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So I was considering basing for my Ork boyz and later my IG if I ever get around to buying, building, and painting them, and I really liked the idea of nice, muddy bases. The mud splatter on their boots and clothes would give a good battlefield feel to the army, I think. I've seen a lot of really amazing mud affects in the Dakkadakka gallery and was wondering if there's a recipe of making mud that would be easy for a rookie to follow and still look good.

Much appreciated!

I suppose you could use green stuff of the bases and smush it out a bit and paint it muddy it will look good.


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I use glue-watery toilet paper mixed sand and put that on my bases. But muddy?? That is more hazard chemical stuff to get a decent effect. personally I wouldn't experiment.

Clear epoxy resins that simulate water aren't any more hazardous than other resins/casting products. I mean, I wouldn't drink the stuff, but it's not like it's going to corrode your insides if you use it for a few hours/days... You can tint the stuff brown, I'm pretty sure there are ways to make it opaque too, I just can't think of how right now. You'd just have to avoid surface bubbles, or not, I guess, depending on what mud effect you're looking for.

Check out doubleT's DKoK blog "Muddy Times" for some great looking mud bases.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/314300.page

His method, from that page:

doubleT wrote:- Wood glue, a few drops of water, fine sand, and ... drumroll ... saw dust.
- mix it and cover the base with it
- wait fot the mud to dry, then paint it Bestial Brown. At this stage it'll look really ugly.
- Wash with Devlan Mud, maybe some Badab Black in deeper areas.
- The Edge of the base is painted Scorched Brown and washed with Badab Black

Sounds pretty simple, but looking at the results, it seems to work!

I also recall a pretty good mud tutorial using pigments, plaster, sand, and a water effect product. I think it might be posted in the P&M Tutorials forum right here on Dakka.

Thanks very much for the suggestions, guys! I'm gonna test some of these out on my grotz when I get a chance.

If you want an easy option, just mix some PVA with some really fine sand possibly some static grass, then colour to taste.

I'd recommend putting a green stuff blob the base, smush it up, and warp it with various tools. For making it look wet try using the potted 'Ard Coat, and maybe add some grass for more effect.

Green stuff is expensive, Milliput is cheaper for this kind of work and has a mushier texture.

Other methods you could try are acrylic gel media, tissue paper mushed up with watered PVA glue, or thick PVA glue and very fine sand.

Tissue plus PVA is easy to try because you should already have the materials available.

Acrylic media can be mixed with paint.

http://www.liquitex.com/Products/gelmediums.cfm

If you have the money, consider Citadel water effects mixed with brown paint. It was in a White Dwarf I read some time...

Yeah, I'd model epoxy, or I guess make concrete (this will make some awfully gritty mud, though). Paint brown and then apply a couple of coats of finger nail polish for some sheen.