How to - Bases

How To 2 - Bases

August 2024

In this How To, I will show you what is, in my opinion, a simple and straight forward way to get bases that look pretty good. I have been complemented on my bases. There really is not anything special to them.

What will you need at the very minimum?

1. Adhesive. An adhesive for terrain. I use woodland scenics "scenic glue". I bought a large bottle of it years ago, and it never ran out. I likely will not try anything else until it does run out. They sell "static-tac" and "tough-tac", I have never used them, they look interesting for static grass.

2. Mixing dish. Somewhere to mix the adhesive with water. I use a plastic painting palette/tray. I like to water the adhesive down because it helps me apply it on the bases better.

3. A brush (size 1 or greater). A brush that you will dedicate to this process is important to have, the size depends on the size of the base and detail level you want. Clean it after using it, clean it well. If you do not, you will just ruin the brushes and have to constantly replace them.

4. Basing materials. The basics are turf and ballast.

Everything after these essentials, is up to you. Such as tufts, using static grass, other elements like small stones and twigs (real or fake), etc

Image Description

You have mixed the adhesive about 50/50 with water. You have a plan in your head on the shape you want to make for your stones/rocks (ballast). You have your mini in one hand and the brush you have decided to dedicate to this in the other...
1. Apply adhesive/water mix in the shape/pattern you desire on the base.

2. Dip the Miniature in your ballast container.

3. Admire the result, and let it dry/cure a while. (sorry, I haver timed myself, but it is not long, maybe 15 to 30 m,inutes is enough).

4. Apply adhesive/water mix to the remainer of the base.

5. Dip the miniature in your turf container..

6. High five yourself and wait for it to cure/dry.

You could do these steps as many tiems as you want, with different elements.

Some ideas would be, you could have first put down some mini bricks, or mini (larger) stones to simulate rocks, etc.

You could have done some static grass at some point.

7. After the adhesive is dry/cured, I typically blow on it to remove the excess. After that, I use a flat soft brush to clean off the base, the miniature, and over the ballast to remove any loose turf. It does not take a lot of force, so be carefull and gentle. You will want to matt varnbish it later, you can wait until you are done with the entire miniature, or do it now.

That is pretty much it... those are the basics. Now you can get creative and add your own elements.

Ideas to spark your creativity: Choose different patterns for your base elments to make each mini somewhat unique and more natural.

More ideas: Add some creeks, or other bodies of water. You can paint an area like water, and then apply water effects.

Examples of finished bases: Here you can see finished bases. Some have had tufts added, and in others water effects were used (after matt varnish, or if you apply prior and then matt varnish, be sure to add another coat of water effects or atlerast some gloss varnish to make the water reflect light).

Ultimatly, be creative, try different things, and grow. Worse case scenario, just follow steps 1 through 7 and you'll have good enough looking bases.

GALLERY

INFO

Image	Description
	You have mixed the adhesive about 50/50 with water. You have a plan in your head on the shape you want to make for your stones/rocks (ballast). You have your mini in one hand and the brush you have decided to dedicate to this in the other... 1. Apply adhesive/water mix in the shape/pattern you desire on the base. 2. Dip the Miniature in your ballast container. 3. Admire the result, and let it dry/cure a while. (sorry, I haver timed myself, but it is not long, maybe 15 to 30 m,inutes is enough).
	4. Apply adhesive/water mix to the remainer of the base. 5. Dip the miniature in your turf container.. 6. High five yourself and wait for it to cure/dry. You could do these steps as many tiems as you want, with different elements. Some ideas would be, you could have first put down some mini bricks, or mini (larger) stones to simulate rocks, etc. You could have done some static grass at some point.
	7. After the adhesive is dry/cured, I typically blow on it to remove the excess. After that, I use a flat soft brush to clean off the base, the miniature, and over the ballast to remove any loose turf. It does not take a lot of force, so be carefull and gentle. You will want to matt varnbish it later, you can wait until you are done with the entire miniature, or do it now. That is pretty much it... those are the basics. Now you can get creative and add your own elements.
	Ideas to spark your creativity: Choose different patterns for your base elments to make each mini somewhat unique and more natural.
	More ideas: Add some creeks, or other bodies of water. You can paint an area like water, and then apply water effects.
	Examples of finished bases: Here you can see finished bases. Some have had tufts added, and in others water effects were used (after matt varnish, or if you apply prior and then matt varnish, be sure to add another coat of water effects or atlerast some gloss varnish to make the water reflect light). Ultimatly, be creative, try different things, and grow. Worse case scenario, just follow steps 1 through 7 and you'll have good enough looking bases.