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.

If you want to look the original post can be found here:
Original display base
post

And my other base articles
Tech base post
Marble base post
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.



The Backing

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 ...