writes:
It's funny how sometimes an idea for one thing will stimulate an idea for something else entirely...
This story starts with two 15mm vehicles that Fernando Painters have recently painted for my AK47 "Dictatorship" (bad guys) army. These vehicles are assigned to militia units, so I wanted them to look faded and worn:
Next, I want to do two things:
- put the vehicles on steel bases, so they will stay snug in magnetic storage when being moved
- use a "basing treatment" on the bases that will look like "Africa," while looking different from my other army's bases (grassy green)
Meanwhile, I was in HobbyTown USA the other day getting some ideas for how to base some WWI figures, and I picked up the big "seasoning container" full of Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast - Brown. I was surprised to see that this particular ballast has some variety of color in it, and I was going to experiment with using it for basing figures.
And since it's handy... let's take it to Africa!
So I grabbed two steel bases, which were conveniently already spray-primed a rusty brown color. Normally, I select a base which is large enough to overlap the model on all sides. However, since these bases were meant primarily as "storage aids," I chose the smallest size that would hold all four wheels of each vehicle.
I experimented with the larger (truck) base first. I used a small gel knife to spread a thin layer of Renaissance Ink's Fine Flocking Gel over the base, then poured the ballast on top of the base (and mushed the bits into the gel a little bit).
For my second experiment, I coated another base with Aleene's Tacky Glue (a thick white glue), then dropped the base glue-side-down into the ballast container.
The next day, I shook off the excess ballast and examined the bases. The glued base looked fine, except that despite my best efforts to spread the glue from edge to edge, there were still spots along the edge where the primer color showed through.
The gelled base was a similar story, except that in a spot or two, the dried gel was showing - and it's an off-white color. (It also had more "dimensionality" due to the contours I put in the gel.) So I touched up the gelled base's white spots and rusty-brown edges with some Americana Mississippi Mud paint, screwed up and put too much on, so then decided to add "mud" splotches all across the base.
Then I gave both bases a good dose of Krylon Matte Finish, to hopefully help further bond the ballast in place.
When that was dry, I applied a drop of superglue gel to the bottom of each tire, and put the vehicles on the bases - trying to center them. (Which I screwed up - the truck is off-center...) I checked to make sure that all four tires were in ground contact, then set the vehicles on their backs while the glue dried.
And here's the final result - two vehicles ready for Modern Africa!
