Basing Materials

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Artists,

In my quest to make good display bases, would like to know what you all use for for your basing needs. What materials do you find mandatory and why? Where do you get it?

The reason I ask, is that so many people do so many different things to make good display bases. I'd like to know what I should go out and buy so that I have materials on hand. Like grass of choice? Shrub of choice? Flowers? Trees? And even sockets or base types. Some of you guys make such good, natural, organic looking bases that it looks very realistic. I'm interested in all types of terrain. Thanks!!!

 

[Webmonkey]

There are lots of answers to this question. The two most common are,..

1) Buying premade materials. This includes flock, static grass, and the like, from companies like GW,.. or from your local hobby store (the stuff in the model train section is excellent for this kind of thing)

or

2) Use the stuff you have lying around.(ie: go out into the driveway and pick up a few twigs and pebbles ,.. which on a miniature base, become boulders and logs.)

But the reality is that most people use a combination of both of these to achieve various looks.

 

[PegaZus]

I was doing some minis on vacation and realized I needed some basing stuff. So, I ran out to the curb to a small rain-piled dune of dirt. Had little tiny rocks, silt, and some larger pebbles. Filled up a small plastic container of that to bring in. It's lasted me a long, long time.

For store bought stuff, I buy a lot of Woodland Scenics stuff. I'm actually not that picky. And as much as I hate the evil one, I have a couple of small containers of Games Workshop grass flock.

Overall, small investment for a large amount of basing materials. So, I'm not sure there's a "best" or "mandatory". It's just too simple to acquire a large variety to worry much about that.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Basing materials, just like paint are one of those things that seem to shout "Gotta Get Em All" for us.
Truth is no we don't.

Here's a classic example from me; 2005 I bought three packets of coloured birch seeds from Anenociti's workshop while at Salute. Each of them fills a 500ml box, I've used less than a millimetre of depth from each of the boxes.
It's the same with the flock, static grass, sand gravel etc.....not every model is going to get the same basing all the time! especially for display purposes, (gaming ranks being different.)
Woodland scenic stuffs great, but the volume of what I've bought is enough to last Waaaay past my retirement! Because the packet size is aimed a railway model layout volumes not mini painters volumes.

So my advice is simple for the moment go out to you garden armed with a sealable box and fill it half full of soil, put it on a windowsill in a warm dry place and allow the moisture to evaporate. After a week or so you'll have good basing materials which looks good and in scale on mini bases.
One WARNING as stated by MassiveVoodo and others using this and cheap runny superglue together,, well only way to describe it is IT STINKS!
Eye watering, Dysenteric Camel mixed with Skunk Spray, House Filling, oh sh*t I should have done this outside, she's gonna kill me stinks!

 

[mjs101]

I have four suggestions,

1) Look for a Woodland Scenics kit entitled "Foliage & Grasses", the part number is SP4120. It is for school dioramas and will have enough stuff to base an army. It is list price $11 and might be available at Michaels.

It has lots of little samples, so you might find you like some of it. http://scenearama.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/SP4120/page/1

2) PagaZus already mentioned that running water will gather find sand for you, but it can also sort it be size. If you look at the sand near a drain some of it will be finer (nearer the drain) and some of it will be coarser. My inlaws live near a river that floods pretty heavily during winter melts but fades to a tickle by last summer. The sand near the bottom is superfine, while the sand further up the bank is coarser. Two Pint bags will last me forever.

3) Tufts by Silflor or Army builder. These add a wild grass look that it very hard to match, including fading at the tips. Also very easy.

4) Finally, consistent basing of an army is as important as a consistent paint scheme on the models. It makes them look like they belong together.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Thanks all for the info. Some great info, and some points that I should clarify. First, Im looking for display base materials only at this point. I may eventually turn what I have into an army though, so in some cases I'll probably put the faming base on the display base and do them both up so I can remove the mini for play. But for all intents and purposes, consider gaming considerations to be inconsequential.

The tufts sound invaluable. I'll need some of these. And the variety of products in the Foliage and Grass kit sounds cool. I have a similar product from them that is for the use of snow and icicles. I also have some woodland scenics tiny bushes and some flock like material with some yellow dots in it to represent flowers.

I look at some of your bases and I just see such variety. Which seems to be as many of you elude the thing to do. DR you mention those seeds. I believe those are the ones used to represent leaves? Are the brass etch kits worthwhile? They seem to be the way to go for the finest details.

Thanks for the advice in the gathering of sand and silt. I'm sure this will help me out a lot. Of organic materials, i tend to pick some local mosses off of trees, and I have to say I dont think they are going to brown on me.

