Vampire Lord - Scenic Base

[bailey03]

I did a presentation for my local modeling group on creating groundwork for figures. I wanted to paint the GW winged vampire lord so I decided to build a base for it as an example. This is more of a scenic base rather than a gaming base, but the ideas and techniques are the same. Here's what I did...

For the basic base structure I'm working with cork. The bottom is a thin piece of cork tile (you can find cork tile at most arts and crafts stores near their bulletin board section) torn to the size of the wood base. Tearing as opposed to cutting gives you a much more organic shape and interesting texture. I then took a couple thick pieces to build my structure. These are torn from a cork trivet sold at Ikea (you can get three for $3). I thought it needed more height so in the second image I've added another piece. I continued to add little bits of cork and tear other parts away until I had the shape I wanted (pictures 3 and 4). When I'm attaching the cork I use thick superglue. It runs less and works well for this application. You can see I've also started to add some extras. These are skulls from Secret Weapon Miniatures, parts of a fence from a Busch railway kit, some grave stones from another railway kit, some balsa wood, a chain from GaleForce 9, and some bricks from Secret Weapon. You can also see a few 'hairs' from a coconut on picture 4 used to mimic roots. The figure is sitting on top of the base to check the overall look and feel.



In this second series I've now added more detail. I've taken sand to give the base more texture and fill in gaps. For this I brush on white glue and then sprinkle the sand over it. Don't cover all of the cork, you want some of that texture as well. I've bent and broken the fence, I've used an x-acto knife to cut cracks and chips in the tombstones, and added a few more pieces to the base (skulls and skeleton bits, another tombstone, etc). From these early pictures it is easy to see the different materials that go into making up the base. On the final two pictures I have primed the base. I'm pre-shading with the primer. So I begin by covering the base entirely with a coat of black primer. Once dry I return with white primer but spray it only from above (and at a slight angle around the base). This helps me pick out the dirt texture using only a series of washes plus some dry brushing. The whole base looks much more cohesive now and it is ready to paint.



On a side note, I normally would not attach the figure to the base before painting. However in this case part of the base is integrated in to the figure's sculpt. So, to get a smooth transition between the sculpted base and mine I was forced to add it on early. Also the vampire does have a head. I've just left it off to make painting it easier.

I learned a lot from the tutorials on MassiveVoodoo and I thought the basing video on Miniature Mentor was excellent. They are both great resources for more information.

(Sorry, the images are a little wide. If you expand your window they should become larger or just right click and select view image for the full size and details)

[Cactus]

Very nice! A lot of people don't like using cork any more, but you've done a wonderful job!

[SotonShades]

Top notch. I'm glad you went with a less-is-more approach to the sand. Too often you get people just caking it on and obscuring everything else they had underneath.

Thanks for the tutorial. Very much looking forward to seeing hos it progresses with a few coats of paint

For the base-as-part-of-model-sculpt issue, did you consider pinning it and using a weak glue to temporarily attach it whilst the base was primed and painted, but could then be removed? The pins are great for relocating the model after and, if done right, you shouldn't need more than a couple of touch ups to hide the seam.