My Basing!

Hi Folks,

I spoke about doing a post on this a while ago, but it got put on the back burner and forgotten about. I get a lot of compliments on the basing of my models, and a few of the guys have asked me what I do. There isn't anything really unique about this technique. It's basically applying static grass to the base, then tarting it up with flowers and tufts!

Anyway, a while back I did a little video to show some of what I do, along with some pictures.

1.  Prepare the bases (and count you have the correct number!). For the Flames of War bases this is quick - I generally just trim along the bottom edges just to make sure there is no flash or anything here. I also make sure the edge where they base has been attached to the sprue is nice and clean. Normally I would just use a scalpel for this.

As I put acrylic resin on the bases before I put any models on, I also score the surface of the base. I used to do this by scratching a zig zag pattern in 2 different directions on the surface, but recently I came up with a quicker way of doing this. I have a very fine toothed saw (like a hacksaw, but with slightly more raised teeth) and I drag this over the base in 2 directions. Much quicker and safer!

2.  Applies to the way I base my mini's. I dislike the idea of putting basing medium near finished minis, as I will get it all over them. As such I put the medium on the bases and then cut holes in it once it's dry. The Acrylic Resin I use just peels off and leaves a nice space for the infantry figures to be glued to the base directly. The trick is getting the resin to a decent depth so that the bases are not pronounced. This method is probably more time consuming that others.

Apply the resin to the surface of the base. I have used a small spoon for this in the past, but recently started using a small 'pallet knife' I got from a painting supplies shop. I believe it's purpose is for mixing oil paints? It allows me to put the resin on the base and then spread it around. At this point I don't worry about the resin being in the wrong place, so long as the base is covered.

3.  Once the resin is dry, using a scalpel I cut off the excess. Once this is done, the base should look like this:

4.  A apply a coat of by basing colour. For my FoW stuff I use 'Flat Earth' (Vallejo Model Color 143 (70.983))

The trick here is just to put a good dollop of paint directly onto the base, and then use a rubbish but big brush just to make sure the base is covered.

This paint is actually one I go through most of - followed by English Uniform and Russian Uniform (my Infantry and Tank base colours!).

5.  Once dry, put a dollop of PVA onto the base, and again use a poor quality brush to cover the top surface. I try to avoid getting any on the beveled edges, but if I do, it's no big deal.

6.  Apply the static grass! I use a 'Spring meadow blend' which seems to be a mix of the common 'spring' and 'summer' static grasses. For the 15mm models I think it's a 2mm length grass. I would caution you - if your planning on doing a big army, and want the basing to be the same, take a note of which make and colour you use, else you could end up with variation over the army...

Video of the application process can be found here:

But basically I use a washing up liquid (Dish Soap?) bottle with the stopper removed. this is filled with the grass and given a good shake before use! A funnel of some sort is very useful for getting the static grass into the bottle. You will also need a tub to put the bases in while you squirt them, in order to not be quite so messy. And to be able to retrieve the grass that didn't end up on the base!

7.  Once the grass is on, and the whole thing is dried, the base looks like this:

As you can see, the grass is stuck to the sides and is generally a bit scruffy.

What I do next is take a scalpel and carefully cut along the top of the beveled edges. I then use the same scalpel to carefully scrape the glue and grass from the sides of the base. When I'm done, it looks like this:

Better, but still scruffy!

My next step is to take a small pair of scissors - actually nail scissors I picked up for 99p in a super market - oh, the looks A gives me when I turn up with 'random' things for the shopping basket! I use the scissors to do some 15mm landscaping... generally trimming the grass along the top edge and surface. Just to make sure everything is a similar length, etc. It should end up looking like this:

Neater!

8.  Touch up the sides of the base with Flat Earth again (I also sometimes do the bases without painting the sides before I apply the grass, to save a little time and paint. However most times I forget!). The end result looks like this:

If you want to, at this stage you could also give the flat earth sections a coat or two of varnish - although I rarely do.

