All your base...

..are belong to me! I wanted to make a slightly more general post today, and as you probably guessed the topic is about basing. However, not just regular unit-bases, but also movement trays... These simple plastic or resin trays allows placement of multiple units inside and hence allows fast and well-organized movement on the battlefield. Alternatively, they can simply be a nice addition to exhibited units and armies.

While GW do sell a limited selection of these themselves, there is an unlimited variety and supply out there on the WWW.  I found a bunch on ebay (sold by wargamestournaments), in various sizes and shapes, with both square and round holes. Each was around 7€, give or take. These particular trays are cast in resin and were quite rough on arrival. Nothing a little sandpaper couldn't handle though :) Here is an untreated 10 unit (round 28mm) tray straight from the package.

In order to make the trays fit the bases of my current units I've opted to add some texture before painting. This is easily done using sand. I'm lucky enough to live near the sea and can simply go down and scoop up a can-full.  Below is shown the basics needed for some quick base pimping; glue, sand, an old brush and some toothpicks.

All desired surfaces are covered in glue which is spread evenly with the brush. The whole tray is dipped in sand and left to soak for a minute or so. Afterwards the toothpick is used to pick out unwanted splodges of sand and glue... I usually leave the bases to dry overnight before moving on to the next step.

To undercoat the trays they are spray-painted with Chaos Black to ensure that all colours will stick properly afterwards...

To now apply a base colour, strongly watered-down paint is used. This allows it to soak into the sand for proper coverage. In this case Scorched Brown is used..

After the initial layer of paint is dry it's time for some drybrushing. By applying paint (first layer is Calthan Brown) to a special drybrush (with short stiff bristles) and then wiping the excess paint on a piece of kitchen-roll until almost none remains. Now I can simply "brush" across the structured surface and only a very small amount of paint will collect on the tops of the surface. The image below shows a half-finished tray for comparison.

After 2 layers of drybrushing (second layer here is Bleached Bone), the trays will look something like this...

Now all that remains is to apply some static grass to finish of the scenic trays...

Finally, here is a bunch of my finished trays in use by my various unites... Hope you enjoy :D

Ork Boyz finished!

After being engaged in a few side projects (like my two Gandalf miniatures), finishing reading A song of Ice and Fire (up to book 5 at least) and plowing through 10 or so Star Wars books,I finally again found time to get my Ork Boyz finished. In my previous post I had the characteristic green sorted, but everything else was pretty much lacking... Again I've been a bit lazy with the WIP pictures, so I apologize for the small amount of images...

First step was armor, which I decided to keep mainly black, while painting the various leather straps, belts and stachels in either Clathan Brown or Scorched Brown (washed with Devlan Mud). Metal parts are painted with Leadbelcher, while the black boots and trousers + shirt are highlighted with Dawnstone (both washed with Badab Black)... 

Second order of business is the weapons.  Blades such as axes and swords are painted in Leadbelcher with the sharpened bits being Chainmail. Guns are kept mainly black, but metal parts are also painted with Leadbelcher. Sword-handles are painted with Tin Bitz for a lovely worn bronze colour. Everything is washed with Badab Black and highlighted with their respective colours...

Finally the last few details are line highlighted, static grass applied and everything is cleaned up etc. The final product is something I'm really proud of and honestly has turned out way better than I expected! Hope you enjoy and stay tuned for some (hopefully fast) updates about my next project, my Space Marine Terminators...

Gandalf and Shadowfax

As mentioned in a earlier post (http://kunstmanns-workshop.blogspot.dk/2012/10/finecast-gandalf-white.html) my dear girlfriend gave me this awesome Fincecast of Gandalf the White, which contained not one, but two full models! The second model consists of both Gandalf and his trusted horse, Shadowfax (Lord of Horses)...

Though I finished the model some time ago, I've kinda forgotten to get my blog updated with the WIP and final paintjob pictures. However, here they are now, enjoy!:D

Here he is all glued together and fixed with some liquid Green Stuff. Ive added a few rocks to the base to create a bit more interesting surface...

The base is now finished with several layers of drybrushing, and Gandalf (and his horse) has been based with Skull White...

I've clearly been a bit slacky with the WIP pictures, so here the figure is in its final form:D

Really happy with how the horse and his robes turned out, but the face could still do with some more work, clearly not my strongest side... I might get back to redo that later. For now he's guarding the entrance to my office and YOU SHALL NOT PASS!