11 replies to this topic

[mustardgreens]

Not sure if I am posting in the right board, as it's my first post. First off, I just thought I'd mention that this forum is fantastic and I've learnt so much already just from lurking.

I've noticed that some minis are glued to bases with no visible edge. (The edge I am talking about is visible in models on inset bases such as Chammady, Grey Maiden, or Freebooter's Master Assassin.) I want to avoid this edge so that the top surface of the base extends as far as the bottom of the base. I have seen this effect achieved by two methods.

Style 1 seems to be one-piece bases made entirely of greenstuff? Actually I have no idea how they are made--but they look GREAT! Examples: DSM's Lady in Waiting, DSM's Lysa, Templar Knight, and to a certain extent Sajan.
Style 2 seems to be plastic topped with greenstuff. They also look very good. Examples: Ape-X, Liriel, and replacing plastic with wood (I think?), Weibe's Visiting Grandpa diorama.

My question is, how do you produce the bases seen in Style 1?

And if any of my observations are wrong, please correct me! Thanks, Reaperboard!

[haldir]

Well Freebooters are drop in base, similar to these:

http://www.reapermin...se/latest/74006

There is just a flat square with a peg hole that drops down into them.

Ldy n Wtg might be using a older style that Reaper used before going to the lip square bases you see in Pathfinder, Warlord minis.

This is a 40mm plastic base but see where there is no lip? This use to be the standard Reaper plastic base.

http://www.reapermin.../sku-down/74024

Most likely the edge/gap is puttied over & then sanded when dry.

[psyberwolfe1]

Of the style you like some of them are single cast Resin bases. Examples from Dragon Forge. Some of them are green stuff sculpted, and some are base inserts like haldir pointed out. The ones on the Dark Sword figures look like custom builds or Resin. One of the painters of the Dark Sword figures, Rhonda Bender, haunts these boards as "Wren."

[Inarah]

You can buy edgeless bases. http://cart.blackorc...1&keyword=bases

As Haldir said, Reaper used to use them but have moved to a lipped base for most figures. Some older packs will still have them included.

[mustardgreens]

To be more specific, the kind of base that I am really interested in making is the one atop of the plinth in Fulton's Drunken Pirate. It's so slim, and no wasted space. Is this made purely of greenstuff? How would I begin to make such a thing?

Thanks for all the great replies so far. Learning a lot.

[Skywave]

You could look at Renedra's bases, they're flat and not hollow, kinda like a tick sheet of plastic, and there's no angle of the edge to speak of.

[TaleSpinner]

To be more specific, the kind of base that I am really interested in making is the one atop of the plinth in Fulton's Drunken Pirate. It's so slim, and no wasted space. Is this made purely of greenstuff? How would I begin to make such a thing?

I'm pretty sure that Jab sculpted that base out of green stuff onto a firm understructure such as sheet metal or card. I did a similarly constructed base (though I purposefully left a bit of an edge, but wouldn't need to) when I did Cinder. You can see how I did it in the Craft article, Assembling Cinder. Here's a link showing the finished product: Cinder Finished and if you scroll down on page 2 of that topic, I posted a close-up of that base.

I hope that helps,

Andy

PS: Vistiting Grandpa the diorama and painting was created by Joy S. aka MamaGeek.

[Wren]

The Dark Sword figures are produced with those bases. The bases are a separate piece of metal with varied textures on the top surface depending on which figure they go with. They are not available separately to my knowledge.

If you're looking to make a single or a few custom sized bases, using sheet styrene/pasticard as the base and modeling your texture on top with greenstuff or gravel or whatever as TaleSpinner describes is probably the most efficent way.

If you're looking for bulk, that Renedra's site looks pretty good. I wish I'd known about them when I was trying to find another source for GW monster bases after they stopped selling them separately! What I found instead at the time was laser cut wood bases from Gale Force 9, but it looks like they no longer carry them. Litko seems to have a similar item, though - http://www.litko.net...ases-&-Bottoms/

[Baphomet69]

I've used Litko for many items and am pretty happy with them.

[mustardgreens]

Wow, thanks for the amazing replies. I've never seen such a fast forum so full of passionate people. I'm going to try to sculpt a few in in the style that Wren mentioned. I'll post them if they turn out well.

[Jabberwocky]

Glad you liked the piece! The base was a 40mm by 40mm piece of wood. The piece was originally for a local game shop contest; they supplied the base, so I'm not sure where it came from. The raft was constructed from square sections of balsa wood and starbuck's coffee stirrers. The mast was a larger section of balsa, cut to size and broken at the top with needle nose pliers. The flag was made from an empty tube of toothpaste, some very thin gauge wire, and a toothpick. The rock was a piece of cork.

For the water, I used a combination of Woodland Scenic water effects. IIRC, they make two types. First I laid out multiple thin layers of the water effects. I poured it into a small cup and drew it out with a syringe. I then gently squirted it out onto the base after the raft and rock were glued into place. I applied small amounts (perhaps a couple of mm thick) and teased it out to the edge of the base. Once it dried I painted the darkest blue I wanted for the water. I then added additional layers until I got to the depth I wanted. With each successive layer, I would add some thinned paint, gradually lightening the color from deep blue to a more turquoise color. I was sure not to completely cover the color of the previous layer. After the final layer had dried, I added the other Woodland Scenic water effect which was a bit thicker and more of a gel consistency for the waves/whitecaps. Probably not the most efficient way to do it, but it was a good learning experience and I liked the end result.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

[MamaGeek]

Here's the Orc family diorama base before it was painted, if that helps at all:
http://mamageekminis.com/blog/?p=3

And this tutorial describes how the base was made:
http://www.mamageekm...ertrollwip.html

And good luck!