I really liked this article and feel like it fell through the cracks of a time before we had the larger viewer base we do now. Also, its been on my mind since I've recently put together 24 new weapons teams, gun-line, ho!! Enjoy!
First off, just as a warning, these eat up your green stuff. I did three teams and went through about a half to a quarter tube of each color. A friend from the store pointed out that there are world war II kits of sand bags but they don't get the custom shape I like. Plus, if green stuff is 20$ and that kit is 10$ish then its not really too much more. I'm ok with the more expensive yet more customized method. Here we go!
Start by mixing your green stuff. Its not too important for this to let it sit since you're not doing much, if any, fine detail. Just mix and glob. next, gloves, wear your gloves for this because you'll end up leaving big finger prints that you'll have to smooth out.
Side note: For my bases I use floor tiles from lowes. You can buy 12"x12" squares for 0.66$ I just break it up with a pair of pliers into random chunks. If you saw my bikes the effect comes out like that. After that I use a product that I found from when I first bought my Bearded Dragon called 'Lizard Liter." It's crushed walnut shells and looks good as a rocky/sandy/fine rubble.
After using the needle tool I then push the droops down with the larger silcon smoothing tool. Remember to go back through afterward, repeating your steps until you get it to look like its been hanging there. If you get any sharp edges in the the GS don't
After you get one, rinse and repeat, stuffing them into each other, over weird edges, ect. Here's this team, one bag at a time:
Ok, so there is the first layer. Pretty easy. I stopped here and add an all new technique for this tutorial as an experiment.
I was sitting around in class, day dreaming about 40k instead of focusing on how not to kill people via mixing certain IV meds and thought, how can I make my sand bags look even more real? Texture. To get it I decided to use a cloth bandaid.
After you make your first row of bags, just wrap it around your finger and press the texture randomly into the bags. the GS doesn't generally stick to the bandaid but you can still get it wet just to make sure.
Continue stacking your bags until you get the look, stopping each row to texture them then continuing.
Thanks! As always, questions and comments are welcome.
I loved this article the first time it went up and I remember saying "dammit, this kid can greenstuff well too! I need to catch up!"
ReplyDeleteGreat how-to article. I have many Guardsmen in need of sandbagging so I will have to do it in installments. Investment in green stuff is a little cost prohibitive, but as you pointed out, well worth the expense for a custom look. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteBookmarked!
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