Some people use some interesting add ons, like stair cases or bridges. I know some companies that sell these, but haven't found a great web site as of yet.

Basing it seems requires one to summon their inner Martha Stewart and get creative. I hope I'm up to the task.

 

[Zab]

Anything and everything! Great example:
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.de/2014/04/tutorial-never-fear-your-gaming-bases.html

 

[airhead]

sheet cork for rocks.
microballoons and white glue (elmers) for snow
bits of woodland scenic grasses
bits of woodland scenic long grasses
hudson & allen for leaf litter (birch seeds)
a bag of play sand from the local home center for a handful of basing gravel.

try to avoid using model railroad ballast for bases, all the "rocks" are one size. The only place I know this happens are quarries and railroad tracks. The rest of the world and lots of rocks in different sizes.

 

[Webmonkey]

try to avoid using model railroad ballast for bases, all the "rocks" are one size. The only place I know this happens are quarries and railroad tracks. The rest of the world and lots of rocks in different sizes.

one exception... I've found that the small coal from woodland scenics works quite well as ash/rubble if you are going for a burnt-out city terrain type of look.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Some people use some interesting add ons, like stair cases or bridges. I know some companies that sell these, but haven't found a great web site as of yet.

Basing it seems requires one to summon their inner Martha Stewart and get creative. I hope I'm up to the task.

The stairs bridges etc can be built using plastic card & milliput and plenty of practice, but a website for precast resin scenic bits is

http://www.ainsty.co.uk

Really good quality stuff and good prices.
It's a very hard resin and sometimes needs a touch of ultra fine roughening up to take the 'sheen' off but is scaled for 28mm.
(I knew and was friendly with the original owner and his wife, came as a shock when he passed away from Stomach Cancer so very suddenly.)


And and we're quite happy for you to go all Martha Stewart on us! just don't do it in Gingham or Doilies.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Just what I am looking for, thanks. Any idea where I can find sheet cork?

and by grasses, is this the standard static grass? The stuff where you put down glue, grab a big pile of the grass, press very hard onto base and knock off excess?

Good tip about the rocks. I don't think i could ever purchase what can be dug out if the ground.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

The stairs bridges etc can be built using plastic card & milliput and plenty of practice, but a website for precast resin scenic bits is

http://www.ainsty.co.uk

Really good quality stuff and good prices.
It's a very hard resin and sometimes needs a touch of ultra fine roughening up to take the 'sheen' off but is scaled for 28mm.
(I knew and was friendly with the original owner and his wife, came as a shock when he passed away from Stomach Cancer so very suddenly.)


And and we're quite happy for you to go all Martha Stewart on us! just don't do it in Gingham or Doilies.

Sorry to hear about your friend. I'd love to support him and his family with a purchase from his store. The link provided doesn't work, though. It seems that the domain name is no longer in use. Is there another site?

 

[Zab]

Ikea has very thick circular cork trivets for protecting you table from hot pots or plates and your local DIY Like Lowes should have various thicknesses of cork sub floor tiles in the tile section. They come in packages of about 6 and are 12"x12". Will last you forever!

 

[airhead]

Static grass should not be pressed into the glue....

put white glue or super glue where you want the grass.
Then blow the grass into the glue.
I use one of these:
http://www.modeldads.co.uk/Life-at-the-Front/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSC_0757.jpg
You can find them with the grass or on ebay.
It does two things, applies the grass more vertically and gives it a static charge so it stands up.
View attachment 27923

not my work, just an image I stole from the internet.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Right. Just going with what a recent tutorial told me to do with the grass. After a little more research it looks like your method is about as good as it gets, short of actually buying one of those costly static guns. Also some people put the base up to their tv or a balloon to capitalize on the static electricity.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

BTW Dragonareach, I found your buddy's site. It's www.aintsy-casting.co.uk
Good selection here. My only concern is that it appears most everything is prepainted.

 

[Dragonsreach]

BloodFather, nothing is pre-painted it's all Raw Resin.
Pictures of painted items are there just for advertising.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Oooh!!! That's awesome, okay. They have my business.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

A follow up. Where can I get a cheapo plinth or socket locally in the US? You know, the hunks of wood that are used for display pieces. I'm sure I can go to a local hardware store and just get a small piece, but was looking for something of a bit higher quality. Better wood, maybe pre stained but not necessary, interesting pedestal shapes, etc. any ideas?

 

[Zab]

Micheals sells blocks of wood in various sizes. Lowes has oak, walnut and whatnot that you can cut to the size you need. If you want prefinished I think Milosh knows someone stateside in his part of the world, you could PM him.