Blog Painting of Renown! (Just kidding... but this is my blog)

Good stuff! That's a nice collection of sand. Looking forward to the bases!

 

Bottom right sand looks good, seems to have a nice variety. You don't need to paint the base tho if you're putting the sand on top of it

 

Also looking forward to seeing the end result with the base!

 

Nice basing materials.

What is the thickness of the sand grains?
If it is relatively thick, you would probably see the base through the grains. With thinner grains it will show less.
Perhaps painting the base a sand color might prevent seeing black dots in between.

About the rock, is it a small rock that normally might sit just at the surface of a dessert? or a larger one that has sunken a part in the sand?
If the latter than I would place the rock first and than the sand.

Hope this helps a little

Grrr, Imrahil

 

Magnificent Hierotitan! That Norba model looks great! Just wish they'd make more Tomb Kings instead of fulfilling an obsession with Empire that already has GW models for it...

Now all you need to do is paint the 4000+ points' worth of other Tomb Kings models you've scavenged off EBay in the same scheme and you'll be laughing

 

Right, time to confront basing the Hierotitan...

I have sand and some stones. I'm planning to use PVA glue to stick them to the base, paint the sides black and then... not sure.

Any suggestions? Or can I just leave the sand and it will be okay?

@Sudsinabucket ? Any suggestions matey?

 

If you are happy with the colors you can leave it that way.
I have seen a lot of people use a spray of some watered down PVA on top of basing materials like sand, to seal it I suppose.

Perhaps paint the rim before applying sand, to prevent ending up with black sand on the edges

Good luck, you can do it!!

Grrr, Imrahil

 

Can we get an up to date picture? I work better with visuals

I agree with painting the rim first, Old Ones know how much black soil ive made

I think just sand and rocks out be fun and fine, but if you wanted to go a little extra you could add fallen ruins or off the side half if an oasis or something. For *me* larger bases are where you tell a story or show more of where your army comes from or its current war path. But, that said, it being in the barren sand dunes works perfectly, and in the end you need to do what makes ya happy.

And yeah,, watered down PVA will help seal it, though ive never done it as ive never used sand before, just mud

 

Ok, forgot how small the base was. Yeah, sand and rocks will work well, though I could see him standing/walking over a small ruin if you wanted

 

I'd recommend painting over the sand and rocks if you want to take the overall look a bit further. The unpainted basing materials will have a completely different finish to the painted model itself. A simple basecoat, thinned down wash and a drybrush highlight would do. As for the base rim, I'd paint it afterwards and be mindful to scrape away any sand that gets on the rim before it dries properly to retain the smooth rim.

 

So I forced myself to get going on the Hierotitan basing. I have a bunch of Chaos Dwarf models coming and I have decided that I need to bite the bullet and make this my first self-painted army. Like everything about it done myself (gulp!)

Anyways, so while it's still on the way from Oz (damn you shipping times!!!) I figured I could at least get the Hierotitan finished off.

So I painted the base black:



Then I put some PVA glue down and put on some stones and sand:





I was planning to do Agrax Earthshade the sand and then drybrush white.

I'm a little concerned about the sand not really being fixed to the base, what do you guys do so that it doesn't come off?

@Sudsinabucket any suggestions?

Thanks guys!

 

Give the sand and rocks another coat of watered down PVA and after that's dry they should be firmly fixed there

 

Personally I haven't had much trouble with gluing sand on my 40K bases, it's always stayed on without worry of flaking off (so long as I wait at least a full day for it to dry before painting it if I decide to do so), but I imagine it may well depend on the kind of sand and PVA you use. It certainly wouldn't hurt to follow @Explodingzeb's advice if you're uncertain.

With regards to the colour scheme for the sand, are you sure that would match the bases of your other models? Because personally I think that would make the sand look a little strange (white sand with brown shading? ) unless some of the ready-painted models also have that colour basing. Personally I would use Seraphim Sepia to produce a more golden sand colour, but it's your model, the ultimate choice is up to you!

 

This is exactly what I do as well and it works perfectly.

 

Thanks guys!

I'll try the watered down PVA tonight.

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl I think I'll take a look at golden colors and the one you mention. Thanks.

 

Ok, so, obviously I'm late to this lol but it looks great!! Seems you got the advice you needed, which is what i would have also suggested.

We have a great community.

Keep it up man!

 

Okay, so did the watered down PVA thing. I'm wavering over doing anything else to the base as I'm kind of happy with it and don't want to mess it up...

So not sure really...



It's patchy but I feel like I'm going to make it look terrible if I try to handle the patches.

 

I think it looks great as is and that you did a stellar job with it. Patchy or not, you should be proud of it, and happy with it if you stop here.

If I may, the only idea I have if you decided to try to handle the patchy spots near the feet, is you could add some sand piled up around the feet to show the weight of it pushing sand up.

but again, looks really great as is and I personally love it. Well done!