I bought this base from Monroe Perdu (http://www.monroeperdu.com/ ) at the Phoenix Nationals and decided to paint it the other night. I primed it with Tamiya Primer and used my wife's artist acrylics for the colors, some artists oils for washes and dry brushing, and a No. 2 pencil lead rubbed on with my finger over the paint on the grate to give it a metalic look. This base is relatively small (6.5" x 6.75") so I now need to decide what to put on it. It's too small for an AFV. Maybe some sort of WWII vignette with a few figures and a jeep, kubelwagen or armored recon vehicle. I have some other Monroe Perdu stuff I bought at the Phoenix Nats. It is great stuff! Highly recommended.

Nice, will you add a tree(stump) to the grate?


Cheers
Henk

Hi Rian i agree with Henk about a tree in the grate and i would suggest a motorbike vignette!!!
It would look nice!!
cheers!!

Nothing to add to that... I have got the same experience !!

Yes - a tree or stump would look good there. I was just reading the articles here on Armorama about building trees and stumps. I might give it a try.

Rian

I have the same base (got it off Ebay sometime ago,cheap) and I really like it.I too thought it was a little small so I have not used it yet.After seeing yours I may have to get it and do something with it.

jim

That sure looks good Rian. Very nice variation, in the colors, of the paving.
Perhaps you could ad a park bench, next to the tree.

Certainly a nice little Diorama base you have there.

I could be wrong but I believe the square cobble stones are made from rock, therefore it is unlikely to be reddish brown in colour. Those dark grey squre ones around the kerb looks more natural. The rectangular bricks are made of clay, the colour should vary from light grey to brown, or even a tan colour. The reddish brown colour is OK for these bricks.

It may be small but probably still big enough for a Panzer I, II or even a Marder II or III placed diagonally to the base, if you don't mind a german vehicle.

No matter what colour you use, it is a good job that you have tried to put some variation of colour on it. Keep us posted.

Hi Rian. Nice paint work and any point here-after is not in any way a reflection of your work.
Is it just me or does anybody else find this a rather unnattractive base? It all appears too symetrical, too parallel, too flat ... almost to a point of perfection, and un-attractive. Both the road and off-road area are too small to actually attract the viewer, and could make it difficult to make a convincing scene.
If a modeller showed this as their first scratched base, would we not all make comments like these to help him improve for the next time?
Sorry for hijacking your thread Rian ... Im just expressing my gut-feeling when seeing the scene. This is not an attack on Monroe Perdu either .... just hoping to stir some constructive debate on base´s like these.

Don't know why, gives me the feeling it's in Arnhem, so maybe some british para's???



i think a jeep would also look pritty good

I think that the size and symetry of the base make it a challenge to fit the proper elements on it to make a good diorama. Usually, in building a diorama, we sketch out a scene and then build a base to fit it. With this base, I am racking my mind trying to figure out how to make a dio that fits on it. This is good exercise for me and makes me think a little harder. There is a very nice dio made from this base right here on Armorama with a knocked-out French Hotchkiss tank (link):

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/363&page=1

Totally agreed. Thats what I see when I look at the base. To be fair, the hotchkiss dio does look good. But it takes the extra detail like the fence and tree to lift the base. I guess using a model with modified running gear, to mount the footpath would be an idea to use the base size to its best.
When i saw the base today, I hadnt anything to add about the painting ... no problems there ..... but the base sort of "bugged" me ;-(
Good luck whatever you decide to do Rian (Welsh?). Only other thing I can add is maybe to add some of the missing footpath bricks as rubble.

I didn't take your prior post as a slam against my work on the base, only as your general dislike for the raw materials (everyone is entitled to an opinion). I certainly will add other elements to the base to make it more interesting. The fence is a good idea, a tree or stump too. I don't know about the fountain, that might start getting a bit crowded. Thanks for your suggestions.

As for being Welsh... Well long time removed
Great-great-grandfather, Thomas Joseph Phillips, was born 1844 in Parish Of Merthyr, Tyd Fel, Wales. Married to Sarah Boden, born 1850 in Aberdare, Glmrgs, South Wales. They immigrated separately to the U.S. and married in Brigham City, Utah in 1870.

Great-great-great-grandparents are from Ponty Pool, Monmouth, South Wales.

But the spelling of the name comes from a character in a movie that my mum saw when she was preggers with me back in 1955, "Green Fire" The main character played by Stuart Granger was named Rian X. Mitchell spelled R-I-A-N and she liked that spelling.