Making a Display Base

I first did this step by step article as a forum post, I'd done a few other base step by step projects and thought it would be a good idea to do the whole display base concept, from building up the plinth all the way through to paints and powders. The plinth used is about 5 cm across so plenty for space, and I'm going to try build a cliff face, then put a bridge on top and have some water underneath it, the idea being that the figure is charging across the bridge. you won't get to see the figure itself though as I did this project as a present and kept the figure out of the pictures for the surprise value.

Step 1: Planning

First up is to get some basic sketches of the idea down. I tend to do this with all my bases to some extent, and I have a pretty good idea of what I want as I had a 5 hour drive home the other day with little else to think about apart from avoiding the rest of the traffic. The initial sketches get me a feeling for the sort of height I'm going to have, enough to fit some sort of support work under the bridge, but not too tall, it is only going to be a 35mil figure. So after a couple of initial sketches I spend a bit more care getting the details down on my little blue note paper. Nice to keep notes on the stuff to look back on later. These are done to the actual size, the top view sketched onto an outline drawn around the plinth, and red marks added for possible placement of the figures feet.

One of the most important parts is to get smooth sides to the base, and one of the best things I have found for this is thin plastic sheet. It's quite easy to get hold of as lots of products come in plastic packaging these days. This time I used part of a tube from some Italian chocolates a friend had bought to work, so as you can see almost anything will do. I have used a strip wide enough to go round slightly more than half the base of the plinth, and 4 cm high. I also marked an uneven edge as I hope this will allow me to focus on a rough and uneven edge for the stone like face.

I must admit I was unsure how I would get the backing correctly lined up with the sides of the plinth. On a square plinth it would be fairly easy to do separate sides and then carefully smooth the edges, but getting the plastic to curve correctly with the round plinth could be an issue. However while working I realised I could use some paper to create a wall around the top of the plinth and then place the plastic backi8ng inside and it out push out to the edge of the plinth. This was made easier by a small ledge running round the plinth which allowed me to get the paper correctly aligned and standing vertically. I should probably mention that it was quite thick paper, almost card like. And it did take a bit of pushing about after the rubber band was used to hold it in place, but it eventually got positioned and looked quite vertical.

Here's another pic just to show that the surface of the base and the backing have been marked and roughed up with a knife. the intention is to use some putty to fix the backing and the base together and this rough surface should give the putty a good surface to attach to.

So here it is after I used some milliput to fix the backing and the plinth.

Then I decided that the backing might be a bit flimsy until the cliff face had been done and filled it in so I decided to use some wood (Matches) to add a bit more solidity. These were fixed in place with a bit of superglue and a little more milliput. In retrospect it was probably unnecessary, but it certainly helped make it a solid structure.