Display Base - Cliff with bridge and water

[PrawnPower]

Ok, time for another base step by step

The idea of this one is to do a proper display base on a plinth. It's about 5 cm across so plenty for space, and I'm going to try and fit a bridge and some water on it, so should be plenty to go over by the time it's all finished. The idea being that the figure is charging onto the bridge across this gully/chasm/river.

Planning
First up is to get some basic sketches of the idea down. I tend to do this with all my bases to some extent, and I have a pretty good idea of what I want as I had a 5 hour drive home the other day with little else to think about apart from avoiding the rest of the traffic. The initial sketches get me a feeling for the sort of height I'm going to have, enough to fit some sort of support work under the bridge, but not too tall, it is only going to be a 35mil figure.

So after a couple of initial sketches I spend a bit more care getting the details down on my little blue note paper. Nice to keep notes on the stuff to look back on later. These are done to the actual size, the top view sketched onto an outline drawn around the plinth, and red marks added for possible placement of the figures feet.



The Backing
One of the most important parts is to get smooth sides to the base, and one of the best things I have found for this is thin plastic sheet. It's quite easy to get hold of as lots of products come in plastic packaging these days. This time I used part of a tube from some Italian chocolates a friend had bought to work, so as you can see almost anything will do.

I have used a strip wide enough to go round slightly more than half the base of the plinth, and 4 cm high. I also marked an uneven edge as I hope this will allow me to focus on a rough and uneven edge for the stone like face.



Positioning the Back
I must admit I was unsure how I would get the backing correctly lined up with the sides of the plinth. On a square plinth it would be fairly easy to do separate sides and then carefully smooth the edges, but getting the plastic to curve correctly with the round plinth could be an issue. However while working I realised I could use some paper to create a wall around the top of the plinth and then place the plastic backi8ng inside and it out push out to the edge of the plinth. This was made easier by a small ledge running round the plinth which allowed me to get the paper correctly aligned and standing vertically.

I should probably mention that it was quite thick paper, almost card like. And it did take a bit of pushing about after the rubber band was used to hold it in place, but it eventually got positioned and looked quite vertical.



A Good Grip
Here's another pic just to show that the surface of the base and the backing have been marked and roughed up with a knife. This was done to give a rough surface for the putty to fix on to when I push use it to fix the backing in place.



Fixing the Back in Place
So here it is after I used some milliput to fix the backing and the plinth.



Extra Structure
Then I decided that the backing might be a bit flimsy unitil had the rocks done acroiss the front and filled it in so I decided to use some wood (Matches) to add a bit more solidity. These were fixed in place with a bit of superglue and a little more milliput.

[PrawnPower]

Backing in Place
Now to start the interesting stuff. With the backing in position we can get to
work on the cliff face. But just before that here's a pic of the plinth with the paper support removed. The backing is a little out of step in a couple of places, but nothing a little putty and sand paper can't fix later.



Materials for a Cliff Face
There are a few obvious materials for making a cliff face, cork which is often used for rocks, bark which can have a suitable texture, or even rock and stone, this time however I have decided to use some rust. I got a bag of this stuff when attending the Platoon Britannica event earlier this year, and I thought it would give a good solid feel of large slabs of rock.

The first piece I chose had a quite straight edge, but broke in half while getting it in place (So much for solid . . .).



The First Sections in Place
I took advantage of the break in the first piece to add a crack to the cliff, using super glue and milliput to hold it in place as I tried to get the basic pieces in place across the whole of the cliff face. Eventually I managed to get a 3rd piece in place, it was quite thick and I took advantage of that to offset it from the other side, giving a ridge down the middle.



A Few More Pieces
A few more pieces were then added to deal with the gap at the top of the left hand side, as well as bulk that side up even more at the bottom. And I added a small chunk at the front of the plinth. The idea is that this will be about 2/3 rds submerged when water is finally added



The Complete Cliff
Here's a pic after adding a few more pieces. The top of the left side was bulked out to continue the ridge running along the middle of the cliff. And the gap in the middle as filled from behind which adds some depth to the clear area on the plint for the water effects. Just as well because I was beginning to think the cliff had moved a bit far forwards.

