Greg's Favourite Basing Technique
Over the 20 years that I have been war gaming, I have experimented with a number of basing finishes. These have ranged from the very simple of painting my bases a deep green colour through to more complex variations. What I would like to do now is to describe the technique that I have mastered over the last couple of years. Remember a good basing technique can really show of your war game figures to their best advantage.
Step 1
Paint your preferred basing material in an appropriate colour and allow to dry. In this instance Tamiya's Flat Earth.
Step 2
Coat the painted basing material with PVA, Aquadhere or Elmers glue (select the appropriate one according to your nationality) and then dip it in a container of coarse sand. Allow about 20 minutes for the glue to dry.
Step 3
Paint a 50/50 water & PVA mixture over the sand and allow to dry. Drying time will depend on how much of the mixture you applied to the sand. A hair drier will help reduce the drying time. This step ensures that the sand texturing will stay affixed to the basing material.
Step 4
Once the sand is completely dry, paint it with the same colour that you used in Step 1.
Step 5
Once the painted sand has dried, (allow about 20 minutes if using acrylics) drybrush it with a suitable colour. I have used Citadel's Bleached Bone.
Step 6
Randomly dab some PVA on the surface and ensure that it does not cover the entire base. In some cases "more is less". Now sprinkle on flock or static grass. Flock and static grass are products constantly used by model railroaders and should be available from any self respecting hobby shop.
Step 7
Paint a 50/50 water & PVA mixture over the flock/static grass and allow to dry.
Voila! The task is complete.
Return to the Scenery Techniques and Structures page.
Return to the Dux Bellorum Australis Contents page.
Maintained by Greg Kelleher. Last revised 1 December, 1999.