Okay so here is my brief tutorial on my very simple method of basing.
Firstly, I prefer simple bases. While I think bases with walls and floors and buildings look absolutely phenomenal I am definitely more into gaming than modeling and don't particularly like the look of a ruined building following my troops across the battlefield. But as a simple and effective method of basing, I think this tutorial should be easy to follow.
Read on for a step by step tutorial!
MATERIALS:
Tacky/White/Wood Glue
Small bottle of 75% glue/25% water
Small container of sand
old wide/flat brush
old "sharp" brush
paper towel
necessary paints + brushes for your bases
foliage/etc
Here are my basing materials excluding my static grass and foliage.
Finished Bersaglieri after being glued on with super glue
STEP ONE:
After the Bersaglieri are glued on to their base, I liberally coat the base with pure white glue, taking care not to get glue on the "pedastal".
Next using the flat brush I smooth the glue over the sides of the base (optional- I've seen people NOT do this and it has a very nice aesthetic)
place the model on top of the sand
Gently shake the container until all of the glue is submerged in sand
Tip the model upside down and shake off excess sand
Once this first coat is done, let them dry overnight.
STEP TWO:
Now the glue has all dried and we can work with the bases again
Now we are going to do another layer of the glue/sand combo, but this time used slightly watered down glue so it's easier to work with. I use roughly a 75/25 mix. More gets runny and less gets sticky
This time we use the same techniques from step One, except using the small brush we carefully get around the model's feet. Excess can be easily scraped off later. On the 2nd step I do NOT cover the sides of the base.
Now step two is done, I let it dry again overnight.
Despite taking a few nights to dry, the overall work put in is really very light. When I am in maximum production mode, I usually have one platoon in the basing process, one platoon in the painting process, and one platoon in the prepping stages.
STEP THREE
Now with a large brush, liberally apply your base coat. I water it down a good deal (maybe 40% water) so the sand soaks it up nicely.
The base coat has been applied. This should dry quickly, maybe an hour or so.
Now we highlight with progressively lighter shades. The pictures don't pickup the highlights very well, but it's easy to do. Just mix in some white with your base color, and the sand is very easy to drybrush
More drybrushing.
Now I use my watered down glue again and my static grass. This is just vallejo summer grass.
For the desert I apply very patchy sections of glue. Then I just drop clumps of sand on, hold the model upside down, and shake off the excess.
Using the pure white glue, I then apply my foliage (this is just green lichen)
FINISHED PRODUCT
So obviously these are not earth shattering or the world's best painted bases. BUT they are EASY to achieve, they are super quick (probably less than 2 minutes per base total) and they look great in most situations.
Please let me know if this tutorial was helpful for you, and I will consider doing more!
