I decided I'd build a base to display the first model (Tamiya Universal Carrier) I've ever tried shading, weathering etc.on. The kit's nearly finished and whilst not perfect I'm pleased with it for my first attempt. I chose a simple setting, just a piece of track lined by some grass with a section of fence. I'd no idea what to use for the base material but thought I'd try diluted PVA with sawdust from a wood sander mixed in to give some texture. It's still wet but I'm pleased with the results so far. What do others use? Any comments or advice would be welcome.

This should be a link to the photo :-

http://gallery.kitmaker.net/showphoto.php/photo/367784/ppuser/44198

Hey Paul...interesting choice and quite creative actually with the sawdust. I will be using celluclay (same thing as sculptamold) to make my dirt road and what not. It's fairy inexpensive at your local hobby or craft shop. It's like a paper mache, mixes easily with water and can be made into a nice lumpy mix. Dries rock hard, and you can add a touch of white glue to allow it to better stick to the base. Also, adding in some brown, tan, or whatever helps with the white spots and it soaks it up pretty nicely, from what I hear.
I think your method looks good, though, and will be awaiting the final results.
For your armor, did you weather it at all? You can use pigments from AK Interactive or MIG (I like MIG, but haven't used AK and have heard nothing but good things, so far) or other brands. They are a little pricey, but go a long way. They will last forever if you don't dump a whole jar on a couple pieces. You can also use pastel chalks, from what I hear. I've never tried it, so I don't have any personal experience with them.
The decals look great, though. You did a stand up job. Lookin good so far! Welcome to the hobby, it's addictive.

Nice work so far Paul! I really like the Universal Carrier, you did a great job, this is shaping up to be a nice little vignette! Any figures?

Thanks Brandi & Nick for your comments and encouragement. I'll put some more up to date pics on my gallery. You will see the Carrier now has a burnt umber wash which I think has made a real difference. Decals - I'm glad there were three sets provided! I twice placed decals in either the wrong position or cockied so this was the third attempt. If you look closely at some of the pics you can see the earlier star under the paint (trying to scratch the decals off just ruined the surface). What's holding things up is finishing the accessories and figures and doing the final weathering on the carrier itself. The figures will be as supplied but again higlighting and shading of figures (especially faces) is something I've not done before so I'm feeling my way somewhat with this. I have managed to get a passable canvas bag (see pic) so all is not lost here! I've decided it's going to be a light weatheirng on this occaision and I have acquired a small collection of MiG pigments to choose from. Europe dust is looking good as I've decided to set this in North-East France on the push east following D-Day. As such, I'm planning to include a discarded piece of German equpment, perhaps a bullet-holed jerry-can. This is the first model I've completed in twenty years or more and have never tried to complete any previously to the same standard so it is very much a case of a learning excercise and to see what I could do and what works.

Hey Paul, I hear ya! I have messed around when I was a little younger (I'm still pretty young, though haha) with building snap together kits and a couple airplanes. Really got interested in this world war two modelling thing of mine when I saw the Clervaux Castle photos...I think I was looking at some castle photos through google or something and it came up and I was like WHOA!!!! And that was it. I looked around these forums only to see that there are many people who are into this and many people who are quite good at it. That was that. Now, years later, I am finally working on my own very first real diorama myself, and understand completely the learning curves. If you look at my Carentan thread, you'll see the very first wall I ever cut was a disaster. I've had tons of re-dos.
I have just started figure conversions because I need them modded for my scene, so I'm learning that as well. It really is just about going at your own pace and asking a ton of questions. Lucky for me, the people here are nothing short of helpful and nice to me, so I feel good about asking some newbie questions all the time, haha.
Anyway, nice to see the progress! I think you're doing a bang-up job overall, and don't be shy to weather to your heart's content.

Just added some pics of the primed base with the fence with its basecoat.

Hi Paul
Your Universal Carrier is very well modelled, well done.
Great work on your vignette.

Garth

Well, the base is done. In all honesty it wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. The biggest problem was waiting for the sawdust/PVA medium to dry (this took a couple of days) but I found this was easy to work with and because it doesn't dry quickly you can play around with it to your heart's content. If you fancy trying this yourself beware of using sudden changes in depth as I found it can crack at the transition between thin and thick when drying. For the record, the fence is made from balsa obtained from a model plane that never got built. It was scored using a scalpel to give an old wood appearance and painted in Vellajo Old Wood. I then used a black wash (Citadel) to bring out the gouges then dry brushed in Tamiya Buff. The base (once dried) was given a base coat of an irregular mix of Tamiya flat black, flat brown and dark earth. This was then washed all over with Citadel black wash. Then drybrushed quite heavily in a dark earth/khaki mix to bring out the texture and then finally in dark yellow for the final highlights. The grass is Coarse Turf - Burnt Grass from Woodland Scenics. For my first attempt I am quite please with the result. Just got to finish the accessories and weather the carrier now.