Basing for SDE - What do you use?
- Thread starter Tiberis
- Start date
freakinacage
Well-known member
What is sde?
In Chigh P.I.
New member
What about using slate?
freakinacage
Well-known member
Ahh so dungeony type stuff, well if you want decent, cheap bases, try mdp:
http://www.modeldisplayproducts.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home
These could all be used for dungeons:
http://www.modeldisplayproducts.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home
These could all be used for dungeons:
Tiberis
New member
Yes, I was talking about Super Dungeon Explore, sorry for any confusion that caused.
Those pre-made bases do look rather good, but at £4 each (plus shipping intl.) i just can't justify that cost. I was hoping to find some others that had found something cheap and easy enough to do at home, plus it always feels better to make it your self
Those pre-made bases do look rather good, but at £4 each (plus shipping intl.) i just can't justify that cost. I was hoping to find some others that had found something cheap and easy enough to do at home, plus it always feels better to make it your self
QuietiManes
New member
Stone, brick, cobblestone, wooden plank floors are pretty cheap and easy to do at home. Put some putty on the base, use a toothpick or a hobby knife to form some crevices. You can add texture, if desired, with some sandpaper, slate, bark, jagged broken pieces of wood or anything with some texture, just rolled over or poked into the putty.
If you buy a textured sheet, from Plastruct or Evergreen or where ever, you can just push the putty on the bases into it. Or you may need to make a negative from the sheet, then push the base into that...either way, it's pretty cheap to do a whole bunch of models, and WAY quicker, but the cost is on the high side, for just a couple models, compared to just buying bases.
You could also cut up cardboard (cereal box) or balsa wood or plastic sheets (plastic card, blister packs) or whatever into long strips/boards (for wooden planks), short boards (for bricks/stones) or irregular or round shapes (for cobblestones). Glued onto the base and painted up right, they can look pretty decent too. Easy and as close to free to do as is possible if you use a cereal box, blister pack or similar for the material you cut up.
If you buy a textured sheet, from Plastruct or Evergreen or where ever, you can just push the putty on the bases into it. Or you may need to make a negative from the sheet, then push the base into that...either way, it's pretty cheap to do a whole bunch of models, and WAY quicker, but the cost is on the high side, for just a couple models, compared to just buying bases.
You could also cut up cardboard (cereal box) or balsa wood or plastic sheets (plastic card, blister packs) or whatever into long strips/boards (for wooden planks), short boards (for bricks/stones) or irregular or round shapes (for cobblestones). Glued onto the base and painted up right, they can look pretty decent too. Easy and as close to free to do as is possible if you use a cereal box, blister pack or similar for the material you cut up.
Tiberis
New member
Now we are talking
Definitely some good ideas that i will want to try. I could justify the cost of a few bits of equipment, as some things i could also use for Zombicide (there is going to be about 3 abomination packs in my house soon) and i plan on getting the expansions for SDE, so several hundred bases later, i think the cost pays off.
Definitely some good ideas that i will want to try. I could justify the cost of a few bits of equipment, as some things i could also use for Zombicide (there is going to be about 3 abomination packs in my house soon) and i plan on getting the expansions for SDE, so several hundred bases later, i think the cost pays off.
Einion
New member
If you're going to need several hundred eventually then yeah, definitely go the home-made course!
What I'd do probably is sculpt a set of master bases - might need to use 8-10 for this to work - make a mould/moulds from them and then cast multiple copies of each. With some variation in the painting, rotating the 'front' from mini to mini it shouldn't be too obvious that there's just a small number of bases repeated.
There's some initial setup costs here but the savings in time and effort offset this I think, but see what you think yourself.
These days most people would probably want to cast either in pourable resin or by going the press-mould route, where the copies are cast in epoxy putty. But the cheapest option by far would be plaster and if you get a strong one they will be plenty tough enough to withstand handling. See if you can get dental plaster or something roughly equivalent like Herculite 2 or Hydrocal (see Hirst Arts site for more options).
Einion
What I'd do probably is sculpt a set of master bases - might need to use 8-10 for this to work - make a mould/moulds from them and then cast multiple copies of each. With some variation in the painting, rotating the 'front' from mini to mini it shouldn't be too obvious that there's just a small number of bases repeated.
There's some initial setup costs here but the savings in time and effort offset this I think, but see what you think yourself.
These days most people would probably want to cast either in pourable resin or by going the press-mould route, where the copies are cast in epoxy putty. But the cheapest option by far would be plaster and if you get a strong one they will be plenty tough enough to withstand handling. See if you can get dental plaster or something roughly equivalent like Herculite 2 or Hydrocal (see Hirst Arts site for more options).
Einion
Einion
New member
Meant to say above, if you can only get a run-of-the-mill plaster easily you can toughen this up by adding some glue into the mix. I'd suggest woodworking adhesive, one of the stronger waterproof ones would be ideal but the regular white type would do, even your standard white craft glue (PVA) will help.
Einion
Einion
Bailey03
Well-known member
There was a nice tutorial on MassiveVoodoo that might be helpful. Scroll down about halfway to the section "creating a tiled floor piece." The basic idea is pour some plaster of paris onto a flat surface (plastic tub lid or whatever is handy), let it spread out nice and thin, and then wait for it to dry. If you're doing bases with a little lip around the edge you could probably pour it directly on the base. Once dry take a ruler and draw on lines for your tiles. You can explore a variety of patterns. Then take a hobby knife (they use a needle) and carve out the spaces between the stones. Make a small gap between the stones or cut them out completely. You can also cut some cracks into them to give it a little more interest. If you want break up the a few stones/plaster to create some rubble. If you want to go further, take some baking soda and white glue to add some sand/dirt on or between the stones.
The general idea is similar to what QuietiManes suggested, though the execution is a little different.
The general idea is similar to what QuietiManes suggested, though the execution is a little different.
freakinacage
Well-known member
If you are making loads, yeah I would prolly make them myself, that said the price stated on the site is per set (ie in the case of the 40mm rounds, £4 for 5)Yes, I was talking about Super Dungeon Explore, sorry for any confusion that caused.
Those pre-made bases do look rather good, but at £4 each (plus shipping intl.) i just can't justify that cost. I was hoping to find some others that had found something cheap and easy enough to do at home, plus it always feels better to make it your self
MiniArt
New member
I went the homemade route and sculpted all new stone texture bases to replace the flimsy ones. It was pretty easy and cost effective. These are older photos. Since then I added some grass tufts from Army Painter.
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MiniArt
New member
Hey thanks for the compliment. The bases are all new sculpts made from dental plaster and mounted on regular 25mm and 50mm blank bases. The ones that came with the game were not to suitable to use as a guide. They were a little warped and they didn't look perfectly round. I then molded them and cast them with Smooth-cast 300 urethane plastic. Here are some WIPs of the bases before paint.
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Einion
New member
Still, for 150 bases it's 120 smackers before shipping. The homemade route would work out less than a third of this cost with supplies that would go well beyond this one project, e.g. 10kg bag of plaster, 200-500g of RTV silicone (was just doing some price comparisons online for plaster and rubber so the numbers are fresh in my mind).freakinacage said:
Einion