So that's the basic's of how I get the grass on. The rest is simple - for this base I glued a model directly onto the surface by applying superglue to the underside of the tracks and pressing down until it was fixed in place.

The pick what tufts you want to use. I aim to put 8 per base on - 2 each of White and Yellow flowers (Mininatur 726-21 S 'Tufts with Blossom Spring') , short tufts (Mininatur 717-22 S 'Short Tufts Summer') and long tufts (Mininatur 717-22 S 'Long Early Fall'). I apply these by dabbing some superglue on the base where I want it. The tip for this is to glue the model onto the base first!

As to which tufts to use - there are any number of styles of these, and it's just about picking the style that suits your army. Tufts can be used to unify the army, or to mark out different types of bases (use purple flowers on commend bases, or one platoon uses all one colour, etc).

This particular base went on to become:

I also use my little scissors to trim the tufts as well, just to make sure they are neat - 15mm landscaping!

The very last thing I do with my bases is apply some thin 'steel paper' to the underside, so that the bases stick to the magnetic sheeting I use for my storage.

And thats it! Thanks to Bob for getting on my case about this tutorial!

15mm Stowage Comparison - Peter Pig, Battlefront, Skytrex

Hi folks,

I thought I should take the time to actually do a little comparison of the various 15mm stowage suppliers I use. I've posted pictures of the parts individually in the past, but thought it might be useful to see the parts together.

These models come from three separate suppliers, and only refer to western allied kits (although some of the parts are pretty interchangeable)

The model makers I am comparing are:

Peter Pig - specifically their Sherman Stowage Basic Pack's

Skytrex - specifically their  CD SP1 General Stowage Pack and CD SP12 Sherman Tracks & Road Wheels Pack

Battlefront -  Specifically US Stowage US670

Starting with Battlefront's offerings, this pack is billed as US stowage but would be suitable for any Western Allied vehicles. It includes some bedding rolls, Sherman road wheels, Jerry cans, track links and both a US and Tommy helmet and a few boxes. the pack contains 6 strips of each of the two types. From my perspective, the offerings from Battlefront are good and add some great variety. However, the casting isn't great and will need a lot of cleaning up in some cases. I paid £6.47 on ebay for this pack.

Next up, Peter Pig. The Peter Pig packs are a lot smaller and fairly limited in scope, containing 3 large cloth rolls, 3 strips of Sherman tracks, 2 Sherman road wheels and 2 strips of connected boxes. These packs cost £3 each. They require fairly little prep to use, not needing much in the way of cleaning up.

Then we have Skytrex. The Skytrex packs are larger than the other offerings, but a bit costlier and p+p is also quite steep. However, they do contain a lot of different bits. There is a pack of stowage that only includes the canvas rolls, jerry cans and boxes, and leaves out the 'camo net' style rolls. My experience of the Skytrex models is that they require fairly little in the way of cleaning up. 

Both of these packs cost £10, although there are smaller, cheaper, packs available. P+P is about £5 within the UK.

So how do these various offerings compare?

Peter Pig (left) with Battlefront (right)

Mix of all makes

Battlefront on left, Skytrex on the right.

Rear view of the various tracks. Peter Pig on the left with their flat backing, Battlefront at the top and the other offerings are Skytrex.

Front view of the various Sherman tracks.

Small Skytrex barrels and Jerry Cans on the left, beside Battlefront versions.

Battlefront offerings in the centre, surrounded by Skytrex and with a few Peter Pig Sherman road wheels in the center.

Skytrex Jerry Cans and Crates beside the Battlefront offerings.

As you can see, size wise they are all fairly interchangeable with minimal drift in scales. The Skytrex and Battlefront versions give you some decent variations while also providing the bulk you need to detail a lot of different vehicles. The Peter Pig offering is pretty limited in numbers - useful if you are only doing one or two tanks, but you need quite a few packs to do a lot of vehicles and there is not much variation with only the Sherman tracks and road wheels alongside the 3 connected boxes and the large canvas roll.

