Experimenting with ground texture

[qazbnm]

I have been working on improving my terrain lately. Until now I have been using the quite basic painted sand method, which works quite well for basing miniatures.
After reading up a bit I wanted to try several different methods for ground cover. I have heard good things about both the filler+PVA+sand+paint and Papier-maché methods. So I tried them out and took some pictures in case anyone else was interested.

I started by preparing five pieces of roughly cut 5x5cm plasticard.



Here we have the different testers. The first one is just plain old PVA with sand strewn on top. Number two is  a mix of polyfilla (filler), PVA, sand and raw umber acrylic paint. Numbers three to five are papier-maché: plain, with sand pressed in and the last one pre-mixed with sand and acrylic paint.



I then painted the first sample, and touched up some areas on the second one that had white plasticard showing through.



The last three samples where a bit of a surprise. I had heard that papier-maché could cause warping, but I never thought such a thin layer would cause so much warping. As you can see, all samples with papier-maché suffered from warping. The last one could even be removed from the plasticard in one piece. This could however prove useful if you'd want thin sheets of ground texture. I guess if using papier-maché you need to use thick material underneath, to prevent warping.



Next I'll be giving the samples a drybrush+wash treatment before adding some scatter. Overall, before painting and scatter,
I think I'd rank papier-maché as having the best texture followed by the Polyfilla+PVA+sand+paint mix.

Here are some close-ups of sample #2 and #5

[Captain Blood]

Interesting selection of textures, thanks for sharing.

I use a paint / sand / pva / grit mix for all my terrain groundwork and figure basing. It's always worked well, sets rock hard, and you can vary the texture by adjusting the amount and grades of of sand and grit included. Very cheap. Very versatile. Very easy to use 

[qazbnm]

Thanks, I got the inspiration for #2 from you. I saw that you used something similar on your cave-board.

I must admit that I got impatient and have tried #2 for basing figures already  . But the goop was much more fiddly to use than just brushing on watered-down PVA and dunking the base in sand. Trying not to get the mixture on the figures feet and so on.

[DELTADOG]

The secret in the PVA/PAINT/SAND/FILLER Mixture is the addition of 5th Incridient! Acrylic Based Floor Cleaner! Give a well shot in the mix to break up the surface tension inside the waterbase. Thats increase the Fine grainy structure significantly. The Acrylic Base in the cleaner helps to keep anything even better together. Most Common is Future Floor Wax. I´m using a pendant to it in Germany called "Emsal Bodenreiniger Glanz". However I guess in each country a proper Floorcleaner will be to find wich does the job as well.

[Rhoderic]

Thanks for this. Speaking as someone to whom terrain/scenery modelling is more than 50% of the hobby, I really appreciate things like this.

I'll also have to trawl through some of Captain Blood's threads now to get a good idea of what the sand-pva-grit mix looks like in the "big picture".

[Charlie_]

Thanks for this. I would love to see more on the subject.... I'm gonna be delving into making terrain soon. (Having got back into the hobby after 10 years, I haven't made any terrain since I was a teenager, and I think I'll do a much better job now!!!)

[qazbnm]

The secret in the PVA/PAINT/SAND/FILLER Mixture is the addition of 5th Incridient! Acrylic Based Floor Cleaner! Give a well shot in the mix to break up the surface tension inside the waterbase. Thats increase the Fine grainy structure significantly. The Acrylic Base in the cleaner helps to keep anything even better together. Most Common is Future Floor Wax. I´m using a pendant to it in Germany called "Emsal Bodenreiniger Glanz". However I guess in each country a proper Floorcleaner will be to find wich does the job as well.

Thanks for the tip! I'll see if I can find something similar here. Last time I looked for future I couldn't really find anything though. What about acrylic medium?

Rhoderic & Charlie: I'm glad that someone finds this useful I'll try to get some pictures of the finished samples up tonight.

[DELTADOG]

Acrylic medium works fine as well. Give 1 Drop of dishwashing liquid to the mix.

[Vermis]

Nice work! I agree that the papier-maché basinb looks best, from what I can see in the pics. Pity about the warping, though!

