Basing, the tight arse way.

I like to make my own stuff when it comes to miniature gaming. You "could" say that it's just coz I like to kitbash? Or that that's how they did it back in the day coz they had no choice & I like to roll the way they did? Others might suggest that it's because I'm a bit of a cheap bastard?

It's probably a mix of all those opinions....leaning more heavily towards the last one mentioned :)

So, this post -as the title infers- is about making cheap, strong, large bases. This subject stems from my Helsreach Walker that I made last year. After I had finished building it I wasn't completely satisfied with the look or strength of the base. It was too thin (looks like it's standing on paper) & it flexes too much. But I didn't have time (or an idea) of how to fix it, so I left it as it was.

Fast forward a few months & we come to my shelved Siege dreadnought project. When figuring out how to base this mother up, I came up with an idea of how to improve upon my single DVD basing technique. What's better than one DVD? Why two God damn it!!! Isn't it obvious?

Anyway, I thought I'd post up a little tutorial on how I go about making my new & improved bases. Maybe someone out there in internet land might be interested? Who knows :)

Let's begin,

Posed & fixed to a sturdier base than the Helsreach Walker.

See what I mean, nice & thick.

This one was a "one disk wonder", too much flex for my liking.
I'll be rectifying that deficiency soonish.

Here's what the almost finished base will end up looking like once you've
followed my 8 & 1/2 steps to better abs!

This thickness is the best.....coz I said so.

Ok, step 1, Pick two of your favourite DVD's & lay them on some baking paper on a perfectly flat surface.

Step 2, Scuff the hell out of the laser disc side with
coarse emery. Then get some old sprue of the correct
thickness & super glue in place.

Now here's the important part. You need to make sure that the
two DVD's will be centralised with each other. I have this little 
emery wheel from my Dremel kit that fits perfectly. You can 
use whatever you want, but it has to be a snug fit or the base 
will end up misaligned & look retarded.

Step 3, Place the centralising bush in the first DVD, then run
super glue over the sprue & place the second DVD ontop.

Step 4, If you need to, put a few other DVD's ontop, so that
your bush sits flush with the top DVD.

Step 5, Place a dirty, great heavy weight ontop of the stack &
allow it to dry fully.

Step 6, After it has set, take out your hot glue gun. Or as I like
 to refer to it "the thing that makes a bloody great
stringy mess" gun.

Step 7, Run a bead around the perimeter of the DVD to fill
in the gap & increase its rigidity. Don't go over board
with the stuff or you'll end up warping it from the heat.

Then lay the DVD base back down on the baking paper &
squeeze a blob of hot glue into the centre. Once set you'll
have a nice flat surface on one side.

The almost final product -balancing on my desk- show's you
how perfectly aligned it is.

Note, If you end up warping it from the heat from the hot glue gun, don't worry. All you need to do is lay it out on the baking paper and put the heavy weight on it once more & it'll flatten out again.

Also, in the final picture I said "almost final product". All that's left to do is run a thin bead of acrylic gap filler around the edge & then with a wet scraper/finger just wipe off the excess. You should end up with a nice flat edge. Job done.

After reading through this tutorial you may be asking yourself "why didn't the idiot just glue a stack of DVD's together?". Well the short answer is "weight". This technique is lighter & just as strong as if I'd have stacked them together. So there, I'm not an idiot & besides that, Asslessman called me (or my work, either way it doesn't matter) a genius.



I hope this tutorial is coherent & somewhat useful enough for someone out there. Otherwise I've just wasted a couple of hours of my life for no reason :(



So, until next time, toodle pip & all that other crap people use to say goodbye.

It's finally finished!!!!........ nah, just kidding :p

Here's some more progress pic's of the Hovertank, taken with a new phone camera! About time.

Final incarnation of the conning tower shutter door.

The three variants I tried.

Test fit with locating shaft....the blue bit :)

Look, it opens too, yippy!!!

The hydraulic ram's I'm making to open & close the shutter door.

