Basing My Way

A few people have commented on my bases so I thought I’d do a small post on how I achieve the look of my bases. There isn’t really anything ground breaking about what I do but it does take a bit of work but I like the final look so I think it’s worth it

Step 1

Glue the miniatures to the base posed in an artistically pleasing way. I started of using Renedra plastic bases which are very nice but I found a supplier of MDF bases in the same size (60mmx40mm) on ebay they are slightly thicker than the plastic ones but you get twice as many for the same cost so I’m switching to those for future units.

Step 2

PVA glue and sand. The sand came from a DIY project in the garden having bought a load in bulk I kept some back dried it out in the airing cupboard and keep it in an a large air tight plastic container and its kept my going for a couple of years. Leave the sand to dry over night.

Step 3

Base coat the base. I use tester pots of household paints for my scenery and bases a £1.00-£1.50 pot is cheaper than using my more expensive acrylic miniature paints. The base coat I’ve been using is a orange brown called Toffee.

Step 4

First dry a heavy dry brush. Again using household paint this time a yellow ochre. The trick is to leave plenty of the base coat visible.

Step 5

The final light dry brush this time with a cream paint again leaving plenty of the last two coats showing through.

Step 6

Flocking. More PVA glue and a sprinkling of loose static flock the shade of green I use is called spring (again purchased of ebay). Leave the flock to dry overnight.

Step 7

Grass tufts. I use three different colours of self adhesive grass tufts in brown, yellow and green which also come in three different sizes. I use a pair of tweezers and to attach them to the bases picking the sizes and colours at random.

Step 8

The last step is to add some small bushes/shrubs using model railway hedge foliage in a dark green I use UHU glue for this step as PVA just soaks in the sponge like foliage.

Cheers Jon