Hi all,
I always used to base my models by simply painting the bases green and leaving it at that but I've decided that looks really lame now especially seeing so many models with cool textured bases.

My questions are:
How best do you get the textured browny grassy look?
PVA glue or poly cement for sticking sand to bases?
And will childrens play sand suffice or is builders sand better?

Thanks for any help/feedback

I recommend saving yourself some money and buying one of the new texture paints from Games Workshop. Basically, they're paints mixed with grit that yo can use to add texture to your bases. It's available in a range of colours but it doesn't really matter which colour you get as you can paint over it.

I can provide a pic of a base I created using this method today:



I added a second coat of texture paint once the first had fully dried (I find multiple layers much more effective than just the one) and then painted it brown. After that, I drybrushed it a few lighter shades of brown and added some polystyrene rocks and shrubbery.

Hope that helps.

_________________
Manners maketh man

That's not saving money in my books... I slap some pva (white) glue onto the base, this can be watered down a bit. Then I dip the base in some sand, any sand will do. (I have some variety of size in my sand, and I specifically place larger chunks on before hand if I want certain larger pieces in specific places.) I leave this to dry over night and then prime my figures. The spray helps seal in the sand. Then I paint the base a dark brown, and highlight it up with various lighter brown drybrushes. (I don't use GW paints for this as craft paints work just fine, and cost a lot less). Once the paint is dry, add a few dots of pva and add some static grass. Done! This way is super cheap: the sand is free, pva is cheap, as is craft paint, and static grass lasts a long time if all you're using it for is bases.

I hope that helps.

*edit* Here's a pic of a basic base.

I suppose it depends on whether you already own sand and PVA glue or not, I assumed from how his question was formulated that the OP didn't ^^

_________________
Manners maketh man

Sorry, should have been clearer. I own PVA glue and several types of sand as my family a toy shop and do all our own building work. I think I will PVA glue it and then dip it in as suggested. Sounds fairly easy. Will get some static grass from somewhere (see if any of our suppliers have any) and will do that.

Do you think poster paint will be ok for layering up bases? Otherwise I have humbrol enamels and citadels

Poster paint...is it acrylic? If so, it should be fine.

I don't think so, It's designed for kids so I highly doubt it. I'll probably just use a mix of humbrols and citadels untill I decide which I prefer.

Thanks for your help.

Other alternative materials are the ones used by model railway enthusiasts who have various material for dressing their railway scenery.

A good alternative for leaves etc. is dried mixed herbs. I've used them extensively and they don't degrade. Mixed herbs gives a good basic leaf litter that you can stick on with PVA. It can be sealed with another thin coat of PVA then dry-brushed or painted over and it looks great. Rosemary is great to look more like sticks or similar due to it's appearance.

You can always use real bits of dried twigs as a log. Again seal with PVA and paint to your liking.

Finally I have had good results using dried moss clumps to act as actual bushes. It does need to be dry, moss has a habit of being wet due to where it naturally grows so harvest some and forget about it for a while.

I show some of my techniques in my terrain WIP blog if you want to see examples.

_________________
Careful with that axe of yours... Dain!

Azog

Forum Guidelines
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25260

My advice would be to try whatever you want. I have used real earth for the first time on my latest figure. I think it works fantastic. You need to press it down to the glue and after that a heavy wash of scorched brown.
Once that had dried I drybrushed graveyard earth, rotting flesh, bleached bone and finally a light skull white
The grass tuft I painted aswell. Once glued I applied a scorched brown wash and left again. Now I applied various light green drybrushed to the raised strands.
You will see a piece of slate for the stone and some medium tuft ground cover.

_________________
Commission Service Available

mallysminiatures.blogspot.co.uk

_________________
There are fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world