Paintinga Resin Base
In the last few years there havebeen a number of manufacturers who have offered resin bases on which we candisplay our models. For the aircraft buff, these bases have been done in theforms of aircraft carrier decks, Luftwaffe plank hardstands, and PSP (PiercedSteel Plank) or Marston Matting. These have been produced by a number ofconcerns and show a level of detail that is superb. It also saves those of uswho are lazy, from having to do them ourselves. The cost is about the same as aquality kit, running from $15-25 on the average.
This one is from Cooper Detailsand is in 1/72. It is a PSP base with sufficient mud and other glop around it.As you can imagine, the PSP was generally used where the surrounding ground wasa bit too 'loose' to be able to handle the weight of aircraft on it. This stuffis quite long lasting. As late as the late 1980s, the parking place near my workon a west coast Navy base was PSP that had been laid down during WWII !
The first thing to do, as withany resin, is to give it a thorough cleaning in warm soapy water. This is toremove any oily residue that is left from the mold release. It then gives us anice clean base on which we can then apply our paints. It is not necessary togive it any primer before adding the first color.
The next step, according tothe instructions, is to give it a base coat. In this case it recommended RLM 81brown-violet. I used Aeromaster's enamel paint for this. This produces astarting place for the rest of the colors.
Once a good base coat hasbeen applied and has dried, the next thing to add to it is a good wash. Theinstructions recommend one using gloss black and that is what I used. I sprayedmine on, but frankly, I think that brushing it on would have been better asspraying it on puts it everywhere, not just in the depressions. Of course, Icould not have thinned it enough. What Ithen did was to wipe a lot of it off the matting area itself. This leaves itonly in the various depressions. It also makes the base look really yucky!!
This then provides the mainarea for the rest of the work. What you then do is to apply a BUNCH of othercolors to the board. You do this by drybrushing on various shades that fit thearea you are going to do. For a job like this, I recommend a rather wide andstiff brush. If you are modeling it on sand, then you use a lot oftans. If mud, as I did, then you use a number of shades of brown and grey. Iinitially used RLM 66 dark grey to go over the steel matting area. Then I usedvarious browns and some steel Metallizer for the matting area.
The mud was drybrushed withmostly RAF Dark Earth, as it seemed appropriate. Some lighter browns were againused for the mud area. Don't forget to add some of the 'mud' to the matting areaas the base has some 'leaking' into the matting. Then you can spray clears on itto seal it in. If you want the mud to look particularly wet, use a gloss, if youwant it to be dried, then a matte finish is what you need. Should you choose thedried mud approach, you need to lighten the colors a bit. as well.
The final result is quite achange from mirrors or other bases. To spruce it up you can add some vegetationor ground support equipment. As you can see, it is really easy to do and letsyou practice washes and drybrushing if you are not particularly good at theseskills.