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Basing With Stucco Crack Repair


Textured Stucco Crack Repair (5.5 oz)
Product #
865005
Manufacturer
Suggested Retail Price
$7.95 USD


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CamelCase writes:

Honestly, it just does not add a lot for the trouble. I bought some Liquitex resin sand, and it was like you said, I had to smear/press on the stuff; very messy and time-consuming.

My old method of glue to ballast, then dabs of glue to hold static grass, was fast and simple with the bases looking just fine. I like the look of resin sand, but it was not worth the investment in time.

My humble observations, if it works for you…


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29 July 2020page first published

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Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian writes:

As you may recall, I opened up IMEX's 1:72nd Union Artillery Set and had the models painted up by our Sri Lanka friends, Fernando Enterprises. There were some guns and an artillery limber.

ACW infantry figures glued to wooden base

The box also yielded up some loose infantry figures, which I'm basing up now. Which raises the old question: what's the best way to contour the bases?

ACW infantry figures glued to wooden base

Contouring is the process of blending the figure bases into the unit base. It's entirely optional. Like a lot of gamers, I started out with 'wedding cake'-type bases, and evolved into contouring the bases.

Quikrete Stucco Crack Repair

The product I'm trying out is Stucco Crack Repair from Quikrete, and comes in a 10-inch yellow tube. It is described as a 'sanded acrylic formula'. There's a warning to use only with adequate ventilation. It says to use only latex paints. Made in China.

Stucco Crack Repair

So here is what it looks like, squeezed onto a plastic lid. No noticeable odor, but I've got a fan going and windows open just in case. This product is similar to terrain gels that I've used, but the sand in this case is mixed with an unidentified liquid glue.

Stucco Crack Repair applied to base

I use a palette knife to apply the product to the bases. When wet, it has little adhesion – if I turn my knife over, it will fall right off. Pressing it into place works, but 'spreading' with the knife does not work – the material moves rather than spreads. As might be expected, the grit puts a limit on how fine an edge you can get – you can't feather this out. The instructions say to give this material 24 hours to dry, but I find that seemingly at random, some bit of grit will instantly adhere (usually where I don't want it!) and refuse to move.

Painting Stucco Crack Repair

A day later, I paint the base a muddy brown color. After a few minutes, white spots appear – the product is reacting to the paint (or the moisture in the paint), and little pockets are forming. When the paint dries, I touch up those spots.

Finished infantry

And here are the finished infantry, flocked and sealed.

Skeletons

Here are some 28mm skeletons that are being mounted on steel disks. The product has been applied around the cast-on base. When used thickly, the grit in the product becomes insignificant; on the edges where the base is close to the disk, the grit controls how thinly it can be worked. In this case, the product is already dry, and I've used a hobby knife to trim off any excess.

Filled-in Reaper base

Here's an example of the product used to fill in the top of a Reaper slottabase. I just pressed it into place with the palette knife and let it dry.

Filled-in large Reaper base

Similarly, here is a Beestwars Celadon archer (Gary Hunt Miniatures) which has been upgraded to a large Reaper slottabase.

Filled-in base

And, finally, I've tested the use of this material to fill in the bottoms of slottabases (on another Celadon archer). Since I often apply FlexSteel to my figures for storage purposes, I prefer a flat surface that the FlexSteel can adhere to. This product does a good job of filling the hollow bases, and can be filed when dry (but if you file too much, it becomes quite hard).