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Author Topic: How do you prime and base?  (Read 1833 times)

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Offline Myen'Tal

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How do you prime and base?
« on: April 12, 2018, 10:54:01 PM »
Hey guys, so this is a question that has nagged me for a little while and I'm curious what available perspectives are out there. So, have any of you hobbyists ever lived in an apartment / live in an apartment currently? If so, how have you guys gone about your strategy for priming your models?

I'm torn on whether I should invest in an airbrush / compressor or not. I'm kind of limited on spray priming in an apartment environment unless I would have access to a patio or something. Of course, airbrushing is quite an expensive beginning investment as opposed to spray priming. That I'll need to learn how to use it (I'm mainly planning on keeping it for spray priming, most likely in an airbrush station or something so I'm not breathing in the paint).

So, how do you guys feel about it? Do you know of any other alternatives that I have overlooked? Do you swear by the can, airbrush, or hand brush?

Also, side question: how do you base your models? Do you create your own from different materials, use the texture paints, or a mix of both?

I'm currently considering using a mixture of texture paints, slate, and a mixture of the citadel basing materials. Not all on the same armies, but different combinations that fit what I'm looking for each force. Too much work?
« Last Edit: April 12, 2018, 10:56:21 PM by MyenTal »
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Offline magenb

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2018, 12:39:49 AM »
OK so depends lol.

Can spray is fine for priming, but you are going to need some where with decent ventilation, so take it to the car park, roof top or grass space the apartment might have.

Air brush, really depends on skill level, but even at a novice level, useful for quickly doing the base coat of a lot of infantry or vehicles. If you are just doing that, then a cheap airbrush with a decent compressor is all you need.

Nothing wrong with using a brush, just takes longer.



Basing is a massive topic. Common things like bark repainted as large rocks works, so does cork and since it can be crumble can be used for smaller stones of generic rubble.

Sand is often used, but has scaling issues, baking soda is another option as it is finer.

There is also the "pro" flocking, grasses, snow, ash, they all give a nice effect. If you are looking to do short grass effect, I recommend mixing a few, grass fields are not uniform in colour.

The off he shelf long grass or tuff can also be a nice touch.

Then there are custom bases, heaps of those.

Textured paints are over priced, really just mix normal paint with grit/sand/whatever and go nuts. Cracking paint is nice for Ad Mech though.

Best advise for starting out with basing is to find something you like the look of, the general idea is that it helps the model stand out. Then post "hey I like this base any idea's on how to do it" :)

At the end of the day its a bit of trial and error to find something you like.

Offline Myen'Tal

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2018, 02:02:15 AM »
Thanks Mage, for the response!

I have different ideas depending on the army in question. I have decided that Age of Sigmar is where I'll start first, and there are three armies that I want to do. Haven't chosen which one I'm going to focus on first, though.

The ideas are this:

Fyreslayers: Snowy-and-mountainous or Volcanic bases that kind of mirror their usual mountain holds scattered throughout the realms. Not sure what else I could do besides adding snow to make the snow mountain bases pop out more. Volcano I think will be a bit ambitious for me, but I would like to try my hand at it.

Idoneth Deepkin: So, I'm thinking like a sandy beach kind of base with some applied water effects. That or a grassy river kind of vibe. I think this will probably be the most challenging of the basing ideas I think.

Daughters of Khaine: Might want to do volcanic bases on these guys too :P. Or a forested kind of base might look really cool.

So, any ideas on how I could make any of this work ;D?
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Offline Cavalier

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2018, 06:25:44 AM »
Hey Myental. I've been in an apartment situation before and I just had to wait for good weather and then blast outside and to priming. But like Mage said you could just find a parking lot where you could prime. Alternately you could ask a friend with a garage if you could visit to do some priming as well.

As for the airbrush I think its a necessity if you are painting an army for which there is no spray primer to do the basic coat. For example I paint my Eldar in Khorne Red. Since there is no spray primer for Khorne Red anymore I have to airbrush.

As for doing all the highlights and all that with an airbrush I do think its necessary. I'm a commission painter and I actually dont really use my airbrush that much. I know its all the rage right now and a lot of phenomenal painters use it to great effect but I just like using my brushes. So I wouldn't bother unless you really want to achieve that airbrushed look, or you need it to lay down a smooth basecoat with a color that doesnt exist in spray primer.

As for basing, I use a big bag of play sand I got from a hardware store. I have a little carton of crumbled cork I bought from army painter and I've been coasting on that for years. I also put a little mixed flock and static grass on there too.

