Tips for making ruin bases for Imperial Guard

[RGilbert26]

Morning all, another of my army ideas to start when i get back into the hobby is an Imperial Guard army that is essentially fighting in a ruined city. While looking through CoolMiniOrNot i came across this picture which i love...

http://www.coolminiornot.com/304077?browseid=2394814

...with a little work i think i would be able to have my heavy weapons teams modelled in a similar way (not interested in copying it exactly, just as reference). For any flyers in the army i would try and model it as though they are flying through a building/over the top, Sentinels would have custom bases done similar to this video i found on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHgg73Lt3do

...while i dont have some of the tools the guy uses i can simply replace them with what i have. Not sure what i would do with Tanks, should they have lots of Sandbags on them or bits of ruined buildings? Suggestions welcome on how to model any tanks in the army.

What i would like to ask is how would you guys suggest i model the bases for Infantry? I don't want to just get bits of sprue and stick them to their bases as that feels like a bit of a cop out. Im also not interested in using GWs basing kits as they don't really have what im after. I could go online and try to find 'Ruin' bases but what ive seen so far doesn't really fit what im looking for. Then again i could just increase the amount of sand/texture paint i have on the bases....

Thoughts/Suggestions welcome.

Thanks for any help.

[pauljc]

One tip for relatively cheap sandbags; Pegasus Hobbies does bags of 'em for under ten euro-bucks. Actually I think Pegasus makes lots of useful stuff. Check 'em out.

Also, you could always get one of those GW city kits, like the Manufactorum, Shrine or whatevs, and cut down/use parts from those. A whole box could probably be chopped up to serve most of your army, plus sandbags and floor-plating, and your army would be nicely themed.

[Cpt Codpiece]

milliput is cheap and makes great sandbags.
you just make a lump push it in the shape you want, then score the hem of the bag in with a knife. you can even imprint texture on it with a rag if you want super detail.

[RGilbert26]

Thanks for the tips guys, ive now got a brand new favourite for how to make milliput sandbags (just incase i do decide to go IG). With the GW scenery kits i had already thought about using them for the flyer bases and heavy weapons teams :P

Any ideas for what to put on infantry bases? Or just leave it as lots of sand/texture paint?

[RGilbert26]

Been watching the vid i linked in first post and i was wondering - would PVA glue be a suitable replacement for the hotglue the guy uses to stick the various bits on the base? Or would hotglue be best?

EDIT: would peices of cork on infantry bases done similarly to what the guy does in the vid be sufficient for ruin bases?

[Cpt Codpiece]

pva will work, just the time to dry may drive you nuts, you can pick up hot glue guns in £/$ stores all he time (at least in the UK anyway) so that may not be as big an issue as it seems.

cork on infanry works fine, jus remember it is still cork and is still soft even when pained (unless you plaster it with super glue :)). mostly the effect cork gives is down to te paint used, use greys and its concrete, browns and its rocks, blues and greys its ice.

if you want to add pipes and dont have the plasticard tubing try some Q-tips, most brands are hollow plastic tubes. easy pipes, gun barrels etc.

keep an eye out for cheap fibre optic lamps in £/$ stores too, not only can you light up models with them (use the fibre optics themselves to carry the light where you want, whilst hiding battery and LED in the body of a tank/building :)), but you can also use them in ruins bases with the tubes as fibre optic comms cables or electrics cables. all nice and cheap.

[RGilbert26]

Ive been looking at what HobbyCraft sells and they seem to have all i need. There's a relatively cheap hotglue gun and sticks on the website and they have round cork mat things about 3 inches wide and some sheet rolled up. Strangely their site doesnt have plasticard on it? Im most likely going to have to go to a local hobby store and get stuff there (brass rods and plasticard etc).

Wtih Q-tips for piping i can just go into Tescos/ASDA/Sainsbury's and buy some cheap from them, if they arent hollow i can drill out a hole etc.

EDIT: Would a spray of 'Ardcoat on the cork harden it up? After ive glued the cork down and it dries, spray it and then once that is dry carry on adding stuff to the base.

[Cpt Codpiece]

if you are willing to wait for delivery, ebay stores generally sell rolls of cork about 5mm thick for about £3

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Javis-Countryside-Scenic-Accessories-Cork-Sheet-36-X-12-X1-8th-914mm-X-305mm-/221089594122?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3379f77b0a

plenty cork there, for a fiver :) .3 cm thick so thats great for concrete.

i know asda and morrisons own as well as the dark angels baby gear ones (johnsons LOL) are all hollow tubes.

[RGilbert26]

Once I sorted the bases out what do I use to stick the models to them? Hot glue due it going onto cork or super glue?

[Cpt Codpiece]

i would pin them on with a paper clip (straighten and trim with cutters, again the quid shop reigns supreme).

just drill a hole in the feet and pop the pin in, use super glue and push the pin into the cork, maybe even drill into the bottom of the base and add a turn in the pin (like an L, put pin in base from below then put mini on the pin), so it lies flush and holds the mini from 2 angles (better with heavier metal models TBH) and it should hold well and add rigidity to the model.

hot glue should not melt the plastic but it will be messy, probably not worth the clart on.

[RGilbert26]

I'm still not decided on wether I'm going to do imperial guard, i have a funny feeling i might be doing Necrons or perhaps daemons, lol i really cant decide yet. With these ideas I'm having with doing bases they can be used with any army. At work today I was thinking that I could use the bottom of the base to cut a circle of cork, glue it onto the base and then tear the edges and add bits to make it look like rubble. Another idea I had was to just glue bits of cork on the base after I glue the model onto it as another way of making rubble. For rebars I can use paper clips.

The annoying thing about this is I don't want to revert to doing marines as I'm always doing them. I know how to write their lists quickly and how to paint them to a high tabletop standard without any difficulty, but i want something new that will keep me doing it and enjoying it.

[Cpt Codpiece]

both methods of cork will work, just depends what effect you want.

do you play guitar at all? or know anyone that does? if so get their old strings (being a bassist and guitarist, i wont buy new to use for modelling) they make great rebar and general textured cable.

since you are used to doing marines, why not have a go with necrons, if you go for silver, its a really quick but effective job getting squads done. tamiya spray (gun metal) and a black wash, followed by a drybrush and thats it unless you use a spot colour.
plus with the entire army now available you wont 'need' to convert anything more than a quick kit bash for some crypteks, usually spare parts and/or a set of legs off ebay :)