How the West was won.

One base at a time!!!!

Among the million other tasks I am desperately trying to finish before GenCon, I am trying to get some bases ready for a few batches of Wild West Exodus figures that I will be painting in their booth.

Michael Harber was kind enough to send me a huge shipment of tree bark. Thanks!!

I wanted to make a small set of bases for Outlaw Hired Hands, so I began to break up the bark into smaller pieces.  You do have to be careful when you do this, since the bark can separate into flakes if you press too hard on the wrong spot.

I used some of my wood carving tools to scrape away the sharp edges and give it a more natural look.

The Oxide Paste would be used to fill in gaps, as usual!

It would also provide some strength, keeping those layers together.

No western style base would be complete without some skulls drying on the ground.  Supplied by Secret Weapon.

I chopped up a chunk of road construction cork to vary the texture a bit.

The set begins to grow!

Time for some dried out foliage.  I drilled some very small holes in the bark, so that I could remove the branches for painting.

These twigs are just for a little background effect.  I want to make some heftier trees on the lawman bases so that I can hang a noose or two from them!!

The set gathered together for painting.  Stay tuned!

Here comes Stompy

OK!  Here you go!

First one down.  I am working up different freehand designs for each one, obviously within the Mechanicus theme.  The next one will have the checkerboard patter, I think!

From above.  These buggers are more complex than dreadnoughts, partially due to the more organic surfaces, but also to all the 'open' areas, such as the bolter feed.  I had to essentially melt that down with a hair drier so that I could get it to fit!

I figured that these might be tougher, based on what I had to do with the Krios tank.  More to come!