Pier - Less

EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Working on a base for miniature I've painted. I have an idea but could really use some suggestions on methods and materials.
The miniature is a pirate and i want to put him on a pier in a bayou.

I've knocked out a pier to get a sense of scale out of basswood. Ideally the tableau will have some shoreline with the pier sticking out into the swamp.

questions!
1) What to make the base out of? I was thinking of molding the shoreline and swamp bottom out of clay. Are there other /better materials that I should consider?

2) paint or stain the wood? i think staining the wood won't work. There's not much grain to bring out and I want to make it weathered and even mossy. Can anyone point me to guide to painting weathered wood?

View attachment 48947


Thanks for any ideas, suggestions or random knock knock jokes.

EBITDAR
 
Sicks

Sicks

Active member
I don't have much experience with balsa wood but I have used gw agrax earthshade to stain a fence on a beach scene (it's in my gallery if you wanted to see the exact effect, it was literally one coat) if the grain isn't strong enough you could try lollipop sticks. I also find gw waywatcher green handy for mossy like effect and athonian camoshade, you can make some interesting effects with just using these to stain the wood. You could try it out on a scrap piece to see if it will work for you

As for the base an alternative material could be the kind of filler used for filling holes in walls, what I like about using that stuff is that it's very easy to make a rough texture for dirt and it dries rock hard and is then easy to carve into if needed, however I'm not sure how waterproof it is if you are planning to use 2 part resin epoxy for the water
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'd suggest ragging the ends of the planking to give a weathered look also use a junior hacksaw blade to roughen up the surface of the planks as well as tapping the pylons with a hammer to give them the weathered battered look.
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Zap! you are my hero! Your base looks super and i will try to recreate some of those affects! Very nice to have pallet to work from and something to look at for ideas.
I have lots of scrap to experiment with so should be fun.

Pre priming with PVA is a new concept for me. This will help the primer work better? I was a bit worried that over priming would eliminate any texture i added.
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
On it! I have some old dental tools that work well at carving texture into the boards. I have some travel this week, so won't have much time to work on it but I will try posting a series of pictures of boards so viewers can judge what worked and what didn't.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Back from my travels and trying to pick up the pieces. Milan is really nice!

I've been scouring the wood to look more aged. I also took a few scraps and painted them to see how they came out.
They look aged but perhaps a bit too cartoonish and not real enough looking

perhaps some varnish to make the wood look harder?
EBITDAR

View attachment 49455
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Tried a second approach. Mixed Gesso with black ink and Gesso with brown inc.

first coat in the black mix and then streaking and dry brushing with the brown mix.

I think it looks better. Need to lighten it up further and add more streaking.


View attachment 49520
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Now I'm making some progress! Nothing like a rainy weekend!

Lightened the wood a lot to bring out the grain and assembled.

Next will start to work on the base that all this will sit on.
It will be much larger than i had planned. It seems to be a consistent problem of mine..


As always comments and suggestions much appreciated!

View attachment 49573View attachment 49574
 
Zab

Zab

New member
very nice look! You can always stain it more as you need once you place the minis and know what the wear and tear would do :)
 
Hairster

Hairster

New member
Looking good...would definitely consider some green staining/texturing where algae etc has crept up the woodwork one the pier is in situ
 
S

SkelettetS

New member
:good: would definitely follow Hairsters advice. And some dirt, plants, bird poo and whatever to to make it more alive.
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Thanks everyone ! All good suggestions. Definitely was going to add some algae and rot to the wood. If anyone has any good pictures I can look at for ideas let me know.
I love the idea of bird poo! Hadn't thought of that but now seems mandatory! Does Games Workshop make a bird poo white? :)

going to work on the base next. Will be back with more pictures and hopefully some progress!
 
S

SkelettetS

New member
bird poo is actually super easy to do, just buy the cheapest oil color you can find. as its thick you get a nice texture ;) . use an old brush to stain and smooth it out a bit beneath.
 
Hairster

Hairster

New member
Think GW call it Tzeentchian Excretia White.

Add in a fleck of Black/charcoal grey and a smidge of yellow and job done
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Okay I got distracted from doing bird poo, but that's next up. Along with some moss.
But billions of blue blistering barnacles! the pier now has barnacles!. It was a bit fiddly but not too hard and i think they look pretty good!

EBITDAR

Ps I like Tzeentchian Excretia White as a color name. Do you think Behr paint will pick it up for next season?


View attachment 49729View attachment 49730
 
EBITDAR

EBITDAR

New member
Filling in the base. Will paint mottled green and browns. Started to stain the pier. Looks like is has some good mold growing. will highlight a little more and add some more dark staining for contrast.
Want to wait to do more till i know where to put in the shadows.

View attachment 50043View attachment 50044
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back To Top
Top