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Ive been exploring ideas for the basing scheme of my orks, and have settled on a "junkyard" theme.

i have ideas for how to represent it, but need to know, is there an easy way to represent broken glass without resorting to using broken glass. That would be silly.

I have thought of using clear plastic shavings, but otherwise i do not have any ideas.

Perhaps cut the clear plastic from a blister pack into small shard like pieces?

What Filbert said, that's basically the only way I can see it being done besides some fancy use of clear resin and breaking it.

How about old CD cases, the clear plastic kind, just put them in a cloth and bash with a hammer, you should get nice shards from that.

You could try using white wax - melt some wax, pour out onto a pastic sheet and allow to cool and set. When it is set, you can snap it really easily by flexing the plastic. Can also cut it really easily.

Should give the illusion of scratched and cloudy glass.

Alternately, you could try the same but use PVA - will give a much clearer, tougher glass that you will need to cut with a knife. Should be easy enough to pull it off the plastic backing - though it may need a couple of layers of PVA in order to get a thick enough piece.

How about cutting through an old flying base, shape it then put a point on it and hammer it lightly till it cracks and do it in different places?
use a drillbit to make it look like bullet holes too if you want.

filbert wrote:Perhaps cut the clear plastic from a blister pack into small shard like pieces?

I've seen this trick used before on terrain pieces - works rather well.

I can't imagine that any other method would work. Any casting would be far too thick in 28mm scale.

filbert wrote:Perhaps cut the clear plastic from a blister pack into small shard like pieces?

This seems to be the best idea.

I could get hold of clear plastic sheets (i use one to protect the desk where i paint), which are roughly the thickness of a blister, so I'm going to use those.

The CD case idea could work as well, but i think that might be too thick for the scale?

Or you can do a google search ...

Rubber Glass™

What about acetone sheets? Cheap and available in most stationary shops.

Man up. Use real glass.

That Rubber glass stuff wont work, its too expensive.


how would i glue the "glass" to the base without ending up with the glass sitting in a blob of glue?

well, the glue dries...

ive seen a modeling company that actually sells tiny glass shards...i forget who made them, they were recently released. The company intended the shards to represent the glittery effect snow has...They might be useful to you though. Sorry i cant recall the company

I dont want it to dry in a way that leaves a bubble of glue

No glue dries in such a way where it leaves a bubble. Only things like epoxies or like rubber cement will do that. If you use super glue, it won't. The only fear is that superglue will cloud your glass where it contacts, but given that it's broken glass as debris, not an eldar falcon windshield, you should be fine.

Ailaros wrote:No glue dries in such a way where it leaves a bubble. Only things like epoxies or like rubber cement will do that. If you use super glue, it won't. The only fear is that superglue will cloud your glass where it contacts, but given that it's broken glass as debris, not an eldar falcon windshield, you should be fine.

Aaah, ok, Thank you.

Im kind of new to this whole modeling and converting thing, so i'm not used to working with glues and such

One thing that people have not mentioned is that you have to add them after you seal your mini. Most sealant will frost the glass over and ruin the effect you are going for.

^ THIS

Always do basing after spraying, but ESPECIALLY in this case.

Think this one through.

What broken glass, likely its window glass, in which case thin polystyrene is best. broken panes of glass are best represented that way, just use PVA glue to attach to the base. Glass frfagments I would not bother with frankly, you dont see glass unless you are close to it, at the scale we look at minitures from only pane glaass would be visible, glass fragments would not, you might get a sheen in the ground from the fragments, in which case intermittent gloss varnish works.

Also pane glass will not remain even partly intact for long unless its in the window pane setting, the stuff on the ground would be shattered.into small fragments with one or two large shards near the base of the wall it fell from. I would make glas very situational, only for miniatures next to a window. With the exception of a one off window frame on the ground with some glass in it I would restrict this to dioramas asnd terrain hugging miniatures. Bits of wall might work for Kommandos in a city fight theme, often see snipers based this way. Alternately using walls as the support/disguise for flight stands of deffkoptas would work, you can get your broken glass windows in there.

Some windows break into very small pieces, you could try grains of course salt.

I would suggest taking a polystyrene container from something (a lot of grocery stores pack sandwitches and things like that in them) cut that up and use it, the thickness should represent the proper scale fairly well.

Orlanth wrote:What broken glass, likely its window glass, in which case thin polystyrene is best. broken panes of glass are best represented that way, just use PVA glue to attach to the base. Glass frfagments I would not bother with frankly, you dont see glass unless you are close to it, at the scale we look at minitures from only pane glaass would be visible, glass fragments would not, you might get a sheen in the ground from the fragments, in which case intermittent gloss varnish works.

