Basecrafts: Winter Basing Set

December 1, 2011 by elromanozo

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Romain takes a look at one of the new set of winter basing material from Basecrafts.

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Bases Hobby Supplies Painting & Hobby What's in the Box

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Content: Review Content: Video Show: What's In The Box

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cazboab

14 years ago

Maybe that was the wrong shirt to use…

I’ve been looking around at snow techniques for Khador bases for a little while now, so far I’ve found that most home made stuff eventually goes a colour that will look as if the wardogs have been there before…

How well does the deep snow mix clump up IE can I press footprints into it or will it just slop back into the void?

elromanozo

Author

Reply to cazboab

14 years ago

On such a small scale and with a mix comprised mainly of glue, it’s almost impossible to print footprints with any material without the mix sticking to the shoe, or paw, ruining everything.

To make footprint, you’ll have to sculpt them yourself with a toothpick, or a needle, once your “snow” is almost completely dry…

There’s also another method that works for bigger footprints :

Make a small foot-like shapes with small bits of blue tack (do NOT use the foot of your miniature directly). The tack should be well used if possible…
Make a uniform coat of snow or soil on your base, wait for it to dry properly.
Put your “stencil” where the footprints should be.
spread another coat of snow, avoiding the “stencils”.
Wait for it to dry properly.
Remove the tack.
You should be left with footprints.

You will have to touch up the flock inside the prints afterwards, in all probability.

It works better with soil underneath instead of just snow, otherwise people won’t really notice the prints, unless they’re somehow shaded by a very thin glaze of paint or some pigment.

BoW Romain

manpug

14 years ago

It seems more like the slush type of snow rather than the type that is a foot high and blows in the wind. This type is good for the slush on roads, just fallen or melting snow.

elromanozo

Author

Reply to manpug

14 years ago

Yes, but you also get the finer stuff. I didn’t use that for this base…
The finer stuff lets you make packed snow a foot high if you need to !

manpug

Reply to elromanozo

14 years ago

Thats a good point. I think it just comes down to what your going for as a look.

ubiquanon

14 years ago

@elromanozo

So you went with -3 vs Cold on the day you demo’d a winter base? Feeling a bit masochistic?

I’ve never had much success with basing with broken twigs to get them to look like they were anything other than broken twigs, especially if you leave them natural. I think if you paint them then you can get better results.

Also, if I was searching for a vid on how to do winter basing, I don’t think I would naturally go to a Whats in the Box. I think you might ask for a new channel for this kind of thing – a Hobby Craft channel maybe? I’d actually like to see what you did to build the base.

Have you ever tried baking powder for snow basing? Doesn’t look like fresh snow, but its not too bad.

Hmm, all your paint stuff is on Backstage now. Probably have to get a membership just so I can bug you over there too. 🙂

elromanozo

Author

Reply to ubiquanon

14 years ago

Unfortunately, baking powder or bicarbonate goes yellow after a while, and doesn’t mix too well with some glues… You’re better off using this kind of flock, or crushed glass.

I’m the lazy type, so I base mostly with super-glue, by the way.

All the tips are on Backstage, but the big “whole miniature” tutorials are still available to all. Unfortunately, that’s what takes the most time to edit, and that’s also the first thing to “go” when there’s a themed week.

As for a tutorial on how to make that base… We’ll see what’s in the works !

Thanks for the t-shirt comment… In fact it was doubly inappropriate, as this was filmed during one of those late autumn, early winter mornings in freezing Northern Ireland. Those celtic maniacs descend from Cuchulainn, they don’t seem to feel the cold as I do…

Oh well, I survived.

BoW Romain

ubiquanon

Reply to elromanozo

14 years ago

Last I checked, if you go back far enough, you Frenchmen are of the ‘Celtic’ stock as well. 🙂

Can you bleach the baking powder to whiten it up? Or I should say, have you ever tried to bleach baking power to whiten up the snow effect?

elromanozo

Author

Reply to ubiquanon

14 years ago

Frenchmen are from all over the place, as France thankfully opened her bedsheets to quite a lot of people over the ages… I’m very much a mediterranean guy myself. For various reasons. Like every true Parisian, I wasn’t born there, and my parents weren’t either !

On a less personal note… No, I haven’t tried bleaching the powder back to white when, after months, it becomes yellow. If I have to yearly re-bleach my minis, I don’t consider this a good method for making snow… lol.

BoW Romain

darkdreams

14 years ago

I liked the look of this kit so much I bought one 🙂 I have GW snow at home but it’s the rest of the stuff that’s worth the £10 all day long 🙂

Great review by the way.

cyphertheory

14 years ago

bought the kit off the back of this video and i was not disappointed. excellent kit and very pleased with my purchase. I think I will be picking up some more of these kits as they are excellent value

toxictemplar

14 years ago

Compared to GW, everything is great value.

Personally, I prefer this type of snow flock, very similar to woodland scenics, I really don’t like the “white hair” snow from GW… No matter how finely chopped it is, it’s still white hair..

Base crafts have a great product, for a great price.. In a scale us modelers need, as opposed to railroad modelers who need a jug of each flock type, these kits are superb.

I wonder the shipping cost to Australia though?