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SPRING BASING KIT

BASIC TUTORIAL

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SAFETY

SAFETY - I won't be going into great detail here with safety because of the simplicities involved with "basic" basing techniques. I will, however, go over some simple and easy steps to ensure precautions are taken. Just in case, mind you.

Clean Workspace

Always try to have a clean work area and surface. Having cluttered workspaces can lead to unseen injuries that are uneccessary risks. For basic basing, you'll need at least a 16" x 16" clean workspace dedicated to the materials and tools being used.

Health Risks

If you have asthma or other respiratory problems/allergies, please use caution and wear a respirator or a dust mask. Some basing materials have super fine particles and can easily be inhaled. To avoid this, please use appropriate respiratory protection. If you have any kind of skin allergy or sensitivity, you may want to consider using protective gloves (nitrile are the most hypoallergenic, but if you are not sensitive to the material...you may also use vinyl or latex). Wearing eye protection is also highly recommended; goggles or safety glasses are good examples.

Caution & Common Sense

Ever sat down to clean a metal miniature with an exacto knife and think to yourself..."I better wear some protective gloves"? That's using caution. Ever had to glue a miniature's arm on and before you did, you thought better of it because it would be impossible to paint if it were fastened on? That's using common sense. Both are needed in this hobby, including basing. So please try to always use caution and common sense. For example, leaving your flock on the table for youngsters to marvel at and taste test is not really using caution or common sense now is it?

STAGE ONE

CHOOSING A THEME - Doesn't sound too awfully hard, does it? I'll let you in on a little secret I've discovered over the years...this part of basing is the hardest of all. If you can master this stage, the rest should be easy as pie. Basically, you need to choose what type of base you want to create. How many types of bases are there? In all honesty, base types are only limited to your imagination. You can literally make unlimited types of bases if you put your creative mind to it.

The most important part of choosing a theme is to have it locked in your mind before you start the decoration process. I will often sketch down, on a piece of paper, the theme I'm shooting for so I don't get side tracked. I will then take a white (or some other light color) pencil and map out the sketch on the base itself. This way, even if I do lose focus, I'll have some sort of reference to remind me of my theme. Losing focus, (or being distracted), is the worst possible thing for basing. For this tutorial, I have chosen to demonstrate a simple rock-and-grass type of base set in spring time. Below are my initial sketches of how I wanted the base to look like:

STAGE TWO

PREPARATION & APPLICATION - The first thing I do is use an exacto knife to cut off the sprue tab on the base. If there are any rough edges afterwards, I will use a piece of 200+ grit sandpaper to smooth it out. If I am not going to be using a miniature's tab to set in the slotted base, I will fill in the void with hobby plaster (or something similar) to seal it off. I tape off the underside of the base with blue painters tape so whatever I used to fill in the slot doesn't spill out.

Once everything is set and ready to be decorated, I will use a clean piece of cheesecloth or paper towel and dab a small amount of rubbing alcohol over the base to clean off any dust or debris. Are you asking yourself why? Well, you don't have to do this step; I choose to do this because I'm anal and have to have everything just right. You can skip this step if you feel it's uneccessary. Once the base is ready to go, you'll want to grab the PVA Glue and the bag of Black Ballast. The glue will be applied first only to the areas you want the ballast to be and nowhere else. Give the glue about 20-30 seconds to firm up and then sprinkle your ballast over top of the glue. Let the ballast bond with the glue for no less than 5 minutes. GENTLY press the ballast down. After 5 minutes, turn the base upside down and tap off the excess ballast. Be sure to have an item of some sort (like an unused lid) to recover the excess ballast which can be returned to its bag and used later. Now let the base dry for at least 10 minutes before continuing.

Now we're going to apply more PVA Glue to the areas where the Spring Mix Flock Scatter will be applied. Using the same steps as above, make sure to blend the glue into the rocks so there's a natural and even dispersion of the material. This will help produce a realistic appearance. Allow the glue to dry for 10 minutes and then tap off the excess. Be sure to have an item of some sort (like an unused lid) to recover the excess flock which can be returned to its bag and used later. Doing so will greatly extend the life of your basing kit.

STAGE THREE

FINISHING TOUCHES - You'll need some paint for this step. I recommend you use 3 shades of successively lighter colors. What we need to do is paint the rocks to look like more than a bunch of black gravel. To do this, we overbrush our dark color (dark brown in this case) on. Note here that overbrushing is different than drybrushing. Overbrushing is basically a heavy drybrush application. You still wipe off a good deal of paint, but you leave enough on so the paintbrush bristles have a chance to reach crevices in the rocks. Your next layer will be applied using typical drybrushing techniques. I used a small bit of yellow and white to lighten my dark brown and then drybrushed the rocks carefully. The final highlight is a light tan color which is lightly drybrushed (a light dusting) on just the top surfaces of the rocks. Give the paint a few moments to dry and then move on to the final step.

Here we are at the final step, sealing the base. Here's where we go over the entire base to make sure we have all the dust, stray flock and ballast off. Anything we may have mistakingly painted over (like the lip of the base) should also be corrected. The actual base does not have to remain black, paint it any color you like...or don't paint it at all, personal preferences. Typically, I will use a spray or brush-on matte or flat varnish to seal the base. Allow the varnish to dry and voila! your base is complete.