Let the Zombie Horde Begin - Part 2b Basing begins.

Wow.. two updates in one night.. well the first batch of zeds now have textured bases, and are now drying out. So I thought I would show you a couple of shots of their progress.

Zombie dogs with wet basetex paint and fine model railway ballast sprinkled on.

The first batch of Zombies. Done as above.

The first batch in its glory as it sits and dries.

500ml pot of basetex. Prefered as the smaller bottle dry out too quickly.

I simply spatula on the basetex paint using a stiff bristle brush. The lip of the coin bases helps retain the paint, though you do get the odd bit that dribbles over the edge. Load the base up fully. Don't worry as it looses volume as it settles. I use brown alot. Colour wise I have white, brown and dried earth, but I will be painting over the top, so colour makes little difference here to me.

But if you put it on after, well you have a range to pick from. Once the base is loaded up, I sprinkle on some model railways gravel, to give rougher patches and break up the uniformity. As the basetex dries it will seal in most of the gravel. I will rub my thumb over the bases before painting to remove and loose gravel.

A tip. If you decide to try basetex, buy a small bottle, they are acouple of pounds. Give it a whirl. But be prepared for it to dry up. Every small bottle I have had, has dried up within 6 months or so. Even storing them upside down. The reason is, no matter how good you are and tidy, you get paint caught in the lip and threads of the bottles and so it won't seal when closed down.

I thus, buy the 500ml tubs in preference. They last for years. In fact I had one tub for 3 years, before I finished it. And yes it did not dry out. The tubs are made of plastic which the basetex does not properly stick too. You can thus clean up the edge and lid periodically if needed.

Now the consistency of basetex can vary,, some pots come watery and some don't, more like a paste. It is not colour dependant either. I like just thickened enough to flow but not run like water. So if I get pot that's too runny, I leave the lid off for a short period and let it evaporate some of the liquid, or I have also added sand to the brown, to bulk it up. Just ordinary builders sharp sand.

Colour party, make out the particles in the paint that give it, its rough texture are the same colour as the paint. So if it chips you won't see a colour difference if you leave it as its raw colour. The brown certainly if applied in a reasonable layer gives a good "just dried" mud look.

Anyhow.. that's the first batch done! Now only about a hundred more to go!