I recently bought $400 in scenic materials. Thats a lot of static grass! I wanted to check my new toys out as soon as possible and so I've made a start on basing some 6mm Napoleonic cavalry.
I've used 2.5mm thick 3 ply bases and the first problem I encountered was that these bases warped when I glued figures onto them. I tried making a device for 'de-warping' these bases which was an adventure in itself. I thought of pairing strips of metal to 'clamp' wood straight over night. I thought that wing nuts bolts would allow me to easily clamp bases without needing a spanner. It turns out that Wing nuts are not available in Bangladesh. You have to buy regular nuts and then have wings welded onto them. The first strips of metal I used were too thin. They bend when wood is clamped. I got the work shop to make the device over with thicker metal which I supplied. The resulting device is shown with my other flint stones equipment.
It still doesn't work. This is pretty thick metal but it still bends. I'd need apply pressure all along the bar for this to work. Its just a bad design.
I had more luck varnishing bases before I glued figures to them. These don't warp at all. I'm also considering switching to metal bases in the future.
After gluing figures onto the varnished base I first filled the area around the bases with putty in order to obvious discontinuities between the figures, which are naturally raised on their bases. Next I mixed some sand with light brown enamel paint and applied this to the bases.
Now apply some ink
I used three colours of flock applying each in turn. These are the result. I got totally frustrated with my camera and gave up taking photos after hours of messing around. I really need to get some better lighting for photography but its not available in Bangladesh.
In the future I would change my distribution of the three colours of flock I used. On these three test bases it looks a bit artificial in places.
