Mini basing, terrain washing, and water questions

[AxeSlash]

I'm going to attempt texturing some bases with green stuff. What do you guys do about the slots/tabs when doing this? Do you just cut the tabs off completely and not use a slotta base? Just glue the mini onto the green stuff? Pin it? I'd like to ideally keep the tab intact and use a slotta base so it's more secure, but I'm not sure if I can do that AND still texture the green stuff on the base nicely (I've got one of those textured rollers).

Also, do you guys wash your terrain? If so, what with? I'd like a Nuln Oil like effect, but there's no way I'm paying for that amount of it!

And finally, what are you guys using for water/liquid effects on terrain? I'm planning on making a modular canal thingy full of toxic green radioactive sludge. Epoxy resin seems to be expensive unless it's Epoxy Acrylate (is that the same stuff? Is it usable?), and I'm not 100% sold on just using layers of gloss varnish.

Thanks

 

[Fold]

For tabbed models on textured/built up bases I remove the tab and then pin the model to the base once both are finished.

You can make a bulk approximation of GW washes by watering down their normal acrylics and adding some form of surfactant to break the surface tension, e.g. washing liquid, floor polish, artists flow aid.

Honestly for most bases I use gloss varnish for water but if it's critically important to get the best effect I always use realistic water from Woodland Scenics - it's just a pain to build an enclosure that will hold the resin while it dries on most bases.

 

[spafe]

I dunno about the ink side of stuff (I use nuln or agrax in the bigger bottles gw sells or army painter quickshade stuff (look into this maybe?)), but for slotta stuff... I tend to cut it away so points under the feet, so that you have a 'pin' out of the remaining tab/slot. Then texture the greenstuff, and while it's still soft push the model into it so that you have a hole in the GS (reaching down to the tab if its thin enough GS) to glue the model in onces it's dry

 

[cardyfreak]

I little balls of green stuff to plug any gaps around the slotta bases, when that's dry you can easily add another layer over the top to add texture to.

If you want to use a lot of wash but don't want to spend a fortune, there are two options-
First, you could use this handy recipe guide by the mighty Lester Bursley. I believe he used to make these washes himself and sell them but got a cease and desist order placed against him so he posted the recipes online for anyone to make. They're remarkable simple to make- just get some distilled water (I get mine from Halfords to mix with flow improver to dilute my paints), some flow improver, some acrylic matte medium (this is simply the suspension that your regular paint is made from, without any pigment in it- it's basically GW's Lahmium Medium but not as watered down), and some waterproof ink. You can assemble all this for around £10, and you will be able to make a shit load of acrylic wash.
The second option is to make an oil paint wash. All you need for this is some oil paint of whichever colour you want your wash to be, and some mineral spirits to 'water' the oil paint down. I've never used this method, but I've read it works really well on models to give a real natural shade. You'd be able to whip up industrial quantities extremely easily to shade terrain, but I believe it takes longer to dry than regular washes so it might be more messy. A heat lamp might be a good investment if you were going to use this method a lot.

 

[Punktaku]

I don't wash my terrain, so i have no wisdom there.

For metal tabs i give them a slight kink so they really stick inside the slot even without glue (i glue them in too with zap-a-gap). I fill in the slotta gap from the bottom with wood filler and smooth out any that goes through to the top side. once it's dry, it's not going anywhere. (i believe it's cheaper than green stuff too). Most of my bases are flocked and i use some gravel to break up the green, so if the filler isn't exactly smooth, no problem. I've "sculpted" it into larger rocks too.

I attempted to do a modular canal many years ago using old LEGO (blasphemy, i know) and wood glue as the water effect as it dries a fairly translucent tan color, perfect for unhealthy water. i tried mixing some old GW green ink into it to make it appear even more unwholesome. it kinda worked? i wouldn't recommend this process. there are some amazing canals and toxic goo's to be found in the threads here. like, mind-blowing.

