Texturing figure bases.

[Ragnar]

Hi all, For the past twenty something years, I have used textured house paint to build up the base on figures and to create an earth like texture, sometimes sprinkling sand on while it was wet for extra texture.  So my latest can of paint is around twelves year old and is pretty much dead.

So the question is, what are people using these days to do the above task?  Are there any commercially available hobby products that will do it?

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I use Milliput to blend the figure's metal base into the wargame base and then cover with PVA and sprinkle sand on top.

Vallejo have a special Pumice paint

[Ragnar]

Awesome, it looks like the pumice is the way to go for me.

Thanks heaps.

[beefcake]

Mix of PVA and sand. Then again my bases are rather boring.
I also use milliput if I have some mixed up and handy.

[Dr DeAth]

Brown decorators caulk then sprinkle with sand, just needs a dry-brush afterwards to get a good earth effect.

Here's a few pics showing the results on figures and on a terrain piece.





I apply a little amount of water to the sand once it's on the base, this cases the pva in the caulk to leech into the sand and fix it nicely.  It brings the dark brown colour through slightly too.

[Captain Blood]

Gloop - mix sand, PVA and paint. Costs almost nothing. Make it is thick or thin as you like, depending on the mix of ingredients. Make it whatever colour you like. Prepare in advance - keeps for months or years in a screw-top container. You can vary the surface texture depending on the grade of sand. It dries rock hard. You can paint it onto your figure's base in moments. You can embed larger stones in it before it sets. It lends itself perfectly to drybrushing... 

I've been banging this drum for years now. I don't understand why people would choose to use more fiddly, expensive, time consuming methods and materials... 
(And I certainly don't know why people buy proprietary brands from model paint companies, which are basically exactly the same mix I describe, only in small pots - but at 100 times the price of mixing your own... )

[OSHIROmodels]

Second vote for gloop 

cheers

James

[Silent Invader]

Sand and superglue*  



*cheap stuff 

[OSHIROmodels]

Sand and superglue*  



*cheap stuff 

And a mask, don't forget the mask 

[Malamute]

And a mask, don't forget the mask 

He likes wearing a mask.

The gloop method thirded.

[SotF]

A lot of it depends upon the figure.

For a lot of them, it's the PVA/White Glue spread around the base with a few bits of rock and other basing things. I attach the mini first and it looks like a more soft earth after painting the sand with the figure sitting in right for it. If you want a more muddy look to it, after you paint it, then put a layer of gloss on the sand parts.

Some of them I've used Cork to build up portions of the base in order to work things out and look more like outcroppings. With patches of sand before painting to blend the bits together.

If I want an actual sandy look, what tends to work very well is to get some cheap, runny superglue and spread it on before sprinkling it with baking soda. You get the more sandy or ash look to the end result.

For other things, I've picked out a lot of stones that can fit a mini on them, and some bark chunks as well. I've got a scifi special forces squad that uses that with bits and pieces of the mixed moss bag from the craft store around it.

Another thing that sometimes work is to use the clear gel tacky glue with very fine sand to create odd looks.

And there is always the plastic canvas approach for some moderns and scifi for grating.

If you have GW style bases, paint them a flat black and then give it a VERY light drybrush of a dark grey, and they work great for tarmac.

If you have some clean eggshell, take chunks of it larger than your base. Cover your base in a thin layer of superglue, position your piece of shell over the base and push it on it and let it break to create a flat bit over it. When it dries, you end up with something that can be easily painted as a cooling lava base.

If you get some of the plaster wall crack filler that's premixed, spread it over the surface of the base with a smooth, flat layer, then take a piece of plastic canvas that's been hit with a bit of water and carefully press it lightly into the plaster before removing it carefully will give you a great tile pattern that can do various mosaics...even the round plaster canvas works great for it, sometimes better than the squares...

Take a sheet of cereal box card and cut it to the shape of the base and cut it to form deckplates before reassembling them, glued down onto the base. Take a hot glue gun and use a very little bit of hot glue but drag it along the joins between the pieces and it looks like weld lines if you've got the right amount of glue for it.

Get some cheap foam core, cut it to the shape of the bases, remove the cladding and then glue it in place. You can use a pen to essentially draw in the grooves and patterns for brickwork or stone, or other things with little difficulty. Then add a thin layer of mod podge or thinned white glue over it and you can have a LOT of things.

You could also buy a roll of textured wallpaper, which lasts forever for doing bases. Same with some of the vinyl floor tiles that have stone textures. I won't use them on their own (I know some people use that for basing, but it flexes to much for me and I also tend to like a more standard basing for my stuff), but the ones with a more stone texture work great for both stone and just some rougher dirt.

There are a pile of other basing options that are rather simple to do and cheap, but a lot of them rely on what you plan on doing with the minis.

[beefcake]

For those people using gloop (which I guess I do too without the paint in it), how do you apply it? Just wodering what others think the easiest method is, and cleanest for the miniature.

[Johnnytodd]

Greenstuff - Good use for leftover bits.   I use an old toothbrush to give texture or just leave it smooth:

[OSHIROmodels]

For those people using gloop (which I guess I do too without the paint in it), how do you apply it? Just wodering what others think the easiest method is, and cleanest for the miniature.

Tiny spatchula (sp?) does the job fine. One with a point on it though to get in between the feet.

cheers

James

[has.been]

I use a pallet knife, one that looks like a miniature trowel. It is springy & very flexible, ideal for getting in around
the feet of the wargames figure. Most art shops stock them.