Today I will show you how I made the
base for my Tau Commander.
We will need: gypsum
(quick-drying), sand, white glue, and something to make a form. The form should
be flat so our gypsum will imitate asphalt. I used an old plastic casing, but
you can use some packaging left after a miniature (clampack) or a small box.
It’s important to get a flat mold
with a height of a few millimeters. I had to put a plastic base under one
corner of my mold so the gypsum could not spill.
IMPORTANT: Gypsum was mixed
with sand in a 60-40% proportion and I poured it into the form.
After several hours our gypsum should
dry.
We then make a sand
paste. Mix sand, white glue and a little water to obtain a thick paste.
Then we put the sand paste on the
base and the formed gypsum (smooth side up) on the top. You can break the gypsum
slate, to get interesting shapes. You can add a few things to the base, and I
added a few pipes and placed thicker sprinkled stones. Now I left the base for
one hour to dry a little.
After an hour the sand paste should
harden a little, and now we can break the gypsum in a few places.
Then leave it to dry completely -
around 12h
With a steel brush scrub layers of plaster
(circular motions) until the surface is rough (this is our sand).
This is the effect you should receive.
In the
meantime, I decided to add one more element to my base. I decided to make a
concrete road barrier and for this I used a mold part from the Tau Commander.
The
photo shows the mold before and after treatment with a knife.
And now it’s time for a basecoat.
The base colour (ironhull gray P3), light highlight
(Astronomical gray CF).
Using the paper tape I made a template to paint
stripes on the asphalt.
I used Mascol to made scratches on stripes.
Stripes after removing the template and Maskol.
Then I have painted the ground with Battlefield
Brown (P3) as the base color, and then I highlighted the asphalt plates using Astronomican
Gray (CF). Then a black oil wash was applied on the asphalt.
II mixed Vallejo
pigments with water (Burnt Umber and Natural Sienna) and then I applied the mix
on the ground. I did this three times with different proportions of pigments. In
some places on asphalt I also have dry rubbed some pigment to and some
interesting colors and dust.
I added the barbed wire and I colored it with three
shades of rust pigments.
IIn some places on asphalt I added some black
pigment and rubbed it with a finger. Then I highlighted the ground with a mix
of Astronomican Gray and some Burnt Umber pigment.
Using
airbrush I sprayed the whole base with isopropyl alcohol to preserve pigments. And
then I sprayed the base with Vallejo
matt varnish for a mat finish.
At the end I decided add two oil spots. To achieve
the intended effect I mixed up Satin Varnish with Liche Purple (CC) then I did the
same with Regal Blue(CC) and Vallejo Smoke(VMC). All mixes ware added on the base
and mixed on the surface to obtain iridescent colors similar to the spilled oil.
And here you can see how the models look on finished bases.