 

[Llewy]

The second option is to make an oil paint wash. All you need for this is some oil paint of whichever colour you want your wash to be, and some mineral spirits to 'water' the oil paint down. I've never used this method, but I've read it works really well on models to give a real natural shade. You'd be able to whip up industrial quantities extremely easily to shade terrain, but I believe it takes longer to dry than regular washes so it might be more messy. A heat lamp might be a good investment if you were going to use this method a lot.

I've just started using this approach after picking it up from Shibboleth - his Sumptown chronicles are my favourite necromunda terrain blog, he does some amazing things with washes made this way.

I love it so far, it's really cheap - practically free as I borrowed the paints. White spirit is dirt cheap - a pound from poundland - and I just saw today in The Works you can buy a whole set of oil paints for £3. That will give you a black and the burnt sienna and raw umber colours that you need to make fantastic washes. You can mix it to any dilution and as Cardyfreak said you can make industrial quantities if you want I was worried it would take ages to dry but actually is fairly quick, more like half an hour than half a day.

 

[Azzabat]

Sadly all his images are on Photobucket, which seems to have committed business suicide recently.

 

[Llewy]

Sadly all his images are on Photobucket, which seems to have committed business suicide recently.

Ah, interesting, I thought it was just my chromebook being funny. I'll try find some photos, its a shame cos the thread was a great resource!

 

[Azzabat]

As I understand it, Photobucket are now charging extra to be able to access/host pictures from your albums onto 3rd party sites like Yak.

I ditched them long ago for Imgur luckily.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

For large expanses of water go for two part epoxy resin, the no brand stuff from eBay will be fine.

Make a small test model first though using all the material your final piece will use, just to see what the drying process will do, and to make sure nothing reacts and melts.

I've tried all the other products from gloss paint to heating plastic beads and the two part is the best IMHO. I'll dig out a photo or two. @Fold 's canal tile is also worth a look.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

Try my plog from here I think it's when I started messing with 2 part resin before that I was trying other products and mainly gloss varnish.

https://yaktribe.games/community/threads/clockworkoranges-unhinged-underhive.1808/page-38

 

[Llewy]

Sadly all his images are on Photobucket, which seems to have committed business suicide recently.

@The Duke has just saved me the job! and posted some photos of Shibboleth's terrain here - The Duke's "Palace"

In the meantime, til photofucket get their act together, it's well worth googling 'Shibboleth Necromunda Sumptown'

 

[Punktaku]

Yeah, their stuff is pretty amazing.

 

[AxeSlash]

Cheers guys

Anything with 'epoxy' in the name seems to be expensive on eBay.

there are, however some more sensibly priced options available by just putting 'clear' and 'resin' in...think I might go with one of those.

I'm definitely planning to have a go at Les's wash recipes.

Looks like I'll be snipping the middles of the tabs off my minis and filing the remains down to pins for basing purposes - I was hoping to avoid this, but can't really see a way around it without leaving a gap in the green stuff for the tab to go through, then filling it in afterwards (leaving an untextured area...or probably a badly textured area if I attempt to replicate what the roller does by using sculpting tools )

 

[KRVSH]

Look for Terrarium Epoxy on Amazon. It's a two part epoxy that hardens very well. You might have to buy one or two kilograms but for that price you usually just get two of the small water effects bottles in a model shop. With the bulk you'll have water for quite a while and it will cause less problems if any. If you really just want a small amount, get some two part epoxy glue, the one in the two syringes.

I was all slots back in the day, but since I started building bases separately, I just do the pinning. It also helps painting the figures on their own.

I'm using a fair amount of wash and wash-like techniques, but Les's video is what I usually recommend. You will be able to tweak the mix to your needs in no time. Tip: If you want your wash to flow into recesses, give the model a thin blast in gloss varnish before applying the wash. If you want to rather tint the surface, use a matt coat. The rougher service will grip on the pigments while the gloss will help distributing it into the corners and creases.