Hey guys!
Since I got asked how I create the bases of my models and I just happened to finish up my new Ghostkeel, I took some pictures of the process to write a small "how to".
What you need The Base of your miniature (for those wondering) PVA Glue or Wood Glue (works as good, you are not going to tow a car with it.) Cork Sheet Sand Small Stones Medium Stones Flock or some type of artificial grass Any bits you want to add to your base like limbs, heads, vehicle parts etc. etc. Colours: Black, Dark Grey, Medium Grey, White, Brown Shade. I use: Scavenblight Dinge, Administratum grey, Ceramite White, Seraphim Sepia A Tee Cup Actual Tee (*optional*) About Sand and those little rocks:
Don't be a fool and buy that stuff. You can get a cup of sand from any playground in your area. Noone will mind if you take a small cup and it will last you for ages.
Don't go crazy, leave some for the kids.
For the little rocks I also had a little trick. In my hometown there are boxes full of gravel for people to throw on the roads and pavements in winter. Once again, a small cup won't hurt anybody.
I recommend washing the gravel because dust may interfere with your paintjob.
In addition, I ran the gravel through a rough sieve to divide the medium and small pieces.
Step 1 Get your base - put it down - start thinking.
The next step will depend on how you want your figure to stick on the base.
You could first glue your model in place and design the base around the legs or you could first finish the base and then add your model.
I have a small rule of thumb:
Large model -> first glue (A riptide or Cybot would "sink" into the ground and this helps create this effect!)
small model -> finish base first (otherwise you might ruin your models paintjob and go crazy. Very hard to drybrush the base of 15 Firewarriors...)
Weels -> base first (except you have a very heavy vehicle, but a bike looks better if its placed on top.)
Step 2 Glue your model to the base (or not)
Step 3 Get your cork and break of some flat bits of different size.
We are going to use them as the largest Rock formations.
Step 4 Now Glue the biggest piece to the base and add as many layers as you like.
Try to let it look like a rock ;-)
You can even cut some cracks into the surface to make it look better.
Don't worry about using to much glue, since we are putting a layer of sand and gravel over it.
As you can see I added some small and medium pieces of gravel already because the glue got squeezed out.
Step 5 Go crazy with the glue.
Tip: add some water to the glue (2/3 glue should be fine). This actually wets the sand later making it look rougher and more realistic!
Cover the whole base in a thick layer of glue.
Step 6 Now add some of the medium gravel pieces.
Try to place them naturally. I used to just sprinkle them on top, but it never looked as good as just placing them by hand.
After you are satisfied with the medium gravel take the small pieces and sprinkle them on top. Take some and push them to the edge of the cork.
Leave space for the sand!
Step 7 Now dump the whole thing into your sand.
Step 8 If you did it like this, you did it wrong:
this is what I meant:
important: shove as much sand on there as possible. DO NOT PRESS
IT DOWN - NEVER! It will sink a bit while drying forming a beautiful rough surface. If you press on it it will look crappy.
Now (WITH the excess sand still on top) let it rest. Long. At least a few hours. I usually watch some batreps and take a long walk with the dog. Dogs love long walks.
I know it's tempting, but trust me - let it set and dry a little before going on.
Step 9 Clean your table. You can reuse the parts you spilled.
Step 10 Shake of the sand. This is how it should look:
Yeah, looks bad... (you can see it's still not completely dry, but whatever)
Blow off any excess sand, I even use a soft brush to brush it off (softly!!!!)
Now also get some sand on top of your "big cork rock", mostly repeat the previous steps, but don't cover all of it in glue. Just put each rock where you want it to be. Add small areas of sand. You want to keep a large part of the cork structure!
You may wonder why I do this separately. Simple reason: I forgot before.
No biggy, happens. (more often than I'd like to admit)
Since the next step is painting it, you need to let it dry. My glue drys quite fast, so I can finish everything up on one evening. Remember we are going to drybrush this thing to death, so if your glue is not hardened pieces will most likely come off and ruin your day.
IF that still happens you can always grab some glue and put it back in place.
Step 11 Paint it black. I add some water to the paint so it gets sucked in by the sand and do 1-3 layers. You don't want any light parts to shine through!
Step 12 Now the Tea Cup and the Tea come into play. If you do not have it at hand quickly go grab it. Treat yourself with a nice cup of tea and let your color dry.
Alternatively you can have a cup of coffee or your hot beverage of choice. Watch some more batreps until it looks like this:
Step 13 Get your drybrush and give your base a heavy dark grey drybrush. Let it dry or it will mix with the next layer of drybrush.
http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/i/kjp9-3j-a746.jpg
Step 14 Less heavy drybrush with medium grey, focus on prominent areas. Let it dry!
Step 15 Edge highlight with white. If you don't want a snow base, be careful with your white. I even sometimes manually highlight some edges.
This is how it looks if you don't wait enough after applying the grey: It's not white - it just lightens the grey up.
I realized it later and added some clean white at the very end. No big deal.
Step 16 Add blodges of your brown shade. Try not to cover the rocks and only the sand. Don't cover everything, just small lakes of shade ;-)
Step 17 Add some small bits of woodglue and put some flock / grass on top. Remeber the golden rule: let it dry THEN shake it off.
Use as little or much as you like.
- Done
Here are some Examples:
I hope you learned something and had a great time!
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