1. I don't feel I can post in the location the pix of the figure on this base. It
is in the Fantasy relm so wouldn't be Military or Historical. But because of
the material used, I thought it might be of some value to beginners who
live in the United States. (Unfortunately, the product I use to spread over
the 1/2 inch plywood, is not available at this point in time, outside the
United States. It is called Clayshay and is a powdered papier maché
product offered by Aves Studios at www.avesstudios.com in Wisconsin.
I have mentioned it on the Big A previously).
2. I try to remember the beginners who join our site each day and there
are many of them. So this note is aimed toward them, and probably won't
be of interest to the experienced Big A threadmaker, modeler. With that
part noted, I will proceed:
The 1/2 plywood base is 10" X 12" in size. There are two raised pieces
of bass wood glued, with 5 minute epoxy glue, over the plywood
in the spots where the two feet of the 12 inch tall figure will be position.
(I used 4 pieces of basswood of small thickness to make a box
that the plywood base fits down into w/ a raised "lip" of about
3/8th inch. Thus you will not see the rough edge of the plywood.) The
I mixed Clayshaw powder w/ water in a large cup. It starts to harden in
about an hour. It will not shrink, can be carved and drilled and sanded,
and altho it is lightweight, it can take very rough handling, unlike Plaster
of Paris. I applied the Clayshay in several layers, letting each layer get
dry before proceeding to the next layer. Of course, I built up the Clayshay
around the two pieces of basswood that stick up. When all was dry, I
carved a large "flagstone" pattern into the Clayshay. The first photo show
that part completed.
The second photo shows my small work bench, that was a desk. You can
see that I use a big piece of Auto Safety glass for a palette to mix the
acrylic colors. I went to a Auto glass place and asked if I could pay for a
scrap piece. The man sanded all the edges and just gave it to me; free!
I rattlecaned a part of the back of the glass w/ white. I like the glass
because it is so hard and thus easy to clean with a palette knife. In this
photo the Clayshay has been painted with a group of layers working from
dark blackish-brownish-green to the lighter tones that were some of the
previous colors mixed with white and a smidge of yellow. Since the fig is
to be in a dungeon, I wanted the rocks to look dark, dank, slimy and
mildew like.
The last photo shows a closer look at the rock pattern and the colors
used. I hope this may be of use to some of the beginners.