Anyway hope that helps, let us know if you have any more questions!
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Offline Looshkin

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2018, 06:44:06 AM »
I echo everything Cav has said.

If you’re using a spray can for basing, find an outside area for sure. Even a well ventilated room will retain the fumes for a long time, so a outdoor environment is best.

If you’re talking basecoating, I think an airbrush is essential if you’re planning on doing large armies. It’s a real time saver. If you get a compressor, you don’t have to worry about any noxious fumes, so that can be done indoors.

As with Cav, I rarely use the airbrush for any detail work (although on large models such as tanks or knights, an airbrush can be used by a relative novice to give good, smooth color transition).

For basing, I’m a sand man. Sand, followed by a wash and then a dry brush. Then add cork, flock, grass tufts etc. simple but effective.

If you’re using snow effects on the base, the GW snow is quite good, but to get a decent effect you need to make a PVA/flock soup which you then apply directly. If you just try to glue it to the base it looks like the model has a bad cocaine habit. The soup is essential for realistic snow effects.

Hope some of that helped.
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Offline Myen'Tal

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2018, 07:13:20 AM »
Thanks for the feedback guys, lots of good information in here. I'm leaning toward the airbrush, which I would use mainly for priming and base coating. Didn't know that fact about compressor getting rid of the fumes, so that's handy to know. I'll use brushes for everything else.

As for the snow flock, I'm assuming the Flock for the PVA/Flock soup is made of the sand stuff, Looshkin? Glad I know that I need that for snow bases now  ;D. I guess I need to some more research to see how I can actually make these bases.

Where do you guys purchase or gather most of your materials from?
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Offline dog_of_war

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2018, 08:10:07 AM »
I recently got into airbrushing myself and have only really found it useful for the large army basecoating. It's very time consuming mixing the right dillutions for the paints and then with proper cleanup so your airbrush doesn't clog later, it really doesn't make sense for me to setup for only a model or two.

I've been using the same small particle medium for basing that I picked up at a craft store 10 years ago. Basing media tends to last forever because you end up using such a small amount on the base. Dollar stores and craft stores are your best bet for sand/gravel look. You don't need expensive stuff as your just using it to add texture to the base and your going to paint over it. Static grass or adhesive tufts are nice finishing touches that you'll need to either get from a hobby store or GW. I found my flocks and adhesive tufts on eBay relatively cheap.

Offline Looshkin

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2018, 11:38:00 AM »
Thanks for the feedback guys, lots of good information in here. I'm leaning toward the airbrush, which I would use mainly for priming and base coating. Didn't know that fact about compressor getting rid of the fumes, so that's handy to know. I'll use brushes for everything else.

As for the snow flock, I'm assuming the Flock for the PVA/Flock soup is made of the sand stuff, Looshkin? Glad I know that I need that for snow bases now  ;D. I guess I need to some more research to see how I can actually make these bases.

Where do you guys purchase or gather most of your materials from?

The compressor is just working at taking normal air and squeezing it down to blow through, which is why I say that need to worry less about ventilation...there are no chemical fumes to worry about.

That said, I also have an airbrush cleaning pot thing, which, if you use specific airbrush cleaner, you need because you definitely don’t want to be breathing in the cleaner fumes.

I have more money than sense, so I tend to get all of my supplies from GW/Forgeworld. Cork and things like that I source from eBay or do specific searches when I need the stuff...I don’t use enough to have the need for a regular supplier!
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Offline Myen'Tal

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2018, 07:54:56 PM »
Understood, thanks for the tips guys!
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Offline magenb

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2018, 05:15:53 PM »
Fyreslayers: Snowy-and-mountainous or Volcanic bases that kind of mirror their usual mountain holds scattered throughout the realms. Not sure what else I could do besides adding snow to make the snow mountain bases pop out more. Volcano I think will be a bit ambitious for me, but I would like to try my hand at it.

Gale force nine make a nice snowing flock option so does woodland scenics. WS is made for train modellers so it generally scales well, but is on the expensive side down here.

There are a number of "lava" bases which you can use for the volcano style effects. You can also make it yourself with something like cork sheets torn up and layered.



Idoneth Deepkin: So, I'm thinking like a sandy beach kind of base with some applied water effects. That or a grassy river kind of vibe. I think this will probably be the most challenging of the basing ideas I think.

Take a look on youtube for swamp bases, they cover off using water effects on bases, the AoS are larger so you have a nice area to play with.

Offline Myen'Tal

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Re: How do you prime and base?
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2018, 10:04:54 PM »
Thanks for the tips, Mage, I've been surfing YouTube and have found a couple methods I want to try out.
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