you really want it to get craggy and cracked you can use a soldering iron to cut imperfections into it. I know the ForgeWorlds do that to get craggy terrain.

Finally, if you want it to really go all out, use resin or water effect and make your own molds. Saw someone do that in this thread http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/231643.page

I already told you this, but for the benefit of others; Hard plastic, as used in rulers, works well with some experimentation. It's difficult to cut/break without clippers but it scores and files well for any surface effects you want. worth a fiddle if you have some old rulers handy.
this is what i knocked up quickly, will see how it looks with paint on

riplikash wrote:I could see several options, depending on how much wor you want to put into it.

The easiest would be to use corkboard, base it dark blue and highlight up to white/blue, put snow over the top.

I could see that blue insulating foam people use for terrain. You can use a foam cutter to get the icy cliffs look, and if you really want it to get craggy and cracked you can use a soldering iron to cut imperfections into it. I know the ForgeWorlds do that to get craggy terrain.

Finally, if you want it to really go all out, use resin or water effect and make your own molds. Saw someone do that in this thread http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/231643.page

Yeah, I would use the insulation, since it is the easiest to work with in my opinion. And agreed on the water effects.

funt wrote:I already told you this, but for the benefit of others; Hard plastic, as used in rulers, works well with some experimentation. It's difficult to cut/break without clippers but it scores and files well for any surface effects you want. worth a fiddle if you have some old rulers handy.
this is what i knocked up quickly, will see how it looks with paint on
[ig]http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/707/p1070662b.jpg[/img]

This also sounds like an awesome option, especially for a clear glacier.

You can get some pretty hard, probably shatterable modelling resin. Make some rectangular prisms and give in to your hammering urges?

Or what about CD jewel cases rather than rulers?

Flinty wrote:You can get some pretty hard, probably shatterable modelling resin. Make some rectangular prisms and give in to your hammering urges?

Or what about CD jewel cases rather than rulers?

that's a good idea, similar type of plastic but thinner which would probably be easier to mess around with. who doesn't have loads of them lying about anyway!

i'll tell you one thing.. look up Cattafish on dakka he has the tutorial for these AMAZING snow bases, go drop by ask him q's and all that

Here is an attempt to paint up a simple ice base, infact given to me by funt as you can see above


Would like to hear what you all think!

The rectangular opaque ceiling light covers can be bought cheaply and smashed up to create ice:



I used it to make this ice flow river terrain, but you could use it on bases as well, even mixing it with snow flock, etc.

i think the above post looks like the best option im going to keep an eye on this as i want to do a few ork boys who have been fighting the space wolves

There is a set of step-by-step directions for multiple types of arctic/tundra style bases on gamesworkshop.com, I'll try to find a link for you.

EDIT: here's the link: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=§ion=&pIndex=0&aId=4400036a&start=1&multiPageMode=true

If you want a simple solution: Itar's Workshop makes these clear resin ice bases:
http://itarsworkshop.com/catalog/bases-c-32.html

Another update of the base above, just finished it off with some snow and bits and pieces

These are my snow bases.

Heres my latest try on an ice base which i rather like! and cool picture jormi! i like the bases but i watch full ice, not rock with snow on it, although it is a great look

Didn't Cattatta fish make a tutorial on this?