Warmachine - Polar explorer rhulics on glacial ice bases

[zippy77]

a fun side project, also going to use these bases for my VC army

Gorten!


Gorten and his wall!






Earlier WIP shot of Gorten


Battle Group Shots




Just a pic of one of the bases

[Wicked Dwarf]

Awesome bases! How did you make that ice?

[Student]

That looks great and I would also like to know how you did it.

[zippy77]

Here you go!

Here is how I create my Ice Bases ... these are for warmachine but they will work for warhammer too. What you want to do is to use a thin piece of plastic instead of the 1/4 inch foam board and modify accordingly. Enjoy!

This tutorial will walk you though how to make some fun ice bases like these:



Part 1 --- Prep Work:

You will need:
a) 1/4 inch foam board
b) plastic PP bases
c) crackle paint: http://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Distres...5065888&sr=8-5
d) plastic cutter and exacto knife or dremel
e) files sand paper

Step 1) Creating Ice shards / sheets/ and pieces.
You can create some ice cracks by pouring crackle paint into a flat container ... let this dry for 24 hours and it will break up into various shapes ... for comparison I used the lid to my citadel static grass container ... in retrospect I would like to have done this a bit thicker to get less "flat" ice parts (all the pieces that are sticking out are made in this way). If you make your ice pieces flat you can get some interesting effects by layering the pieces like I did on my base.



Step 2) take a base and remove the center
****** 2.1) use plastic cutter to remove most of the inner portion of the base
****** 2.2) use an exacto knife to make a more precise cut
****** 2.3) use a file to file down the edge
****** 2.4) use small grit sand paper for a nice smooth edge

Step 3) glue base to 1/4 inch thick foam board

Step 4) cut foam board to fit base (note you could use thin plastic board, I use foam board to get a nice depth in step 5) *** this means the base will have a 1/4 inch pedestal, I plan on having icicles on mine to mark the front arc, if you do not want the base to be raised the 1/4 inch use a thin plastic sheet instead, the foam allows you to make a "deeper" ice as you can cut into it and form it ***

Part II --- Base Background

You will need:
a) the base(s) you prepped in Part 1
b) a light blue or teal paint (I used P3 Arcane blue)
c) exact knife or regular knife
d) blue wash, green wash, and/or purple wash
e) gloss varnish + micro glitter mix (or a fine metallic medium) : I used Fastglitter in the Pearl color http://www.rchobbiesandmore.com/Parm...0-details.aspx
f) stuff to put in your ice

Step 1) paint inside of foam board and base a light to medium blue

Step 2) scrape / cut the inside with a knife, cutting deep "gooves" -- these will be white from the expose foam board, go in lots of random direction to simulate cracks. Be careful to not cut through the foam board!

Step 3) ink either dark blue, dark purple, or dark green ... I actually used a mixture of green and blue ink in a 3:2:3 ration of blue, green, and water, and let dry

Step 4) paint the inside with gloss varnish mixed with micro glitter

Step 5) repeat step 7

Step 6) add whatever you want in your ice, I used old watch parts ... body parts, jack parts, they all work

Part III --- Building the Ice

You will need:
a) woodland scenics realistic water
b) crackle paint http://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Distres...5065888&sr=8-5
c) Ice shards / pieces / sheets from Part I
d) black paint

Step 1) add woodland scenics realistic water, poor into the base all the way to the top. This stuff will shrink when you



Step 2) let dry 24 hours

Step 3) add woodland scenics realistic water, poor into the base all the way to the top

Step 4) let dry 24 hours (it wont be level with the base top ... and you WANT it to be this way). For large and medium bases you may want to repeat steps 3 and 4 one more time.

Step 5) place these ice shapes around your base



Step 6) pour crackle paint into base until level, this will glue in the ice chunk pieces you placed on your base. The paint is really a thick like gel so you can maneuver and adjust as necessary. When it dries it will all look like "one piece" and the already hardened ice chunks will not be so easily distinguishable. Notice that the crackle paint will not shrink much, it will just crack. This means you want it to fill the base all the way to the top or even slightly above the top depending on how you want your base to look.

Step 7) let dry 24 hours

Step 8 (optional) ) You can do another layer of crackle paint if you wish, depending on how you want your ice to look. If you opt for this step I would do Steps 1 and 2 from Part IV prior to adding the next layer of crackle paint.

Step 9) Paint the base and foam board black

Part IV --- Finishing and Adding Details

You will need:
a) white paint
b) blue / green / purple wash
c) gloss varnish
d) woodland scenics water effects (a thick white gel that will dry clear)

Step 1) wash a thin coat of your choice of wash into the cracks that have formed when the crackle paint dried

Step 2) dry brush white ... use VERY little paint and take your time, its better to do few coats instead of messing up as by now its taken 3 days to complete this project. Notice that the glitter is very subdued at this point, but still adds just a bit of sparkle. The more you dry brush the more opaque your ice will be, so play around to get the color you want.

