Miniature Bases (flocks, rocks, grass .. etc).

[Frustrated Father]

Hiya folks!

Well I\'ve been lurking around CMoN here for a month or so and I\'ve found this to be a very informative place. My hat off to all of you that make this place possible, whether through Chern Ann (think I got that right) or the many folks that have been so kind to answer questions I\'ve had on the fly.

Anyhow - enough of the butt kissing! lol

I\'m finding that although I\'m still new to miniature painting, I think I\'m getting along fairly well so far but I\'m REALLY interested in learning more about how you guys do work on the bases. Grass, Flock, Rock .. etc.

You can see I\'ve \'tried\' to work in that direction on my mini\'s but a bush and green sandrock isn\'t exactly cutting it. I JUST managed to see some of that tan grass stuff the other day as well as the flock grass and I\'m keen to try it out but I\'m wondering what all ya\'ll do, buy or find to work on bases. Like rocks for instance. You guys buying or finding them? Looks like a lot of them have been painted to me in the pictures. Call me curious.

Any help, ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. I\'m still learning all of this (started painting about a month or so back).

-Nathan
-Frustrated Father

 

[Errex]

Okay

I have used sand, fine sawdust, urethane flock in several colors and textures (the stuff that looks like the grinded cushion thingie that comes in most GW minis), cork flock (the regular GW stuff), some odd fishtank rocks, and plasticard. I also have bought some plastic modelling grills, and the odd resin base.

Almost all these materials can be found cheap looking around, and sometimes even for free. Except the flocks and sawdust, I like to paint them over with acryllic to match the look of my models, since IMHO natural, real life sand/rock next to a painted mini does not look good.

Lately, I\'ve been playing around with plasticard, some styrene bits and pieces of old models to spice up my bases, and I find that bases are almost as much fun as the minis.

 

[Dragonsreach]

First off welcome;
As to bases If you can find the secret to great bases let me know please. Chrispy put up an excellent series of ideas on the articles and it\'s well worth a look at. The concept of using herbs to simulate foiliage is one I\'m trying.
Having been to a number of GW displays I\'ve seen the senic modellers mixing paint & fine modelling sand (Railway enthiusiasts model supplies stuff) together and painting that onto the ground to simulate roadways.
Give this a try and see what yuo think.

 

[Temperance]

I\'ve had a lot of comments on my bases; people seem to like them. (Unfortunately, it\'s what I seem to be best at as opposed to the actual figure...)

Anyway, this is what I do. I have a small container of crushed fish tank rocks and another container of small sand. (I\'ve found that those \"disposable\" ziplock containers are perfect for holding these things.) The larger fish tank rocks are not smooth -- the jagged edges look better for scale.

I cover the base (using an old brush) with wood glue and apply one or two of the larger fish tank rocks. I then dip the base in the sand, so the end result is one or two large rocks surrounded by small grains. I let this dry.

I then paint the whole base in a really dark brown color (I use a camo brown from Vallejo, can\'t remember the real name) followed by a washed out blank ink job. I then drybrush with Mahogony Brown -> Cork Brown -> Buff/Cork Brown mix. (usually quite a messy job so I do it before I paint the rest of the mini -- I undoubtably get stuff on the mini\'s feet)

Later (usually when the mini is finished) I pick out the larger grains/rocks in black, and then highlight with lighter shades of grey.

Finally, I do the static grass by applying a small amount of super glue in spots on the base, stick it in a tub of static grass. I turn the mini upside down and tap the base to get some of the excess grass off the base. Keeping the mini upside down, I then blow on the grass from underneigh to make gravity/etc make the grass stand up vertically.