Basing models for beginners (And munters like me)

Righto! Basing models for fun and profit..... well not for profit.... and its not really fun.... hmmm.... why do we do this again?

Oh yeah, because based models look 100 times better than unbased ones.

I'm not going to go into extreme detail in this post, just give you a run down of how to base your models in a very easy straight forward way that doesn't look that bad.

To start get the following things

• PVA glue (Its really cheap)
• Some modeling sand (available at hobby stores)
• Something to put the pva on
• A Brush you really really hate.... like if a brush stole your lunch money tell it that its payback time.
• Some brown paint or ink (I use an ANCIENT citadel brown ink that's been out of production since Bush was president.... Bush Snr that is)
• Green flock (available at all good model stores)

Start by applying the PVA glue to the base. You can mix it a little with water or just slop the stuff on. Cover the whole base and then immediately dunk the model in the modeling sand like so.  Ensure its completely covered.

Leave to dry for a while and then tap the base gently like so. 

This will remove excess sand that is playing possum and isn't really glue to the base. Leave to dry for a considerable amount of time before the next stage. Also, wash out your brush unless you really want it to punish it  (say if it stole your lunch money and kicked your dog)

Use watered down brown paint or ANCIENT INK. Just slap it on the base quite liberally. The sand will soak it up and it will end up looking like the pic above. Nice broken brown ground. No, i'm just doing dull and simple grassy bases, you can go crazy with colour if you choose.

Leave to dry for ages again. It's a simple process.... not a fast process.

Get the PVA again and put dab some clumps on the base as shown in the model above. This is where you want your shrubbery to be. 

Dump the model in the flock as you did with the sand. Don't be gentle, just bash it in there. As you can see from the picture below I ham fistedly bashed these guys into the flock leaving WAY to much on the base. That's good, when it drys most of it will simply fall off.

From this point you can also superglue some rocks and other bits to the model and paint them up as well. I tend to use green stuff to mold the rocks in place, but it doesn't look that good an I wouldn't really recommend it. I'm going to look at megapopes blog about rocks for more advice on doing rocks..... perhaps he could guest post here.... talking about rocks..... the dude loves rocks.