After this picture I used my remaining putty and some PVA glue to fix and seal the rust in place from behind. Then after that had been left for half a day to dry I filled the base with plaster. Had one small leak but the PVA had done a good job of sealing things and it was easily blocked with a piece of tissue for a while



Need to build the bridge next
I might have to re-consider how the bridge will be supported now the cliff is in place

[PrawnPower]

Hmm, I suspect that I might have to re-arrange thisng by the time I'm finished, only one section left for all the painting, foliage and water effects . . . . Anyway, I should mention at this point that I almost decided to change what the base was for, it looked as if it would make a great winter setting for a 2 figure duel, but I'm far too stubborn to change my mind and do that, so I'll probably do another similar base some point in the future.


Anyway, here's the bridge construction.


The Basic Frame
The first step was to do the side supports and the crossbar to go underneath. The sides are made form a couple of large matches while the crosspiece is from normal cocktail sticks glued together and with some wire to make it look as if they are lashed together. I positioned the sides on my sketch to get the right sort of width, but deliberately made it slightly narrower than originally intended as I felt the initial plans had the bridge too wide, almost the whole width of the base.




The Planks
Made from coffee stirrers (Really handy, must get some more), the planks are laid out on side supports and fixed in place with a little super glue. They are deliberately misaligned to give an old and ramshackle look to the construction. Later they will be roughed up with a knife, file and pick to give a worn look to the edges and surface.




Checking the position
A quick check to make sure the bridge fits, just as well I made it narrower. I had to wear away the corner of a couple of the planks to get it into position as well as cut a groove on one of the side supports where it went over some rust as the face of the cliff. It won't be an issue though as the bridge will have extra supports added and the cut won't be visible once upper areas of the base are finished.




The Lower Supports
A couple of small indentations were drilled into the rust to help anchor the lower supports and after testing the basic positioning the crossbar was glued in place and then the bridge and support glued to the base. You can see that most of the wear has been applied to the planks as well at this point. Indeed some of them had to be trimmed quite short to get a decent positioning for the support beams.

Also visible are some slight clean-up adjustments to the side of the cliff, with a few small extra pieces of rust used to provide some textured surface and milliput used to blend it all together.






Another Lashing
More wire used to give the bridge supports the look of being lashed together by rope. I was actually thinking that cotton or linen thread might have been a better choice as the wire was quite difficult to pull straight and keep it taut.




The Upper Surface
Finally some extra plaster is used to build up the upper surface so the fist planks of the bridge are actually semi-submerged in the dirt.

I have also added some extra debris at the base, and this was the point that I started to think it would look good a cold winter canyon scene for a duel. Well, maybe another time, I've had to spend a whole evening swearing at the figure while ripping it apart with a dremel, knife, file and pick to re-position it as it looked like it was falling over backwards due to the slight slope of the bridge . . .

[PrawnPower]

It's been a while since part three, but things have still been progressing. The base is now mainly complete except for the water effects (And possibly a fish if I can sculpt one).


Darker Darker Darker
Bit obvious this step I suppose, can't leave all that white plaster showing and now the sides of the base are complete I can spray the base itself. So first I covered the front of the base with square cut from a plastic bag and held in place with blue tack while spraying the plinth and the back of the base black.

I then used VMC German Cammo Black Brown to cover the white plaster and also took the opportunity to darken some of the shading on the cliff face.




Colouring the Cliff
With that initial painting over with it was time to add some colour and a sense of lighting to cliff. Various dark and mi8d greens were used around the base of the cliff, under and around the water line. Meanwhile pale orange tones were used to highlight certain parts of the cliff to give a zenith style lighting effect.

The wood was given an initial bit of colouring at this point as well. A thin wash GW Chardon Granite and Catchan Green.




Underwater Vegetation
I've used some lichen to add underwater vegetation. I was tempted to add some long wispy weed to look like it's flowing in the current (I still might) but I felt the lichen had a rather nice alien quality that would do well for underwater foliage.




Colouring the Lichen
The lichen was interesting enough in shape, but I thought some extra red and green tones would it give it a more unusual appearance. Reds, greens and purples were also used to add colour to the base as well in an attempt to make it more distinctive from the general orange tome of the rest of the cliff.




