Basing - The Elmo way

[elmo]

Easy Basing – The Elmo9141 way

 

You will need:

 

Dry tree bark (I get mine from the firewood pile)

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Bark-1.jpg

 

Sand (from a beach/builders yard or use bird cage sand)

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Sand-1.jpg

 

Static grass (get from a model railway shop/Ebay as it is far cheaper than GW http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Static-Grass-war...=item8012ea226a )

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Staticgrass-1.jpg

 

Gravel “flock” (again from a model railway shop/Ebay http://www.modelrailwaywizard.com.au/train...mainframset.htm )

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Gravelflock-1.jpg

 

Small stones (garden?)

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Stones-1.jpg

 

PVA wood glue

Black undercoat spray

Codex grey

Fortress grey

Skull white

Black ink

 

Voll und Abtönfarbe watered down by at least 50:50 – your choice of shade but I find a middle brown shade works the best. Supplied in 500ml bottles so it will make at least 1 litre of wash.

(http://praktiker.de/ShowCategory.action?categoryCode=k20-70 This is a tinting paint which is added to white wall paint here in Germany. You should be able to find something similar locally or using EBay.)

 

 

 

Stage 1 – Basic prep

 

1. Wash the base with warm soapy water and allow to dry.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Base-1.jpg

 

2. Choose a nice piece of bark (optional) and shape as required. You may have to sand or cut the underside flat.

 

3. Use the PVA glue to fix the bark to the base and clamp in place until dry.

 

4. Randomly glue small rocks to the base using PVA glue.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Barkglued-1.jpg

 

Allow to dry overnight

 

Stage 2 - Undercoat

 

Spray the whole base in matt black paint.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/Sprayed-1.jpg

 

Allow to dry.

 

 

Stage 3 - Rocks

 

1. Paint the bark and small stones with Codex grey. This does not have to be too neat as it will be hidden later.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/CIMG1238-1.jpg

 

2. Paint a heavy black ink layer over the Codex Grey making sure that crevices in the bark are painted.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/CIMG1239-1.jpg

 

3. Wet-dry brush (more paint than normal dry brushing) the bark and stones in Codex grey.

 

4. Dry brush Fortress grey over the edges and raised sections of the bark and stones.

 

5. Lightly dry brush with Skull white. I have also glued on the figure at this point as I will be fixing the sand around its feet.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/CIMG1244-1.jpg

 

Stage 4 – Soil

 

1. Use watered down PVA glue to paint the remainder of the base and a couple of small dabs in crevices on the bark. This will look like windblown accumulations later, Then scatter the sand onto the PVA and shake off the excess whilst still damp. The edges can be tidied up by running your finger around to wipe of the overspill of glue and sand. Allow to dry.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/CIMG1246-1.jpg

 

2. Use the brown wash made earlier to give the sand a good wetting. This is the trick of the whole base. As the wash is very watered down it will naturally sink to the lower level of the sand leaving the bigger grains showing proud of the surface and in a much lighter shade – no need to dry brush later! Allow to dry.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/CIMG1248-1.jpg

 

Stage 5 – Grass and gravel

 

1. Place small blobs of watered down PVA glue randomly on the base and sprinkle the gravel “flock” over it.

 

2. Shake the base over a collecting pot, the gravel will stick to the glue but the remainder can be recycled for next time.

 

3. Repeat again immediately after for the static grass but also dab the glue onto the sand you earlier placed on the bark and between some of the larger rocks.

 

4. Sprinkle on the static grass and shake/ and tap the base upside down over a collecting pot to recycle the loose grass.

 

5. Finish by blowing across the top of the base to get rid of the final few bits of loose grass. Paint the edge of the base, if required, to hide any over-run of the brown wash.

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Base%20step%20by%20step/CIMG1251-1.jpg

 

All done. :biggrin:

 

The wash colours can be varied between different shades; I have tried green and different shades of brown with good effect. 1 Litre of wash will do many hundreds of bases at a cost of around 5 Euros.

The static grass (autumn effect – a mixture of greens and brown) and gravel flock I use came in 20g bags and I am still using the same ones as when I started my Tau/Dark Angels and Imperial Guard and my sons Tyranids so it is going a long way.

 

For the 25mm bases I tend not to use the bark and stones and this makes it even faster. The figure is normally glued to the base and I just paint the PVA glue around his feet.

 

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Dark%20Angels/8thSquad.jpg

 

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Dark%20Angels/IMGP6339.jpg

 

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Dark%20Angels/2-6a.jpg

 

Also good for the large oval bases

http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz66/jonbrooks_photo/Imperial%20Guard/CIMG0578.jpg

 

The graves are made by simply layering up the sand in multiple layers and the rifles with the helmets on top where glued to the base before the sand.

 

Sorry for the Tau hoof on the "how to" pictures but the rest are Power armoured :D

[Heretics]

Looks really good and nice tutorial keep it up definatly instructive.

[Circus Nurgling]

Definitely gives me some ideas. Looks great!

[Trevak Dal]

Cool, I tried a similar technique, but didn't like it. Oh, and Crisis Suits are more powered than Astartes Armor (in game) because it boosts their strength by 2, their toughness by 1, grants them an extra wound and allows them to fly and have up to 3 special weapons systems and a number of other support systems and a 3+ save.

 

Astartes 'power' armor only grants them a 3+ save. Then again you can have a veritable horde of Space Marines so the Imperium (and especially Chaos) keeps up it's whole "Quantity is a Quality all it's own" slogan.