¹⁄35

Basemaking for Beginners: Urban Road

introduction

The figure and vignette kits usually come with a base and there are many ready for use products on market to display your figures. Those products are made of metal, resin, plastic or plaster, easy to paint and very helpful on creating realistic scenes, but they can be quite expensive due to used material, not suitable for your plans or can limit you in the dimensions of the product. Therefore, you may need to make your own products. If you have some imagination and some DIY (do it yourself) skills, it is so easy and pleasurable.

As I got bored of making my figurebase plans according to the products available on market and faced some unrepairable kit damages during shipping of product, I decided to make my own bases. Though I never claimed myself as a professional , I felt satisfied for my results after a few attempts and I kept making my own bases. Here, I will try to share my knowledge and experiences with you and I believe that; “Your first attempt can be better than my last one.”

The best material to make your own bases is “Plaster ”. It is easy to find, cheap, quick drying and versatile for modeling. It can be molded easily, can be cut in desired dimensions or shape, easily carved or drilled with simple tools and can be glued together. But there are also a few points to keep in mind when working with plaster;

Keep in mind that wet plaster can splash on your clothes. Wear your old, ordinary clothes or use an apron for any accidental dirt.

Cover your table or workbench with old newspapers, brown paper or an old table cloth.

Work in a well ventilated room, easily cleanable work surface and clean up well after you finish working with plaster.

Prefer simple and lower price scalpels or chisels because moisture in plaster will damage any of them.