Basing techniques

[Fenton]

I always bought the GW sand ( yeah I know ...but what the hell  they had in tubs lying about and I coudnt resist) then sieved it out to get rid of the big lumpy bits...stuck down with a bit of PVA  then inked and drybrushed ...works ok for me

[Pruneau]

Here's what I ended up with.  Just pressing the minis in the paste kinda worked, but two mini's fell off afterwards, and gluing them on wasnt really easy, the hole their base left seemed smaller than the actual foot itself 

After a bit of messing around with all kind of acryl paints from the art store and so on I found a paste that works very well, it's a sandy paste with excellent texture.  However, I glue the mini footbases to the mdf base now to avoid them dropping off.

The minis on the picture reflect the three stages:
first was based white, minis put in wet polyfila paste
second and third use the method described by Nik: black base, then drybrushed.  The difference between 2 and 3 is not visible, the bases look the same.  I used a thinned brown paint for the base colour, then brushed on sand color, a few dabs of wood glue, and lots of grass, excess is brushed off after drying up.

Not gonna win any prizes but it'll sure serve on the battlefield.

[cameronian]

Sorry, posted this already but in wrong place.

For 10mm basing I use 1.5mm ply bases; USA - Litko, UK - Fenris Games, Unit 1, House Carpenter's Shop, Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent ME4 4TE.
Fenris will laser cut any number of ply bases to your spec and cheaply too. I've just ordered 250 30mm x 20mm 1.5mm thick bases for my 1866 austrians, 21 quid the lot including postage! Quality is v good.
So; paint base grass green with matt household acrylic, glue figures on base (rub any residual base flash right down) with thick superglue; wait until completely dry; cover half base (and figure bases too) with PVA; flock with earth coloured flock; let dry and tap excess back into flock box; PVA other half of base, flock green or whatever; let dry and tap excess etc. Mix v dilute solution of PVA and brush onto bases to 'bind' the flock (alternately if you spray varnish at this stage do that instead) Little extras can now be added, eg blob of PVA add grass, rocks, whatever. Personally I think 10mm looks best on a low base (1.5mm) as opposed to the thicker MDF, makes them look like pygmies on a plinth IMHO. Dave, are you offering ply as part of your new bases and grit range?

[Leon]

No ply at the moment, but we'll see how the MDF ones go.

[Last Hussar]

I use cheap self adhesive vinyl tiles - they are 1mm thin or less.  Spread with PVA, then a drop of superglue on the bottom of the figure (superglue reacts with water, which is why it is so successful in sticking your fingers, but never the vase) and place QUICKLY - you can not really slide move them after 15 seconds or so. I try to get the pva to go over the figure base. I then push the base into a pile of flock on each side.

Leave for 24 hours, shake the excess off, then spray sealant/varnish to hold the flock in place.

[Aart Brouwer]

Being a noob, I had some trouble finding a suitable basing method. Here's what I do now.

I cut my own bases out of plates of 1mm thick white polyester. Either with a box-cutter (neat) or with a sturdy pair of scissors (acceptable). I round off the corners, polish the edges, then glue the figures in place with superglue. Over the bases (and around the figures) I spread a 1-2 mm thick layer of PVA mixed with water, raw sienna acrylic paint and fine sand. I add a pebble, a bush or a dead tree trunk here and there. Once dry, the sandy surface is lightly dry-brushed successively with grey, dark olive, light olive and yellow to give it proper depth. Finally I add some grass and a little flocking that blend in with the table.

Cheers,
Aart

[count_zero99uk]

Do most of you paint your minis on the base or seperatly before hand?

[Minenfeld]

I use lolly ice sticks, you can get about 5 to 6 on each stick using bluetack. I paint and varnish my minis while they are on the stick, then stick them on the base when dry !

[NTM]

Currently I paint base green apply flock with pva then paint green again followed by drybrush of yellow then white. Feel this works well for North West Europe as to me the countryside when you look at it is predominantly green not brown with patches of green. But as I am planning forces for Sicily and Italy I find myself leaning towards using sand first painting mid brown/sand then flocking so that most items are suitable for both fronts particularly scenery.

[lentulus]

Do most of you paint your minis on the base or seperatly before hand?

Sounds like a good poll to me:
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=934.0

[goat major]

I use lolly ice sticks, you can get about 5 to 6 on each stick using bluetack. I paint and varnish my minis while they are on the stick, then stick them on the base when dry !

pretty much what i do but (as mentioned on other thread) instead of lolly sticks i load up on those wooden sticks from Costa Coffee