Basing Techniques

[ErikB]

I'm trying to improve my basing techniques.  I can do painted sand, rocks, and muddy dirt covered with static grass, but I'm trying to introduce Woodland Scenics' coarse turf.

A few questions:

Is this kind of turf the same thing as flock?  Same stuff, different name?

Are there any rules about which shades go where?  Dark over light or lighter green over darker green?

And how does one mix in static grass with the turf?

Can anyone point me toward a WIP or tutorial?

Thanks a bunch!

[DD-Chris]

i am not a fan of the course turf for basing unless it is used as a replacement for static grass or to  use as undergrowth.
i used to do painted sand, static grass, cork rocks.
but now i am lazy ( doing that for a single model is fine, do that for an army of romans and it is horribly time consuming )
so i use the woodland senics fine earth, add in some splotches of 'spring mix' and top it off with a tuft of gorilla grass, and i am VERY pleased with how it looks.
for 28mm figures, stick with the 'fine' textured stuff, most of it is ground up foam, even the medium is FAR too 'fluffy' to be of any real use on 28mm figures.
if you are interested, give me a day or two and i can post a picture of a few figures i have based like this.

[ErikB]

I'd love to see some examples.  Please post!

[Hammers]

Turf are sheets of fiber and coloured granulates while flocks are clumps coloured sponge.

While on the topic of Woodland Scienics I find them much too monochrome. Its only suitable for a English lawn. I mostly use tufts for bases these days but when I use static grass I have a couple of tins and bags of scatter/static grass/flock, mixes of shades and shapes which I have thrown together to fit various purposes like verdant grass to savannah to, as it were, Mirkwood forest litter.

There are companies who provide static grass and scatter of varying lenghts, colours and nuances in the same package, but Woodland is not one of them (unless they have something new in their catalogue of which I am not aware).

[Sangennaru]

i'm really interested in this topic; please inclue pictures as examples!

thanks
jack

[infelix]

There are companies who provide static grass and scatter of varying lenghts, colours and nuances in the same package, but Woodland is not one of them (unless they have something new in their catalogue of which I am not aware).

That is something I've been looking for, for a while, could you give some suggestions to what companies that offer that?

[zizi666]

That is something I've been looking for, for a while, could you give some suggestions to what companies that offer that?

I've got a bag of multi-coloured grass by Faller. a lot like this (except more spring green in the mix) :

[Sangennaru]

i never liked that kind of multicolour bags: i think that using various colours is really ok, but you have to make different coloured areas: every grass plant has his own colour i don't find that that solution is realistic!

[dampfpanzerwagon]

My basing formula has remained constant for some years;

Smooth out the miniatures base with the secondary base using Milliput.  I base on washers, coins and plastic card and like to have a smooth base.

Texture the base with grit, sand and fine sand.  I rarely have a standard mix, preferring to start with the grit, add the sand over the top and finish off with the fine sand.  Laid on uPVA glue and all sealed with some dilute uPVA glue.

Paint the base.  I use at least three highlights and sometimes a 'wash' around the feet of the figure.  I also try to pick out a couple of small stones in complimentary colours or just grey.

Add static grass over uPVA glue.  In small clumps or irregular lines.

I have recently started to use some of the static grass clumps, but this is rare.

I have used course turf, but on single miniature this looks over-powering. While on terrain it looks OK.

Photos on the Blog (sorry no photobucket account).

I hope that this helps.

Tony
http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/

[bandit86]

They have whole kits, I have not used them yet but they look nice
http://www.skullcrafts.com/

[infelix]

I've used Skullcraft's grass and leafs but it's quite a long time since I ordered so I don't know if they have changed anything but the grass I got, fall and spring I think, was quite uniform and not really very multi-colours. I can still highly recommend the company as their products was of great quality and nicely priced and they seem to have improved their packaging since I ordered. 5/5 stars from me

[Silent Invader]

For my historical stuff, I glue the mini to a penny coin, then add beach sand to level off and texture the surface; a larger stone (either real or shaped greenstuff) is fixed to the sand, in the line of sight .... so as to easily see the line of sight.  After the base has been painted up as dirt and a rock, I then add swirls and clumps of fibre scraped from offcuts of the 'grass' paper I use to cover my terrain boards.  All fixing is with superglue.

For my future wars stuff, I simply smooth off the penny with milliput and/or gs.

[Sangennaru]

the skullcraft stuff is really good, and the prices are quite interesting!

but i think that the most importan part in the base making regards the composition, and the ratios of the "ingredients"... i am not an expert of bases, since i uwually make them after having painted a mini, and i don't paint minis for a while... but i am really interested in the topic!

[Hammers]

By the way, looking at the Skullcraft catalogue I see they have a variety of coloured leaf scatters. They are birch pods, which are readily available for free in most parks and are easy to collect (if a tad tedious to clean). I collected a lifetime supply about 10 years ago which I am still using.

[6milPhil]

Try these chum

http://6milphil.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/flocking-bases/
http://6milphil.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/base-how-low-can-you-go/

hope they're of some use.