Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi
i have just purchased a tau riptide battle suit and want to make it look like it has just landed and is sliding through the ground. I would like to put some showers of earth behind both feet using thin cork sheet (2.4mm).
If anyone could point me in the direction of a tutorial it would be much appreciated. i have searched on google and keep coming up with nothing.

Thanks

When you say "sliding through the ground" are you talking about something like making the model look as if its skidding to a halt or more like what a golf ball does on a wet green with a rooster tail behind it?

Either way I would look more at using green stuff or some other type of modeling putty. Cork just won't bend or be as stable.

Yeah that's the type of thing i'm going for, A Rooster tail of earth coming up behind the feet. I'm sure I've seen it done with Cork just can't remember where.

I've never seen that in a tutorial, but for the skidding part, you could try laying down a thin layer of plaster/splackle and actually have the model touch down and slide into place, so it builds up exactly like you'd expect dirt/mud to do.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to try a few things out and see what's going to work

Good luck. Post your stuff here so we can see how it turns out.

if he is sliding into the ground like that...the rooster tail would be in the front since his feet are plowing into the earth

A thin cork board might be useful if you have a reasonably thin board and snap chunks off and use something like polyfilla to fill in and sculpt over the bits you don't want to see.

Cut the cork so it has two tear shaped holes in it where the feet need to be, rough up the edges a bit and stick everything to the base.

Then use the offcut bits of cork, crumbled up and some polyfilla and perhaps sand and grit to build up a wave of debris that gets higher towards the front of the broad ends of the tears. Put some polyfilla inside the tear and sculpt some tracks to make it look like the feet have actually been dragged along the ground.

When everything is set, use some thin wire (small paperclips) to pin a few bits of cork to make it look like it is debris being thrown clear of the wave of material being pushed up in front of the foot.

Add a few bits of sand and grit to the base, as well as a few more sculpted areas (raised bits, rocks, etc) strewn around the base to make it look more interesting than a flat cork sheet and I think it should look OK.

Vallejo makes this "acrylic sand". Technically it was made for something else, but people are coming to find it to be the finest basing material known to man.

For instance: I did a dragon-thing for Hordes for a friend, and was able to make it look like the critter had slythered onto the base. It's a gritty paste with about a 30 min working time, but it's somewhat moldable, ie= you can make craters, puddles whatever no problem and little skill needed.

Hmmm that acrylic sand sound like just the stuff. Thanks again guys for all the ideas

Maxim C. Gatling wrote:
Vallejo makes this "acrylic sand". Technically it was made for something else, but people are coming to find it to be the finest basing material known to man.

Do you have a proper product name for that? It sounds interesting, but Googling "vallejo acrylic sand" only turned up one of their regular paints with "sand" in the color name.

Found some on eBay called Vallejo sandy paste. Looks good just not really what I'm looking for I don't think.