Recently I was looking at my bases and thought: this is wrong. If I put a few hours in painting, then I should at least spend more time on a base then just dumping it in modelling snow and saying: I’m done.
So I have decided to go for more serious basing. I want to go a little more all out, also making more diorama like regiment trays and stuff like that. Problem is; where to start and how do I do all that stuff?
I’ve decided on starting to use tufts so my first questions; where do you guys buy your tufts? And does anyone know of a good tutorial involving tufts? I have no clue on how to use those things. Are they always self-adhessive for example? (I only found self-adhessive ones in a quick search).
Next one: what basing materials and tools do you find essential and again, what suppliers do you prefer?
Feel free to post any basing tutorials which would be considered “advanced”, as that is the level I am aiming for. I really want to start making something of my army and I feel basing is one of the things that would really up the overall appearance of the whole bunch (and I’m going to start repainting everything as well so I’m kind of starting anew so to speak :))
Try looking at Army Painter for tufts they have a good selection also theres lots of companys making resin movement trays now take alook at Base-x I think thats what there called or type in thundermountain movement trays they have some cool stuff.
Tool wise if your using tufts a good pair of tweezers is what you need I nicked the wifes.
Thanks for the tips! Yes I saw some basing sets with tweezers and was already wondering what they would be used for but now I know it’s for tufts, cheers!
I’ll have a look at those other companies as well, sounds like I might get some inspiration or mayhaps more from there.
I don’t know much about tufts actually, I use baked sculpey to model my bases. It is a technique I stole from an american artist: Jamel Wappel. He has a nice showcase in his blog:
http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/ has pretty much everything you could wish for, including Tufts. Army Painter actually sells exactly the same tufts, but repack them and sell them for more.
There’s a ton of tutorials on the web about basing, so it might be best to just google around a bit, especially if you’re looking for a specific technique or effect.
As for materials, try to keep an eye out for anything that might look good, and dump it on there. You can scavenge bits of wood, stones, dirt or old spices and herbs from the kitchen. A healthy bits box is never bad either.
I’m personally a big fan of using cork, (dried) branches from the garden, grass tufts, leaves (there’s cheap tubs) and snow can be very striking too. I don’t really use static grass at the moment, but I might have to give that a try again.
Bases are awesome. I think they’re often an overlooked aspect. A great base can make a mediocre model look good and they can really tie an army together.
Looking forward to see what you come up with and give that site a try! It can sometimes be a bit troublesome to browse around it for some reason, but they really have pretty much everything you could ever want.
I went to Scibor miniatures because they have a huge array of bases and they are pretty cheap too. They are a great way to get a detailed base without getting gouged. You can flock it, snow it, add little bits and do-dads to make them extra special if you need to. And they have good tutorials on how to work with tufts of grass!
Wow what a lot of replies in a short amount of time! Thanks everybody.
@JMR: thanks for the link! It’s always nice when you can buy something, which ia exactly the same, cheaper isn’t it! I’ll be doing some shopping there soon! And thanks for the tips!
I was thinking about using soft and coarse (for texture, I’m going to paint it greyish I think), tufts and tiny bits of snow here and there. Mayhaps some static grass too.
I think I’ll browse the web for some more tutorials tomorrow, as I’m still in hospital ATM (last day today, huzzah).
@Grimbold: I’ll check them out as well, sounds like they might have something interesting for me, at the very least information-wise.
Hi mate. Seems like you’ve gotten good advice above. If you do a search for “tufts” on this site you will find a lengthy post I put up on them and my search for the best deal.
If you’re going to add snow, you might want to check out this tutorial. It shows different ways (and materials) to make snow.
I went with using Baking Soda, which works great. In case you want to go the same route; I couldn’t really find a store that sells Baking Soda in Holland even though I read somewhere that Albert Heijn sells it. I ended up ordering it from some import shop based in the Netherlands that specializes in importing American and eastern products/ingredients for kitchen-use.
Oh yeah, I also went through a lot of confusion about what Baking Soda actually is. I came to the conclusion that it’s something that we dutchies don’t use. Google for Arm and Hammer Baking Soda if you want to buy it. One pack should contain enough to allow your grand-grand children to make modelling snow too…
That was a great read on modelling snow! I happen to have a massive bag of modelling snow (which I once bought at one of those railway/model building shops).
I do know the baking soda the supermarket is ought to sell. Believe me, those packages are tiny haha. Thanks for the tip though!