I'm a bit confused though. From old, old childhood art projects, I thought papier-maché involved pieces of paper, in strips or scruched up?

[Rhoderic]

I'm a bit confused though. From old, old childhood art projects, I thought papier-maché involved pieces of paper, in strips or scruched up?

There's also "powdered" papier-maché, which comes with dried water-soluble glue already in it. You just mix the powder with water to make a papier-maché paste. I've been experimenting with it myself, but haven't really struck upon a good use for it yet.

[snitcythedog]

Thank you for the test pallets.  Pretty informative.  Thanks all for the comments since it gives all of us some more techniques to play with. 

I've been experimenting with it myself, but haven't really struck upon a good use for it yet.

I find it works well for bulking out your terrain bases as sub-strata.  You can get a halfway decent texture with it but it has to be smoothed while setting up since it tends to look like cake frosting when first applied.  You also need to be mindful of where the water is going to go while it is drying.  If your base is too porous it will cause that to warp.  If it is not porous enough the paper mache will warp.  My solution has been to apply thin layers.  It works most of the time.  My big issue is with durability.  I tend to strengthen it up with superglue once it is completely setup. 
Snitchy sends.

[tin shed gamer]

Warping is an issue The method I use(if your pinning figures rather than basing around a figure) is to remove the paper mache from a temporary base I use a ceramic tile then attach it to a plasticard with liquid plastic adhesive it's a much stronger bond and has a little more flex than superglue and isn't as brittle.
It's worth noting that I don't texture completely to the edge of a base Its an aesthetic preference and wear is reduced because of the gap.
I also bond sand to bases using liquid plastic adhesive as it tends not to pool or raise ridges of sand around the feet of the miniatures
Like Snitchy I tend to use it to raise areas of a base rather than covering a whole base,and use super glue on the upper sand texting etc .As liquid plastic will only travel and hold sand around two to three mil,up the edges of the paper mache.
Mark.
My bad almost forgot to mention that I use a hairdryer to speed things up and the ceramic tile helps spread the Heat evenly on the underside .it reduces the warping

[Connectamabob]

For figure bases I just use epoxy putty (Aves). Don't have to worry about admixtures or pooling or shrinking or any of that. It's a proper sculpting material, so it goes where I tell it and does what I tell it like a good soldier. Not as cheap as improvised wet filler mixes, but a 4Lb. kit will last you forever. I've been working on the same 4 LB. kit for over ten years, and I still have like 1/4 left in the tubs.

You can mix in paint to color it (though I like dry pigments, as they don't alter the putty's consistency like wet paint will). Don't need to mix in grit, as a stipple brush can be used to give the surface the same texture.

Mind you that's Aves I'm using, NOT green stuff. GS is too expensive, and its sculpting properties make it less efficient and/or user friendly for sculpting terrain IMO.

I've used water based fillers and paper maché for larger terrain before, and for that it's good.

[Captain Blood]

I'll also have to trawl through some of Captain Blood's threads now to get a good idea of what the sand-pva-grit mix looks like in the "big picture".

A few links for you... 

I have used the same basing / groundwork mix consistently on all these projects - and I use it for all my figure basing.
I've never suffered any warping, on whatever base board, not on any figures.
Costs next to nothing. Sets rock hard. Doesn't shrink. Sticks like glue. You can vary the texture depending on the mix of 'aggregate'. Works for me, and has done for a long time

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=12619.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=20284.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=76576.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7777.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7778.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7779.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26058.0

[Rhoderic]

A few links for you... 

I have used the same basing / groundwork mix consistently on all these projects - and I use it for all my figure basing.
I've never suffered any warping, on whatever base board, not on any figures.
Costs next to nothing. Sets rock hard. Doesn't shrink. Sticks like glue. You can vary the texture depending on the mix of 'aggregate'. Works for me, and has done for a long time

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=12619.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=20284.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=76576.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7777.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7778.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=7779.0
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26058.0

Much appreciated! If I didn't have (literally!) a dozen terrain experiments ongoing right now I'd be trying to imitate your style of ground texture right away.

That's me - always experimenting, never landing on a set of techniques I'm prepared to stick to