Hey guys! In the near future I will start my basing on my Tzeentch army. I've decided to make Snowy bases using the Valhallan Blizzard texture paint and would like to put some rocks on the base and then put snow all over! What is best for this? Real rocks? Other objects that could look like rocks but aren't as heavy? You'll understand that they don't need to look THAT realistic since they'll be covered in snow, but I would still like for them to look good... Any suggestions / tips?
... What size rocks we talking about ? small fist sized rocks or like man sized boulders ? Ps. lots of terrain and basing wip's in my blog. \/
For rocks I have used cork, air drying clay, foam covered with paper+PVA, and real stone on bases and terrain pieces. All of them work. If you want to know more about any of those techniques just ask.
Generally small, fist sized rocks, but I'd like to vary the size and sometimes put bigger ones, but never surpassing the models. really just pebbles and such laying around in the snow! I'll check out your blog! Kinda got me curious on the cork technique!
If that's the size you are looking for, go find some free sand, weather it be on the side of the road some where or on the banks of a body of water. in general it tend to vary on size more than stuff you would get in the store and the shapes are often more random too. ps. page 11 has a tutorial of sorts for basing.
A cheap option if you dont want to sift through sand/gravel is to buy some aquarium sand/rocks at the local pet store. They normally sell it in lose weight, which makes it easy to purchase a little from different sizes quite cheap (much cheaper than what you would pay for the same through a modeling store). Edit: I assume when you refer to fist size, it is the fist size of the model. If you refer to your fist size, you should use cork or foam as else the weight will become an issue.
Well, there isn't that much to it. Just take one of those cork sheets or even a cork from a wine bottle and just cut it in small irregular pieces. Paint them grey, shade them black, then drybrush them light grey. Thats it.
Something you could also us and is around the size you describe, is kitty litter. If you (or a friend) has a cat, just borrow a little cup of it. It is usually various sizes and looks perfect once glued and painted up.
Oh I also tried that, it looks OK. It soaks up some of the paint though so a layer more is needed. Depends on the litter.
Yeah, you have to be careful about the litter and make sure it's non absorbent, but that's not very difficult. It is a good size and varies from sand to rock sizes. I've never tried aquarium rocks. might have to look into that. I suppose it would depend on the price.
For the absorbent type, coat it with a water and white glue mixture, that way it will soak in the glue and seal it up for painting.
Oh I almost forgot about ableman33's Technique over on terragenesis. http://www.terragenesis.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=1041&page=8 it involves using watered down glue and rubbing alcohol and kitty litter.