(Everything you ever wanted to know about doing base work but were afraid to ask.)

I find I'm constantly asked, how I do the ground work on my painted figures and terrain pieces. So instead of answering the question over and over, I have decided to try and explain it as simple as I can in a step by step tutorial here on my web page. My goal is to provide some valuable information to everyone from the beginner to the experienced modeler.

Materials

Grit - I use a lot of ground work materials made by Woodland Scenics which offers a wide range of scale model scenery making materials available in most hobby and model shops.

For my basic base work needs, I use a mixture of model railroad ballast. I use a mixture of fine, medium and coarse ballast with some larger materials mixed in. This is a product called Talus made by Woodland Scenics.

The picture on the left shows the different sizes of Ballast I use, the right is my tub of mixed ballast.

As far as a Percentage for my Mixture, its about 25% Fine, 25% Medium, 25% Coarse and a 25% mixture of Talus. But it changes constantly as I add a little bit of this or that. Best advice I can give is to experiment with a mixture you like.

CA Glues - I like to use CA ( Cyanoacrylate Adhesive) or commonly known as Super glue for most of my ground work. I prefer the brand made by Satellite city called Super 'T' . This is a Gap filling glue. I also use the "hot Stuff" thin instant glue also made by Satellite city. Other brands will work as well.

Accelerator or commonly know as "Kicker" I prefer to use one made by a company called 'Bob Smith Industries' because I find it does not harm plastics like other kickers do, and does not smell as bad!