A Quick Introduction to Basing: Part 3

Finishing Touches.

Last time I left the pool drying, now during the night a strange thing happened to the water in the centre of the pool; it dropped but not an even dip like I would have expected that as the liquid dries out of the water effect, no this is an aggressive depression like I stuck a tip of a pencil in it, strange..

Right back to the rest of the base, I've started adding some of the grass tufts in sheltered areas of the base mailing where the stone meets the texture and around the pool, at this point I realised the textured areas where a little plain so I added some very small pieces of state around the base with some PVA.

Note in the centre of the pool the depression

Unpainted slate fragments PVA'd to areas of texture

After the PVA dried I added a touch of black wash to all the slate fragments and then very lightly dry brushed them. I also added some light washes to the larger slate areas to give them less of an even gray colour, and painted the edge to the base black

Now the base is more or less complete. 

A Quick Introduction to Basing: Part 2

Painting the Base.

When I left off last I had just finished building the structure of the base, now it is time to start painting.

One Quick note.

I like my bases to be heavy, it helps to keep the base in the right direction once they encounter slopes to help with this a use 2p coins as they are heavy and cheaper than miliput.

Priming.

I use a airbrush to prime mainly because I don't have any place to use aerosols primers and now I'm all grow'd up I understand that using spray cans indoors is really bad for you. at the end of the day all we rally want to do is give the base an even coat of black primer.

As you can see I've also masked off the stand.

Starting to Add Colour.

Now we add colour, this is a simple process of dry brushing various colours, starting with the darker shades and slowly working lighter making each addition slightly more faded. I use shades of grays on the exposed rock areas and some different brown shades on the textured areas.

I also use washes to help create shadows or where I have not wiped off the paint from my brush enough to I get a little to much paint.

Another thing I wanted to try was add a small pool of water to an area of the base I had created for this.

I didn't want a clear water but a slightly rusty orange water, so I added a couple of drops of rust coloured wash to my water.

The instructions suggest I'm going to need about 24 hours for the water to set.

So I guess that's the end of part two. Not much left to the base now, in Part three I'll clean up the edges and put some finishing touches to the flying base.


Happy painting all..

Praetor.

A Quick Introduction to Basing: Part 1

Basic Basing Made Easy.

I've been promising to do a quick guide as to how I base my models, I've just started a flying base today and because of it's size I thought it should make a good subject for this article. As this is being written as I make the base I have no idea how it's going to turn out but hopefully should end up good.

Supplies.

Lets start with the basic modelling supplies I use: -

Modelling supplies

Smashed up slate

A good quality Contact adhesive (CA) is a core item within our hobby, from my experience the cheaper glues seem to leave a much more substantial white residue. I'm using a medium thickness CA by ZAP, to help with curing times I also use the ZAP CA accelerator which turns the glue into an almost instant stick. I also have some two part epoxy resin when a glue failure would be a disaster.

For molding the coutures between the rocks I use a modelling putty, Miliput is my weapon of choice as it's easy to work with and is also makes a great secondary gluing agent plus its strong as hell once set. To help get the putty where I want it I use some basic carving tools, the old GW one and the Army Painter set.

With my legion bases I've chosen slate, partly because I like the sharp edges it has and I also had a large smashed slate that fell of my roof during the winter storms.

As I'm trying to create a barren wasteland I'm not using much grass but I do want to add texture to the base I'm using Vallejo texture paints, just paint them onto the base for instant texture, I have Black Lava and Dark Earth. 

As a base primer I use the same primer as I do with my figures; Vallejo Water-based Polyurethane Primer I normally apply this via an Airbrush.

And finally a selection paints, brushes, needle files/sandpaper and some masking tape (as I want to keep the transparent stand clear of paint), also I've have several different grass tufts, Poison Ivy and some razor wire.

Preparing the Base.

To start with I lightly buff with sandpaper the area where I'm going to glue the transparent stand to the base and then mix some epoxy resin, as I want the base to be extra strong, generously apply glue to the stand and leave to set (in my case about 10 minutes).

Adding Shape.

After the epoxy has set I start gluing the slate into place using CA.

I'm using the slate to form raised areas on the base as it is much cheaper than using miliput. Once dry I mix a large ball of miliput and start molding the earth between the rocks. I use the carving tools to push the Miliput into the areas that are hard to get to and then wet my finger and gently smooth the putting into the shape I want.

At this point my fist ball of miliput ran out, I just mixed another batch and continued.

I'm leaving a pool in the centre where I hope to add some water effects

Leave the miliput to cure; overnight is best.

Adding Texture.

Now we have all the ground shaped and dry, it's time to start adding texture, as I mentioned above my legion base theme is a dark wasteland so I've been using the Black Lava as a base texture. All I do is paint the ground areas created by the Miliput with the textured paint continue onto areas of the slate to give them a exposed rock effect. 

Don't worry if the texture is uneven this can be sorted out by a second coat of the textured paint plus ground in real life is very often uneven.

That's it for now as I need to leave the base to fully dry and I'm out of time.

Summing Up.

Next time: as I continue the flying base, I'll cover priming, painting and adding the finishing touches to give it final look.

 

I'll leave you with a example of one of my finished dreadnaught bases.

Be good.

Praetor, Out!