There are some other options, which I do use from time to time. One is to use greenstuff/miliput to make your own. Doing canvas style rolls is fairly easy and can be done with a little practice. Another is to use small strips of material, tinfoil, etc.

I also carefully strip any stowage on plastic sprues, such as the plastic Open Fire Shermans and StuGs, plastic half tracks, etc. I do try to be careful with mixing these in when I am detailing my models, as I don't want every vehicle being identical (or looking like every other Sherman out there!).

Another version which isn't on the market yet is the Plastic Soldier Company stowage sprue. PSC are working on a British 15mm Stowage kit, similar in scope to the German one. No news as to when this will be released, but they did reply to an email from me recently stating that one was in the pipeline. Another new addition is 'Flames of War Bling' which is an Ebay store selling 3d printed bits and bobs for FoW. They include crates, barrels and tools.

So there you go, a very quick and dirty comparison between all the various stowage options I use on my Flames of War vehicles. If you know of a producer I haven't mentioned, please let me know in comments! I hope you found this blog entry useful! Apologies for the lighting in the photographs.

15mm Foliage

Hi folks,

I thought I should take the time to do a little post detailing my attempts at 15mm scale 'realistic' looking foliage. It's a pretty simple process and only involves seafoam sprigs, 'leaf' shaped flock and superglue.

The main components came from http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com - here.

The Seafoam sprigs arrived in a decent sized box - certainly enough to keep me going for quite a while.

While there was also a decent sized bag of the flock like stuff.

So, grabbing a set of clippers I snipped off a couple of smaller sprigs of the seafoam. I then applied dabs of superglue to the sprigs and dipped them in a tub filled with the flock.

I left this to dry for a while (I did two of these at once) before clipping up one of the sprigs into much smaller 'branches'. As I was going to something the had to look in scale and that would have been applicable by the crew - especially a crew used to sitting in ambush or defensive positions - I mainly used the smaller clippings to decorate the turret and break up the hull a little. I had previously applied some of the camo netting that I had been using to the tank, so the foliage just went on over that.

Once I had the quantity and shape I was happy with, I did use some Vallejo beige brown paint to touch up the colour of the sprigs. I didn't paint any of the leaves, but may come back to that in the future depending on how the other

Turret only

Turret and Hull done

Final version

So all in all quite easy to do. Oddly enough, I picked up a book on Operation Totalise at the Leeds wargames show. One of the pictures in the book is this:

Picture used without permission

Which features Wasps, a Churchill Crocodile and a M10 covered in foliage - although the M10 has a lot more foliage on it that mine does!

How to: Using 'Tufts' - MiniNatur product review

Hi folks,

The other week a few people had commented on the materials I was using on my basing. I thought it might be worth a quick blog on the products I use. When I started basing my infantry units I had bought some ArmyPainter tufts. The pack was quite small and I got through it pretty quickly. A few months later I was at one of the Scottish wargame shows and came across MiniNatur. These packs were roughly the same price as the much smaller ArmyPainter products and are of just the same quality.

The packs I have open and have used look like this - the actual new packs are obviously a lot fuller!:

Basing wise I start a layer of acrylic resin which I then trim down and paint with Vallejo Flat Earth. A quick coat of PVA then a few squirts of static grass from my home made applicator (A washing up bottle!) and the base is ready for detailing.

Normally I would glue the model to the base at this point and then add the tufts afterwards. I put a dab of superglue on the static grass then I use hobby tweezers to take the tufts off the backing and press them gently onto the superglue.

I messed up slightly by not putting the model on this base first! As a result I had to move some of the tufts so the tank was sitting correctly. I also use some nail scissors just to trim the odd sprouty sections from the tufts and any of the static grass that is over the sides of the base.

