Monday 25 May 2020

"Hail Caesar" Bases

After I'd started printing the movement trays for my Hail Cæsar formations, I started the arduous task of cutting up some 30x30mm MDF bases for individual figures. It's a job that is, to be frank, a pain in the arse.

Then it occurred to me that I could be using my replicator robot to make the bases for me. Duh!

So I whipped up some bases in Blender in the sizes I wanted — 30x30, 30x15, and 15x15 mm. As long as the filament and printer holds out, I now have an endless supply of them. I might see if I can get hold of some olive green filament though, to save on painting.

The bases, as you can see, have a 1.5mm lip and are 3mm thick in total, so they match my old MDF bases. The two knights in the centre of the tray are on one of those old bases. After I've glued the miniature(s) into the base, I fill it out with a generic acrylic filler — I think the stuff I'm using at the moment is called Permafil or something, but all the brands are pretty much the same.

I've made a change in my basing ground cover too. Up until now, I've been using static grass, and it's been okay. However, now I've changed to using three shades of Woodland Scenics fine turf foam flocks: Burnt Grass as the base, and very light sprinkles of Dark Forest, and Autumn Yellow to add a bit of texture. The foam soaks up the glue, and is a lot sturdier than the nylon static grass, and I think it looks better too. I could add a few little clumps of the coarse turf foam as well, for some additional texture, but I'm not sure I can be bothered.

The knights and the two single cavalrymen on the ends have been based with the static grass, while the two groups of two cavalry to either side of the knights are based with foam flock.

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