Going to have to disagree with you, here. Ever seen a smashed in windshield? Shards around the frame with a VERY visible scattering of what amount to large grains, as opposed to long, pointed shards. I think blister pack (or any thin, clear plastic - I think something stiffer than a blister would be best; I feel as if the plastic in slim-line CD cases is thinner, perhaps?) shards and a bit of large grained salt would make for a convincing broken windshield. The salt could stand a coat of paint-on varnish for durability and gloss. Could even give it a faint blue or black wash to make the grains stand out and emulate window tinting.

I wouldn't suggest incorporating crushed glass unless you have shards present, though. The viewer would likely need that visual cue to say "that's crushed glass" instead of "man, that's some chunky snow." Just using gloss varnish like Orlanth suggested would give the effect of black ice or a shallow puddle, not of broken glass. Minis are about visual impact - look at how we twist and exaggerate the effect of light when painting - not exact scale (hell, GW doesn't even try for plausibility on that front - it's all about the look). You need grains to represent grains and they need to be large enough to be identifiable as such, even if they're not "to scale."

Use coarse salt of course... Sink it into whatever material you use so small surfaces stick out. I would go as far as under coating the actual base with a platinum or mithiral paint, so it can reflect any light source. If not find a candy store that sells rock candy and if the selection is good enough you may find the right stuff, not sure how sugar reacts to certain adhesives and such...just my two %

Tri wrote:Or you can do a google search ...

As a user of Smooth-On products, I know how big those bottles are. As a result, I know how big those "glass chunks" will appear - more specifically, at 28mm scale, they will be as large as picnic tables. Posting "just do a google search" for something as esoteric as this is borderline trolling, imo, because it implies the poster was lazy, as well as not really contributing anything.

What type of glass are you looking to represent, exactly? It's going to be very difficult to represent the way a windshield crumbles into that scale and have it be accurate. Specifically, using long shards of glass represented by blister packagaging shards will be technically inaccurate, but highly recognizable. Using salt would be technically accurate but difficult to recognize.

Ouze wrote:

Tri wrote:Or you can do a google search ...

As a user of Smooth-On products, I know how big those bottles are. As a result, I know how big those "glass chunks" will appear - more specifically, at 28mm scale, they will be as large as picnic tables. Posting "just do a google search" for something as esoteric as this is borderline trolling, imo, because it implies the poster was lazy, as well as not really contributing anything.

What type of glass are you looking to represent, exactly? It's going to be very difficult to represent the way a windshield crumbles into that scale and have it be accurate. Specifically, using long shards of glass represented by blister packagaging shards will be technically inaccurate, but highly recognizable. Using salt would be technically accurate but difficult to recognize.

I'm not too phased one accuracy, i want something that will be instantly recognizable as broken glass, to go with the other things im doing for the base

Obsidian Raven wrote:I'm not too phased one accuracy, i want something that will be instantly recognizable as broken glass, to go with the other things im doing for the base

What other things? Describe what you'd like a few complete bases to look like.

Well, generally look like a srapyard, with discarded pipes, old weapons, stuff the orks have ripped off looted wagons, and the like.

oadie wrote:Going to have to disagree with you, here. Ever seen a smashed in windshield? Shards around the frame with a VERY visible scattering of what amount to large grains, as opposed to long, pointed shards.

Very true, if its auto glass. Though I suppose in the grim darkness of th far future everyone uses thast quality of glass as standard.

oadie wrote: Just using gloss varnish like Orlanth suggested would give the effect of black ice or a shallow puddle, not of broken glass..

My bad. Yes I should have been more clear, the glossing is supposed to accompany visible plastic glass shards. On its own it means nothing.

oadie wrote: Minis are about visual impact - look at how we twist and exaggerate the effect of light when painting - not exact scale (hell, GW doesn't even try for plausibility on that front - it's all about the look). You need grains to represent grains and they need to be large enough to be identifiable as such, even if they're not "to scale."

Very true this, however clear grains are still ambiguous, I think that in all cases some broken pane glass is needd, from thin polystyrene or equivalent. The reassons you give above justify its presense, other glass might not shatter the same way but broken jagged panes have an artistic effect, especially if you smear them with bloody tips.

ClosetRoller wrote:What about acetone sheets? Cheap and available in most stationary shops.

ACETATE. Acetate sheet. AKA transparency sheets.

Acetone is a solvent.
Also rather noxious.