Example small sized base:


Example medium sized base:


Step 3) apply a thin coat of gloss varnish

Step 4) You can mark the front arc of your base with the woodland scenics water effects. To do this apply a medium line of the gel around the front arc. Using a toothpick "pull" the gel down to about half to the bottom of the base. Mark the sides of the arc by pulling the gel all the way to the bottom. Mark the middle of the arc by pulling the gel all the way to the bottom. This will make icicles!



Step 5) Let dry 24 hours! Notice the gel is white, this makes it easy to see what you are doing when you are making the icicles in Step 4. It will dry clear! Do not mess with it until its clear!

Step 6) Apply a thin coat of the wash of your choices to the icicles on the front arc.

Step 7) Dry brush the icicles with white paint.

[constant_ones]

WOW! That is an amazing effect, thank you so much for sharing it!

[mdiscala]

Really cool

[zippy77]

Thanks! Let me know how it turns out for you!

[Ironpip]

Zippy, do you know if the Plaid brand crackle medium will work similarly to the stuff you use?

[Duke Donald]

These ice bases are simply fantastic.

[zippy77]

Zippy, do you know if the Plaid brand crackle medium will work similarly to the stuff you use?

I am not sure, the brand I listed is the only brand I have tried. I would assume most would work the same (as long as they dry clear).

if you do try please post the results!

[Ironpip]

I am not sure, the brand I listed is the only brand I have tried. I would assume most would work the same (as long as they dry clear).

if you do try please post the results!

I sent Plaid an e-mail requesting info on it, since I can't find anything stating whether it dries clear or opaque. I had an additional question though, when you go to base the models, do you fit pins in their, or just secure them on? And what do you use to adhere them?

[zippy77]

I sent Plaid an e-mail requesting info on it, since I can't find anything stating whether it dries clear or opaque. I had an additional question though, when you go to base the models, do you fit pins in their, or just secure them on? And what do you use to adhere them?

I just use super glue, this mean you need to pick up the model (if its larger) by the model and not the base. I have had no issues, but its something to be aware of. For plastics it not a big deal (im using similar bases - different color scheme - and flat - for my VC army : http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...ts-project-log).

[fluffy05]

Great tutorial thanks

[Ironpip]

The tutorial works out great, I'm going to be adding a thin piece of plasticard to the bottom of the foamboard to give it some support, especially on some the water ran onto the bottom of and adhered them to my work space. Here's a pic of one I have finished:



Along with one with a Seraph on it:


Next time I am going to be a bit more careful with the water and make sure the base is filled to capacity both times, as the top of the ice isn't as high as I would like it on these two. The crackle paint in the lid to make ice shards can be hit or miss as well, my first batch was a bunch of small pieces. The second batch I made while these were set out to dry has some very large shards I can use on the next set of bases. If you are trying this out you might want to try 2-3 batches of crackle paint in a lid to get a good variety, since it's pretty random. The two I have done are for the Seraph and an Angelius, I am thinking about running a small brass rod from them into the base painted blue for support. My next big one from my next batch is going to be a dragonspawn, going to try to paint the flat spot under his feet with the blue and glitter/varnish, and after I glue him to the base painting some extra crackle paint so it looks like he is cracking the ice under his feet.

Thank you for the great tutorial Zippy, and it does produce some great effects with minimal work.

[zippy77]

Sweet! I am glad it was easy enough to follow! I actually use a measuring syringe (non needle tip) to add the water effects and crackle paint. It allows for greater control than just pouring it (avoids the messes you noted). I probably should have mentioned the random cracks from the crackle paint. I have found that if you pour it thicker it seems to produce larger shards (maybe just luck). I shoot for larger shards and then make smaller shards by manually breaking them.

Also feel free to keep posting tips / techniques / modifications for all to make use of! oh and as always more pictures

[sasheep]

Now those are some mighty fine bases. They make the models (which are also really well painted) really pop. Good work mate.

[Bingo the Fun Monkey]

Outstanding battlegroup! Thanks for the ice base tutorial. I might just steal that for my own Rhulics if you don't mind.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Very good model ice!

[zippy77]

Thanks everyone! The battle group is still very much a WIP, the jacks will be highlighted and blended with white, those right now are their base paint jobs (they are currently in storage as I am moving, but I plan on getting to them soonish) please do use the tutorial and feel free to modify and share your experiences in this thread (or link to your own)

here are some other takes on ice bases, made same way except this time i used a darker blue and thin cardboard:






also for the crackle paint, it has lots of uses (here is my 40k thread: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...-from-the-warp)

[Maskedman5oh4]

Stunning bases....and the paint work aint too shabby neither!