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Hey all

I have a GW bike base. Size is irrelevant really. I'm wondering, without using putty, Green Stuff, clays etc. how to go about making the top of the base look like a tarmac road in a city?

I'm thinking just drybrushing the top grey and then putting a broken white line down the middle, would look a bit rubbish.

Would anyone here have any ideas on this?

Thanks in advance.

I think just cork would do the job well and give a good texture.

I'd buy the tarmac product from ak interactive. Alternatively, you could use cork tiles. Tear them up a bit then paint.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I'd buy the tarmac product from ak interactive. Alternatively, you could use cork tiles. Tear them up a bit then paint.

Is that AK product like Citadel's texture paints or Tamiya's Diorama paints?

Actually that's given me an idea, I'm wondering if I can get away with spreading the Tamiya Diorama paint I've got (light earth I think, I also have their snow one but I'd rather not waste that one), over the base, smooth it over and level it as much as possible, let it dry a bit, put a few cracks in it, and run with that. Painted with greys I wonder how it would look.

Trying not to buying anything really. If the cost gets near or above £7 I may as well buy a set of 3 resin bases. Don't have any cork either though. Hmm.

I used sandpaper on some bases for Infinity.

Superglued on, trimmed to size (annihilates blade).

Paint black, light drybrush of light grey and then a bit of white (annihilates brush).

There's always the option of doing some white lines if you're into that stuff.

The ak interactive speciality basing stuff are products in their own league. They are designed for hardcore scale modellers who are super into realism. But if you don't want to spend a little extra they probably aren't for you. I'd go with cork personally. That way you could add a little slice with some rebar and stuff

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
The ak interactive speciality basing stuff are products in their own league. They are designed for hardcore scale modellers who are super into realism. But if you don't want to spend a little extra they probably aren't for you. I'd go with cork personally. That way you could add a little slice with some rebar and stuff

OK, no disrespect, but I'm not looking for a sales pitch. I've bought AK stuff before, I'm well aware of who they are, I build model aircraft as well as painting miniatures and I am a member of a "hardcore" scale modellers website. They are no more speciality than any other manufacturer. A lot of their stuff comes from, "ideas pioneered by other manufacturers", let say.

Having just looked up their diorama paints, it appears very similar to Tamiya's and Vallejo's diorama paints. I could probably make a very similar product by mixing appropriate greys, black etc. into the Tamiya Snow diorama paint I have, that has the shiny crystals in it that the AK Ashphalt does. So that answers my question.

Thank you however for your suggestion.

I dont think it looks rubbish. Sometimes simple is best.

I found some fine coal ballast from model railways looks good, gonna use it on the necromunda minis when I get round to painting them.

i'd just use the base texture, the only issue being some of the round bases have a divot in the middle.
Also note the only new tarmac is 'black'. It weathers very quickly and turns to a light-mid grey brown over time. Then there's repair patches which can be a darker colour, say for pot holes (which could be done with bits of wet & dry paper), and expansion joints which are like smooth ribbons of black (which could be done with GS).
A further note: the length of dashed lines is much longer than you think. They appear shorter the quicker you travel & road markings are foreshortened due to perspective & the angle that it's viewed.
Here's a link to a UK road markings guide in PDF: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/773421/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-05.pdf
Road markings are also never perfect so can have wibbly outlines & patches of paint missing. This can be down to wear & tear or even when it's applied. It will also get discoloured & faded over time.
Remember you might also add oil stains & tire markings from heavy braking / skidding.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
you could also add cats eyes with little beads of GS, cracks with weeds, pot holes, the outline of a poor badger etc etc to add more interest.

Use a bit of green stuff to fill in the dent in the middle of the base and just paint the base.

https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1257304/

Thanks. I may give that sort of idea a second look then. I have some pigments as well as paints. Looks quite easy to do and looks OK in those photos.

@Flinty - nice.

Ok so, I've had a go with Tamiya diorama texture -





I think that, when painted a dark grey (probably Citadel Eshin grey), over black, drybrushed Dawnstone then Administratum grey, a stripe put on it, maybe some pigments, will look pretty reasonable for a beat up piece of road.

Not that most of it will be visible, under the model it's going on...

OK so I painted this today. Undercoat of Vallejo Game Color black, base coat of Citadel Eshin Grey, mix of Eshin and Dawnstone for a 1st drybrush, 2nd drybrush of pure Dawnstone, then a final drybrush of Dawnstone mixed with White. Not that you can tell it's been drybrushed from my photos. The line (representing the middle of the road) was done with Averland Sunset drybrushed on to achieve the broken up effect, then it had a bit of a drybrush with Flash Gitz Yellow.

I may put some pigment or a dirt like wash into the portion that isn't smooth (the area towards the bottom on the right in the first photo), so that it looks more like dirt than "tarmac".

It almost looks like I knew what I was doing!

I would like to thank queen_annes_revenge for his idea of texture paint.

Photos, matt varnish is still drying, hence the wet looking areas -

That looks amazing. Nice work.

Thanks. It was surprisiginly easy to achieve. I just used an ice lolly stick to put the Tamiya texture paint, that I had thinned a little with water, down on the base. I waited a while for it to dry a bit, then flipped the base and pressed it against my cutting mat to smooth out the top. The damage to the "tarmac" came about by accident, where I tried smoothing it further with an ice lolly stick.

[Edited for not actually writing what I meant]

I wish I could have more accidents like that