Wood needs Painting to Look Like Wood
Well, it certainly needs quite a bit of attention to look like old weathered planking. After being darkened with more glazes of GW Chardon Granite, GW Catchan Green and GW Snakebite Leather it was time to lighten it. VMC Golden Brown was mixed with a tiny amount of GW Chardon Granite and then lightened by adding VMCV Pale Sand and then VMC Ivory.

Applied in several thin layers, focusing on the grain and edges, it built up a pattern of bleached out good grain. This was given another glaze of Catchan Green.

Meanwhile the underside was darkened with GW Chardon Granite and VMC Leather Brown, and the lashing was brought out with a similar colour to the wood, although some pure ivory was used on the upper sections.






A little more Vegetation
Having decided this stream is running through an arid area I didn't want to add too much vegetation. But I did want a bit of variety to add to the two bits of Hibiscus I'd used on the right side of the bridge. So I added a little grass (This is actually from a see, not static grass), a couple of 'flowering plants' either side of the bridge (There's also some growing out of the cliff face near the left support strut in the second picture), a a few roots sticking out of the cliff itself.






Vegetation Needs Painting Too
Just like the wood, real vegetation needs painting to look like real vegetation. The roots were lightened to stand out more, the flowers had the stems lightened and flowers brought out in red, and the grass and hibiscus stumps were given a green glaze to add a little colour.

And with that in place a small amount of weathering pastels were used to dust small amount of earth at the top of the base and some of the ledges on the cliff

[PrawnPower]

Part 5: The Water
(Or where it all went wrong . . .)
Well, run out of separate posts for each section so I'll add the attempt at water effects here. And I'm sure one day I will try something with water effects that actually works (Does what I want it to) but do be warned now, this is not that time. Still it wasn't a complete disaster and the base is still usable even if I am a little disappointed in the final result.

Little Fishy Fish
No river is complete without a bit of river life, so it was time to sculpt and paint a small fish. Painted in bright colours to help it stand out I was quite pleased with the final result, almost looks like it has gills




Cover the Plants
I thought that when the resin was poured in, some bubbles might get trapped under the plants so I decided to carefully use some GW water effects to cover and fill them first. This allowed me to use a brush to get any bubbles out and left a smooth lump which wouldn't trap any air as the resin poured in.




Place the Barrier
The final step before adding resin is to put a barrier in place so the resin can be poured. A little more of the GW water effects was used along the edges to make sure it was sealed.




Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh !!
Mix, pour, leave for 2 days. Thats all you should need to know for resin, so when it still hasn't set after 4 day you know something is wrong. Somehow I ended up with a sort of ice shelf effect, the surface hadn't set so the top wasn't smooth and the lower part hadn't set either which was a real mess. I tried to fix it with GW water effects and some Vallejo gel but it just wasn't working




The Final Solution
As I couldn't fix the gap under the water there was only one solution, to hide it. I suppose the final result isn't too bad, but because it is not what I was aiming for it is disappointing. However, it did give me an area to put a title to the piece, without which I will admit the covering band was a bit stark and really did look wrong. So I think I'll have to put this down as an experience, try a few water test pieces before doing this again, accept it's been salvaged and move on to the next piece.

[Adrian]

Very good so far PP, and so well planned. The rust can be "fun" to work with, not as solid as you think, especially when you need it to be solid........But very good texture.

Will be interesting to see you do the bridge. Are we taling cantilevers here, because you don't appear to have left a lot of space fo the legs to go into the water ?

Adrian.

[Boris]

Looking forward to the next part.

[goseany]

Originally Posted by Adrian

Very good so far PP, and so well planned. The rust can be "fun" to work with, not as solid as you think, especially when you need it to be solid........But very good texture.

Will be interesting to see you do the bridge. Are we taling cantilevers here, because you don't appear to have left a lot of space fo the legs to go into the water ?

Adrian.

I think Corpuscle (Hedley) took all the best bits! at PB.

Sean

[mack]

Watching with interest matey!!

mack

[Adrian]

Sean - Nah, he just thinks he did.

Adrian.