The pictures were taken under normal lights rather than my daylight bulb, so they look a little yellow/brown. The finished article looks like this:

The tufts go quite far on vehicle models as you only have to do around the edges. You can use slightly more on large artillery bases and less on medium bases. I just try to vary the placing on each base to make them distinct. I find that they break up what would otherwise be large plain spaces.

I payed  £4.25 for each of the MiniNatur packs and they have lasted me quite a while. I only purchased the new ones as the old packs are getting quite sparse. I also know that I have to go back over all my older bases and bring them up to the standard of the new ones!

So there you go, a quick and easy method of making your plain old static grass bases look good without using that horrible lichen/horse hair stuff. The MiniNatur products seem to be great quality and you definitely get your money's worth.

Easy 15mm Vehicle Aerials

Since I've had a few comments about my vehicle aerials over the years I thought it was about time I actually detailed in a post what I do - rather than just responding to comments.

I've heard of many different ways of doing vehicle aerials - the common one seems to be using brush bristles, but I have heard of people using piano wire (ouch!) and melted down plastic sprue stretched thin. I came accross the method I use by accident somewhere (I can't remember where so can't give credit) and a few weeks later a local discount supermarket had fishing gear on a special offer. I picked up a pack of two reels of fishing line for a couple of £'s and have been using one of them ever since.

I use a pin vice to drill out the relevant number of holes (normally in tank turrets).

My trusty (squeaky) pin vice.

My own system is that command vehicles get two aerials as well as normally having a crew figure in the turret. This helps them be easily identified on the tabletop. I do try to keep the placement of the aerials as accurate as possible but I know that they are more representative than anything else. As I understand it long 'whip' style aerials would rapidly be shot away in combat or become fouled under trees, but I do like the longer style.

This picture of 33 Armoured Brigade Shermans actually shows three aerials in the turret.

Not my picture - used without permission!

I like the fishing line as it paints easily, is easy to work with and cut, is safe and is flexible enough that it springs back into shape if it gets bent.

This is the stuff I use - I can't talk about it's usefulness for it's intended purpose I'm afraid!

Once I've drilled the holes (normally done when I am building the model and applying stowage) I snip some fishing line to the lengths I want. I normally aim for one to be longer than the other slightly but that's just what looks 'right' to me. 

I then test fit the fishing line into the holes, just to make sure they are drilled out and not filled with varnish or paint. If required I do a quick spin of the drill bit just to make the fit snug. The thickness of the line fits well with the 2nd largest size drill bit I have (I've long since lost the packaging for those, so no idea what the measurement is - if in doubt start small as you can always widen if the hole is too small). 

I then carefully dab a small amount of superglue onto the end of the wire. Sometimes it goes on like a little bead of glue, other times it just coats the bottom of the line and forms a bead when you hold it upright. I then carefully put the line into the hole, making sure that the natural bend of the line is in the correct 'direction' - ie, it bends slightly backwards towards the rear of the turret. If it stuck straight up I wouldn't mind, but I think it looks better with a slight bend in it and I try to make sure the lengths I snip from the reel have a curve and no kinks making it stick out to the left or right. 

'natural curve' as you can see here. I snipped this bit out as it had a little bit of a funny shape to it.

Once the glue is dry - it may sometimes require a little bit of holding in place to get it to stay in the right direction - it's a simple matter of carefully painting the fishing line with a little black matt paint. I normally do this before the final spray of matt varnish, just to give it a little more protection. 

When I am doing new vehicles for the first time I will normally try to find some reference pictures just to get an idea where the aerials are supposed to be. It's worth being careful with the smaller models as the places where the aerials should go on the turrets tend to be quite brittle and will snap off while you drill. This is especially true of the British armored cars. I have started doing the same with my infantry models that have radios as well, just because I like how it looks - but I will have to go back through all my models at some point and do all the radios (along with upgrading the basing with the aid of some flower tufts - more on those later). 

The fishing line seems pretty durable and along with decals and stowage are small touches that I think really brings the vehicles to life. Well worth the effort of trying yourself!