Kings Royal Rangers of NY (WIP)

[kingsmt]

I'm working on the Kings Royal Rangers of NY for the battle of Oriskany.
These are "work in progress" pictures, so you can see how I do my basing.
The Battle took place in the woods and so I am basing these figures as if they were in the forest!

You can see the Boulders and the Trees that have been included in the base.

The "Forest Floor" mixture that you see is a combination of various spices, Teas, flocks, and crushed cork.
Oregano is excellent as is "All Spice". Basically any spice that looks like dead fall or leaves.
I also crushed up a large amount of small twigs, as you can see them in the mix.
There are also some small stones mixed in. These, I think, came from a Model RR source.
The crushed cork came from Michaels. They sell small bags of it.

Once I add the forest floor to these figures they will be finished.

Any questions?

[FifteensAway]

Yet another nice unit.

And cool to see your Work In Progress shots.

No questions but a comment: While I wouldn't benefit since I already have all of my AWI figures and none in need of conversion (massive variety in 15 mm), I suspect a lot of people would like to see a thorough tutorial on doing head swaps from a photo of bare original figures with a step by step photo all the way through to the finished figure.  I'd bet it would be a much viewed post.  Just a thought.

Okay, I just thought of a question - using spices in your ground cover, how does that impact the smell of your bases and have you had any issues with tiny critters being attracted to your collection?  Serious question.

[kingsmt]

15's   Because the spices are sealed in Matte Medium, I have never had any problems at all.

As for the smell, it dissipates after a day or two.

I've already done plenty of tutorials for E Zines.
Lots of work for no reward.

[Freddy]

Great looking figures and bases, but recently I got two very bad experiences with herb based basing material: 1.) on the old (lets say, 10+ years old) figures it starts to rot away into dust
2.) little bugs started to dwell in it. Do you use some sealing or other simnilar treatment?

[kingsmt]

OK. As far as using organic materials, everything I use, I microwave first.
I have an old Microwave that I use for this purpose in my garage.

If you're going to do this, then by all means, stand there and watch.
Don't walk away or allow yourself to be distracted.
Otherwise, you can be the guy who burned his house down basing figures!!!

Next once everything is in place, I seal it with Matte Medium.
After that, my final chore is to Dulcote the entire piece.

So far, so good. No crumbling and no critters.

[Freddy]

Thanks! I will try to use coating on it then.

[kingsmt]

Freddy,  There is nothing better than diluted Matte Medium.
It dries clear and it gets absorbed into the terrain.
It also forms a rock hard protective shell over everything.
I cannot recommend this enough for terrain work.

[Freddy]

Freddy,  There is nothing better than diluted Matte Medium.
It dries clear and it gets absorbed into the terrain.
It also forms a rock hard protective shell over everything.
I cannot recommend this enough for terrain work.

How do you apply it? Spray, or maybe with a brush?
My problem with any kind of lacquer is that I am afraid of it, once or twice the matt one got white and ruined my entire work with the last step.

[kingsmt]

Freddy  It's not a lacquer. Matte Medium is paint without the pigment.

I apply it with a dropper bottle which allows me to pinpoint where I want it to go.

[Freddy]

Freddy  It's not a lacquer. Matte Medium is paint without the pigment.

I apply it with a dropper bottle which allows me to pinpoint where I want it to go.

I see, thanks! Gonna give it a try.