"Textured gels and paste - any tips?" Topic

So I tried some basing with textured gel, Liquitex Sand to be precise. It does give a nice texture / soil effect. But it was also supposed to be good for hiding the figure base, and I haven't found it to be very good at that. I tried "pushing" it up to the figure base to make a slope, but the mixtures just sort of sinks back down.

My ratio for these first go-round was 50% gel, 50% base paint, and a splooge of PVA to elp it adhere. Should I make it denser? Apply great big glos? I've found the bigger the glob, the easier it is to make a mistake and smear it over your figure…

I have found as the pva dries and the water evaporates the mixture shrinks down and the base is exposed.

I've tried Milliput and it works, but it's very sticky to the fingers and not the easiest to shape.

I just tried Marblex, which is a clay and very easy to work with, but it may not be as durable as I was hoping – I will have to see with the pva painted over it (I then dip into dirt then put static grass on and then varnish (matt varnish sprayed over the whole figure)).

I do know that Avies Apoxy Sculpt makes a very strong base but I have never tried it personally (it is a two part epoxy like Milliput).

Maybe add (a lot) more sand to the gel to bulk it out?

I use coarse pumice gel. It doesn't "sink down". Mix about 20-30% of your base paint with the pumice gel. Even when dry it has some flexibility so it doesn't crack over time.

I know a number of gamers who use plumber's putty. Dries hard, won't shrink, stiks well and is cheap as chips.

EC, I've got a tub of that. I'll give it a try (THAT will stick to metal!)

I use Liquitex modeling paste – no shrinkage. I use it on EVERYTHING. I use it undiluted, with no glue and only occasionally wet a cheap plastic palette knife to spread it around. Yes big glob and then scrape away the excess – the palette knife helps a lot with the leveling. I also do it before priming and occasionally I'll glue sand over it if I want a texture.

All these figs have it to hide the step of the base, then it also doubles for snow and takes primer, glue and paint beautifully:

More here post painting and snowing: link

Search YouTube for modeling paste formulas and instructions. I made batches of it, to texture carved extruded foam insulation pieces, for terrain. Worked beautifully, with minimal shrinkage. Cost pennies to make.

I switched to this after doling out serious cash money for Liquitex Modeling Putty. Never going back to Liquitex… I use the mixture full-strength, no dilution. The home-made formula takes paint, and glue, just fine, too. Cheers!

The Liquitex products vary in viscosity and shrinkage. I mount my 15mm's on washers. Generally, I even out the base with putty around the miniature's cast base, tapering it to the washer edge. Then I apply texture (usually just sand with maybe some very fine gravel mixed in), let dry, prime and paint. A thicker paste medium could be used to fill in around the cast base, as could doing it in layers. Liquitex mediums should generally be paintable, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting the paint mixed in first (some effects may require it, I suppose).

Sgt. Slag- Liquitex makes some pretty neat acrylic mediums including some of their gels which are useful for water and wave effects. However, they are a bit pricey. I wouldn't bother with them for simple modeling spackle or basic sand/grit texture.

I agree, jamemurp. I was desperate for something durable, with minimal shrinkage, and flexible. I considered spackle, but in my experience, it would have fractured, and crumbled, with frequent handling of the terrain pieces. They were modular cavern wall sections, which I butt up against one another, to form cavern walls, and rooms.

The YouTube formula is somewhat flexible, durable, and I've never had any issues with it crumbling, or breaking off, since I made the 60+ pieces, 5+ years ago. I started out using the Liquitex Texture Paste, which is wonderful stuff, which met all of my needs, except for price-point.

The YouTube formula meets all of the needed requirements, including being very inexpensive to make. It is virtually as easy to use as the commercial Liquitex product, after it is mixed up. It is also quite fun to make, apply, paint, seal, and use on the table. It reminds me of the Prince August miniatures I game with: I cast the figures myself, mounted them, painted them, and now I game with them. I personally did a huge part of getting them on the table -- more than just opening a package, mounting, and painting them; I had a big part in physically making them. I like gaming with material and products I did most of the work on creating. Cheers!

Michaels' has Liquitex products in Canada (probably the same in the USA). Michael's has 40 – 50% off coupons every day of the week. That makes these products a lot more reasonable (and the only way I shop at Michaels).

I've found the Liquitex Medium Gel Modeling paste to perform very well.

As mentioned, with a Michaels coupon it is very affordable.

I've done hundreds of 28mm bases with an 8oz jar and have over half a jar left.

For a long time now I have been just mixing paint of the base color that I want with sand and applying it to the base around the figure. You can mix to whatever consistency you wish for application and it dries really hard. I have not had a single chip from a base textured this way. When dry, the grains of sand give a great texture for dry brushing.

Michael's has a store brand rough texture gel that's cheap after coupon. It's sorta like plastic, and you can even cut it after it dries.

To hide a base, I'll glue the figure to the base, then build up as much sand or texture gel as I need. Shrinkage means I expect to apply the stuff more than once.

The home-made recipe for modeling paste cost me around $4 USD for a pint jar of material + time and effort to mix it up. No coupon required. Cheers!

Sgt Slag, thanks for the tip on home-made modeling paste; I will search those out. For exactly the purpose you cite here, large scale terrain.

For figure bases and smaller terrain bases, I will stick with the various Liquitex pastes and gels. As you say they work perfectly. I especially like being able to add paint to make filler / texturing gel in exactly the color I'm already painting the bases with. (Basically you add 25% Liqiutex Soft Body paint to any of them. I already use this paint for most of my painting anyway.)

Save your time and money and mix your own paste: PVA, Sand, choice of brown paint and a little water to ensure the paste is a perfect consistency. Play around with this and if too much water is added then just add more sand or PVA. The paste is then put on with a brush and moved around the base to desired height. onto the metal bases and around them to the same height.
Once dried over night, I paint the base sides in the same colour as the colour that went into the paste. Then dry brush a sandy colour and then when dry a lighter beige colour.
Finally, dab PVA over the base and sprinkle static grass over the base in a tray. Leave for a couple of minutes and shake off and tap the bottom of the base until the excess comes off. This ensures the static grass stands up rather than lies flat.
Next day tap and blow off any further excess and then spray matt varnish. the static grass is then completely fixed.