This part of the build had been a bit of a bitch so far. I first tried to have a cage like door for the conning tower, but it looked a bit meh. So then I tried heating up some acrylic sheet & bending it to the shape I wanted, but the heating process browned it so much that it looked pretty bad too. Finally, I bit the bullet & made one out of a plastic icecream container. I cut out some louvres for the front & cut out some sections on the sides....then stuck mesh over them. I think it looks ok, so after I've strengthened it up a bit more she'll be as good as gold.

Now I just have to finish off the hydraulic ram's, add the locating shaft's to the conning tower & shutter door and it'll be done.

Some of the wire & plumbing work on the left hand side.

Close up's, oooohh!

I ran a heap of wires along the left hand side of the Hovertank & then installed copper wire brackets to look like their being held in place by them.....instead of super glue :)

After the shutter door is done I'll start on the right side, adding some cabling & other bits & bobs.

Remember I said I'd fill you in on the history of theses engines?

Well, here it is baby!!!!!

Previously, I mentioned that the engines were not my original idea. They actually came from a Japanese kitbasher from back in the day (not sure when, but it was ages ago, ok). Here's a link to a page that shows you the many & varied model kits that he pilfered to make this beast,

http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/models/bk25_2.html

There is another page out on the net that tells you a bit more about the process he went through to build it, but you can see where I got the idea for my engines from anyway :)

Ok, enough blathering from me, back to the workbench for me it is then.

Cheerio.

Ain't no Winnebago like this one pal!

Feast your eyes on some kitbashing porn,

Gettin ready for the family vacation....just have to install a few more weapon's & decorate the exterior in obscene graffiti and she'll be ready to roll.

These engines took quite a while, I had to start all over, as I accidentally destroyed the first set after dropping it off the workbench. I'm much happier with how the second incarnation turned out, so perhaps it was meant to be?

Installed a ladder made from copper wire, blue pipe from a coat hanger & the sideskirt from a Manga robot. Oh, and that gun is just sitting in there....not sure about the weapons yet.

-"It's just a simple bullbar officer, to discourage the wandering cattle....honest!"
-"What, by slicing them in half at chest height?!!!"

Similar to the other side, but I'm trying to make each side a little different. Sort of like it was hobbled together from whatever parts the owners could salvage.

Couch up front -not yet glued in place- for some unfortunate soul to be strapped in, as a gruesome hood ornament. The yellow pencil sharpeners you can see behind the couch will become the control panel.

The view from the drivers seat.

I'm thinking about installing a couple of cheap LED's in the rear cargo area. I feel like I ought to, as I spent so much time detailing it!

Now that's a fat arse!

So, as it stands I've still got a shit load more stuff to do, it's coming together, but I somewhat underestimated the amount of time it would take. Oh well, the joys of stuffing around at my hobby desk :)

I've constructed enough of it that I can now envisage what the final model will look like.

Next up is more pipe work, weapon's, conning tower detail & LED installation. Enough to keep me busy for quite a few more week's I'd say.

Cheerio amigos :)

Orksies....oldschool RT Orksies to be exact.

Here's a bunch of guys I finished off over the christmas period. I've got another 30 or 40 to do & then I think I'll have more than enough to play any size game I desire.

Now sit back & enjoy the glory that is "mediocre photography in the extreme"!!!!

Obligatory group shot

Some ugly mugs.

More of the buggers!

Never really know what colour scheme looks best on the left dude.

Heavies.

Varied duplicates.

Not really my favourite RT Ork sculpts to tell you the truth.

Gotta love that grimace don't ya?

My pick of the bunch, most happy with how this guy turned out.

I know, I know, the picture quality/colour is shit! Caused by a combination of taking photos at different times of the day/night, under different lighting condition's, with a retarded phone camera & then trying to restore said photos with an editing app that I've never before attempted! Rest assured that this standard of photography will continue until I can bin my phone for a decent camera.

Next post will be about the Hovertank.....it's comin together baby!!!!


Until next time, bye for now & keep your pants on :p