Hmm... I think I need a bigger gun.

The great experiment continues with the Great Elk.  I was looking through some of the dried foliage that we had gotten many years ago, and noticed this.  I had been using some of it as long, dried grass... like sawgrass, but I noticed that it had the potential to also act as those viney tree roots.

It's not super easy to get these things pulled apart, as there is some breakage involved.  It has the texture of dehydrated lichen in some ways.

Like the other giant base that I created, I wanted to use some mica flakes as filler.  This can look like many different things, depending on how you apply it.

It can be fungus growths on trees, even a little bit like the shale rocks (aka bark).  Again, it all depends on what you are applying it with.  The sculpting tool in the foreground was used to apply larger amounts so that it wold be like rocks.

Large areas are now filled in.  If you have seen previous articles on the use of mica flakes, you know that I like to use them as dried foliage!

Oxide paste is applied on top of this, which adds a little different texture, and a whole lot of structural integrity! It dries like concrete, and that's what will be needed to support the weight of the Great Elk.

The mica flakes were used as mossy growth on the rocks.  I will be applying many layers of water effects on this, just like the giant octopus base.

Now it's that time again...gravel!  As usual, 3 different scales of heavy, medium and light.

After the elmer's glue is put in place, I start by positioning the larger rocks, followed by medium, and so on.

By working from heaviest gravel to lightest, you get a more realistic looking application.  If you did it the opposite way, you would have to continuously place more and more glue on top of your other rocks...

On giant bases like this, I can have entire skeletons as opposed to the random skull here and there!  And Secret Weapon has just the thing for that!  These are great, and I have used them many times. :-)

This many look like a mess right now, but all the elements I wanted are here... rocks, ruined vehicle, gun toting guy, trees, skeletons, and more!

A few images before I primed the base.  While I would have liked to have the elk about 3/4 of an inch further back... or even a little more, I have to keep in mind that it's for my games.  This means not having him overhand too much :-)

When it comes to height, that's not much of an issue, as there are not a whole lot of things he could hide behind!  He's already bigger than just about every building we have.

Stay tuned for the next few posts, which will show these massive bases going through the painting process!