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I'm currently assembling and painting some Knight MIniatures superhero models, and I'm trying to come up with some basing ideas for the X-Men minis. Most models have normal standing poses which look fine, but Rogue's pose is a bit weird:



I get that she's just about to take flight, but that build-up of rock under her feet looks extremely fake. I thought of cutting it off and just pinning her foot directly to whatever the base surface ends up being, but I figure that will look a bit strange too. So what I'm thinking right now is to model a base for her so it looks like she's just come crashing up through the floor. I think that could look really cool... except I have no idea how to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions, and especially any examples of similar models or reference material?

Could you model over the rocks with putty so that it looks like she's whipping up a stream of wind, instead perhaps?

If not, what kind of floor or ground do you picture her bursting out from?

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
Could you model over the rocks with putty so that it looks like she's whipping up a stream of wind, instead perhaps?

Interesting idea, I just don't really think I could make that look good, and I do want her base to match the rest of the team's.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
If not, what kind of floor or ground do you picture her bursting out from?

I haven't had much inspiration on this front yet, so I'm open to suggestions. I'm hoping for something that's a thematic fit for 90's superheroes, but that can be easily modeled or sculpted to look like someone is breaking up from below. The only real idea I've had so far is simple metal panelling (like what you would see in the Danger Room or generic villain bases in the comics and cartoons), though I'm afraid that might look a bit boring?

An idea that occurred to me recently was to try to model it as if she's crashing up out of a Sentinel's chest (Aliens style), as if she just ripped her way right through from behind (or underneath a fallen sentinel or something). Opinions?

Soul Samurai wrote:
An idea that occurred to me recently was to try to model it as if she's crashing up out of a Sentinel's chest (Aliens style), as if she just ripped her way right through from behind (or underneath a fallen sentinel or something). Opinions?

Could work. Scout around at garage sales or thrift shops for kids robot toys. Hacking and chopping apart some of those might be a cheap solution. Worst case it won't be a big outlay of cash to try it.

Use cork. Super easy, it looks like broken pavement and you can lean up and bend it against her legs so it looks like she is busting through.

Paint it grey and maybe even add some highway divider lines and it's a wrap.

Eldarain wrote:Could work. Scout around at garage sales or thrift shops for kids robot toys. Hacking and chopping apart some of those might be a cheap solution. Worst case it won't be a big outlay of cash to try it.

It's only a 30mm base, I reckon just sculpting some bent metal plates and wires and stuff, then painting the outside purple, should do it. Problem is unless I want the whole team standing on bits of Sentinel, her basing won't match the rest, so... I'm not sure.

Gunzhard wrote:Use cork. Super easy, it looks like broken pavement and you can lean up and bend it against her legs so it looks like she is busting through.

Paint it grey and maybe even add some highway divider lines and it's a wrap.

Thanks, I was hoping for some tips on execution (I'm not much of a sculptor), and this sounds like an effective and manageable solution!

You could do wooden floorboards. Shouldn't be too difficult to model out of plastic or Styrofoam. You can use a scalpel or a triangle file go cut ridges into it. You would also be able to use one of the broken floorboards at and angle to attach her foot to the base.

Just a note on cork - I was talking about the thin sheets you can get at like Staples, not the wine bottle cork.

They even sell self adhesive sheets, it's super easy to base with.

Smacks wrote:You could do wooden floorboards. Shouldn't be too difficult to model out of plastic or Styrofoam. You can use a scalpel or a triangle file go cut ridges into it. You would also be able to use one of the broken floorboards at and angle to attach her foot to the base.

Ah, I think I see what you're saying: cut chips into the ends of individual wooden floorboards to make it look like it's splintered. I like the idea; I'm not sure that wooden floorboards are thematically appropriate for my 90's X-Men, but I'm using wooden floorboards for my Warmachine Mercs list, I might have a use for the technique there. Would use actual wooden sticks (like ice lolly sticks or something), or just try to sculpt it from greenstuff?

Gunzhard wrote:Just a note on cork - I was talking about the thin sheets you can get at like Staples, not the wine bottle cork.

They even sell self adhesive sheets, it's super easy to base with.

I didn't know that. Sadly we don't have Staples where I live; I believe it's a stationary supplier? I can check the local stationary and art supply shops (else hit ebay I guess), but it would help if I knew what the actual intended use of the cork sheets are?