Stosstruppen | 07 Oct 2014 10:10 a.m. PST |
What do people use on individual 28mm figures to texture the bases? I have a handful of gladiators that I need to flock and I want them to look good. What does the TMP collective suggest? |
Royal Air Force | 07 Oct 2014 10:31 a.m. PST |
I like the Liquitex texture gels, they come in several consistencies and can be mixed together and tinted. |
IronDuke596 | 07 Oct 2014 10:36 a.m. PST |
I use Golden Pumice gel that have various textures depending on your needs. I tend to use the coarse pumice gel. In a separate disposable container I mix the pumice gel thoroughly with green acyclic paint (mix enough for one session) to match my felt table mat terrain. I apply the gel with a small plastic craft knife then use a small stiff brush or tooth pic to push the gel between the feet and other difficult to reach areas. Even though the gel dries hard in under 24hrs it still has some flexibility when dry. More importantly if it does crack, due to dropping the figure etc., there is no white only the green colored gel. It is a bit expensive but worth it. If you have access to Michaels (North America) you can use a 40% discount coupon. |
chuck05 | 07 Oct 2014 10:50 a.m. PST |
I mix that grit additive that you mix into paint for texturing walls. One bag is a lifetime supply. |
Privateer4hire | 07 Oct 2014 10:53 a.m. PST |
Liquitex and Golden are very similar items and I use both. Like IronDuke, I add paint to them so the color goes through all levels of the texture. The stuff dries very hard/solid and will stand up extremely well to regular tabletop gaming use (possibly even to abuse – it's that good). If you find you ever want to remove the stuff, simply soak the models' bases in warm water for a few hours. The gels become workable again and you can remove them by peeling the m off with some help from a toothbrush for close-in stuff. |
boy wundyr x | 07 Oct 2014 11:27 a.m. PST |
I mix fine sand and carpenter's glue, sprinkled with coarser sand, small pebbles, and cork chunks. I sometimes add green or brown paint if I'm basing after painting, but usually I add the texture before priming and painting the figure, so I just prime the whole base+fig and paint later. |
Phillius | 07 Oct 2014 12:21 p.m. PST |
I smother the base with white glue, then dunk it in a container of railway enthusiast small stones. Once it is dry I paint it, highlight it, and add flock and stones, etc. Very simple and looks pretty good. |
redbanner4145 | 07 Oct 2014 12:38 p.m. PST |
Wood glue and sandbox sand |
Mr Canuck | 07 Oct 2014 12:45 p.m. PST |
I've been using the Liquitex texture gels for a few years now. I will usually mix in paint at the very least – White, Black, etc. depending on how I plan to prime the figures. This is then applied to the bases before the figures are primed. Occasionally, if I'm flocking AFTER I've painted, I will mix in "Dirt" or "Sand" coloured paint. Once dry, I will still drybrush with a lighter version of the base colour. I will also mix in sand, or other "gritty bits" into the gel before applying as well. |
Cambria5622 | 07 Oct 2014 2:14 p.m. PST |
For individual 28mm figures, I first superglue 1 to 3 pebbles onto the base. When dry, cover the rest of the base with PVA glue & dunk in coarse sand, which gives varying textures in only 1 step. Paint the whole in your favoured 3 earthy tones to bring out the texture before adding clumps of static grass or tufts as appropriate for the setting. For gladiators, I would be tempted to skip the pebbles & grass tufts to make the base better fit with a dry & dusty arena. |
Mithridates | 07 Oct 2014 2:56 p.m. PST |
To level the height of the individual bases and their group base I mix a slurry of plaster/putty with some suitable paint and apply that between the individual bases. When this is dry, preferably overnight, I add some of my coarse sand/grit mix as well as the occasional grass tuft. Sometimes apply a darker wash to highlight the various pebbles. I use wood glue diluted with some water to make the sand mix stick. Let it dry for another 24 hours and then spray varnish fixes all this in place. For the gladiators you might want to use plain sand as in the arena? |
Stosstruppen | 07 Oct 2014 3:07 p.m. PST |
Some great ideas there. I will have some FIW, Ronin, and Saga stuff to base in the near future so all the tips will come in handy. Thanks guys! |
nnascati | 07 Oct 2014 4:51 p.m. PST |
I use white glue, sand and paint. Just adjust the amount of sand for the look that you want. |
nevinsrip | 07 Oct 2014 8:39 p.m. PST |
I use the Liquitex RESIN SAND product, not the plain modelling paste. For ground in my dioramas and bases, I use this formula. 1 Buy a jar of the Resin Sand paste. Scoop out half the jar and place it into an empty jar of the same size. Save the empty jars and reuse them. 2 Use a cheap 2 oz bottle of acryllic paint (Folkart, Ceramcoat, etc) and pour 1 oz into each jar. I use Chocolate Brown. Mix up both jars until there is no more white color left in the paste. This avoids 2 steps. One, you don't have to paint the ground once it's applied. And two, cracks or breakage will show brown, not whte so there are no repairs to do. 3 Mix a shot glass full of sand into each jar. This will tighten up the mixture and make it grainy. 4 Mix a shot glass full of Woodlands Scenic medium ballast (color doesn't matter) into each jar. These are your rocks. 5 Drop a dollop of white glue into the mixture. About a shot glass into each jar. Mix throughly. Use a craft stick and really stir. This will add strength to the mixture. 6 Let stand overnight WITHOUT the jar lid on. At this point it's goo. Letting it air dry will bring it back to paste. If your passing by give it a stir now and then. 7 Mix it up again and cover the jars tightly. You can add water to thin it out, if you like. You now have 2 full jars of ground/base cover material. Enough to last you quite a long time. OK, this is your basic ground cover. It will stick to almost anything and everything sticks to it. Use a cheap set of of artist's trowels to spread the mix where ever you wish to place it. Spring for the metal set, the plastic one will break on you. Michaels sells these for a couple of bucks, use a coupon for added savings. If your mixture dries out, you can bring it back to life with plain tap water. You can also add larger sized ballast to represent larger rocks if you wish. I've been using this receipe for well over 20 years and it's a product of much trial and error. I use it on all my scratchbuilt pieces and all of my figures that require basing. It takes drybrushing amazingly well and any sort of ground foam or static grass will cling to it. Best bet is to let it dry overnight. A spritz of Dulcote seals it forever. |
Martin Rapier | 08 Oct 2014 3:13 a.m. PST |
PVA and builders sand. Builders sand already contains 'pebbles'. Paint, drybrush and add static grass as desired. |
Joes Shop | 09 Oct 2014 12:31 p.m. PST |
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