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Help Alternatives to GW crackle base paints?

Ribbit
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Ribbit

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Normally when doing bases I glue some sand on and paint it up. It looks pretty good but it takes ages and always feels like hard work. This time around I don't feel like i can be bothered to do all the extra painting so I'm after a quicker way of doing things.
I've been looking at those paints from Games Workshop which create a cracked earth effect as they dry and it looks like an easier way to do things.

Does anyone use these or know of any similar products by other companies?

What easy methods have you guys found to do bases?

Thanks for reading,
Ribbit
 
I've used the technical paints from GW and in my honest opinion they are not worth the money, to get the effect GW gets you have to pile loads on the base making it a costly exercise for a large army.

I glue and sand my bases before priming, then paint the model and 50% of the work on the base is done.

To be honest there is no fast method but if you want good looking bases it is a good investment of time, remember a model is only 80% done without the base, chant that mantra and it makes it much easier to finish the bases.
 
Agreed. I tried them once on some 40k models. Worked well but you need a tonne and I'd imagine it would cost a lot to do a whole army. You still then need to paint/highlight as normal to make it look good so it's not much of a time saver either I found.
 
Ziterdes sells a similar product like the GW ones. Cheaper though.
Haven't tried it yet but pictures look good. I saw desert and lava and glacier stuff on some site.
I bought some. Will try it soon I guess.
 
There are a few generic arts and crafts product that do crackle paint.
189379-IMG_0858.jpg
 
Thanks guys looks like I can't take any shortcuts on this one. I'm alright with that really, it seems like sand and flock is the default option these days simply because it's the best way to get a reliably good looking base without spending the big bucks.

I think it's definitely something worth taking a bit of time on. If I recall correctly there's a well known saying about it; "Bases and faces make a model look really good and you should take a bit of time on these aspects in particular to really make your model stand out." or something like that anyway :)

Any recommendations for things like foliage and interesting rocks to make my bases more interesting?

Thanks,
Ribbit.
 
Depends on what region you live in,
you may be able to get different sorts of natural basing material for free.
 
For rocks I just use pieces of cork or cork tiles broken up. A few mm thick does the job. For larger stones in the sand etc I sometimes throw in a few bits of the sprue that I've cut off as I'm prepping the model parts before glueing.

For foliage, I did buy the GW tufts but yet to try them. I do have some grassy type material I bought from my local hobby shop that they use for train sets. A little clump here and there works well.
 
Ribbit said:
Thanks guys looks like I can't take any shortcuts on this one. I'm alright with that really, it seems like sand and flock is the default option these days simply because it's the best way to get a reliably good looking base without spending the big bucks.

I think it's definitely something worth taking a bit of time on. If I recall correctly there's a well known saying about it; "Bases and faces make a model look really good and you should take a bit of time on these aspects in particular to really make your model stand out." or something like that anyway :)

Any recommendations for things like foliage and interesting rocks to make my bases more interesting?

Thanks,
Ribbit.
Click to expand...

Please try my tip, before you prime the model glue and sand the base it really does help stop getting that "damn bases to do" feeling.
 
Thanks Crowsfoot I'll definitely give it a go. Maybe it will be easier this time as I'm doing a white undercoat so i should get better coverage. I'm going to visit my towns one remaining hobby store that isn't a games workshop and see if they've got any interesting basing materials. If not I'll have to wait for an Internet order.

Ribbit
 
Ribbit said:
Thanks Crowsfoot I'll definitely give it a go. Maybe it will be easier this time as I'm doing a white undercoat so i should get better coverage. I'm going to visit my towns one remaining hobby store that isn't a games workshop and see if they've got any interesting basing materials. If not I'll have to wait for an Internet order.

Ribbit
Click to expand...

I've been rebasing my models over the last month and it can be very boring.
 
It was my first time visiting this one and it wasn't too bad really. It's more of a model railway store so the scenic bits are quite small scale. I didn't find anything to put on my carnosaur base but I did get some ballast to add to my sand. Not sure about the effect but we'll see how it goes.

I just need that special something to put on my carnosaur base now. I might raid the garden for an interesting stone and buy some lichen. I plan to get some more big monsters one day so it might be worth it.
 
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